Best and cheapest box right now?
#16
Bump.

Which will have better sound capabilities? TLBB or a Rpi?

I have a 5.1 Home Theatre system. HDMI connected - with files of all types of sound and codecs. I'd like the best type of sound and vision quality through it.

Thanks
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#17
(2013-08-14, 12:29)smallclone Wrote: Bump.

Which will have better sound capabilities? TLBB or a Rpi?

I have a 5.1 Home Theatre system. HDMI connected - with files of all types of sound and codecs. I'd like the best type of sound and vision quality through it.

Thanks

The sound capabilitys for your set up would be the same the tlbb is just more powerful and faster both will work with 5.1. The pi is cheaper depends on how cheap you want and whether you want a nice remote etc.
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#18
(2013-08-07, 16:17)koichirose Wrote: Hello everyone, first post after months of reading.

I'd like to replace my popcorn hour, as it is really not hackable enough, the UI is a pain and it sometimes fails to play some stuff.

I'm looking at the Pivos, The little black box and similar little boxes.
A cheap HTPC is not to be excluded.

I can't decide on anything even though I read a lot about them.

Essential features:
- runs XBMC flawlessly (of course) - I do not really care about eye candy, nice skins etc.
- a nice remote that can turn the box on / off (the little black box's one looks great)
- an ethernet port
- a USB port that allows connecting external 2.5 HDDs without any additional power source (possibly)

Nice to have:
- debian-based, allows installation of Linux utilities and SSH access

I know it's always the same question, but I can't find any discussion about these features.

Thank you!



I bought "The little black box" player...
at the beginning I had my trouble get in to it but within the last two weeks they offered two Firmware upgrade which kicked the player to a complete another level. I am very glad to have this and can suggest you this player...
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#19
(2013-08-07, 23:15)jonc22 Wrote: What about apple tv 1 or 2

Aren't they both limited to 720p output (GUI and video)? For all its other faults, at least the Pi can output 1080p...
Texture Cache Maintenance Utility: Preload your texture cache for optimal UI performance. Remotely manage media libraries. Purge unused artwork to free up space. Find missing media. Configurable QA check to highlight metadata issues. Aid in diagnosis of library and cache related problems.
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#20
pardon my ignorance... but what is TLBB?

nevermind... i followed the link and found that it's The Little Black Box.
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#21
For me it is an HP Thin Client T5740 kit I found for $70 brand new. I added a 7015 CrystalHD decoder replacing the Wireless N card in the mini-PCI for $25, adapter/cable/4gb microdrive (flash wears out too fast) from eBay so total cost around $100.

Atom N280 1.66ghz hyperthreaded, 2GB RAM (expandable, two ddr3 sodimm slots), internal PCI-E and SATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet, 8 USB ports, DisplayPort (DP->HDMI adapter). Running arch linux serves HTPC and NAS/Home Server uses beautifully. Only issue is GL40 chipset does not support HD audio codec bitstreaming but... I can overlook that. A lot of flexibility in this platform being x86, does take some work to build up arch from scratch to do everything you want but if you just want something that does XBMC and nothing else it will run openelec without you needing to know anything. Thanks to the crystalhd it has no problem at all with high bitrate 1080p content.

Really hard to beat for the money, ymmv if you can find this model cheap enough though. I am not a fan of the android based devices as they are too inflexible for my needs. I really much prefer something closer to a traditional PC. Way better than the Pi in terms of power and performance for general tasks and expandability options etc. Biggest issue, which isn't one yet... is that it is x86 only, the last Atom that was... so if Arch ever does drop i686 support then it becomes more painful to keep up to date as you're stuck building everything yourself.
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#22
(2013-08-15, 15:27)equine80 Wrote: pardon my ignorance... but what is TLBB?

nevermind... i followed the link and found that it's The Little Black Box.



It stands for The Little Black Box - its another linux based XBMC, similar to Raspberry Pi. But was designed soley to run XBMC and Its more powerful than the Pi. Jinx a member here codes for it, so it has great support...I've heard good reviews about it, it also has a nice remote.

http://www.thelittleblackbox.nl/en/
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#23
(2013-08-14, 13:02)Julesallen Wrote:
(2013-08-14, 12:29)smallclone Wrote: Bump.

Which will have better sound capabilities? TLBB or a Rpi?

I have a 5.1 Home Theatre system. HDMI connected - with files of all types of sound and codecs. I'd like the best type of sound and vision quality through it.

Thanks

The sound capabilitys for your set up would be the same the tlbb is just more powerful and faster both will work with 5.1. The pi is cheaper depends on how cheap you want and whether you want a nice remote etc.

I don't think TLBB supports HD audio such as DTS-MA/Dolby HD if that's what you are looking for.
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#24
I say Chromebox, just add ubuntu crystalHD (if necessary) and remote
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#25
(2013-08-15, 12:06)MilhouseVH Wrote:
(2013-08-07, 23:15)jonc22 Wrote: What about apple tv 1 or 2

Aren't they both limited to 720p output (GUI and video)? For all its other faults, at least the Pi can output 1080p...

Apple TV 1 requires linux to run frodo. Add a crystal HD card and get hardware decoding up to 1080p. There are a few formats that may decode in software that will take the cpu to 100% at HD

I just bought one in sealed box (never opened) from craigslist seattle for $100 USD
HP Thin Client T5740

As for the Pi, the third party licence for codecs is a farce, and you can forget making it into an airprint server or any of the extras that you can do on ATV1


ATV2 sucks has lots of judder and limited to 720p
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#26
(2013-08-15, 12:06)MilhouseVH Wrote:
(2013-08-07, 23:15)jonc22 Wrote: What about apple tv 1 or 2

Aren't they both limited to 720p output (GUI and video)? For all its other faults, at least the Pi can output 1080p...

Apple TV 1 under linux can do full 1080 output.

(2013-08-16, 05:53)tekno Wrote: As for the Pi, the third party licence for codecs is a farce, and you can forget making it into an airprint server or any of the extras that you can do on ATV1

I'm a total fan of the ATV1, but I should point out, I've turned my Raspberry Pi into an AirPrint server before....
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#27
(2013-08-16, 05:53)tekno Wrote: As for the Pi, the third party licence for codecs is a farce

Just out of interest, why are they a farce?

The decode licences are cheap (non profit) and it's not the fault of the Raspberry Pi Foundation that they have to charge for these licences. It's also better that they don't include them as part of the upfront unit cost, since not everyone requires these licences. They give you ultimate flexibility - buy them if you need them, ignore them if you don't. If your media library is all h264, you don't need additional licences at all.

It's also easier to pay a few dollars for a decode licence, than have to fork out a lot more dollars for additional hardware which enables HD decoding - now that's a farce.

(2013-08-16, 05:53)tekno Wrote: and you can forget making it into an airprint server or any of the extras that you can do on ATV1

Sure.
Texture Cache Maintenance Utility: Preload your texture cache for optimal UI performance. Remotely manage media libraries. Purge unused artwork to free up space. Find missing media. Configurable QA check to highlight metadata issues. Aid in diagnosis of library and cache related problems.
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