5. Rear A/V Ports

If there's anything that the z556 does not lack it is ports. Two areas on the back of the case (Figure 8) house all the ports that your heart may desire. From audio, to video, to wireless, to infrared, it's all there.

Figure 8: Ports galore

The ports from the integrated Azalia 8 channel audio and video card are all grouped together on the right side of the rear of the case (Figure 9). The first thing that you notice when looking at the audio outputs is that there are no standard 3.5 mm audio jacks. This HTPC is designed to be paired with a stereo receiver so you can forget about using a standard set of PC speakers with this one. If you're not ready to go for 7.1 surround sound just yet, the z556 can be plugged straight into your TV's audio input using any pair of L and R jacks in the Audio 7.1 Pre-Out panel.

From the set of 7.1 RCA outputs, to the coaxial and optical outputs, the z556 has one of the most feature-rich integrated audio options that you're likely to see on any HTPC. HP has gone the extra mile with the video options, too. DVI, VGA, component, composite and S-Video are all there. The only thing missing is an HDMI connector, but DVI to HDMI adapters are not overly expensive so it's not much of a liability.

There are four USB 2.0 ports on the back of the case bringing the grand total to six when you add the two on the front. You'll also be glad for the gigabit Ethernet port when it comes time to transfer video files to and from the z556.

Figure 9: Audio and video output, USB 2.0, Firewire and Ethernet ports