ATV2 with XBMC Opinions

Soldato
Joined
15 Dec 2002
Posts
23,693
Location
In a cowfield, London, UK
Hi folks,

Recently I have purchased a Boxee box in order to play 720p media on my network. This unit was to replace my JB'd ATV1 running XBMC. The ATV1's aging Pentium M was just not upto the task of playing high res content so I sadly had to look elsewhere.

Boxee seemed the perfect choice, as I didn't want to dabble with building a HTPC. I received my Boxee last week, and despite it being able to play hi-res content off my network easily enough - I am not happy with the purchase compared to how smooth and easy XBMC was to work with.

The fixed media scraper on Boxee is just horrible and can't recognise half my tv shows like Knight Rider (1985) or Thundercats (old). Movies are fine. By comparison XBMC has this mastered to a tee. I spent two days renaming a ton of TV shows and half of them still aren't picked up. Then there's the boxee remote, which is RF based instead of IR, meaning I can't program my Logitech Harmony One remote to replicate it's functions.

I am considering returning this unit, and looking at XBMC on a JB'd ATV2. My main question to most of you ATV2 users is - how well does it run XBMC, and how well does that handle 720p/1080p content off network shares?

Boxee is a great bit of kit tbh, very silent and has yet to even get warm to the touch. However the software just lets it down. There is a beta build available, which I shall try tonight though. Overall the software, despite being a fork off XBMC has a long way to go.

Cheers all!
 
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Thanks for the feedback gents. I had the feeling the ATV2 would be the perfect platform but I chickened out thinking it would run too hot - like the ATV1. I keep forgetting the unit lacks the main source of the heat - the hard drive.

I'll check out the new boxee update tonight and do some research. Ta!
 
Sod it, sending back the Boxee and just ordered an ATV2. If Apple release a successor this January, all hell will break loose.
 
Indeed. Can't see an ATV3 coming anyway and the 2 has more than enough power for my needs from the looks of it. I'm just reading the ATV2 teardown at iFixit. The unit is so compact!
 
Cheers for the heads up guys.

Got the ATV2 today and was up and running in minutes. I used Seas0npass to do the JB and had XBMC (Eden) on the little device in no time. I find Eden somewhat sluggish to use atm (even on my main pc), it could be the software or just the Confluence default skin I guess. I've turned off fanart to speed things up. I just need to look into all the other software on offer now!

HD playback seems nice and smooth so I am happy there. It is incredible how tiny the device is when put on top of the ATV1...

http://twitpic.com/86fbam/full
 
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