HTPC - Small Form Factor with XBMC

waynehooper

waynehooper

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I am using a Boxee Box at the moment and am disappointed with speed etc. I have been looking at the threads regarding HTPC's and although the HP Proliant micro server seems like a good option it is too large for my requirements.

Does anyone have suggestions of Zotac, Sapphire etc. mini pc's that can be acquired locally at a reasonable price, preferably with built in IR or RF and a remote, which can be used (and most importantly work properly) with OPENELEC or XMBC (preferably the live build).

I have also looked at the Xtreamer Ultra 2 which seems the solution, but has anyone out there used it? Your feedback would be appreciated!!
 
 
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Thanks for the advice.

I had a look at the Wibtek mini PC before. Will it be compatible with XBMC?

The mini ITX board and case option also look great, but how compatible is the AMD Hudson chipset with XBMC?



Yotch said:
Maybe you could consider this mini ITX AMD motherboard with a mini ITX thin client case ...
http://www.pricecheck.co.za/offers/31026128/MSI+AMD+Hudson+M1+Socket+FT1+Mini-ITX+Motherboard/
http://www.pricecheck.co.za/offers/11285090/CFi+ACD2+Mini-ITX+Desktop+Case/
You could also look at these nettops. Esquire had the Wibtek one on special a few weeks ago.
http://www.pricecheck.co.za/offers/20500622/Mecer+NetTop+330ION+Intel+Dual+Core+Atom+Desktop+PC/
http://shop.esquire.co.za/ProductDescription.aspx?id=1477921
Click to expand...
 
It will be perfectly compatible..

Its an x86 class chip as far as I'm aware.
 
waynehooper said:
The mini ITX board and case option also look great, but how compatible is the AMD Hudson chipset with XBMC?
Click to expand...

I think that the resident expert on this motherboard is Rouxenator - maybe you can pm him for some feedback. You need to do your research carefully - there are many reviews on Newegg and Amazon for this type of motherboard or ones using the same processor from different vendors. If you require flawless 1080p playback of mkv files then you need to choose quite carefully as I think that many of the Intel Atom based nettops may start to drop frames. The Hudson motherboard also has an HDMI port whereas you might need to buy an additional graphics card for some of the Intel Atom boards which only have VGA support. You could also look at some of the latest 35W Sandy Bridge Celerons (T suffix) which should be substantially faster than the Zacate processor although the power draw is roughly double. This option will probably be considerably more expensive than the Hudson. You can also find several Intel Atom Houlton mini ITX boards on Bidorbuy for ~R650.
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/76149302/Intel_Houlton_D2500_Mini_ITX_2_x_DDR3_x8_USB_2_0_Ports.html
http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012...ted_more_details_on_G645T_and_G550T_CPUs.html
 
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Thanks for the advice. I have decided to look at the Mecer option (Ion chipset) because of the size. Just need some advice as to whether it will do the job!

Yotch said:
I think that the resident expert on this motherboard is Rouxenator - maybe you can pm him for some feedback. You need to do your research carefully - there are many reviews on Newegg and Amazon for this type of motherboard or ones using the same processor from different vendors. If you require flawless 1080p playback of mkv files then you need to choose quite carefully as I think that many of the Intel Atom based nettops may start to drop frames. The Hudson motherboard also has an HDMI port whereas you might need to buy an additional graphics card for some of the Intel Atom boards which only have VGA support. You could also look at some of the latest 35W Sandy Bridge Celerons (T suffix) which should be substantially faster than the Zacate processor although the power draw is roughly double. This option will probably be considerably more expensive than the Hudson. You can also find several Intel Atom Houlton mini ITX boards on Bidorbuy for ~R650.
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/76149302/Intel_Houlton_D2500_Mini_ITX_2_x_DDR3_x8_USB_2_0_Ports.html
http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012...ted_more_details_on_G645T_and_G550T_CPUs.html
Click to expand...
 
When the Raspberry Pi was released, I was super exited to use it as a media center. But XBMC ran too slowly. So I looked into getting a mini-ITX PC.

However, the latest Rasbmc RC5 is really good on the Raspberry Pi, so I think I'm going back to the Pi! :)
 
Would love to get hold of a Raspberry Pi, but the waiting period is just too long....



greg_SA said:
When the Raspberry Pi was released, I was super exited to use it as a media center. But XBMC ran too slowly. So I looked into getting a mini-ITX PC.

However, the latest Rasbmc RC5 is really good on the Raspberry Pi, so I think I'm going back to the Pi! :)
Click to expand...
 
greg_SA said:
When the Raspberry Pi was released, I was super exited to use it as a media center. But XBMC ran too slowly. So I looked into getting a mini-ITX PC.

However, the latest Rasbmc RC5 is really good on the Raspberry Pi, so I think I'm going back to the Pi! :)
Click to expand...

Is RC5 that much of an improvement?

I still found it to be a bit too slow.
 
[video=youtube;KW_r1o_0QfI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_r1o_0QfI[/video]
 
waynehooper said:
Thanks for the advice. I have decided to look at the Mecer option (Ion chipset) because of the size. Just need some advice as to whether it will do the job!
Click to expand...

There was a thread about this a while back ...
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/323897-XMBC-Mecer-Cape7-(Intel-Atom-525-ION2-GT218)

Personally I wouldn't spend too much on a machine as there appear to be a number of much better devices on the horizon ...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6267/intels-next-unit-of-computing-4x4-core-i3-systems-targeted-at-399

You could even make a small case for the Hudson board with two 17X17cm pieces of masonite and a few screws with spacers. You could use a small PicoPSU or even make a simple converter to produce the necessary voltages from a 12V brick.
http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Box-picoPSU-80-Output-Input-Supply/dp/B005TWE5E6/ref=pd_cp_pc_2

There are also a number of Amlogic based media players that now support XBMC and Sigma Designs also have a new media player chipset that supports XBMC in the works ...
Cheap android stick that supports XBMC
http://dx.com/p/android-4-0-mini-pc...5ghz-hdmi-1gb-ram-4gb-rom-black-152637?item=2
Product being used to develop Linux/Android versions of XBMC
http://www.pivosgroup.com/xios.html
http://www.pivosforums.com/
 
Thanks for the advice, perhaps I will wait a bit..

I really like the Mecer, but it is based on the older d525 processor. The prices I have seen so far are about R2900, which I think is a bit much seeing it is the older processor, but I am hoping Mecer will upgrade their box soon!! (The newer version used in the Xtreamer Ultra 2 is the d2700 with 520m graphics. )

Yotch said:
There was a thread about this a while back ...
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/323897-XMBC-Mecer-Cape7-(Intel-Atom-525-ION2-GT218)

Personally I wouldn't spend too much on a machine as there appear to be a number of much better devices on the horizon ...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6267/intels-next-unit-of-computing-4x4-core-i3-systems-targeted-at-399
Click to expand...
 
I have the Zotac MAG ND01 and i am very happy with it.
when i got my PI i tried to sell my Zotac, but i actually decided to keep it....it works much better then the PI.
 
Yotch said:
Personally I wouldn't spend too much on a machine as there appear to be a number of much better devices on the horizon ...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6267/intels-next-unit-of-computing-4x4-core-i3-systems-targeted-at-399
Click to expand...

This is very cool and exciting! I've been meaning to build as small a HTPC as possible that is still capable of good performance but the ATX PSU ruined all my designs and I don't like the pico PSU's much. External AC Adapter would solve everything very nicely. Also, that thing's platform is so tiny, you can squeeze it in just about anywhere, though I'll probably do a custom chassis for it. Very, very cool indeed. I wonder when they'll become available.
 
AMD also have a similar product in the works called the Livebox. This could be a real game changer provided that it sells for an affordable price. If not, then the Chinese android set-top boxes could become a major force in the future. Freescale has just launched a quad core ARM processor, the i.MX6, and several Chinese tablets using the latest dual core Amlogic ARM processor are now available on some of the Chinese mail order websites. The Chinese android based tablets and set-top boxes are starting to drop in price and it is only a matter of time before you will be able to purchase a decent quad core or better set-top box for <$40.
If Intel and AMD do not start to compete very soon they could find themselves in serious trouble.

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/systems/45833-intel-next-unit-computing-nuc-review/
http://hothardware.com/News/Intel-NUC--Next-Unit-Computing-Sneak-Peek/
http://bestminipc.com/2012/08/amd-livebox-mini-pc-in-a-short-hands-on/
http://liliputing.com/2012/10/freescale-i-mx6-quad-core-cpu-benchmarks-ampe-a10-tablet.html
 
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