The Zotac ZBOX CI660 nano Fanless mini-PC Review: A Promising HTPC Platform

HTPC Credentials - Display Outputs Capabilities

The Zotac ZBOX CI660 nano comes with two  display outputs, and their characteristics are summarized in the table below. From a HTPC use-case perspective, the entries of interest include the ability to support UHD (3840 x 2160) or higher resolutions, along with HDCP 2.2. The latter enables the display output to be used for viewing protected content such as 4K Netflix streams and play back UltraHD Blu-rays.

Supporting the display of high-resolution protected video content is a requirement for even a casual HTPC user. In addition, HTPC enthusiasts also want their systems to support refresh rates that either match or be an integral multiple of the frame rate of the video being displayed. Most displays / AVRs are able to transmit the supported refresh rates to the PC using the EDID metadata. In some cases, the desired refresh rate might be missing in the list of supported modes.

Custom Resolutions

Our evaluation of the as a HTPC was done using the native HDMI output connected to a TCL 55P607 4K HDR TV via a Denon AVR-X3400H AV receiver. The list of supported modes seen by the system didn't include PAL (50 Hz), but, this was trivial to fix by adding a custom resolution in the Intel Graphics Command Center.

We tested out various display refresh rates ranging from 23.976 Hz to 59.94 Hz. Of particular interest is the 23.976 Hz (23p) setting, which Intel used to have trouble with in the pre-Broadwell days.

The gallery below presents screenshots from the other refresh rates that were tested. The system has no trouble maintaining a fairly accurate refresh rate throughout the duration of the video playback.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Support

Zotac claims that the HDMI output port supports HDR, but, we were unable to get HDR working with our two test displays - the TCL 55P607 via a Denon AVR-X3400H, and a LG 34BK95U. The OS did present the HDR toggle button in both cases. However, activating it resulted in a complete loss of activity on the HDMI link. In the interest of full disclosure, Zotac did indicate that they managed to get HDMI 2.0 4Kp60 output with HDCP 2.2 active and HDR enabled using the LG 27UK600 and the Dell UP2718Q monitors.

The CyberLink Ultra HD Blu-ray Advisor tool does indicate that our setup (Zotac ZBOX CI660 nano + Denon AVR-X3400H + TCL 55P607) supports HDCP 2.2 along with HDR. The PC also satisfies other requirements (such as SGX and appropriate Management Engine firmware) to enable playback of Ultra HD Blu-rays. It is just that HDR didn't work in practice in our particular setup.