Hi all,
I am new to XBMC and HTPCs in general, though I am an experienced software professional. I have an Acer Revo AR3700 on the way and plan to put XBMC on it.
I'm looking for advice on what OS to use as a platform. Many of tips blogs I have read are Windows based. However I like the idea of getting closer to the metal with an XBMC Live install.
Initially I'd just like to have a system that:
- boots quickly to xbmc
- stores all its media locally
- works well with my harmony remote
- makes downloading certain (strictly legal) TV show torrents dead simple, perhaps even automatic.
So which OS do you experts recommend to support this initial setup?
XBMCLive
Install sabnzb+, couchpotato and sickbeard
Couchpotato will handle your movies and sickbeard will take care of your tv shows.
"stores all its media locally"
On a Revo? You're gonna run out of space pretty quick.
I'd run out in days.
Local storage is just for starters to simplify setup. I don't expect to store bucket loads of media and the 250GB drive on this model should hold me over until I get proper NAS set up.
I noticed Sickbeard comes precompiled for Windows. Is installation on XBMC Live a lot more complex?
No, much simpler if anything. There is a thread on how to do it - no need to compile, just grab the release and unzip and your pretty much good to go.
I would say your "ideal" setup would be XBMC Live or minimal ubuntu based. I've tried this though and unfortunately I'm going to have to end up going to Windows 7 pretty soon for two main reasons:
1) As a linux novice, the prospect of setting up secondary features/add-ons such as emulators or web browsers from a command line is a bit hairy.
2) Blu-ray playback from disc is only possible in Windows. If you don't have a bluray ROM or if you download/rip all your blurays anyway, no big deal. I like to buy the media every now and again though, so this was a deal breaker for me.
Here are my 2 cents:
1. Go with XBMC Live. It made the machine I installed it on feel and act like a media component and not another computer. Installation is easy and I have not had any problems with it. It is easier to install than Windows, IMHO. XBMC Live is designed to run on the Ion platform and all the drivers are included.
2. I believe that model of the Acer Revo only comes with 1gb of RAM. It is highly reccomended that you upgrade it to 2gb. This is because the video card shares system memory with the OS, and to playback HD video, you have to set the video memory amount to 512mb in the bios.
3. Finally, XBMC Live can play mkv files right out of the box. With Windows 7 there are some codec issues you would have to resolve before you can play them properly.
I hope this helps.
linesma Wrote:Here are my 2 cents:
2. I believe that model of the Acer Revo only comes with 1gb of RAM. It is highly reccomended that you upgrade it to 2gb. This is because the video card shares system memory with the OS, and to playback HD video, you have to set the video memory amount to 512mb in the bios.
Not needed, the revo is fine with a 1gb of ram under linux - there is no requirement to upgrade.
Quote:3. Finally, XBMC Live can play mkv files right out of the box. With Windows 7 there are some codec issues you would have to resolve before you can play them properly.
I hope this helps.
Incorrect. XBMC does not use external codes, and mkvs will play under windows just fine.
prae5 Wrote:Not needed, the revo is fine with a 1gb of ram under linux - there is no requirement to upgrade.
Incorrect. XBMC does not use external codes, and mkvs will play under windows just fine.
@
prae5 Thank you for pointing out that my post was unclear. I understand that XBMC does not use external codes or video codecs for video playback. For example, one does not have to install either the DivX or XviD codecs for playback of some avi files, Quicktime for playback of mov files, etc... If I implied otherwise, that was not my intent. What I meant was, that no 3rd party software or extra video codecs need to be installed with XBMC. While Windows 7 does play
SD and 720pMKV's just fine, it has problems decoding 1080p mkv's. Without a third party
codec, the video of a 1080p mkv tends to stutter on most installations. I have seen this problem on 3 out of 5 installs I have done of XBMC on Windows boxes. This is because the video codec that Microsoft ships with Windows 7 for MKV's tends to be unreliable.
I understand that the Revo can handle XBMC Live, which runs on Linux, just fine with 1gb of RAM. I guess I should of phrased it more like a reccomendation with this wording: While the Acer Revo will run XBMC Live just fine with 1gb of RAM, I have found that my Revo operated better and gave a more set-top box experience after I upgraded to 2gb.
I appoligize for any misunderstanding that my initial reply may have caused.
BTW I am going to try sabnzb+, couchpotato and sickbeard. They look very useful. I wish I had known about them earlier.....oh well.
Thanks for the great info, all.
The Revo model I'm getting actually comes with 2GB Ram. I'm not too worried about the hardware specs.
I'm learning towards doing a Live install. However I'm curious to hear other stories from people like natrapsmai who ended up choosing one platform because of difficulties on another.
Anyone else have strong feelings about a given platform? Give me your horror stories and sales pitches!
Sergeant Griff Wrote:Anyone else have strong feelings about a given platform? Give me your horror stories and sales pitches!
Ordinarily we try to avoid the OS Religious Wars, but since you asked...
I am very strongly in favor of Linux, I use the Live version. Windows is a consumer OS, and it's designed for the lowest common denominator. It's great for general purpose computing. Slimming it down to operate as a appliance (like an HTPC) is not really possible, which is why most XBMC Windows installs do a lot more than just playback media. In my opinion, this is not the optimal solution.
The best solution is very thin playback machines - currently atom/ion fits the bill - at each TV in your home. These should have no internal storage, just the OS, and should be fanless (or at least very quiet). Connect those to your NAS over whatever networking option you want. If you want to do sabnzbd, sickbeard, etc. then do it on the backend - not the frontend. Run those on your NAS, or on your home server, whatever.
If you want to get even more "baremetal" go with openelc.
This is all just my opinion, not everyone will agree with this.
teaguecl Wrote:I am very strongly in favor of Linux, I use the Live version. Windows is a consumer OS, and it's designed for the lowest common denominator. It's great for general purpose computing. Slimming it down to operate as a appliance (like an HTPC) is not really possible, which is why most XBMC Windows installs do a lot more than just playback media. In my opinion, this is not the optimal solution.
I could not agree more. Using the Live version of XBMC has been a very pleasant experience. I consider myself a Linux "abuser". I know enough about Linux to get myself into trouble, and not always find my way to a solution. I found that XBMC Live was easy to install, maintain, and use right out of the box. If you are only going to using your Revo as a HTPC, and not to surf the web and do other stuff, then I suggest going with the Live version of XBMC.