[jingo_man]

guys,

wondering how this unit would stack up for a HD-capable XBMC device?


http://www.foxconnchannel.com/Product/Barebones/nt510/index.html

it runs a D510 Atom processor on the Pineview-D chipset. Is this capable of HD playback, with technologies built into XBMC? i.e. VDPAU on the XBMC-Live linux distribution? (i get all confused with the various technologies and acronyms, as i only ever look at this stuff every now and again when the grips of a new HTPC takes hold...)

i have seen it for sale for what seems a very reasonable £160 here:
http://www.cleverboxes.com/Product/183-NT510I-BLK

i have seen other forum posters have purchased the "nT330i", which has a slower Atom processor, but runs on the nVidia ION platform (for VDPAU capabilities)

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Barebones/NT330i/index.html

i have an Apple TV currently that is hacked to use XBMC and installed the Broadcom Crystal HD component, however it constantly crashes (both at standard desktop and within XBMC) and seeing various odd issues with it, that i am unable to resolve (like Finder process runs very high when i have it sync'ed with iTunes aswell as running for XBMC) so finally ready to move on. if others could comment on whether these units would be better than what i currently have too, that would be great!

any feedback would help with my decisions... thanks

jingo_man

[poofyhairguy]

No, you need one with ION. ION means Nvidia graphics, which is powerful enough on its own to decode the world meanest x264. When ION is not in the name that means Intel Graphics, which couldn't decode their way out of a paper bag.

I know non-ION boxes seem tempting because of the lower price, but stick to ION. Otherwise you might end up with a box that is WORSE at x264 than your AppleTV. A single core ION box is better than any other Atom Box (even a new Dual Core one like you have linked) for XBMC.

(As a side note, I too have disappointed by my AppleTV+Broadcom. Let me tell you- every place that the AppleTV is annoying an ION box is not. Its like night and day).

[jingo_man]

thanks for the info, poofyhairguy

so guess i am back looking at zotac's and stuff then... the shuttle xs35 looks like a nice unit, but it seems there is nothing officially released or announced at this point for it. and that when it does, its likely going to be a relatively pricey unit, ala apple...

but am thinking that the zotac hd-id11 looks the safest choice here currently...

aswell as the basics of heat and fan noises, are any of these units capable of S3 standby and power on from a remote? this would be a greatly desired feature

[poofyhairguy]

Just so you know: ION is more than enough powerful to play any x264 you want. I can play the pure Avatar Blu Ray rip on mine, which maxes the Blu Ray standard. You have to get into 3D TV stuff to pass up the ION.

As far as wake from remote goes, I have no clue. I tried messing with that a little and found it to be a huge pain to pull off. Considering how much less power an ION box sucks compared to my old HTPC, I decided the easiest solution was to just let it run all the time.

I am a big Zotac fan.....