What standalone XBMC/HTPC box?

I'd also recommend a Little Black Box if you are looking for a simple solution!

I had one about a year ago I think and while it was very much a work in progress, it was very promising!

I'm sure it will have come on a lot in that time!
 
There are so many of these android boxes around at the moment, with new ones being released every day it seems. Its a bit of a minefield making sure they can tick all the boxes.

24fps handled correctly
HD audio passthrough
Handle 1080p and enough power for smooth menus etc.

Whats your budget, just wondering if a NUC is in price range?
 
I need optical too :S

What about the 'AZURE MICRO 4K 3D ANDROID 4.4 (KITKAT) XBMC MEDIA PLAYER (QUAD CORE)'
 
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When I move Ill be looking at this as will want to put my N54L somewhere else, ie not in living room with TV. So many android boxes seem to be perfect as with apps for netflix spotify etc they are a really good htpc where as there isnt a "nice" way to enjoy netflix on a NUC.
But NUCs can do steam streaming so I often end right back at the start, if steam ever bring out a steam streaming app for android then Ill be one happy bunny as a nice low power android set top box would make an amazing HTPC.
 
If you need Netflix integration then you should look at a Fire TV.
You get proper HD Netflix with a remote centric UI, generic Android boxes do not get this.
 
for XBMC the NUCs are impossible to beat, the android box i tried (Sumvision) is slow, clunky and just a bit crap.

If it's Netflix you want, you'd go a long way to beat an Apple TV.

Compromise is a NUC with Win8 (there's a netflix app) and XBMC installed.

EDIT: seems you can install Kodi (XBMC) on to the firetv
 
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NexusK said:
The DN2820FYKH Nuc is around £105 + RAM
Click to expand...

I use one of these, smooth as butter, over wifi too. (OpenELEC)

If you shop around £93 + ram + mem stick/HDD

Edit: Oh a controller of some kind. I use a Harmony, but any MCE remote will work. Also xbox remotes (360 or ONE)
 
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The Intel NUC is the dogs-danglies as far as streaming from a source such as a NAS but I'm not sure how easy it is to get Netflix etc working on it!

As far as controllers go though, I can't recommend the Pulse-Eight CEC Adapter enough - plug in and you are good to go! (as long as your TV supports it!)
 
I got a droidbox imx6 MCE for one of the other rooms a few months ago. Works perfectly. Nice remote. Much more responsive than a raspberry pi
 
There still isn't a perfect media player as far as I can work out.

All android devices can't do 23.976 fps properly it seems.

Openelec is amazing but no Netflix.

I'm hoping the fact that you can now get Netflix working on Linux (all be it with a bit of a faff) means that eventually it will see the light of day on openelec. If so they a fanless NUC running that would be pretty much perfect.
 
I've just built my own HTPC and it runs XBMC for my TV and also Plex for when I want to transcode across the internet and stream from it. It runs off an SSD, and has a blurray player if I want to play DVDs and so on.

All my data is stored on an HP Microserver.

It cost about £300 or so, but it was worth it as it means it runs the way I want, and I can do whatever I want with it. It's quiet, and I can remote into it (though I seldom need to).

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23rd October Amazon fire

looks like it is going to be a huge hit as a media player.
Native Plex and XBMC support plus Netflix , Amazon Prime and can be rooted and side loaded with any of the usual android stuff.

Basically a one box that can do everything ? we shall see but it does look very good indeed.
 
I'm sticking with my old Mac mini. Small, practically silent, works with the Apple remote or a Bluetooth keyboard if the mood takes me. It owes me nothing having done years of desktop PC duties previously.

It runs XBMC like a champ aside from OS X not supporting HD Audio but I don't mind that. Plus with AirServer installed I can stream all sorts of Apple-y stuff to it and do display mirroring via AirPlay.
 
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