[mgdew]

I've been using media players since the days of the chipped xbox with XBMC, more recently I have moved to a boxee box but sadly am losing patience.

I have the apple TV 2 jailbroken with XBMC and it works well, but it doesn't meet my immediate needs for streaming my 1080p mkv's from my NAS.

so, can you guys offer from your vast experience and array of tested boxes a solution that will give me the following (based in UK so ideally only things available for purchase here).

Requirements
Small, quiet box with gb Lan (not fussed about wifi as I have cabled the house)
solution that will sleep properly to save power when not in use
hdmi
able to play standard 1080p MKV H264 rips without glitches or buffering
turns on a boots into XBMC
has a remote that either comes with it for full control, or recommend a decent remote that can control the entire thing and is simple for the wife to use

I have considered going the Xtreamer Ultra route, also trying to find the money and go Mac Mini route, I've also read some stuff about ZBox HD-ND22 but I basically need to know that whatever I get doesn't have problems as the wife will knife me to death if I waste more money on something that has constant buffering and problems, it just needs to work. I know nothing about chipset requirements etc so here is where hopefully you guys can help me out.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[eskro]

any ATOM/iON combination will enable u to play 1080P content.

[mgdew]

Thanks for the reply, is there anything that I should stay away from in terms of I seem to remember hearing something about don't go for ion2, and be careful with mac mini's as hardware acceleration or something is not working..

Its things like that which I fear could trip me up and have me killed by the wife when it doesn't work properly lol

[eskro]

i wouldnt worry about ATOM/iON2... it does play 1080P...
its just that report say the first generation iON1 is faster...

[mgdew]

thanks again for the detail eskro, a couple of other questions/bits of advice I need..

one thing about the boxee box I do like is its simplicity to turn on and be in the right app, my wife who is a technophobe will need it as simple as I can make it, so with respect to teaming it with a remote etc, what would you guys use ? I am thinking I need a bluetooth remote as I may mount the Zbox ND22 on the back of the television, so IR won't work.

If I use windows and jsut let the ZBox goto sleep with xbmc as the running app, can I just wake the box up with a remote and continue using it ?

thanks in advance for any advice.

[nostic]

You want openelec if you want the "appliance" feel. http://openelec.tv/

Basically Openelec is a custom built OS that has specialized builds for atom/ion pcs that include nothing but what is needed to run XBMC perfectly.

It boots in ~7 secs for me from power on to nav. My only issue with it is there is no netflix support yet...hoping someone over there figures it out at some point.

[SkyBehind]

Apple TV 1(used $45-$65) with Crystalbuntu installed and a Crystal HD card ($40-$50). You can add in an 8GB or 16GB SSD for cheap. It doesn't have Gigabit LAN, but I haven't had any problems playing over the 100Mbps LAN.

Just as a side note, I have an Apple TV2 and two Apple TV 1s (both purchased after the ATV2). After playing around, my ATV1 is much snappier (using a SSD for the OS), it's silent, uses about 25w of power, and I like the fact that I can completely control it. After all it's just a low powered computer running ubuntu.

[poofyhairguy]

After playing around, my ATV1 is much snappier (using a SSD for the OS)

Sorry for the offtopic question, but where did you find compatible ATA SSDs?

[mgdew]

thanks.

so in terms of my question about remotes controlling a pre-built such as the ZBox, is it a case that I need a wifi remote to make sure it wakes the device ?

[poofyhairguy]

thanks.

so in terms of my question about remotes controlling a pre-built such as the ZBox, is it a case that I need a wifi remote to make sure it wakes the device ?

USB works fine. Like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6880121007

[mgdew]

thanks poofy, looks like a switch from boxee box to the zotac is in my near future the

if only i could fund two mac mini hdmi models...

[mgdew]

quick question for you generous peeps.

performance wise, what is the realistic difference in these two ZBox boxes ?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/zotac-zbo...sata-3gb-s

vs

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/zotac-zbo...sata-3gb-s

The price difference is about the cost of the SSD that I would put in it, but was thinking that if boxee box has a 1.2ghz Atom then maybe the lower spec'd box would still be plenty powerful enough for xbmc and 1080p mkv stuff.

Appreciate your honest oppinions once again guys.

ta
Mart

[eskro]

as said alot of times,
ATOM/ iON Combination is enough for 1080P playback.....
However, if your into streaming NETFLIX-HD or High-Def Web Content,
forget about it...
Also, i'd forget about it if your planning on using Windows7...
to me, ATOM/iON combination should be use only with Linux OS's...
Mainly OpenELEC as its tiny and ultra fast!

thats where the Celeron comes into play,,,
works great under Windows7, plays NETFLIX-HD or High-Def Web Content,
and can be used with any OS's and Heavy XBMC skins!

[mgdew]

eskro, thanks once again for the speedy and helpful response, I am just nervous about clicking the 'place order' button as I ok with full size pc build and hardware, but when it comes to these mini itx form factors, culv etc I get lost with what is better and why, so really do appreciate your help.

now, just to find the fastest 32gb ssd I can for the cheapest amount, and stay away from OCZ from what I have read about a high failure rate.

thanks once again

[Spyderturbo007]

I have to say that I now own 2 OCZ SSD drives and haven't had a problem with either one of them (knocks on wood desk).

The first one is about a month old and in my i5 Intel desktop machine I just built. The other one is in my HTPC that I built on Thursday. So although I don't have a lot of hours on them, so far they work great.

I do keep an image handy in case something happens, but I've done that regardless of what type of HDD I'm using.