HTPC or Media Player

Hemps

Hemps

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Recently my HTPC motherboard blew, it was a media motherboard.
I was running Win7 with xbmc.

Now come's the choice:
Replace the motherboard and continue using it as a media pc which was not the best, slow startup times and buggy
Buy the new Mede8er 500X2
replace the motherboard on the pc with an ordinary one and use it for games etc.

Any ideas?
 
It seems you can customize the Mede8er menus which would be nice after using XBMC.
 
The mede8er is a nice but of kit, very handy to have by the telly. But you cant do anything else on it besides watch movies and music. With xbmc there are loads of addons that give added functionality (like arcade roms). I guess it depends on what you want out of it.

If it were me i'd just replace teh board :)
 
Just want a media center for Movies , Series and music.

I'm thinking of keeping the pc, replace motherboard with something semi decent for some old gaming.
 
Media players are just not as far as I'd like them to be in terms of storing show information etc. If that's not important to you then spending a little less on a Mede8er HD or PlayOnHD are the way to go.
 
Mede8er HD or PlayOnHD
Click to expand...

I would like it to show fanart, poster, short decription, video type? ,audio quality type, runtime etc
 
I would replace the motherboard, CPU, ram and maybe add in a low profile gfx card at a cost of around r1-1500. Then I'd spend some time tweaking WMC/XBMC to sort out the bugginess.
 
My TV setup:

Sony 5.1 AMP (hdmi, lpcm etc)
32 Sinotec.

The AMP can handle HD audio lpcm.

HTPC:
Dual Core 2.7
Asus P5kpl/1600
4GB DDR2
HD 4850 ATI
2x 2TB hdd
Win 7 and XBMC.
 
Hemps said:
what about these type of PC's

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225759?awc=2690_1310724728_d908102fe93f4596f5cd5e892ab2e85c

Acer REvo etc

How much are they in SA?
Click to expand...

I have an Acer Revo which I bought off EBay - total cost including customs was less than R2200. And that serves as my media PC.

And I wouldn't change it for a dedicated media player, simply because there are many benefits to having a PC right there when I want one. Try searching wikipedia on your medi8r...
 
Read some reviews on the Mede8er 500x2 that seem pretty decent, cheapest I found was +-R2100 so far without HDD which I have already.
I like the forums and amount of people contributing to these devices to make them better.
 
TheMightyP said:
I have an Acer Revo which I bought off EBay - total cost including customs was less than R2200. And that serves as my media PC.

And I wouldn't change it for a dedicated media player, simply because there are many benefits to having a PC right there when I want one. Try searching wikipedia on your medi8r...
Click to expand...

How does it play HD? Thinking of getting one my self, Is it quiet?
 
How does it play HD? Thinking of getting one my self, Is it quiet?
Click to expand...

Also what are the boot times like?

MY old htpc took 1min to get into xbmc.
 
Look at my signature, XBMC runs like a dream, everything actually runs like a dream
With a PC you normally have 6 Sata ports and you can buy a controller card with an additional 4 ports, so if the needs come you can put in ten 2tb drives, you can put in a BluRay drive and Best sound card you can think of, and if anything better comes out you always have the option to upgrade, the Mede8er is small and portable, and it does what’s it's supposed to do, but it’s very limited, with a HTPC you just have that much more options
What happens if is a months’ time a new file format comes out, say for instance a .GHV file that uses better compression that MKV, on the HTPC it’s a simple codec update, but if the Mede8er's hardware can handle it then its useless.....
 
codec update
Click to expand...

That's the thing---I used to have XBMC play all my files using VLC and that played brilliantly.
I'll give it a think over this weekend, wish those Revo were in SA but it looks expensive.
 
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