[kiniki]

Hi guys...

I've been using XBMC on my desktop PC and it's great... However I'd really like to have a dedicated machine that can sit in the living room attached to the TV...

I've been looking at the Acer Aspire Revo 3600 as the machine of choice.. mostly because it's cheap... I'm considering having just XBMC run on it... but I need to know if I'll need an OS installed as well... Here are the things I want the machine to do...

1. Stream video's from my desktop (which runs windows 7) over the wireless network - dont want to use Ethernet cable

2. Use an IR remote.

3. It would be nice to have the odd emulator installed for some old school games.

Considering the above... Am I better off having windows installed and just have XBMC launch at startup? Or are all the above easily achieved without it?

Thanks for taking the time!

[Burninator]

1. Stream video's from my desktop (which runs windows 7) over the wireless network - dont want to use Ethernet cable

I am also curious about this question. I asked the same thing in the Revo install thread, but I suppose it might be better suited here, I don't know? *plays newb card*

It seems theoretically possible that HD could stream over an N network. But in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. So like kiniki, I would be interested to hear peoples experience with wireless. Thanks.

[kirbypuckett]

I have an Apple TV at the moment and while it's not perfect I'm keeping it around because of how simple it is and it has wifi.

I've streamed one 720p movie before and it was fine over WIFI on a G network. If you had N you'd be in the clear for sure.

I'm hoping that something pops up pretty cheap after the holidays that has built in WIFI. It's just not possible for me to run Ethernet in my apartment.

[kiniki]

At the moment I am considering installing Windows 7 onto it, that way I know it will have no problem connecting to the desktop PC... That also makes it easier to attach the wireless usb without major issue...

Then I guess all I'll need to do is map the Hibernate function of XBMC to the Windows 7 one. Then the boot will be quick...

Get it to load XBMC at startup... should work fine..

Big install overall though