cheapest / quickest / easiest XBMC setup

Do-more

I've been doing some more searching for info on Android sticks suitable for running XBMC on.

As per the link in my previous post, it seems the only ones that presently have hardware acceleration in XBMC are those that are based on the Amlogic aml8726-M chip.

I have spoken to one user of the G box Dyno and he has confirmed that it runs XBMC at 1080p but points out that Android XBMC is still very beta and has some instabilities. Also not all add ons are compatible.

There's a limited number of sticks and boxes which use this chip but it seems the number is increasing all the time.

The cheapest solution seems to be the A22 from Pandawill which I linked to on the last page.

Another interesting one seems to be the newly released Geniatech ATV120 which runs the aml8726-MX which is the dual core version of the chip, it also has an external wifi antenna and an IR sensor built in. I haven't been able to find it on sale anywhere yet so I don't know the price.

There are also some Apple TV size boxes with Ethernet ports with the single core Amlogic chip but I haven't found a dual core one yet.

Tea 1000

superleedsdub wrote: »

Have you worked out a way to use your panasonic remote to open up the extra options (such as mark as watched, Update library, etc.)
I`ve bought the MPEG2 licence (for €3) so my DVD backups are streaming perfectly.
Hopefully when the bugs with Turbo mode are resolved and Raspbmc RC5 is released, the performance will improve (not that it`s that bad at the moment) and hopefully a fix to downmix DTS to stereo will be released.
At that point the PI will be the best media player i`ve seen:-)
I`ve ordered 2 more.......

I haven't actually. When I saw this post I actually had to think, went home and tried and realised I hadn't! If you have either an iPhone, iPod or Android though you can download the remote app for free, that has all the options you'll need! Don't know if there's a Windows mobile version out yet though.

subway

have this device a little over a week now.
UG802

bad points:
wifi is weak
image quality is terrible
steams skip, are choppy and piexellated
UI is poor
using with a keyboard mouse, soft keyboard still gets in the way. arrow keys and backspace dont function
in full screen mode the android soft keys are still visible
its generally quite slow and lots of apps have the "not responding - wait/close screen"
no HW decoding in xbmc,
not HD quality image for mkv playback outside of xbmc either
appears limited to stereo output / downmixing dts/ac3
limited portability due to requiring external power, and keyboard mouse to use
limited storage for apps

plus points:
its quite small & neat
its cheap

***

so, i will be sticking with windows based machines for the time being. this is a nice novelty but simply isnt up to the job of a htpc replacement yet

TheIrishGrover

Got a Raspberry Pi last week and installed Raspbmc on it. Thought it was great, if a little slow. Just upgraded to version RC5. You can run it from a USB stick and slightly overclock the Pi (Overclocked but still under the upper speed approved by the designers so no problems voiding any warranties). Running like a dream now: Zips through the menus and loads the videos quicker. Still a little slow when you go into your movie menu but I suppose this depends on the amount of movies you have. All this running off a NAS btw.

So far: Recommended

subway

and the image quality?

on the UG802 a 1.5GB mkv looks worse than a 150MB flash stream of the same video on the actual htpc

TheIrishGrover

subway wrote: »

and the image quality?

on the UG802 a 1.5GB mkv looks worse than a 150MB flash stream of the same video on the actual htpc

Perfect. No artifacts, crisp and clear, no motion-blur, no stuttering. I tried a 1080p mkv and it buffered a couple of times but this may have been down to downscaling to my 720p TV in the bedroom. 700meg 1 hour mkvs played perfect.

BostonB

Why not use a low powered core 2 duo box, they are cheap enough, a few mods of fans and hide it behind the TV? No problem with performance.

subway

BostonB wrote: »

Why not use a low powered core 2 duo box, they are cheap enough, a few mods of fans and hide it behind the TV? No problem with performance.

its an option, it just doenst meet all of the criteria. mainly maintenance, power usage and cost.

subway

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

Perfect. No artifacts, crisp and clear, no motion-blur, no stuttering. I tried a 1080p mkv and it buffered a couple of times but this may have been down to downscaling to my 720p TV in the bedroom. 700meg 1 hour mkvs played perfect.

thanks, i must get a look at one of these at some point.
my experience with the ug802 has really soured my opinion due to the image quality

BostonB

subway wrote: »

its an option, it just doenst meet all of the criteria. mainly maintenance, power usage and cost.

I don't follow. I don't really see a difference in my brief windows shopping between them in power or cost. Maintenance I don't understand you on that.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dual-core-atom-330,2141-9.html

You can pick up 2nd hand c2d quite reasonable. The main issue I think is they are usually fugly boxes. Packaging is an issue for appearance and/or space constraints. To get them compact is expensive.

I was just curious, I don't know much about them tbh.

subway

well, you answered one part of my response, getting them good looking & small is expensive.
in addition getting them quiet is an ongoing struggle,

in considering power consumption, im comparing the ARM devices listed earlier in the thread which is miniscule in comparison to the cpus you have linked

in terms of maintenance, an android device will update itself (as will xbmc) and never really need any intervention beyond the initial setup. a full blown htpc is always going to be more likely to need to have something done to it. i also feel its more at risk of a hardware crash due to more components, moving parts and so on. i think anecdotally most of us would be more familiar with needing to spend a few hours rebuliding a pc after a bad update or a hardware crash than would ever have done such a thing for an android type device.

the cost of the device i bought for a test run was €40 or so. i dont think i could even pick up a cpu for that. the raspmc is even less from what i understand, just very rare and a bit more "hobbiest"

hth

Allyall

subway wrote: »

have this device a little over a week now.
UG802

bad points:
wifi is weak
image quality is terrible
steams skip, are choppy and piexellated
UI is poor
using with a keyboard mouse, soft keyboard still gets in the way. arrow keys and backspace dont function
in full screen mode the android soft keys are still visible
its generally quite slow and lots of apps have the "not responding - wait/close screen"
no HW decoding in xbmc,
not HD quality image for mkv playback outside of xbmc either
appears limited to stereo output / downmixing dts/ac3
limited portability due to requiring external power, and keyboard mouse to use
limited storage for apps

plus points:
its quite small & neat
its cheap

***

so, i will be sticking with windows based machines for the time being. this is a nice novelty but simply isnt up to the job of a htpc replacement yet

I have one of them a while now, and yes, the WiFi is poor.

I installed this Custom ROM on it (Very easy) and it improved the wifi a lot.
Unfortunately it doesn't fix all of the problems you mentioned there, but it does improve them and the device as a whole.

I use Droidmote Client and Server (More Info)as my remote control, brilliant. I have a 4 port USB hub with two hard drives, a wireless mouse (Just for convenience more then anything)
and spare port at the moment.


The Shuttle XS35v2 doesn't seem to have been mentioned here yet, It can be bought for €140 which may not be the cheapest option, but it is a great little PC, especially for the price.

Also, i tend to check HERE a lot when i am looking out for something, as often someone has a decent used one up for an okay price.

subway

Allyall wrote: »

I have one of them a while now, and yes, the WiFi is poor.

I installed this Custom ROM on it (Very easy) and it improved the wifi a lot.
Unfortunately it doesn't fix all of the problems you mentioned there, but it does improve them and the device as a whole.

I use Droidmote Client and Server (More Info)as my remote control, brilliant. I have a 4 port USB hub with two hard drives, a wireless mouse (Just for convenience more then anything)
and spare port at the moment.


The Shuttle XS35v2 doesn't seem to have been mentioned here yet, It can be bought for €140 which may not be the cheapest option, but it is a great little PC, especially for the price.

Also, i tend to check HERE a lot when i am looking out for something, as often someone has a decent used one up for an okay price.

Thanks. Will take a look at the links and see if I can get a bit of use of of it after all

BostonB

subway wrote: »

well, you answered one part of my response, getting them good looking & small is expensive.
in addition getting them quiet is an ongoing struggle,

in considering power consumption, im comparing the ARM devices listed earlier in the thread which is miniscule in comparison to the cpus you have linked

in terms of maintenance, an android device will update itself (as will xbmc) and never really need any intervention beyond the initial setup. a full blown htpc is always going to be more likely to need to have something done to it. i also feel its more at risk of a hardware crash due to more components, moving parts and so on. i think anecdotally most of us would be more familiar with needing to spend a few hours rebuliding a pc after a bad update or a hardware crash than would ever have done such a thing for an android type device.

the cost of the device i bought for a test run was €40 or so. i dont think i could even pick up a cpu for that. the raspmc is even less from what i understand, just very rare and a bit more "hobbiest"

hth

The cost of running a PC as a media center is very little. Isn't it not worth it, to have the speed in the GUI, media library and no dropped frames.

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2011/11/06/how-much-does-your-pc-cost-to-run/

Dunno I've picked up 2nd hand SFF c2d machines for €50~90. I don't really find PC's that unreliable. One of my workstations is 8yrs old and I've only needed to re-install that one once. The other is on 24/7 and has one had one failure in 3yrs. But still on the original OS install. Just needed a new MB, no data loss ever. That said I can't deny the appeal of a tiny box from the gadgetness of of of it all. Just when you add all the bits I can't help you going to 80% of the cost to get 30% of the performance. If the Raspberry Pi didn''t have the ports going in all directions, like a rogue podracer I'd be more interested in it. My smart TV quit after 75% of a BR file I had the other night, but my old laptop played it fine. PITA when it happens at the end of a file. Was thinking a HPTC might more robust with more files.

and yet I still want to try the Raspberry Pi....

Allyall

subway wrote: »

Thanks. Will take a look at the links and see if I can get a bit of use of of it after all

More info HERE

PogMoThoin

subway wrote: »

in terms of maintenance, an android device will update itself (as will xbmc) and never really need any intervention beyond the initial setup. a full blown htpc is always going to be more likely to need to have something done to it. i also feel its more at risk of a hardware crash due to more components, moving parts and so on. i think anecdotally most of us would be more familiar with needing to spend a few hours rebuliding a pc after a bad update or a hardware crash than would ever have done such a thing for an android type device.

What you said is only valid if you run Windows, but who would want that. I have XBMCbuntu running on my HTPC. There is no maintenance, slowdowns or hardware crashes. I never see or need to see the Ubuntu side of things, it boots straight to XBMC.

subway

BostonB wrote: »

The cost of running a PC as a media center is very little. Isn't it not worth it, to have the speed in the GUI, media library and no dropped frames.

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2011/11/06/how-much-does-your-pc-cost-to-run/

Dunno I've picked up 2nd hand SFF c2d machines for €50~90. I don't really find PC's that unreliable. One of my workstations is 8yrs old and I've only needed to re-install that one once. The other is on 24/7 and has one had one failure in 3yrs. But still on the original OS install. Just needed a new MB, no data loss ever. That said I can't deny the appeal of a tiny box from the gadgetness of of of it all. Just when you add all the bits I can't help you going to 80% of the cost to get 30% of the performance. If the Raspberry Pi didn''t have the ports going in all directions, like a rogue podracer I'd be more interested in it. My smart TV quit after 75% of a BR file I had the other night, but my old laptop played it fine. PITA when it happens at the end of a file. Was thinking a HPTC might more robust with more files.

and yet I still want to try the Raspberry Pi....

i dont disagree with anyhting you're saying. but I do feel like you're trying to convince me of something i already know than actually understand where i am coming from.

ive had htpcs for over 10 years now. I started the thread to discuss modern day ultra low powered, minimalist alternatives (and if they arent viable what kind of options exists for a pc based solution, no need to convince me). as per my other post, i'm not prepared to settle for less than 100% performance and wont recommend a system that doesnt offer it.

im not sure how you get to 80% of the cost however. a 40eu stick is the only cost. id really like to see an example of a 50eu c2d sff machine for comparison

edit//
to add, you've not been unlucky then. I deal with hardware failures and OS corruption regualrly and its hardly ever a pretty sight. I'm trying to mitigate that. even if hardware failure rates are in the low PPM it still a major upset when it happens.

subway

PogMoThoin wrote: »

What you said is only valid if you run Windows, but who would want that. I have XBMCbuntu running on my HTPC. There is no maintenance, slowdowns or hardware crashes. I never see or need to see the Ubuntu side of things, it boots straight to XBMC.

realsitically, if i have to provide someone with a pc it will be windows based.

PogMoThoin

subway wrote: »

realsitically, if i have to provide someone with a pc it will be windows based.

Why Windows? I've already told you you can build a low power HTPC for ~€150, it doesn't need a drive (usb key) and XBMCbuntu and Openelec are free.

subway

becuase its not for me, so if its a PC solution I'd prefer it run windows.

and 150 is 3 times the initial budget and you didnt really make it sound all that appealing in your post

Do-more

Came across this Raspberry Pi type development board on steroids today with a Quad core Cortex A9 processor for US$129 delivered.

Here is a little more info and video of XBMC on the ODroid-X.

PogMoThoin

subway wrote: »

becuase its not for me, so if its a PC solution I'd prefer it run windows.

Mine doesn't even look like a PC, it's the same size as my satellite box.

subway wrote: »

and 150 is 3 times the initial budget and you didnt really make it sound all that appealing in your post

Only that it may be overkill with all that's on the horizon, it's certainly the best option at the moment

docentore

I would go personally pc way with openelec, easy installation, if something breaks - you can fix it yourself. €50 for stick pc from china, means no warranty, possible extra charges by customs, little software options.

I build my own box for <€150 with amd dual core cpu and nice htpc chassis with ir sensor and lcd. No small box or media player will give me the comfort I have now when I open my 3tb library.

subway

Thanks docentore.
Do you have a parts list for your buikd?

docentore

subway wrote: »

Thanks docentore.
Do you have a parts list for your buikd?

I had my own ram and hdd, so this cut my costs. I bought all parts on adverts.
1. Case D-vine 300 - got one for €50
2. Cheap mobo with AM2+/AM3 and built in Radeon will do, for me HDMI out and spdif or optical out was must - I found one for €45
3. Psu - €20 (I replaced fan myself for quiet one)
4. CPU - Athlon II €35

Don't need more than 2gb of ram (~€10).

It took me some time to built it and stay in budget, but I managed. I had an xbox with XBMC, Apple tv with crystal HD, couple of media players - only Xbox gave me similar experience, but that was 4 years ago during dvix and SD resolution times

Do-more

The Geniatech ATV1200 set top box with the Amlogic dual core chip is now available to pre-order on Oval Elephant for US$99.99 and is due to start shipping in about a fortnight.

I'm going to hold off on purchasing one myself until there is some decent feedback available for it, but I definitely think it is the one to watch for a cheap HTPC running either Linux or Android with HW acceleration for XBMC.

As the manufacturers of this box are also the OEM supplier of the Pivos XIOS I am guessing that this box will be the next generation product from Pivos and will as such be well supported but only time will tell on that one.

homewardbound11

Might be a stupid question but how would the ATV1200 handle dnla with other smart devices.

Allyall

Just saw this one, Looks great..
Bigger than the normal Android Sticks..

1. Dual-Core CPU, Runs Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1, supports 3G
2. Build in WIFI antenna to ensure the best WIFI signal
3. Latest raphite cooling technology, ensure safe continue usage around 10 x 24 hours
4. Powerful airplay push function (push the video/music/picture from your Apple OS equipment)
5. Compatible Android DLNA , share files between mobile, STB and PC, use mobile as remote control, support mirror the screen of your ipad/mac/iPhone on your TV

She's kinda hot..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArT8ZdeqxXE

This is it - LINK
I think they are available to buy individually (1 piece) from the 15th of November.

stephendevlin

Just got a UG802 in the post today, the stock software seems a bit sh1t TBH, tried playing a video but the audio would not synch, downloaded MK player from the play store and turning the audio to software decode seems to work ok and plays 1080p on hardware decode but no DTS (which needs audio hardware decode).

WIFI seems to work OK but then again its on top of the router, bit disappoint to say the least hopefully the guys at XBMC can make a difference as the issues all seem to be with the firmware and at least XBMC would hopefully be designed to make use of the hardware in all cases.

Going to try and add a custom ROM to see if it makes any difference to the playability. If this can do hardware decode on video and audio with 1080p I would be happy enough. Spec sheet seems to think its capable.

stephendevlin

homewardbound11 wrote: »

Might be a stupid question but how would the ATV1200 handle dnla with other smart devices.

Id think so. There is a client installed on the UG802 so it may be installed natively or you might be able to install from the play store or from the device if rooted