[graham.myers]

We have sold Zacate based machines similar to the Revo and I personally think they are too slow

I think amd's new apus are a good jump up without having to go an i3. I built a prototype and is was quite good and responsive.

Having said that the new i5 ivy bridge CPUs are amazing especially when coupled with a fanless case

[elliott1381]

Hi I'm new to the xbmc and streaming blu rays and that, what do I need to buy to get started?

[podgey3874]

[QUOTE=graham.myers;17377511]We have sold Zacate based machines similar to the Revo and I personally think they are too slow

I think amd's new apus are a good jump up without having to go an i3. I built a prototype and is was quite good and responsive.

Having said that the new i5 ivy bridge CPUs are amazing especially when coupled with a fabless casee

what is this new i5 ivy bridge CPUs
link plese

[MarkE19]

Originally Posted by podgey3874

what is this new i5 ivy bridge CPUs
link plese

Ivy Bridge is the code name for the 3rd generation of Intel Core processors
3rd Generation Intel® Core

Mark.

[scatterbrain]

Somebody earlier mentioned that Xtreamer runs XBMC. I checked and the Xtreamer Ultra 2 runs OpenElec XBMC which as I understand it runs without an OS. I have around 2000 DVDs burned to a server and it seems most streamers have some sort of issue with that.

In the past (or even suffering currently) I've had a

- Popcornhour A100, loved it for DVD playback ability, but poor on interface, and doesnt do Bluray so I bought a
- Netgear NeoTV 550 - liked the interface and nice and clean easy to sort which dvds I wanted to play, but terrible on crashing and not able to play many DVDs with complex menu/navigation structure. So I thought why not update and get something that will do 3D as well so I got a
- eGreat R300, yeah it does 3D and it plays DVDs/Blurays beautifully and streams Lovefilm (nice for me!) but has the worst interface possible. You cannot even search or sort by most recent additions. Overly complex and no way to go straight to what you want
- I have also tried the Boxee interface and was very unimpressed. It seemed really clunky and used 100% of my PC resources.

So I have been searching for good interfaces. I sort of like XBMC running on my PC but the DVD controls seem really basic. what do you guys think of it? Does it run cleanly and act as a good player? Is there a better option?

If XBMC is the state of the art, then has anyone used an Xstreamer Ultra 2?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. I also have a Netgear NeoTV 550 and eGreat R300 for sale!

[LightBright]

Originally Posted by scatterbrain

...I sort of like XBMC running on my PC but the DVD controls seem really basic...

I think that the DVD controls on XBMC are dependant on the skin. My RaspberryPi runs a newer skin to my old Xbox and the Xbox has far more playback features. The RaspberryPi can play more stuff though. I'm keepin 'em both :D

Originally Posted by scatterbrain

Is there a better option?

I've not heard of one. I recommend the RaspberryPi btw. You'd need to get an MPEG2 licence for it which is an extra quid or so. One nice thing about the new XBMC releases is that you can use a smartphone as a remote - complete with library interface and all sorts. So I'd guess that you wouldn't need to worry about whether or not the player can handle the library.

[scatterbrain]

I'm checking out the RasberryPi right now...

I like the fact that they suggest you can get an HTPC for around $25 but does anyone build more of a box around it? I sort of like my audio equipment able to keep the dog from licking the microprocessors!

Also does it have the grunt to run XBMC and of course something like a 3D bluray?

I didnt know that about XBMC using smart phones as a remote, that sounds very cool, how does it interface? HTTP or bluetooth etc?

[planthead]

I would wait for the android boxes, pivos and midnight g box.

[daniel_owen_uk]

Running 4 raspberry pi's on xbmc.

Love the interface. Latest version of raspbmc has issues though.

Definitely room to improve

[LightBright]

I'm running OpenElec from a few weeks ago. It's fine. All the smartphone remotes I've seen use http over WiFi, but Raspbmc at least supports bluetooth remotes such as the Wiimote and Mele F10 apparently.

I don't know if it can run Blu-Rays. Um, maybe it could playback the rips if you have the MPEG2 codec?

[scatterbrain]

I'd give you the codec if I had it, but I have historically gone for boxes that have the capability built in and have never had the reason to purchase it separately. If my boxes didnt work I would then give hell to the support team (if they had one!).

Lightbright, interesting thought because I have an LG TV with a "Wand Remote" (AN-MR300) which acts sort of like a Wii Remote only it uses radio instead of infrared. I've been trying to find something more generic to use on other systems and the Mele f10 looks very, very good, and to include a miniature keyboard just made my day (I went on ebay and purchased one for £23)! So now I'll be looking for a system which will work with my remote control!

Planthead, I looked at some of those systems and I suppose I'm not overly keen on really hacking something together with android or linux. The eGreat R300 I already have boots into Android as well as the the standard OS used on the Realtek 1186DD chipset.

I suppose I just hate the standard OS for these realtek 1186DD chipped boxes come with. Do you guys know if I'm perhaps not giving it enough of a chance or credit? Have any of you taken a look at the eGreat R300? It's a lovely box to look at and has all the hardware stats you could want.

What is the media application/OS that these realtek 1186DD chipped boxes come with? Why is it so crap?

[dazm41]

daniel_owen_uk

Running 4 raspberry pi's on xbmc.

Love the interface. Latest version of raspbmc has issues though.

is the raspbery pi's any closer of passing hd audio through to capable amp to decode,or decoding dts onboard ,like the look of these there cheapbut can it do the things we want .

[dblackeby]

I've recently bought an AppleTV 1st Gen, with a Broadcom Crystal HD add-on card (replaces the built in wifi card), running Crystalbuntu and XBMC. Very happy with the result, plays 1080p output fine including BD rips (limited to 720p without the Crystal HD card), all in cost around £120.

I've since upgraded the internal drive to 1TB, and could happily daisy chain other external drives of a USB hub (I don't currently have a NAS)

It definitely passes the wife factor, as being easy to use and intuitive.

[next010]

Originally Posted by dblackeby

I've recently bought an AppleTV 1st Gen, with a Broadcom Crystal HD add-on card (replaces the built in wifi card), running Crystalbuntu and XBMC. Very happy with the result, plays 1080p output fine including BD rips (limited to 720p without the Crystal HD card), all in cost around £120.

I've since upgraded the internal drive to 1TB, and could happily daisy chain other external drives of a USB hub (I don't currently have a NAS)

It definitely passes the wife factor, as being easy to use and intuitive.

The Pivos XIOS with it's XBMC firmware is more or less the same as the AppleTV1 with CrystalHD (I've had both).

It's certainly less messy than hunting down the ATV1 and cracking it open to install the Crystal HD card. It also runs cool unlike the ATV1 which could be very hot to the touch.

[scatterbrain]

I've come across the Pivos Xios before (and like their remote control BTW!) but cannot find any mention of having XBMC installed if you look on the Apps page of Pivos Technology - Product - XIOS DS Media Play Smart TV Companion there is no mention...or is this some Pivos flavour of XBMC running the whole box?

I've also been in contact with the support at Xtreamer to inquire about their XBMC based Ultra 2. They suggested that it CANNOT play BluRay as it is based on Linux and Linux still hasn't sorted out (reverse engineered) the DRM. Frankly that blows me away that no Linux based XBMC box can play BluRay rips...or was the support at Xtreamer just telling porkies to make excuses for their own weaknesses?

Next010 - does your Pivos XIOS play BluRay rips?

[next010]

Originally Posted by scatterbrain

I've come across the Pivos Xios before (and like their remote control BTW!) but cannot find any mention of having XBMC installed if you look on the Apps page of Pivos Technology - Product - XIOS DS Media Play Smart TV Companion there is no mention...or is this some Pivos flavour of XBMC running the whole box?

I've also been in contact with the support at Xtreamer to inquire about their XBMC based Ultra 2. They suggested that it CANNOT play BluRay as it is based on Linux and Linux still hasn't sorted out (reverse engineered) the DRM. Frankly that blows me away that no Linux based XBMC box can play BluRay rips...or was the support at Xtreamer just telling porkies to make excuses for their own weaknesses?

Next010 - does your Pivos XIOS play BluRay rips?

The Pivos XBMC firmware is a separate thing from the Android firmware.

The linux/xbmc firmware (<- latest beta) can be installed on the box and it then boots straight into XBMC and fully unlocks the VPU (video decoder on chipset).

The Android firmware which it runs out of the box can run XBMC as an Android app but it's much more limited at this time.

The VPU on the Pivos XIOS according to them under linux can handle up to about 40Mbps video (similar to Crystal HD VPU) so it could handle some raw Blu-ray video streams provided you've ripped them using MakeMKV and are under the bitrate ceiling though when pressed about this they have said wait and see. There might be more gas in the tank so to speak but it will take time.

The ones I've tried all seem to play without issue but most of my collection is now been compressed into x264 so I haven't done much testing other that a few movies.

What wont work on the XIOS is BDMV playback, you will need to rip with MakeMKV at a minimum with AC3 or DTS audio, no HD audio at this time.

Those Xtreamer guys are pretty shady I wouldn't trust them or go down the Ultra 2 path (which is just a regular PC).

There are other XBMC products coming down the pipeline including the newer 8726-M3 chip which is what Pivos will be using on the XIOS when it launches in Europe (the current model uses the M1).

Also Sigma Designs have their XBMC chip as well in the works hopefully it will finally see the light of day.

[scatterbrain]

OK...given some of the newer XBMC hardware that's in the pipeline I may as well play around with my current hardware and see if I can get something worthwhile out of it until the new stuff comes out.

Have you any opinions on the eGreat R300? It is so terrible that I think I must be missing something! Don't get me wrong it is a very capable box but organisation of things like videos is atrocious. As far as I can see:
-> it cannot sort by date (it doesn't recognised dates on folders, just files. So all of my DVD/BluRay rips are all the same date as far as it is concerned!)
-> you cannot search by name (believe it or not!)
-> there is a media "jukebox" included but there is no way (as far as I can see) to include network drives. It only seems to categorise stuff put on the local HDD!

Otherwise it is a nice looking box which plays everything I throw at it (if I can find it!).

[next010]

Never used an eGreat player before but it's another Realtek player and those where never as sophisticated as the likes of XBMC so I wouldn't expect much from them to begin with.

The biggest problems for the old school media players that came from Realtek or Sigma wasn't the hardware but the software, it just wasn't as polished as competing stuff, thats why Sigma have ported XBMC to their new chips.

[planthead]

Forums suggest the geniatec, Geniatech ATV300 Enjoy TV Nano Android OS A9 [EA00050] - $97.99 : NIKINGSTORE, Buy Cool Gadgets Online with Better Price and Better Service

Runs the pivos xios XBMC very well............

[scatterbrain]

Next010 - are you saying that all new boxes based on the Sigma chips will have a full XBMC pre-installed?

Planthead - the Geniatech ATV300 runs android and I think XBMC hasnt been fully released yet for Android (it is downloadable in an un-compiled beta version). So is anyone selling the Geniatech with XBMC pre-installed?

Also,as I understand it XBMC for Android will only run on ARM chips, so there is no chance of a Realtek chipset (like my eGreat r300) running it even if it has an Android boot (which the eGreat R300 has). Can anyone else confirm that? Because that would be ideal if I could install XBMC on my eGreat R300 to run in the Android boot.

[next010]

Yup it's been ported to one of their next gen chipsets and may come to more but currently not all new Sigma chips have it so dont expect Popcornhour/Dune to have it & I dont think they want to use it anyway they prefer doing their own thing. See the thread on XBMC forums and you can watch a video demo of it in action.

It looks quite impressive running on a low end Sigma chip plus they have legal DVD playing so you can plug in a USB DVD drive and play discs as a normal DVD player would. Will work for Blu-ray too but BD may invoke Cinavia DRM so thats a wait and see, they may only do BD Lite menus.

The Realtek Android is a dead end, it's MIPS based plus Android 2.2 and XBMC for Android only operates on Arm and x86 Android 4.

The Pivos XIOS is shaping up pretty well, I played a 47Mbps H.264 video no problem via USB (using xbmc/linux firmware) and there are now entries for HD audio in the menu settings though they don't work yet (I don't have a HD amp either so cant test), Davilla the XBMC dev working on the Xios is saying wait and see. If you want to gamble on one you can order direct from here and they ship internationally.

[planthead]

XBMC may not be fully released, but plenty of folks seem to have the pivos version, running very well, on the various android boxes, you just have to dig around.

The new chip from rockwell, the RK2926, suggest a integrated SOC, hdmi, nvidia, ect, and they expect to be selling millions, so next year looks good. They call it the Single-core Terminator. LOL

The cheapest core 9 in the world.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=zuNoWRhG3f4

[planthead]

This has XBMC pre-installed

G-Box | G-Box Midnight

[freebeez]

Originally Posted by next010

If you want to gamble on one you can order direct from here and they ship internationally.

I like the pivos units but am holding out on the above due to...

Originally Posted by next010

There are other XBMC products coming down the pipeline including the newer 8726-M3 chip which is what Pivos will be using on the XIOS when it launches in Europe (the current model uses the M1).

Hopefully won't be too long but no indication when as yet

[Mr Eric]

xbmc on newest sigma chipsets (8656 and 8672) is almost a reality

XBMC DevCon 2012 - Part 2 - Sigma - YouTube

may be we will see it in the next Dune generation ?

[Mark142]

Originally Posted by planthead

This has XBMC pre-installed

G-Box | G-Box Midnight

The G-BOX hardware is the same as the Bluetimes M3
futeko.com - Bluetimes M3 HDD Smart TV which I should receive this week and the Mygia futeko.com - MyGica 510B (M3)

But the above will be available soon from UK seller (Futeko)
So if you are intersted in this just order one of the above and install the same verision of XBMC that is pre installed on the G-Box. Thats what I am planning to do

[planthead]

I think the Mygica is the Pivos Xios DS..

Amazon.com: XIOS DS Media Play ULTRA SLIM Smart TV Companion w/802.11n Wifi, Ethernet, USB, HDMI. The Official XBMC Sponsor: MP3 Players & Accessories

and you can run the linux firmware......

same as this one --

Cyclone nano Slim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=sX1hmZb_ypM

[Mark142]

tell me if im reading this wrong but I'm pretty clue less when it comes to this. The PIVOS is only 512MB Ram while the other devices are 1Gb so not as powerful. Also if the Lynux version is installed do you loose the Android functionality for playing apps etc...To be honest one of the reasons im pushing towards the android version of XBMC is so that I can still play Angry birds on the big screen for the kids

[planthead]

It would seem that the extra ram is a bonus, but not an essential to media play back. I look at the android version as xbmc is just another android app, on A mini pc.

For a smoother pure media player experience the Linux boot is preferred, but xbmc is still in development for android.

[scatterbrain]

Wow, I've only now decided I want to move to XBMC and drop my Netgear Neotv 550 and eGreat R300...

But there now seem to be quite a few different XBMC boxes to choose from and all with different characteristics and flaws. So the final question is there, or will there shortly be, a box to:
- based on XBMC
- play DVDs and BluRay from rips (on my network servers)
- play 3D BluRay

I'm really not interested in all of the extra bits like android apps or internet streaming, I just want a solid box to play DVDs and BluRays using the XBMC interface to categorise and organise my library.

So what should I get or what should I wait for? For instance an Sigma XBMC box?