[Shteve0]

Hi all

I'm sure this is tedious for most, what with this question coming up a lot; but with so many options out there in the market at the moment I feel like I'm not able to make an informed decision on what options for android/linux etc XBMC boxes are better than others. I've had a bit of a poke around in the forums (and asked about this once before, though I can't track that thread down at the moment) but what I'm missing, and really looking for, is a comparative review of one or more of the conveniently packaged boxes on the market.

A quick search on amazon turns up the following results (I've had to dig a little to find some of these technical specs), and I'm sure there are many more options out there, which at least gives me a starting point. I'll also happily update this post with missed information and new stuff out there in the short term if there are any big ticket alternatives I've missed. I guess what I'm really interested in now is some sort of idea of how these perform with XBMC navigation and playback that extends beyond "it's good" or "it's crappy"... can anyone point me towards where any or all of these are reviewed with some sort of benchmarking, or do you own one of these that you're able to present some sort of (xbmc-specific) performance information for? If so, some idea of how they handle large library sizes would be a massive plus, on a personal level not least because my current ATV2 is beginning to strain under the size of my own UNRAID hosted, SMB shared library.

Cheers all

G-Box Midnight MX2:
* OS: Android 4.2.x Jelly Bean installed
* CPU: Amlogic A9 Dual Core Neon HD CPU
* GPU: Mali400 Dual Core High Performance 3D
* Memory: 1GB RAM (DDR3)
* Storage: 8GB Total Internal Storage, USB Storage Extendable (Flash Drives/HDD), SD Storage Extendable (Up to 32GB)
* USB: 4x USB 2.0 Ports
* Connectivity: Wifi (802.11b/g/n), Ethernet Port
* Output: HDMI v1.4 video output, Coaxial SPDIF Digital Audio Output (Surround Sound), Composite Audio/Video Out

OUYA Gaming Console:
* OS:
* CPU: nVIDIA Tegra 3 Quad-Core
* Memory: 1GB RAM
* Storage: 8GB Internal Flash Storage (expandable via USB Port)
* USB: One USB 2.0 port, One Micro USB port
* Connectivity: WiFi (802.11 b/g/n), Ethernet port, and Bluetooth
* Output: HDMI (up to 1080p HD)

AppleTV2:
* OS: Proprietory (requires Jailbreak for XBMC)
* CPU: Apple A4 Chip
* Memory:
* Storage:
* USB: microUSB (for service and support only)
* Connectivity: Wifi (802.11n (a/b/g compatible)); 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, Ethernet, AirPlay
* Output: 1 HDMI; 1 optical audio

Little Black Box:
* OS:
* CPU:
* Memory: 1GB RAM
* Storage: 4GB Flash
* USB: 1 Port
* Connectivity: LAN (10/100 MBit), WIFI (a/b/g/n), AirPlay
* Output: HDMI

Raspberry Pi Model B:
* OS: (boots via SD card socket)
* GPU provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 (requires license purchase from raspberrypi.com) high-profile decode, GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24GFLOPs with texture filtering and DMA infrastructure
* CPU: Broadcom BCM2835 700MHz ARM1176JZFS processor with FPU and Videocore 4 GPU
* Memory: 512MB RAM
* Storage: Nil (expandable via USB, expandable via SD card socket)
* USB: 2 Ports (USB2.0), powered by microUSB socket
* Connectivity: LAN (10/100 MBit)
* Output: HDMI, RCA video, SD card socket, 3.5 mm audio out jack

[Shteve0]

Hi guys, any thoughts on this? Sorry to be a nag, just still (despite rampant googling) not able to find anywhere that objectively compares how any of these boxes perform as xbmc tools.

Any thoughts appreciated - if I'm missing something somewhere obvious, please point it out to me! I'm just a casual user but looking at the slowdown on the ATV2 after Frodo release I'm really keen to research an upgraded solution in this $100-$200 price point.

Cheers!

[kortina]

Hi Shteve0,

There is a big perspective issue.

One person will think that a device is fantastic because it is cheap, and that is the criteria they are basing their decision on.

Another person might be an Audiophile
Another is a Video guy...


MY personal opinion:
I have experienced my friends trying "cheap", getting dissapointed, then buying "cheap" again, getting dissapointed.
I would suggest buying a quality device and keeping it for years.

I run two "prod" systems at home:
1 x ION (Atom + Nvidia 1.6Ghz) $700 (6 years ago)
1 x ION2 (Atom + Nvidia 1.8Ghz) $500 (4 years ago)

Both systems have been used extensivly (10-20 hours per week), and I have no regrets in spending the cash.

Video is great, with "good" 23.976 representation, not perfect, but good enough for me
Sound is great, with SPDIF, 5.1 and DTS, not HD but good enough for my sound setup

I have an OUYA and a XIOS-DS (toys)
OUYA is ok, but buggy (compared to Openelec on ION). Video is OK sound is OK. Havent used it full time as the remote is not Wife approved.
XIOS-DS is ok, but a bit slow... might just be my extensive library (on unRAID). Remote feels cheap.

Both the systems are OK, but are inferior to to my old stuff that has given years of service.

I expect that both systems will last another few years, and at that stage replacing them with a $500+ Haswell-NUC setup will seem like a great long term investment.

Each to their own... but for me the $200 segment = dissapointment. Maybe the next device from Pivos can change my mind

[Shteve0]

Hi Kortina - thanks for the post

FWIW, I totally appreciate that it's a subjective thing - I guess I'm just wondering if there is a capacity and desire out there to test these things objectively. There is, after all, obviously a market for these products, and while I seriously doubt there's a holy grail of perfect performance just around the corner, it's actually very difficult to ascertain from posts on these things how a given device will perform.

For example, I've seen people talk about how their device is starting to lag under the strain of large libraries/age/just bad kit and asking for help in replacing it (I'm in this exact same boat). WAF is a big thing, and can be extended to a lot of potential users for whom a $300-$400 bit of kit is a stretch too far for a simple device to play media. So some sort of verified, or at least standardised, test of new products would be really valuable for those users. Indeed, I'd be happy to carry those tests out myself on the ATV2 I own and any bit of kit I bought in the future in the interests of informing the wider community... if I knew what a reasonable test looked like!

I guess I'd just find it really valuable to see some sort of measure of each of these units' performance (in sound, and playback of different file sizes/formats over different shares etc). Does that make sense? In my mind's eye it sounds like a simple enough concept, though I may be missing something pretty fundamental here. I've seen so many people post that Ouya is the only thing they'd recommend in the range, and others posting that Ouya is still buggy... some sort of independent measure would surely be beneficial, right?

[Ned Scott]

What's hard about tests is that continuing work on Android and ARM in general are making for drastic changes. There's different builds that have different issues and different results, too. The more you look the more you'll see that there are no quick answers. I've been trying to figure out a way to benchmark/compare/list these various devices for a few months.

[kortina]

I like the idea of some sort of standardised test. As depending on the date/version tested depends on how the device can perform!

How to deliver this info... I have no idea.

I have posted before about the IXOS-DS and the OUYA is much the same... my conclusion:
Is the IXOS/OUYA good value for money and good for ocasional use? YES (gets better every day too)
Do I have an IXOS/OUYA in my lounge room for regular use? NO (my wife hates bugs)

It all depends on your requirements as to if you agree with my perspective.

For me I like to try and help avoid the following situation:
1) Buy a RPi cause they are cheap
2) Buy a case/powersupply/remote for the RPi so that it is more useable
3) Buy an OUYA cause the RPi is a bit laggy sometimes
4) Buy a Midnight MX2 cause the wife cant stand using a game controller for a HTPC
5) Build your own i3 system and wish that you hadn't wasted $200 on doing it the 'cheap' way.

[youngt465]

All of them are really good and I want to have one of Raspberry Pi Model B:

[theballboy]

in the same boat myself.

My experiences and understanding is this.
Any boxes which run android (currently frodo) and install xbmc through android all suffer from playback issues / stuttering etc.
ie have just bought and tested a cs918 / rk3188 quad core android box which stutters - no roms or linux builds for it as yet
However, the possibility is that gotham xbmcv13 might sort this

If you can get an android box with an instablished linux build booting straight to XBMC then playback should be fine - options include my gica 510 / LTBB / Pivos / Gbox midnight

I agree with the subjective thing as in what the priority might be for each user
Me - audio not a concern
playback - 720hd max needed
price - I need 3 of them so its a concern.
Wife - She cant be doing with anything which doesnt work and is easy to use

Rpi
I have a pi in my bedroom which ssems to work just fine - much better than the quad box i bought. In fact Iv just orderd another. Using it with a light skin such as the ATV style one its doing the job. so there will be 2 Rpi's soon.

NUC / PC type
I want one and they are the best but I cant afford 3 - might spalsh out on the rl80 though at £130 for the main living room to replace the aged and visually lacking WDTV

Meantime Im gonna keep researching and posting and trying and selling different devices (enjoy the research and knowledge building and hunt) whlist i wait for the newer pivos boxes etc next up ouya and mx2

Kortina seems to be spot on though with the avoiding people doing the 5 things mentioned above. Sounds exactly like me lol

[ciquta]

don't forget about the ATV520, imho the best for performance/price if you don't depend on wifi

[theballboy]

What's difference between atv1200 and atv520? Wifi just?

[cecemf]

don't forget about the ATV520, imho the best for performance/price if you don't depend on wifi

With this box you are dependent on the manufacture for updates, aren't you ?

Had a Boxee box and I learned from that mistake don't want to repeat it again

[theballboy]

self correction. Thanks to Ned scott of Team xbmc and his suggestion of nightly builds - the quad core device now running HD smooth (with zeroconfig avilable too