Mini itx XBMC machine

Cant comment on its ability, but Jetway do a 2ghz HDMI enabled itx motherboard... But its gonna cost at least £150 alone I think... Couple of gig of ram plus hdd plus optical etc....

Unless you want a tiny case i'd suggest a matx spec
 
Just a query, why bother with a pc version of xmbc.

From what I can see the pc/linux version of xbmc is pretty bad, considering you can easily get a xbox for around 10-20 quid.

Pc version cant do blueray playback regardless of hardware. Until that changes I cant see much of a advantage, no games, limited applications, expensive hardware, long boot up times, a pain to configure... Maybe I missed something.
 
.MKV video playback, only media center software that can run without the need for a OS to depend on.

I have an xbox but it does have limitations, its hideous and quite large, if i can construct a HD capable mini itx pc it would be a better solution that and Blu ray will come eventually.
 
XBMC doesn't currently support GPU offloading for HD playback, so you need a fairly hefty CPU for 1080p mkv and bluray playback. If you only need 720p support then this gives you more options.
 
XBMC is brilliant, as a pure network video player. Very quick to configure and it worked great with my old ATi remote wonder.
 
Been running XBMC on an Xbox for several years now and it is a great little machine. I have started to hit the limits of the hardware though now and I'm in the process of porting it over to my Asus EeeBox B202 which is quieter and uses less power than the Xbox. Also hooking up a remote to it, I'll keep you posted on how it goes, should have it working by next Sunday.
 
I was considering getting an Asus Eeebox to run XBMC myself, however it's been reported that the intel atom is not up to playing 720p videos :(

I'll be interested to see how you get on though.
 
It plays 720p videos fine in WMP with the correct codecs but I have yet to test XBMC which could produce different results. XBMC is a new project on Windows/Linux so its not as mature as the Xbox version was, it will take some time before support for all of the features is completed.
 
Yeah basically the engine that XBMC uses (ffdshow) sticks all of the decoding onto the CPU rather then utilizing the GPU of the machine. I doubt we will ever see XBMC capable of full 1080p on anything less the 3ghz without them changing the engine or ffdshow getting GPU support.
 
Why XBMC? Try Media Portal. Media Portal can use an external h264 decoder for mkv play back. I use Media Portal with coreavc but you can also use the h264 decoder from powerdvd. I can play back 1080p rips on a overclocked (2.2ghz) e4300. I tried xbmc on the same processor and it stuttered like mad playing back 1080p. Problem with xbmc is that it uses its own internal decoder for h264, which is non optimal, based on ffmpeg.

Media Portal is free
coreavc costs $14.95. This is also a software only decoder.

I use a very minimal XP installation running the above in my HTPC.
 
I'm testing different software on my EeeBox at the moment, got a remote dongle working but I busted the wifi antenna on it now. The pin came of the SMA connector on the box when I unscrewed the antenna, as it was crimped/soldered in I need to get a pigtail cable to replace it as the existing one is beyond repair.
 
720p content is no problem for the EeeBox as long as you have hardware support, clocks in at around 60% CPU usage during playback which is quite good. Considering MediaPortal now though as XBMC lacks hardware support and the remote is a little laggy which is being caused by XBMC, the remote is flawless in MediaPortal.

EDIT: Here is the remote and dongle.

I intended to wire the remote inside the EeeBox to the USB port availiable on the PCI-Express bus, however to make things easier I ended up putting it inside a small ABS box and sticking a USB cable on it. This was an official Xbox dongle which I took off the case, controller port connector and IR receiver off.

remote.jpg


I attached the IR receiver to some wire so I had some space to reposition it.

open.jpg


I also have the circular window from the original case which I will glue into this case as soon as I get a drill big enough to make a hole.

complete.jpg


It works really well with the driver and it seems to be supported by most of the media apps including XBMC and MediaPortal.
 
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