Hey folks,
I am looking for a media box/HTPC to install Linux/XBMC on and would appreciate some suggestions. I've been looking at Pivos Xios DS, Kogan's Agora Dongle(Which just went on sale for $69 today) and some generic chinese brands. I'm not looking to spend too much and won't need much storage, as I'll probably stream most the stuff, so I'm looking at spending around $175?
The device must be able to run XBMC for Linux so yea.
Any suggestions and help are appreciated.
Cheers.
Yea, I've read about Raspberry Pi, and thought it might be too weak(i.e not as powerful) as other alternatives? And not sure about the stability and support of XBMC on it. Are you using it on a daily basis and how's the performance? Sluggish or?
Cheers mate.
Yep, it's certainly not as snappy in menus etc as the HP N40L it replaced as my main HTPC, but it's more than acceptable.
I've played with Openelec as it is also good but a little leaner than RaspBMC, so it's a little faster; but I've found the latter is a better rounded distro for hardware support, updates etc.
Playback wise, the Pi doesn't seem to struggle with anything I've got, although my biggest 1080p x264 encoded file tops out around 12-14gb so I can't vouch for anything higher bitrate/bigger.
Just wondering why you decided to replace the HP N40L as the main HTPC?
No problem, I just wanted to repurpose the N40L for other uses, for my needs it was just under-utilised purely as a HTPC.
The Pi is performing admirably as a basic HTPC, but as noted here & the R Pi bargain thread there are some caveats you must be aware of before using one in this role. :)
I used a thin client for my HTPC.
http://www.budgetpc.com.au/used-pcs-notebooks-servers/refurb…
Installed XBMC and then stream all content from my NAS via network share or NFS. Works beautifully
Nice. I remember somebody here mentioning the same thing in one of the Acer sales posts.
how do you connect thin client to your TV? it has no HDMI port AFAIK
It has a Display Port which can transport video and audio (the same as HDMI)
You just need a Display Port to HDMI adapter.
That's really interesting, is that site legit? Thin clients are looking pretty good, especially the refurbished ones. But how does one go about connecting via HDMI?
You don't have to buy it from BudgetPC. They are around the corner from my work so I get it from there and they seem cheap enough with some manufacture warranty left.
I was thinking about it's cheaper brother.
http://www.budgetpc.com.au/used-pcs-notebooks-servers/refurb…
The CPU seems a bit faster and the price is much cheaper. The only problem is it only has DVI and not Display Port. DVI whilst it is digital so the picture quality is good. It does not carry any audio channel. You will need to run a 3.5mm aux cable to your TV for analog audio. For digital audio, you might need a separate USB or PCI-X sound card.
Considered waiting for an Ouya? It's going to run XBMC and will act as a casual gaming system too.
From the vids I've seen XBMC is pretty snappy on it - better than I've seen on a Pi.
Honestly, I'd be very wary of being an early Ouya adopter…kinda has fail written all over it: http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/02/ouyas-hardware-will-be-upda…
Whilst it has some minor limitations, the Raspberry Pi is certainly worth considering if you don't mind tinkering a bit.
I bought the 'cased' model from Element14 because firstly it is the better UK made model B board (apparently the Chinese manufactured boards can be a little hit'n'miss); and secondly the case component takes it up over the $45 (ex GST) free shipping threshold! With GST it becomes $50.27 delivered. Mine's functioning quite well as a HTPC using RaspBMC! :)
http://au.element14.com/raspberry-pi/rpi-b-512-cased/sbc-ras…