abillybob Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 (edited) I want a computer that will run OpenElec XBMC, well it has to have HDMI with full HD support 1080p, needs to be quiet and small but at the same time has enough power to run XBMC smoothly. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I was looking at Intels NUC but add on the Ram, Wifi Card and MSATA and it goes nearly to £200 which I just can't afford! Any ideas would be most appreciated Oh and Raspberry Pi is out of the question as it won't playback my DVBViewer TV server Edited March 12, 2014 by abillybob
ICTDirect_Dave Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 I've got some small form dc7700s that you can have with a hdmi gfx card for less than £100 They'll run it no problem I think Edit: Probably a bit bigger than you wanted though
abillybob Posted March 12, 2014 Author Posted March 12, 2014 I've got some small form dc7700s that you can have with a hdmi gfx card for less than £100 They'll run it no problem I think Edit: Probably a bit bigger than you wanted though Cheers matey, though I have one of them already bought it from ebay for £45 ages ago, they're too big and ugly for under my TV Haha
LosOjos Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 Does it need much local storage or will it be streaming it's content from elsewhere on your network?
abillybob Posted March 12, 2014 Author Posted March 12, 2014 It will be streaming from my home server so no need for much storage as long as theirs enough to put OpenElec onto it!
LosOjos Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 It will be streaming from my home server so no need for much storage as long as theirs enough to put OpenElec onto it! OK and you mentioned that R-Pi won't work with your DVB streamer - is that because it's incompatible with Linux or just ARM?
abillybob Posted March 12, 2014 Author Posted March 12, 2014 I don't know it's really strange t will play the sound although won't show the video. I'm guessing its a codec problem but can't find a single thing online to see how to make it work.
LosOjos Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 I don't know it's really strange t will play the sound although won't show the video. I'm guessing its a codec problem but can't find a single thing online to see how to make it work. I'd be looking in to that first, as sub £100 R-Pi is probably your only option unless you can pick up an NUC or nettop second hand. A quick Google suggests that there was/is a known bug in OpenELEC preventing streaming live TV. Before you spend any money, I'd try the RPi again with the latest version of OpenELEC and if you still have no luck, try it with RaspBMC. Could save you over £100!
abillybob Posted March 12, 2014 Author Posted March 12, 2014 I've tried both ! Raspbmc and OpenElec neither works properly, tell a lie I did find a forum at one point that states DVBViewer won't work on raspberry pi! *sigh* Anyone selling a second hand NUC?
LosOjos Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 Your other option then is to hit eBay. I reckon if you're patient, you'll pick up a mini-ITX mobo with CPU, case and RAM for under £100, then just whack in a small SSD and you're good to go. Zotac used to do a lot of mini-ITX with CPU built in, they were extremely popular for media centres a few years ago, so you might pick one up cheap now. Not going to match an NUC for performance but if you'll literally just be using it as a media centre, it'll be more than powerful enough (much more powerful than an RPi)
Hawkeyez Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 I've had one of these running XBMC for the last few years. Modding the Acer Revo | bit-tech.net Media is stored on a Freenas box in another room.
jaminben Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 I'm currently playing with Android devices... more specifically a Minix Neo x7 mini. I'm not overly impressed with the device but it is currently playing: 90% of my 1080p content 100% of my 720p content 100% of SD PVR content Not really working with HD PVR but I expect this to change For my PVR side of things I'm using TVHeadend which has near instant channel changing speeds. I think there are some new Android devices about to be launched which should play better with XBMC and for around £85 I think they are good solutions... they're also very small and fit behind the TV.
abillybob Posted March 12, 2014 Author Posted March 12, 2014 The Acer Revo's still seem to go for more than £100 on ebay My brothers phone which has XBMC on it plays DVBviewer perfectly fine problem being no remote control support !!
featured_spectre Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 call me an idiot if I am wrong, is openelec a varient of XBMC?
rush_tech Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 I have a Ouya runs XBMC fine it's plugged into my network over powerline adapters it streams HD content from my NAS and the net fine
abillybob Posted March 12, 2014 Author Posted March 12, 2014 I have a Ouya runs XBMC fine it's plugged into my network over powerline adapters it streams HD content from my NAS and the net fine Do you have to use the controller to control it though or can you add a USB infrared controller?
Tesla Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 this any good? Top 5 Raspberry Pi alternatives | All Things Technical
zag Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 call me an idiot if I am wrong, is openelec a varient of XBMC? Its an operating system + xbmc. Just boot and go. Its the best way to use XBMC imo
zag Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 And personally I would buy one of the cheap celeron NUC's, you can get them for around £120 I think. I use an i3 haswell NUC and its so good. On about my 10th HTPC so know a bit about this
zag Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 The Ouya is a resonable alternative if you must be under £100, but seriously spend the extra money and get an NUC
Arthur Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 Raspbmc and OpenElec neither works properly Have you tried XBian?
Arthur Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 Do you have to use the controller to control it though or can you add a USB infrared controller? Yatse should be able to control XBMC.
abillybob Posted March 12, 2014 Author Posted March 12, 2014 And personally I would buy one of the cheap celeron NUC's, you can get them for around £120 I think. I use an i3 haswell NUC and its so good. On about my 10th HTPC so know a bit about this A NUC would suit me brilliantly aswell, I just don't have the money if it was a £130 for everything I would but it's not you need to buy a new mSATA, DDR3 RAM and a WiFi card then its more close to £200 which is double what I want to spend!!
rush_tech Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 Do you have to use the controller to control it though or can you add a USB infrared controller? I'm using the controller at the minute which is fine the touch pad can take a little to get used to but I'm planning on getting a bluetooth keyboard with trackpad or a remote I'm swaying towards a remote as it mainly used for XBMC and I fire up the retro emulators now and again
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