Acer Revo as a HTPC?

I have one also and I'm very happy with it. The only two small annoyances I've had with it so far are: firstly it can't play video that isn't supported for acceleration by the GPU as it simply doesn't have the power for this. This isn't really a big issue though because you really have to go out of your way to find non h264 HiP for 1080p video, and the only alternative would be to build a system with a very beefy CPU that could handle 1080p in other codecs for the rare instances that aren't covered by the GPU. Massively overkill in my opinion.
The other annoyance is that it doesn't support CEC (unfortunately almost no GPU does), I really like integration so its a feature I miss, but I'm using an adapter to get around that.

All in all I'm very happy with it, and if I were spending my money again, I wouldn't hesitate.

Knasher wrote: »

The other annoyance is that it doesn't support CEC (unfortunately almost no GPU does)

Sorry to be newbie sounding... but whats cec and why would it be an annoyance if not supported on the revo.

(hoping to get a revo model also in near future as my sitting room HTPC to replace my old dell - as the revo seems to be near silent).

if you're looking for a revo as a htpc, you'll want to get either an R3610 or an R3700.

if you're planning on a straight install of XBMC or openELEC, 2gb of RAM will be plenty, although if you're thinking of putting windows on and running various media players through the OS, then you'll want a minimum of 3gb, or 4gb if you can to get the most out of it as windows can be pretty resource intensive.

also bear in mind that due to a hardware issue on the R3610's, you'll only ever see 3.25gb of 4gb, even with a 64bit OS. you'll also need to assign 512mb of what's left to the gfx card as well, so it would be prudent to get the R3700 if you plan on using 4gb of RAM and have the choice of what to get, although i reckon the R3610's are probably a bit thin on the ground these days.

I use my Revo R3700 as an HTPC. Since upgrading to the latest XBMC 'Eden' it is smoother than ever. It will play 1080p but I don't bother really. Pretty much all of my downloads are 720p and they play flawlessly. I use a Rii as my remote control.

I just posted this in the setup thread but might be beneficial here to show what this machine can do:

Acer Aspire Revo R3700 with 300GB HD
External 2TB HD
XBMC Eden
sabnzbd+
sickbeard
couchpotato

The Revo runs XBMC Eden, sabnzbd+ and sickbeard for automation purposes, so the box literally does all of the work for me. I also have the sickbeard and sabnzbd plugins running inside XBMC so I can monitor queues and add new shows as needed then get notification popups inside XBMC also.

Here's a few pics of my XBMC setup.

kyub wrote: »

Nope, I actually cancelled my netflix sub just recently.

yep, not nearly enough choice. when they can give us the same selection as the US (officially, rather than using workarounds to get to the US site) it will be worth it.

If you don't want windows 7 the Revo RL70 is only £178 + €22 deliverme.ie charge. The Lenovo IdeaCentre Q180 might be worth a look too.

kyub wrote: »

If you're going for either one of those you should try to upgrade to 4GB of RAM as soon as you can. I noticed a significant increase in performance on my Revo after doing this.

same here on my r3610, particularly in windows.

have you tried openELEC?

there's a beta version of xbmc eden now, although i haven't tried it yet.

granted, not all the plugins are working, but it's lean and fast and the xbmc side of it seems to work fine from the testing i did.

if i didn't want the convenience of windows on my revo, i'd choose it as my main htpc OS.

PogMoThoin wrote: »

I've had a few niggly little issues since I wiped my HTPC and installed XBMCbuntu. I had trouble getting the sound over HDMI working, had an issue where XBMC was continuously maxing one cpu to 100% and I've had problems with my Windows shares not connecting. I've them all sorted now, but my advise is to skip XBMCbuntu and install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS as it'll have better support and XBMC Eden is going to be in the main repositories.
http://iloveubuntu.net/xbmc-land-ubuntu-1204-available-ubuntu-software-center

Glad to hear it's not just me having issues with sound over HDMI. So you reckon installing Ubuntu 12.04 LTS will solve this problem?

armitage_skanks wrote: »

You've got a card reader on your Asus so maybe it's possible to just install OpenElec on a SDHC card and set the boot order of that above your existing Win7 HDD. Then pop the SD card out when you want to boot Windows.

Im no good with linux stuff so maybe it's not that simple.

vibe666 wrote: »

my revo r3610 has an sd card slot, so i have openelec installed onto that and windows and xbmcbuntu on the hdd.

whenever i want to do something with openelec i just click in the sd card and reboot and any time i want to get into windows or xbmcbuntu i click it out again and reboot, nice and simple.

not sure about the latest version of openelec, but the one i have only offered a destructive install on whatever disk you install it on, so it would have wiped out windows/linux, which i didn't want. you can also install it onto a usb stick (assuming your pc can boot from usb) if you don't have an sd slot.

Now that sounds like a plan - seems way easier as I am not at all familiar with Linux

deuces wild wrote: »

I have an acer revo 3600 with 1gb ram and a 2TB external hard drive.what would be my best option for setting this up as a HTPC bearing in mind i would not be overly technical......I am currently using an old laptop to download series that i want and using that as a server for the revo with XBMC but i would like to have couch potato etc on the revo if that would be possible?I believe XBMCUBUNTU would be an option but i really dont know where to start.any help appreciated.

Hi deuces,
I think if you are not that technical, Windows is your best option. I have a 3600 too (but linux) and it plays everything out of the box. I have very few addons though. If you are not using your Revo now, there is nothing to lose.

tonyfillony wrote: »

Im looking into getting the rl70 as well now, prob going to get this one from ebuyer
http://www.ebuyer.com/319567-acer-re...c-pt-sj4ec-003
also get an extra 2g and porb get a ssd later down the line .
Hopefully then I will be running one of these
openelec
xmbc

Qucik quesition are any of the above compatible with sopcast?

Looking to get one of these also from ebuyer but it wont let me order without a UK credit card. I was going to use deliverme.ie to get it delivered but I cant get the thing ordered.

Anyone had any luck here?

tonyfillony wrote: »

Balls , have you tried a 3v card?

Nope, I contacted ebuyer and they said that they weren't aware of any way to accept Irish credit cards.

Deliverme.ie assured me that they pick up orders from ebuyer all the time so I'm not sure how this is done.

I tried ordering through Paypal and the order was cancelled as the delivery address (deliverme.ie address in Newry) was not confirmed.

I'll try the 3v option now