Shuttle's video output feature boo-boos

I am a Shuttle fan but believe that they have made some critical mistakes in the direction they have taken with respect to the video output feature set for their recent products.

First complaint I have is the Shuttle XPC X100/X200. It is a great design and the DVI connector was the right decision, but they forgot to equip it with dual outs. Thus it loses out to the Acer Veriton 1000/Aspire L3x0 series which feature 1 DVI + 1 VGA outputs. I opted in favor of Acer's offering primarily because of this.

Next is their new G6 chassis which is just gorgeous (fingerprint readers are becoming de rigueur), but the MAJOR boo-boo here is that they opt to put in VGA + HDMI output when it should have been DVI + DVI or DVI + HDMI! VGA is already obsolete and does not belong in an otherwise bleeding edge design. HDMI monitors are still impractically expensive.

People hate being forced into DRM technologies and I'm sure quite a few hope that HDMI will prove to be a failure.

No, I hope that HDCP will be just enough of a success that it is quietly forgotten and becomes irrelevant. I hope that HDMI is a success.

We currently have a mess of video/audio standards. optical vs copper digital vs analogue audio with VGA/component/s-video/composite/RGB/DVI video. I was glad of an electronics degree when I built my AV rack.

When a single connector standard calms down, I will migrate away from my CRT telly and happily adopt.

You can very easily convert HDMI -> DVI with just a simple adaptor. I'm surprised Shuttle don't include one in the bundle.*

TBH, the next time I build up a PC it will be to feed a 1080p TV (when I buy this too...), and therefore HDMI will be useful.



*Edit: looking at the Shuttle website, they DO provide an HDMI/DVI adaptor with the barebones. So no worries, then.

The Shuttle X100M (AMD X1400M) and X200M (Intel GMA 950) both have one DVI/HDMI port and one VGA port due to a chipset limitation, IE they can't have two DVI/HDMI ports.

The HDMI port as mentioned is interchangeable with DVI with a simple adaptor (and vice versa), the DRM technology HDCP works with both DVI and HDMI.

Exactly, HDCP is the DRM part, HDMI is just a physical and electrical level interface, and quite a good one too.

I got an Acer L5100 and it has 1 DVI + 1 HDMI out, barely larger than the Shuttle X series and has a Radeon X1250 chipset. The perfect machine for me!