Asus EeeBox EB1501P -Teething problems

BionicRasher

OK Folks - bought this

Asus EeeBox EB1501P (Intel Atom D525 1.8GHz, 2Gb RAM, 250Gb, DVDRW, Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit, Next-Generation NVIDIA GT218-ION) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0043D29H2/ref=oss_product

Great bit of kit but I have a few issues that I really cant find any answer to. I have checked the Asus Forums and they are really difficult to search to find an answer so any help appreciated

1. There is a flashing LED light on top of the PC (looks great) but its really annoying as it flashes when the hard drive is active etc and if you are watching in a darkened room then its kind of off putting - how can I turn this off?

2. Similar to above issue - the PC comes supplied with a remote control but the power off button on the remote actually seems to put the PC in Sleep mode. The little LED then flashes like mad and is really annoying - how can I set the remote to power off the PC completely rather than going to Sleep mode?

3. I can play RTE channels from the Magnetwebtv site but they are a little blocky or pixelated, also some of my locally stored movies are a bit patchy but I am not sure if thats the file being bad quality or not - would this be the PC set up I have e.g. do I need to update drivers or set up some kind of hardware decoding or something like that? ( I need to test RTE Player and other sites also and will report findings there once I get a chance)

I know I could solve issue 1 and 2 with a bit of masking tape but the PC looks great and I dont want to do that so any ideas appreciated. Issue 3 is probably something I will eventually figure out but again if anyone has experienced this and could help then that would be great

Voodu Child

Put a bit of tape or a sticker over the standby light if you don't like it. The only way to disable it would be to open the case up and physically disconnect/cut it.

Its normal for a media remote to put the system into standby, it does that so that you can turn the system back on with the remote. If it turned it off completely then you'd need to physically turn it on with the button on the PC. Being able to wake from standby with the remote is a pretty sought after feature.

Standby uses very little power, but if you really want to fully shut it down completely im sure you can map a button to do so with something like Eventghost.

Hardware acceleration of videos is essential with Atom+Ion boxes. For things like Youtube that means that you need the latest Flash version and up to date Nvidia drivers.

BionicRasher

Voodu Child wrote: »

Its normal for a media remote to put the system into standby, it does that so that you can turn the system back on with the remote. If it turned it off completely then you'd need to physically turn it on with the button on the PC. Being able to wake from standby with the remote is a pretty sought after feature.

The Remote will actually turn on the PC from a shut down state on this one. The only thing I have to do is enter my password to log on and I can do that with wireless keyboard. Its just pretty annoying that I can turn it on from shut down but not actually shut it down with the remote - maybe the bit of tape is the answer as that blinking light is getting on my goat now:(

Voodu Child wrote: »

Hardware acceleration of videos is essential with Atom+Ion boxes. For things like Youtube that means that you need the latest Flash version and up to date Nvidia drivers.

I have installed all the latest drivers and have the correct version of Flash but still RTE Player and the WebTV feed from the Magnet site is very poor - there seems to be blocks or large pixels on it - its fine if I view it from across the room but when up close its really poor. Also its hard to see the score display on the top of the screen when watching football or similar events - its all blotchy!

Am I missing something? Do I need to turn something on in the Graphics card or display? How do I get Hardware Acceleration/GPU working?
Tried to view some HD movies and they seem fine - I now need to test a DVD disk or Bluray and see what that looks like

BionicRasher

OK - figured it all out

Installed a Boxee plugin for WMC and it works a treat by switching between Boxee and WMC. Boxee has an RTE app so I can watch that no worries. I wonder if there is a TV3 app also?. Maybe I can set the Magnet Web TV to be an RSS feed in Boxee.
My remote works with both Boxee and WMC and will turn on the PC from shutdown. I have removed the password on log on so she boots straight up in about 45 seconds.
I also figured out the shutdown option in WMC and that can be done with the remote also so happy out.
I want to install some kind of Torrent downloader now too and I will dig around on the net as I am sure there is some sort of tool that will download latest episodes of TV series as soon as they become available.

I covered the annoying blinking light with some tape and it actually still looks like a cool piece of kit

I think the poor/blockey display I am getting on the Magnet TV site is down to my broadband speed as all other HD stuff available plays as smooth as butter

Next thing I want to do is set up wake on LAN so I will post back when I figure it out