Which of these mini pcs would you choose for a htpc

funnyclub

Hey guys which of these would u choose for a htpc running OpenELEC?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Emachine-ER1401-Linux-Desktop-PT-NBZEC-004-/160677720266?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item25692370ca#ht_1452wt_1140

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zotac-Z-Box-HD-ND22-Mini-PC-Nvidia-ION-Dual-Core-Intel-Media-Centre-HTPC-Zbox-/140644539799?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D4502875680004252718#ht_1725wt_1165

PogMoThoin

So little between them. Cpu wise the AMD would be very slightly faster (clock for clock and it's clocked higher) but gpu wise it's the other way round, Nvidia would have slightly more horsepower (possibly un-utilised). If it were me I'd opt for the eMachines with the faster cpu.

Zilog

According to PassMark the Celeron is faster (CPUmark 905 vs. 785).
ION graphics should also be better than 9200 graphics. 2 up for the Zotac.

The Zotac is however more expensive and barebones, meaning you'll have to add the cost of RAM and a 2.5" HDD. The eMachines comes with 2Gb and 250Gb HDD according to the link, if you can get it delivered (UK delivery only).

HTH

funnyclub

Just ordered the Emachine ER1401 should have it by Thursday

funnyclub

Zilog wrote: »

The eMachines comes with 2Gb and 250Gb HDD according to the link, if you can get it delivered (UK delivery only).

HTH

They honored the free delivery to Ireland as well :cool:

Zilog

funnyclub wrote: »

They honored the free delivery to Ireland as well :cool:

That certainly makes the eMachines the clear winner! Enjoy, be interested to hear your feedback. What do you intend to run on it (XBMC / Win7 / MediaPortal / etc.)?

PogMoThoin

funnyclub wrote: »

They honored the free delivery to Ireland as well :cool:

Nice, I'm considering the same or a HTPC when I'm flush. I'd install OpenElec and forget about windows altogether, no overheads of a heavy OS

funnyclub

Zilog wrote: »

That certainly makes the eMachines the clear winner! Enjoy, be interested to hear your feedback. What do you intend to run on it (XBMC / Win7 / MediaPortal / etc.)?

OpenELEC

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Nice, I'm considering the same or a HTPC when I'm flush. I'd install OpenElec and forget about windows altogether, no overheads of a heavy OS

Yes thats the plan mate.
I have spent the last 3 days sorting my media files out using Ember Media Manager I have around 400 720p movies and a load of tv series. So there all sorted not ready for xbmc

Just have to find the best remote now any recommendations!!!!!

PogMoThoin

funnyclub wrote: »

Just have to find the best remote now any recommendations!!!!!

We plan to just use the XBMC android app as we all got android phones. My brother has a Rii which is very good.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/rii-mini-wireless-keyboard-is-perfect-for-your-htpc-not-your-wi/

Voodu Child

funnyclub wrote: »

Just have to find the best remote now any recommendations!!!!!

I recommend this one:


Got one from seller called gigacity on ebay for about €18. item#220839268649

Works out of the box with OpenElec and it's a nice feeling very responsive remote, no issues. Been through a few radio and IR remotes with various issues and unresponsiveness.

funnyclub

Voodu Child wrote: »

I recommend this one:


Got one from seller called gigacity on ebay for about €18. item#220839268649

Works out of the box with OpenElec and it's a nice feeling very responsive remote, no issues. Been through a few radio and IR remotes with various issues and unresponsiveness.

Tnx mate got one from gigacity today for 16.31 euro

funnyclub

Ok lads so the emachine arrived today was quite surprised as I only ordered it on Monday

Anyway so I got it hooked up straight away.

My setup is I have it plugged into the router and connected through hdmi to my 42" Lg plasma. All my media is on my desktop in another room which is connected to my network through powerline adapters.

So 1st things 1st I downloaded OpenELEC here http://www.openelec.tv/get-openelec

So in the zip there is a feature called create_installstick to setup your usb stick to install the OS.
Once thats done just plug your usb into the machine and hit delete on boot up to take u into the bios and set it to boot from usb.
Then reboot it and it will take you straight to installing it.
The install takes less than a minute the machine will reboot so just take the usb out and it will boot from the harddrive straight xbmc.

I then shared my media and the emachine picked everything up straight away.

The only issue I had which is comman is the hd audio would not work so you have to use this fix http://www.openelec.tv/find-help/documentation/howtos/sound/item/60-enabling-sound-on-an-acer-aspire-revo-1600

Once you have connected to the box using putty just input this command and it will do what it tells u in the link above cp ~/.config/asound.conf.sample/asound.conf_double-revo.sample ~/.config/asound.conf

And your sound will be working

So for the time being I am just using my desktops wires less mouse and keyboard till my remote arrives.

So far I am chuffed

PogMoThoin

Hows the performance, is it snappy?

funnyclub

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Hows the performance, is it snappy?

Ya it quite quick saying that I havnt really been playing round with it much as I have been playing movies for my little girl.
Also the powerline adapters I have are only around 50mbps and its playing my 720p movies no issue. It takes a couple of seconds for the film to start but the menus are responsive.

I will be able to play around more with it when I get my remote.

funnyclub

While watching a 720p film of around 4.5gb tonight it paused twice to buffer.
To be honest id say I need to upgrade my powerline adapters as there only 50mbps.

PogMoThoin

funnyclub wrote: »

While watching a 720p film of around 4.5gb tonight it paused twice to buffer.
To be honest id say I need to upgrade my powerline adapters as there only 50mbps.

If at all possible run a cat5e, it does gigabit. Put a little thought into it and plan your route, it's usually possible. You may not get better speeds out of homeplugs, they depend very much on the circuitry in your house. You're not getting great speeds out of the ones you got, a high bitrate 1080p Bluray film is only about 25-30Mbit so 720p is only half that.

funnyclub

PogMoThoin wrote: »

If at all possible run a cat5e, it does gigabit. Put a little thought into it and plan your route, it's usually possible. You may not get better speeds out of homeplugs, they depend very much on the circuitry in your house. You're not getting great speeds out of the ones you got, a high bitrate 1080p Bluray film is only about 25-30Mbit so 720p is only half that.

Could it be down to the drive the films are on?

Voodu Child

No, homeplugs would be your bottleneck.

High quality 720p rips vary between about 4Mbps for small ones and 8Mbs for big ones. Plus another 1.5Mbps for DTS audio. So the biggest you'll ever have is about 9.5Mbps.

That's average bitrate (ABR) so it will go up and down during the movie. Hence it could be playing fine for most of it but then suddenly it peaks very high for a few seconds and you get buffering.

A general rule of thumb is that you want actual throughput of at least 2x the ABR of what you are trying to play. Make it an even 20Mbps for luck.

I don't know what you're getting out of your powerline, the '50Mbps' is just an advertising thing, you could be getting much less depending on distance, interference etc.

XBMC has a file-manager, you could just to into that, browse to your network share and copy a test file to the internal drive of your XBMC machine. That way you'll see what kind of actual throughput you are getting.

funnyclub

Another little issue I have had is a few films never pulled any plot info from imdb as there was none so I edited them myself.
Now when I go through my library on xbmc theres double of some of my films showing up anyone ever have this issue?

Voodu Child

funnyclub wrote: »

Another little issue I have had is a few films never pulled any plot info from imdb as there was none so I edited them myself.
Now when I go through my library on xbmc theres double of some of my films showing up anyone ever have this issue?

System > videos > clean library

funnyclub

Got my remote today and I am delighted.
As Vudoo Child said it works straight out of the box.
Its great I no longer have to keep swapping my desktop keyboard and mouse.

Access

Voodu Child wrote: »

I recommend this one:


Got one from seller called gigacity on ebay for about €18. item#220839268649

Works out of the box with OpenElec and it's a nice feeling very responsive remote, no issues. Been through a few radio and IR remotes with various issues and unresponsiveness.

Thanks for the tip... i ordered one from them (offered £10 on ebay make-an-offer and they accepted) so it cost around €14.50 delivered.

Nice remote.

PogMoThoin

Access wrote: »

Thanks for the tip... i ordered one from them (offered £10 on ebay make-an-offer and they accepted) so it cost around €14.50 delivered.

Nice remote.

Yeah, it's a very good remote. If you're using Windows use this hack to get xbmc opening with the green start button
http://xbmccustomregis.sourceforge.net/remote_manu.html#Green_Start_Button

Redsoxfan

I bought the e-machines computer linked to in the OP.

Nice piece of kit, but I am having issues with the resolution on my TV. I have it connected with HDMI, and the resolution is 1280x720 - but I can't see any windows properly on screen.

There is a 'PC Mode' on the TV that I think might solve this problem, but this is only available when there is a VGA connection.

I can't find any way to fix the resolution on the PC, so it looks like I might have to go VGA - has anyone else had the same issue?

Voodu Child

What OS are you using?

Redsoxfan

Voodu Child wrote: »

What OS are you using?

The version of Linux (Linplus) that came pre-installed.

Voodu Child

Redsoxfan wrote: »

The version of Linux (Linplus) that came pre-installed.

That's only there so they can say it has an OS when they sell it. I doubt anyone uses it..I set one up for someone and immediately wiped it and installed OpenElec. Didn't even boot into Linplus.

If you want a general purpose computer, put something like Ubuntu or Linux Mint onto it.