2012-11-12, 17:02
Hi!
I have been following xbmc from the early xbox days. I have installed a couple of times on my media center, under Windows 7. I have been away from the developments and I would appreciate some orientation help.
I'm looking for hardware to host XBMC and replace my current cumbersome media center PC with something cheaper and lighter. Here are my requirements:
1) Internal 2.5" HDD
2) USB 3.0
3) HDMI (I don't care if it is the only video output)
4) Enough processing power and memory to host cool skins and playback smoothly
5) A bit elegant and quite as much as possible
6) Wi-Fi (optional - I wouldn't mind sticking an external dongle, if there is a USB port to spare)
7) Infrared with remote (optional - I could live with an external keyboard, if there is a USB port to spare)
I don't mind about the OS. I'm familiar mainly with Windows but I was thinking about Android as well, but I understand that XBMC is not yet very stable for it.
Devices that I was considering...
http://www.amazon.de/Egreat-R200s-Mediap...omputers_4
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MELE-A2000-All-W...43b4cb82a6
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MELE-A2000-All-W...43b4cb82a6
I was also considering the Raspberry Pi as a solution. But I'm concerned by the fact that, even though it is said to support 1080p smoothly, I have read about not very smooth UI navigation, especially with some heavy skins. It is a very cool piece of hardware, but I would rather go with something more powerful. And of course it would require some work from my side to bring it close to my requirements. So, I decided to look for something easier to prepare and deploy under my TV set.
I have been following xbmc from the early xbox days. I have installed a couple of times on my media center, under Windows 7. I have been away from the developments and I would appreciate some orientation help.
I'm looking for hardware to host XBMC and replace my current cumbersome media center PC with something cheaper and lighter. Here are my requirements:
1) Internal 2.5" HDD
2) USB 3.0
3) HDMI (I don't care if it is the only video output)
4) Enough processing power and memory to host cool skins and playback smoothly
5) A bit elegant and quite as much as possible
6) Wi-Fi (optional - I wouldn't mind sticking an external dongle, if there is a USB port to spare)
7) Infrared with remote (optional - I could live with an external keyboard, if there is a USB port to spare)
I don't mind about the OS. I'm familiar mainly with Windows but I was thinking about Android as well, but I understand that XBMC is not yet very stable for it.
Devices that I was considering...
http://www.amazon.de/Egreat-R200s-Mediap...omputers_4
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MELE-A2000-All-W...43b4cb82a6
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MELE-A2000-All-W...43b4cb82a6
I was also considering the Raspberry Pi as a solution. But I'm concerned by the fact that, even though it is said to support 1080p smoothly, I have read about not very smooth UI navigation, especially with some heavy skins. It is a very cool piece of hardware, but I would rather go with something more powerful. And of course it would require some work from my side to bring it close to my requirements. So, I decided to look for something easier to prepare and deploy under my TV set.
