XBMC Xbox dead, now what?

[JAYBE]

I've been using my 5 year old Xbox with XBMC for 5 years now to stream all my movies and music from my PC.

However it is now dead, it won't even power up.

As a replacement I have been looking at the Acer Revo Net top. Ebuyer are selling them for £149.99.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167153

You can hang them on the back fo your TV and have HDMI and a NVIDIA graphics chips for HD video.



However I was wanting a look and feel of one before buying. Went into PC world here in Nottingham, asked a member of staff about one, and looked at me as I had landed from space and pointed me towards the netbooks!

Any one had experience of the Acer revo, must be a good buy at £149?

[duplu]

They had them in my PC World and they get good reviews.

Remember however that it's only a single core atom so it might struggle on some of the more graphics intensive XBMC skins like Aeon or Transparency!. I have an Asrock Ionstar 330 and although it's a bit bigger (ie, no chance of it going on the back of the TV) it's a dual core atom and handles these skins no problem.

Also whichever box you go for you'll be best running XBMC Live or install Ubuntu and run the linux version of XBMC on it as then you can then take full advantage of the Nvidia 9400 chip with VDPAU. At the current time I don't believe the Windows version of XBMC can use the hardware decoding of HD content. Using VDPAU switched on you'll be able to play 1080p content in mkv containers without any problem.

[hold the Bells]

http://xbmc.org/blittan/2009/10/12/a.../#comment-8335


This is what you want, couple of things you need to wait for and remember

The model will be released with built in IR soon.

You will need to use XMBC on Linux if you want 1080p playback

The current XBMC is still Alpha so has problems

My mate came round with an Asrock with an Alpha XMBC the other night, worked well but still needs work.

[pembo]

Dual Core version of revo (R3610) available here for £155.

http://www.microwarehouse.co.uk/catalogue/item/A0483003

[pembo]

also - see the backend of the
HD home cinema thread...
http://www.fruitforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=33542

[sgandtg]

I'm gonna get one of those. reckon it'd pay for itself in electricity savings in no time considering my pc (using a 650watt psu) is on 24/7.

Couple of questions:-

1. where's the best site to get more info on what do with them? IE, how to install windows, whether to install windows, etc;
2. What ram do they take, how many slots do they have, what's the max ram?
3. what's my old xbox, chipped with 250gig HD worth nowadays?

[peter_reed]

Popcorn hour

[sgandtg]

Dual Core version of revo (R3610) available here for £155.

http://www.microwarehouse.co.uk/catalogue/item/A0483003

Not in stock. Any idea where else has the dual core version for about this price?

[sgandtg]

Anyone ever heard of or used ballicom?

http://www.ballicom.co.uk/laptops/su...x.p466112.html

[pembo]

1. installation of vista/windows 7 is a breeze - just get it onto a stick and install. Windows 7 pretty much works out the box, you might need the drivers from acer for vista. I installed them anyway on win7.

2. Memory Has 2 slots - Can take up to 4GB i think (2*2GB) - need to check on the type

3. Xbox - bugger all

Ballicom - get indifferent ratings on google products. Some give it 5, some give it 1. Might be worth a shot as it's a pretty good price.

They're a bugger to find because everyone is listing them as an Atom230 or an R3600!

[StevOz]

Then again, a ASRock ION 330 seems better value to me.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/279..._hd/index.html

[pembo]

Then again, a ASRock ION 330 seems better value to me.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/279..._hd/index.html

It's ugly and double the price, though I guess that's the pitfall of having a blu-ray drive in it.



Seriously - the misses wouldn't dream of letting me have one of them in the lounge

[JAYBE]

I havn't bought a DVD for 3 years, never mind a bluray!

When I did buy DVDs it was from the shop I worked for about a £1 each. I can live without the drive.

[pembo]

I havn't bought a DVD for 3 years, never mind a bluray!

When I did buy DVDs it was from the shop I worked for about a £1 each. I can live without the drive.

likewise...

I own a few HD-DVDs that I bought along with the xbox hd-dvd drive when it was a bargain at £20 (given the included remote retails at £19.99).

These are probably the first movie discs I've bought for years.

The future is downloadable content, not a disc based medium. Microsoft anticipated that which is why I suspect they went with HD-DVD initially, just to muddy the waters to give them time to set up an online streaming capability and allow broadband technology/speeds to improve to the point where this is feasible.

[sgandtg]

3. Xbox - bugger all

Seriously? Might just give this away to a mate for his caravan then.

Ordered the dual core from Ballicom. Fingers, toes & cock crossed in hope that nowt goes wrong.