[Ryvin]

Hey there folks, just as a little warning i am a newbie here.

I have searched though the forums and have found a lot of "how-to" guides with people installing XBMC onto the acer aspire nettop boxes and i am myself throwing around the idea of doing the same and moving XBMC off my Dell XPS M1710 which has done wonderfully for these past 8 months.

What im wondering is what is the new way of doing this? The acer aspire revo 1600 is not stocked anymore and i have not seen any posts so far about what people are currently using as a nettop. Im trying to find an option that is around the same cost as the original revo 1600, what im most concerned about is HD video playback and 5.1 audio output into my receiver.

Also if there are any links you guys want to shoot my way to help me teach myself about what i will need to do, buy, etc that would be great, love learning new things. Im a pretty strong windows user and should be able to figure out some stuff, its just knowing what equipment i should start with that is holding me up.

p.s. if there is any type of detail you guys need let me know, i think this is more of a general question but i can supply what info i can.

[jhsrennie]

prae5 started a website specifically dedicated to hardware for XBMC, but I can't remember the name. Someone hereabouts will know it.

Revo 3610s are plentiful on eBay and run Win7 and XBMC just fine. I've seen a few posts from people using the current Revo 3700 and that works fine too. To be honest virtually any HTPC based on the Ion or Ion2 chipsets should be fine in Windows, though if you use XBMC Live check that the LAN/wireless card is supported.

JR

[waldo22]

http://www.xbmcboxes.com/

Also, I just bought an Apple TV (1st Gen) for $60 and a Crystal HD card (70012 version) for $35.

Hard to beat that for full 1080p.

-Wes

[poofyhairguy]

http://www.xbmcboxes.com/

Also, I just bought an Apple TV (1st Gen) for $60 and a Crystal HD card (70012 version) for $35.

Hard to beat that for full 1080p.

-Wes

I love the fact that the Crystal HD card exists and offers open source decoding support, but in all honestly I have had box ION boxes and AppleTV+Broadcom and honestly they are in a completely different league.

An ION box is WAY nicer (256mb of RAM vs 2GB of RAM)...

[waldo22]

I love the fact that the Crystal HD card exists and offers open source decoding support, but in all honestly I have had box ION boxes and AppleTV+Broadcom and honestly they are in a completely different league.

An ION box is WAY nicer (256mb of RAM vs 2GB of RAM)...

I agree. But for $100, it's hard to argue.

I have an ION box now, but I really wanted component video. (I have a component-only receiver, and I HATE the handshaking delay/DRM of HDMI)
My Samsung TV will do 1080p over component.

I'm going to try to use my Xbox 1 remote with the AppleTV Linux (CrystalBuntu) since I hate the apple remote.

Also, I'll try it with a homemade SSD (600x CF card) and see how that goes.

[poofyhairguy]

The Alaska skin in particular works well on the Apple TV. You are right it is the best component option.

[Ryvin]

thanks a lot! Ill be sure to check out the website and keep in mind your suggestions.