First impressions & Teardown: Acer Revo RL70 AMD Sff System

[Electroshadow]

I've been doing some more reading and the TV card in the Rl70 is an AverMedia, one of a couple of models: A336 or A373.

I can only find the A336 on eBay for quite a lot of money: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180921986545

Here's the A373: http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/AVerMedia_A373_MiniCard_Dual_DVB-T

But some older Avermedia PCI-E cards go for £5-10 on eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=avermedia mini pci&_sop=15

Though none of them seem to be Freeview HD.

Not sure if this helps but the tv tuner in the revo RL100 is the Avermedia A336AF see below.

i have a public album on picasa of a full teardown if anyone needs to look at the internals as all photos are zoomable.

 

[burdie]

My Revo RL70 come with DVD combo but there is no IR module attached. After referring to Asrock and Intel CIR header, i used a 3 pin IR sensor (which I got it from FM emulator, check parts number it support 2.7-5.5V) and 4 pin CD-ROM cable and DIY a the required IR module. the 3 pin IR sensor just nicely fitted in the IR socket of the RL70. Then I configure Logitech Harmony 300 as MCE remote (profile WMC SE) and it works with my Revo RL70 and diy IR module. So it is confirmed that RL70 is RC6 compatible. Off course, CIR must be enable in BIOS and LTE driver must install to get ehome receiver.
No problem using it on XBMC as MCE remote except a few keys/command required key mapping (using LM keymapper) such as green button, audionextlanguage (edit keyboard.xml as well) and exit xbmc (cannot configure alt+end, so configure alt-F4).
The only problem now is the remote cannot turn on my RL70 during cold boot, but it has no problem on warm boot. Also cannot find wake on S5 i bios.

 

[bulldog147]

So 4GB of RAM and an SSD and this thing looks like it could be a winner

Only support Sata2 SSD only

 

[oHUTCHYo]

My Acer Revo RL70 can sleep and wake just fine. It also shutdown - but cannot be turned on remotely from cold.

Im using a Harmony One+ with Media Center Extender device with a HP MCE receiver.

Is a cold power on possible?

If not, does the RL70 use much power when in sleep mode (pink light)? Will this decrease lifespan of the hardware?

The unit will be used anything from daily to only once per week.

 

[cjed]

My Revo RL70 come with DVD combo but there is no IR module attached. After referring to Asrock and Intel CIR header, i used a 3 pin IR sensor (which I got it from FM emulator, check parts number it support 2.7-5.5V) and 4 pin CD-ROM cable and DIY a the required IR module. the 3 pin IR sensor just nicely fitted in the IR socket of the RL70.

Hi, my Revo RL80 seems to be the same, there's a CIR header on the motherboard, but no actual IR sensor. I'd also like to fit an internal IR receiver, what was the manufacturer's part number of the IR sensor you used ?

 

[cjed]

Hi, my Revo RL80 seems to be the same, there's a CIR header on the motherboard, but no actual IR sensor. I'd also like to fit an internal IR receiver, what was the manufacturer's part number of the IR sensor you used ?

Well, a little experimentation and I've got a Revo with a neat internal IR sensor

Full details (and a link to pictures) on AVForums here.

 

[burdie]

Well, a little experimentation and I've got a Revo with a neat internal IR sensor

Full details (and a link to pictures) on AVForums here.

Congrat on your succeed on DIY the IR module, and so great to see you helping other owners to build the module.
I will like to share further that the original Acer remote bundled with RL70/80 won't fully work. It required a lot of keymapping, better get Harmony remote at which you can assign most key command.
Despite the S5 power on, I still hoping that one day we can have dual audio output (but this is software related) to make it perfect. Dual audio mod on xbmc 11 caused sound distortion, newer version have no audio mod at all.

 

[jebbett]

Home Sharing on RL70?

The RL70 is going for £200 right now, I was thinking of buying one to replace my Raspberry Pi?

At the moment, I use the Pi as a file server, and I can stream HD mkv files to my Mac with almost no lag but it has to buffer every couple of minutes. I also use the Pi with SABnzbd, SickBeard and CouchPotato to download media and it's a bit sluggish.

I have an Apple TV, and I wanted to know if the RL70 with Windows 8 would be up to running iTunes, SABnzbd, SickBeard, CouchPotato and maybe a torrent client 24/7 so I'd be able to watch my downloads on my Apple TV through home sharing without stutter?

I wouldn't be using the RL70 as a HTPC but more as a media server for streaming to mainly Apple devices through home sharing. Is the E-450 up to the task?

[EDIT] I realise I'll have to convert the videos to MP4 for them to stream to the Apple TV. Could the RL70 do that too? Speed isn't important for me