My new media player just arrived

kidloco · 30 Nov 2012 at 15:45

Well after having bought the Boxee Box since launch I've finally retired the thing. It was playing everything fine its just the interface was a bit slow, issues streaming some web channels and with no more firmware updates the makers have left out in the cold.

I installed XBMC on my laptop to have a play and decided that was the way to go. There are loads of android powered mini players on the market, but they all seemed to have issues of one kind or another, plus finding one with Optical out was difficult. In end I stumbled on a solution by Pulse-Eight. I cant link the site for obvious reasons. I bought the premium model as I needed the optical out, stuck 4gb of ram in and im using a 8gb usb thumb drive for the hard drive.

Instalation was a doddle. Pulse-Eight do their own build of openelc you can download. Took 5 mins to install. Scanned all my films which are on a 4 bay external drive casing and away we go.

Have to same im really please with it, the XBMC interface is really snappy and looks fantastic, and the machine its self is a solid piece of kit, all aluminum. So far it hasnt missed a beat whether ive thrown a 500mb divx or a 40gb blu ray iso.

Sorry for the quality of the pics, was in a bit of a rush to get it all working

Banzai_Joe · 30 Nov 2012 at 15:50

Hmm....nice gui.
Do you have any experience with the WDTV Live? If so, how does it compare?

famitsu1 · 30 Nov 2012 at 23:32

Seems like a really good solution. Is this passively or fan cooled? What I'm asking is does this make any noise in operation and if so how loud it is.
Enjoy you new bit of kit.

kidloco · 1 Dec 2012 at 00:01

Banzai_Joe said:
Hmm....nice gui.
Do you have any experience with the WDTV Live? If so, how does it compare?

I've had a quick play with it. Wasn't to keen on the UI so lost interest fast. It's one of the more stable solutions out there and is well supported.

kidloco · 1 Dec 2012 at 00:08

famitsu1 said:
Seems like a really good solution. Is this passively or fan cooled? What I'm asking is does this make any noise in operation and if so how loud it is.
Enjoy you new bit of kit.

It's got a tiny fan on the CPU. You can hear it if you stand within a metre or 2 of it but its pretty damn quiet. I haven't tried slowing down the fan yet to make it totally silent. Maybe even replacing the fan. But that's just me being OCD. The case acts as a bit of heat sink as well being solid aluminium.

Been playing with this thing all day and I have to say I'm bloody impressed. I have tried so many media players over the years. Only keeping the boxee box for any length of time. For the price it's a steal.

hank · 1 Dec 2012 at 10:18

Hi what remote you using with pulsebox been looking at these myself but dont know if to get one of theses got and xtreamer pro and ac ryan hd2 but been playing with xbmc and think its great

steveo · 1 Dec 2012 at 10:44

can it see a Plex media server ??? could be an alternative for me

kidloco · 1 Dec 2012 at 11:19

hank said:
Hi what remote you using with pulsebox been looking at these myself but dont know if to get one of theses got and xtreamer pro and ac ryan hd2 but been playing with xbmc and think its great

im using the rii mini keyboard. I bought it a while ago when the Boxee remote broke. Works just fine on the Pulsebox. There is also a motorolla remote on the pulse eight site.

http://www.riitek.com/

One More Solo · 1 Dec 2012 at 11:30

Awesome GUI indeed, does it just pull all that info through based on your library?

kidloco · 1 Dec 2012 at 11:49

One More Solo said:
Awesome GUI indeed, does it just pull all that info through based on your library?

Yep, you just add your sources, can be networked drives, atatched drives etc. Mine is 4 x 2tb drives in a 'StarTech 3.5 inch 4 Drive eSATA USB Multi Bay External Hard Drive Enclosure'.

You then just tell it scan your sources and it does the rest.

One More Solo · 1 Dec 2012 at 14:14

kidloco said:
Yep, you just add your sources, can be networked drives, atatched drives etc. Mine is 4 x 2tb drives in a 'StarTech 3.5 inch 4 Drive eSATA USB Multi Bay External Hard Drive Enclosure'.

You then just tell it scan your sources and it does the rest.

That is super cool. :cool:

Does it do the same for TV etc?

hank · 1 Dec 2012 at 14:36

What keyboard you using ir or bluetooth been trying get a bluetooth mini keyboard work with openelec but cant get it work ok with xbmc on windows must say it does loo a cracking bit of software xbmc

kidloco · 1 Dec 2012 at 14:59

One More Solo said:
That is super cool. Does it do the same for TV etc?

If you have tv series yes it does the same. Handles series really nicely.

kidloco · 1 Dec 2012 at 15:01

hank said:
What keyboard you using ir or bluetooth been trying get a bluetooth mini keyboard work with openelec but cant get it work ok with xbmc on windows must say it does loo a cracking bit of software xbmc

Google 'rii mini wireless keyboard' works really well. I'm also using the iOS app for iPhone and iPad a fair bit.

hank · 1 Dec 2012 at 15:02

look like you got yours in time they gone up now lol

kidloco · 1 Dec 2012 at 15:10

hank said:
look like you got yours in time they gone up now lol

Look at the barebones deals. No need to get them to stick the os on. It takes minutes.

finga · 1 Dec 2012 at 16:00

looks nice, would much prefer to have xbmc rather than the wdtv live I use, have it on my massive htpc under the telly thats disconnected due to kids rapidly pressing the power button.

however, at that price, even for barebones, I can put up with a bit of menu lag for a minute or 2 before my movie plays exactly as it would on anything else, but then again, I am not the most flush person, especially at this time of year!

George Hincapie · 1 Dec 2012 at 23:12

Does this have built in wifi like the WDTV or ethernet only?

graycbr · 1 Dec 2012 at 23:54

does it play 3d iso etc ?

kidloco · 2 Dec 2012 at 00:38

George Hincapie said:
Does this have built in wifi like the WDTV or ethernet only?

Yep has built in wifi. Not using it though. Using the good old cable.