Smallest PC to run XBMC

Glaucus · 5 Jan 2015 at 14:42

I'm goad we are starting t see these devices come out. Now we just need a decent remote, and more w8 apps.
Come on iplayer, amazon etc.

Currently run a zotac, got it before we started seeing these atom based ones. And it's annoying running, amazon, iplayer, nowtv from a browser.

neocon · 5 Jan 2015 at 14:50

Interesting, so they have plenty of grunt

I wonder how long the PIPO would last if you left it on permanently

ZXSpectrum · 5 Jan 2015 at 17:07

Glaucus said:
I'm goad we are starting t see these devices come out. Now we just need a decent remote, and more w8 apps.
Come on iplayer, amazon etc.

Currently run a zotac, got it before we started seeing these atom based ones. And it's annoying running, amazon, iplayer, nowtv from a browser.

That's odd as I run XBMC on a tablet with the Qualcom chipset and it works flawlessly playing 1080p over wifi. I also have a dual core atom Arctic MC001 and a Gigabyte E350N board and do not have any problems at all with playback but this may be due to that they both have discreet graphics and I use SSD in both but they are pretty old/small drives.

Telecaster · 5 Jan 2015 at 18:32

Anyone tried an Odroid? Like a Pi but quicker?

http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G138745696275

Schizo · 5 Jan 2015 at 18:46

meandu229 said:
Cancelled my order for the meego stick in favour of
http://www.geekbuying.com/item/PIPO...l-3736F-1-8GHz-Quad-Core---Silver-339668.html

For £65~it comes with full windows 8.1 with bing, 4x USB 2.0 , 100mbps Ethernet, 32gb rom, 2gb Ram and even has a years office 365 personal subscription which I may sell to bring down the price as I already have a subscription. Super low power and looks tiny so will be great as an always on xbmc device.

I will be interested in this,have got a western digital live at the moment,it's fine,does what I want it do on the network but is slow and sometimes can't see my nas.

If you do get that little player could you do a review of it working please.

neocon · 6 Jan 2015 at 08:49

ZXSpectrum said:
That's odd as I run XBMC on a tablet with the Qualcom chipset and it works flawlessly playing 1080p over wifi. I also have a dual core atom Arctic MC001 and a Gigabyte E350N board and do not have any problems at all with playback but this may be due to that they both have discreet graphics and I use SSD in both but they are pretty old/small drives.

Is there a performance difference between .mp4 at 1080p and .mkv? MKVs can be very large files compared to MP4.

boxman2000 · 6 Jan 2015 at 09:33

Glaucus said:
Good god people still recommending rPis they are terrible, underpowered and adding all the extras aren't exactly cheap.
When you can buy androind or windows pc on a stick for £30-80, which are a thousand times more powerful and flexible. Especially the atom ones which run windows.
Just look at the thread 5 posts down.

Had mine since they came out, running XBMC and never had a problem. Very quick and plays bluray rips brilliantly.

Not sure why people think the extras are expensive, apart from the case, most people have a compatible SD or MicroSD card, old smartphone charger that is at the correct power rating and perhaps a remote but there again there are free smartphone remote apps available.

I would definitely not rule it out as an option but saying that I'm liking the idea of the Chromebox as I'm a big Android fan.

ZXSpectrum · 6 Jan 2015 at 10:03

neocon said:
Is there a performance difference between .mp4 at 1080p and .mkv? MKVs can be very large files compared to MP4.

Nope not at all as far as I can tell anyway. I have a uncompressed 1080P of the Avengers on my server which is about 40Gb. I have ran that over the network via my arctic MC001 with no issues. I also have plenty of 3D films and 1080p films (Watched 47 Ronin the other night) and I have not had any stuttering/glitching/buffering from them at all. Like I said thought that BOTH of my units have discreet gpu rather than using the standard intel hd graphics and the MC001 has a customised openelec install with xbmc so it may be using the gpu to enhance the rendering of the pic on the unit.

Deep · 6 Jan 2015 at 10:38

ZXSpectrum said:
Are you running openelec or windows?

Sorry mate just saw this.
I'm running Openelec

Deep · 6 Jan 2015 at 10:42

boxman2000 said:
Had mine since they came out, running XBMC and never had a problem. Very quick and plays bluray rips brilliantly.

Not sure why people think the extras are expensive, apart from the case, most people have a compatible SD or MicroSD card, old smartphone charger that is at the correct power rating and perhaps a remote but there again there are free smartphone remote apps available.

I would definitely not rule it out as an option but saying that I'm liking the idea of the Chromebox as I'm a big Android fan.

I had one when it first came out and it wasn't able to play full BD.
Is it able to play them now?

meandu229 · 7 Jan 2015 at 18:32

schizo said:
I will be interested in this,have got a western digital live at the moment,it's fine,does what I want it do on the network but is slow and sometimes can't see my nas.

If you do get that little player could you do a review of it working please.

Its just been shipped from US with DPD so I assume it will be here early next week, Ill post my thoughts.

CaNsA · 7 Jan 2015 at 18:51

I've spotted a small baytrail barebones system that might be of use to you.
The Gigabyte Brix GB-BXBT-2807 Baytrail Celeron N2807 HDMI Barebone

It's under 90 quid...