It could be said that it wasn’t until after Shuttle released their highly popular SFF based XPCs that the idea of having a PC in your living room was workable. The small form factor looked good enough to have it as displayed as a part of your entertainment center without getting your other half started. Now during these past few years, Shuttle kept concentrating on improving the performance, looks and features of the small form factor, however, a niche market for dedicated HTPCs emerged which Shuttle really wasn’t a part of. Today, we take a look at their SB83G5C which is their first entry into the HTPC market and see what Shuttle has come up with.

Packaging

The SB83G5C comes in a very standard XPC packaging meaning its secured well inside the box. The front of the packaging shows a picture of the main unit while the back points out some of its media centric features. Opening the package reveals the XPC as well as a couple of small boxes and the power cable.

One of the box contains IDE and Serial-ATA cables along with the user manual and driver and applications CDs. Cables for the installed TV Tuner card are also included. The second box contains the remote control and more on that later.

Looks

Shuttle uses their G5 chassis on the SB83G5C which is a pretty good and simple looking chassis. From the picture on the packaging, we thought that the face of this XPC was black- looking almost identical to Shuttle's nForce4 XPC. However, we were quite impressed by the mirror finish on the front that looks nothing short of amazing.

The two drive bays and the front panel are all concealed making the look consistent and elegant. The front also houses the VFD display which is a two line display with the top line showing icons of the currently used function and the bottom line showing text such as the time or the temperature of your XPC. We must say that the VFD display gels real well with the mirror finish giving it a somewhat Sony floating glass touch.