xtreamer Ultra2

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Duan

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
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872
Hi Guys,

I had an xtreamer Ultra2 which I used as my HTPC. It worked 100% until it stopped working. I returned it to Scoop as it is still under warrantee.

Problem is it seems they prefer to refund me rather than to replace the unit. This is very kind of them, but the problem is cant find anything locally which offers the same value for money and specs...

Does anyone know if there is anyone else who supplies the xtreamer range locally (other than scoop)?
 
MagicDude4Eva

MagicDude4Eva

Banned
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Apr 2, 2008
Messages
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Duan said:
Hi Guys,

I had an xtreamer Ultra2 which I used as my HTPC. It worked 100% until it stopped working. I returned it to Scoop as it is still under warrantee.

Problem is it seems they prefer to refund me rather than to replace the unit. This is very kind of them, but the problem is cant find anything locally which offers the same value for money and specs...

Does anyone know if there is anyone else who supplies the xtreamer range locally (other than scoop)?
Click to expand...

I had to import it directly from the manufacturer.
 
D

Duan

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
872
Well, that is my worry... The exchange rate has gone for a ball of **%#%%* and shipping it back if it fails again would suck!
 
D

Duan

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
872
I have thought about it, but I have some concerns.

I think the going rate is about R 1900 for the N54L???

You would still have to add:
* some RAM (2 GB wont cut it)
* an SSD to speed up boot times and responsiveness
* A low profile GFX card
* Infra-red receiver of some sorts
* Wifi card

I may have missed something...

Not sure it would compare price wise...
 
MagicDude4Eva

MagicDude4Eva

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I think the Ultra 2 at EUR 199 (or the premium edition at EUR 299) will be a better value proposition - low maintenance, good graphics card, SSD, small form-factor, quiet.
 
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Strange

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Oct 13, 2010
Messages
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Did you ever find a good solution? My 2nd Ultra2 died. Not really sure where to go now.
 
D

Duan

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Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
872
@Strange, My investment in the Apple ecosystem has been growing over the years and after the initial (usual) resistance to change wears off I generally find myself better off.

So... I opted for an AppleTV. The problem with this is that all your local media needs to be in an iTunes library. Initially this was an issue. I take my laptop with me and my SSD is too small to store all my media.

The best advice I was able to get from the "Geniuses" was to buy a mac mini. This was of course silly as a windows machine with iTunes works just as well. So I opted for the Microserver.

So far so good... you could also go for a roku 3 (something which seems fairly popular) or one of the many android based players. Both will stream media from the Microserver if you configure something like Plex or XBMC.

Just bear in mind that if you decide to go the Apple route you may need to re-encode a lot of your media to work in the Apple eco-system. Handbreak runs on both Windows and OSX (and Linux if I recall correctly) and does a sterling job. iHomeserver 2 (Windows) http://www.bizmodeller.com/iHomeServer_for_iTunes.aspx Is very handy and simplifies the process of adding metadata to all the media you import into iTunes by collecting information from sources like the TVDB and IMDB.

Good luck.
 
MagicDude4Eva

MagicDude4Eva

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Strange said:
Did you ever find a good solution? My 2nd Ultra2 died. Not really sure where to go now.
Click to expand...

How did your 2nd Ultra2 die? I just bought a few of those Ugoo Android sticks (http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/1197...nasty_Quad_Core_1_6GHz_CPU_2GB_RAM_Black.html) - I am not using it for media, but for dashboards in the office and am quite impressed with the speed (also built-in Wifi, HDMI and USB - so you plug the stick into the TV and power it via an USB port on the TV). Will spend some timer over xmas and perhaps see if I can not run OpenElec/XBMC on it.
 
D

Duan

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
872
@MagicFude4Eva frankly I have no idea... It was on and playing some audio and when I walked passed it again it was off. The led around the power button was red (normal off state). I thought that there may have been a power dip (although there was no other evidence of this). I tried to switch it on again, but nothing... very weird.

The supplier investigated it for surge damage and confirmed there was none...

I quite like the Ugoo sticks you mentioned and did some research. I eventually found a Minix X7 mini at a price I could not refuse and now wait for it to ship from China...

I will report back when it arrives.
 
D

Duan

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
872
The price was too good to be true an as it turns out it was a fraudulent ebay sale.

The transaction was canceled and my funds returned. Good on ebay and paypal!
 
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