[akabob]

Frodo is great on Linux Xios, and plays everything that I throw at it... from 1080p DTS mkv's to FLAC music.

...

(PS... I think the "supercharged" relates to the recent M3 processor change... If you buy today, you will get an M3, unless you buy it form someone that wants to sell their older M1 box)

Seems very exciting !

I currently own a Popcorn A110 I won some years ago in their contest forum. I'm still happy with it as it's able to play flawlessly 1080p rips from a C2D 2009 mac mini throught 200Mbits PLC plugs.
The popcorn replaced my first gen XBox and I always missed XBMC

I was considering buying a recent mac mini (ivy or sandy bridge) but abandonned this idea because of the 24p stutter problem... and the price !

Do you think this little Xios could replace my Popcorn A110 ? Does it handle every framerate without frame drop ? I don't care if XBMC user interface is a bit laggy or slow, the most important to me is the playback.

I've also read that there are 2 options to install XBMC on a Xios :
1. ICS + XBMC android app
2. Custom Linux distro + XBMC for linux.

Am I wrong ? Which one is the best for an XBMC only use ? I have to admit I didn't read the entire thread...

Last question : Where to buy the Xios in Europe to be sure it's a M3 version ?

Regards,
Aka.

Please don't blame me, English is not my native language .. ^^

[DesG]

Official Distributor in Europe: http://nanomaze.com/

[zebraitis]

Frodo is great on Linux Xios, and plays everything that I throw at it... from 1080p DTS mkv's to FLAC music.

...

(PS... I think the "supercharged" relates to the recent M3 processor change... If you buy today, you will get an M3, unless you buy it form someone that wants to sell their older M1 box)

Seems very exciting !

I currently own a Popcorn A110 I won some years ago in their contest forum. I'm still happy with it as it's able to play flawlessly 1080p rips from a C2D 2009 mac mini throught 200Mbits PLC plugs.
The popcorn replaced my first gen XBox and I always missed XBMC

I was considering buying a recent mac mini (ivy or sandy bridge) but abandonned this idea because of the 24p stutter problem... and the price !

Do you think this little Xios could replace my Popcorn A110 ? Does it handle every framerate without frame drop ? I don't care if XBMC user interface is a bit laggy or slow, the most important to me is the playback.

I've also read that there are 2 options to install XBMC on a Xios :
1. ICS + XBMC android app
2. Custom Linux distro + XBMC for linux.

Am I wrong ? Which one is the best for an XBMC only use ? I have to admit I didn't read the entire thread...

Last question : Where to buy the Xios in Europe to be sure it's a M3 version ?

Regards,
Aka.

OK... You are asking for my opinion...so you will get my opinion.

( And it is just that. I am no "Expert"... I'll leave that to the self-appointed experts that are easy to find in these forums. )


I took a look online and saw your Popcorn A110 ... In many ways, it reminds me of the secondary systems that I am choosing to replace: My Jetway Mini-Top ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856107072 )


For me, while there is nothing "wrong" with my Jetway, and it does play XBMC... However, the Xios is just simpler, and more elegant. And, since the Jetway is a full blown PC (albeit in a "mini" platform. Think "laptop"... but no keyboard or screen), I will likely recover my $$$ via craigslist.

The Jetway:




I'm choosing the Xios because it is smaller, quieter (Silent!), and designed more elegantly.

While I have an gen1 iPad version of XBMC running, I have never been attracted to ATV boxes, or Macs... I just do not prefer apple. (again, one person's opinion).


SIDEBAR re: 24p issue: Let's just say that 24p is a real pain-in-the-butt... I have purchased an Onkyo TX-NR818 that has astounding capabilities, but it STILL has issues in dealing with 24p ... and that is WELL over the price that we are discussing. I tried to hook up a 24p Blu-Ray player to the Onkyo set at 24p, and * BAM * jerky dropped frames everywhere... (They say new firmware will address, but we will see).


Now, back to the Xios: TODAY, there are two ( Edit: THREE OR MORE ) settings in System / Video output / Resolution to choose from:

1) 1280 x 720p
2) 1920 x 1080i

(EDIT / IGNORE THIS: Yes " i " , not " p ".My understanding is that this will be raised in the future (in this same platform), but today it is just 1080i)

Please see Post # 260 (two down from this one). The Xios does 1080P as well !


But the real question is: "How is the picture?" Well, it's great, with no dropped packets or jerkiness that I see with my local (SMB-based) data.

And that is the important thing, right? The playback, for me, of my 10+TB of data is smooth as butter.


In full disclosure, I did have one of the boxes die early, and I was able to RMA it and receive a replacement... not like the old days of hacking an XBOX, eh?


So, if you are asking me if you should replace your system... I would say: Depends !

I know for me, the choice was easy. I would say that you would likely be very satisfied with the purchase.


And... since the Popcorn A110 does NOT play XBMC... well... Duh ! lol...


Regarding Installation options... YES ! You have TWO options:

1) Android XBMC, or...
2) Linux XBMC

The great thing to know is that Pivos supports BOTH of those flavors, and does so extremely well on their Forum.

You can visit it at http://www.pivosforums.com/viewforum.php...390a3ec3be


Now, as to which is "better"... well, you are getting back to the "opinion" section again...

Here is my experience: I have a LOT of computers around. And smart phones.

For me, I did not need my HTPC to do double duty as a computer. well... OK... let me clarify, my PRIMARY machine is a Win7 system in a HTPC case that displays on a 65" plasma screen... THAT one I have running as a computer & XBMC ... However, for all the secondary systems, I don't need that.

So, while the Xios can do Android, and have XBMC running as an application. I chose to run the Linux flavor.

I want to be clear: I don't know ANYTHING about Linux.

But I have found the Linux XBMC for Xios to be VERY easy to manage. It has a mSD slot that I have a 16GB card, and I use XBMC File Manager to move around all the "stuff" that I need.

(Strongly recommend that you get a 16GB mSD if you purchase a Xios, as you can keep thumbnails there)

Finally...for the spouse acceptance factor... well to her (and guests)... it just "acts" like the XBMC that they have been familiar with for years.

And THAT has a lot of value. To me.


... because I HATE to play "tech support guy".


I hope this helps.

[davilla]

This is a valid setting for Pivos boxes, both android and linux.

3) 1920 x 1080p

[zebraitis]

This is a valid setting for Pivos boxes, both android and linux.

3) 1920 x 1080p

Hey, I CLEARLY said I was never an Expert !!!!

TESTING TIME !!!

q: Does the Xios inherently have the ability to sense what the Monitor can do?


On my test screen (cheap-ass Emerson / Funai 32" LCD) , I only have the two settings that I stated. Let me plug it into a different screen.....

Ok... hooked into a older Vizio 50" plasma...

1) 1280 x 720i
2) 1280 x 720p
3) 1920 x 1080i

...and on the Panasonic Viera 65" Plasma...

(Disclosure: First I tried to hook it to my Onkyo TX-NR818, which would then display on the Panny... but there was a handshake issue, so I did a direct connect to the Panny. I chose not to try to understand why, as this is only a test of the display capabilities of the XIOS on various screens.)

And here I see:

1) 1280 x 720p
2) 1920 x 1080i
3) 1920 x 1080p


Ah... so it IS capability sensitive, dependent on Monitor !

I STAND CORRECTED ! 1080p. it's in there.


I will admit, when I first connected it to the Panny, and I was going through the settings to test, there was a screen jitter. Even though I had selected 1080p. the Panny reported that it was receiving 1080i... and that jitter (as if it was getting nudged from the bottom of the screen).

On reboot of the Xios, the jitter disappeared, and the screen was smooth. 1080p was selected on the Xios, and the Panny reported that it was receiving a 1080p


Well, I hope that helps anyone that is considering the Xios. [/b]

[akabob]

@zebraitis

Wow ! That's a really detailled answer ! You even talked about the WAF and this is also very important to me, my wife and my children like simplicity too !


1920x1080i is not a problem, I would even say it's better because all my players (BR, DVD, Popcorn) are connected to a DVDO scaler that does what it does the best : 1080p upscaling.
The scaler send the video signal to my 46' Sony TV and a Sony HW10 Projector with a 120' screen. That's why image quality is really important to me and I wondered if Xios could achieve the same quality that my Popcorn, at least with my BR Rips.

Btw, thank you for spending time answering my questions, I'll wait some more opinions before ordering but this little beast is really really interesting

Aka.

[noggin]

1) 1280 x 720i
2) 1280 x 720p
3) 1920 x 1080i

Are you sure about 1). 1280x720i isn't a standard - or even valid - video format AFAIK.

720x576i, 720x576p, 720x480i, 720x480p, 1280x720p, 1920x1080i and 1920x1080p are the mainstream video formats you would expect to be output by a media player or supported by a display (Though 576i and 480i aren't universal and have to use a pixel-doubling trick to get their pixel clock rate high enought for HDMI)

[zebraitis]

1) 1280 x 720i
2) 1280 x 720p
3) 1920 x 1080i

Are you sure about 1). 1280x720i isn't a standard - or even valid - video format AFAIK.

720x576i, 720x576p, 720x480i, 720x480p, 1280x720p, 1920x1080i and 1920x1080p are the mainstream video formats you would expect to be output by a media player or supported by a display (Though 576i and 480i aren't universal and have to use a pixel-doubling trick to get their pixel clock rate high enought for HDMI)

Yes. It's there... because (as we saw later) my TV supports it.

The Visio Plasma that I have is quite old. (model P50HDM, new back in2005 ! )

... funny ... 7 years is "quite old" for a TV. lol ...


Anyways, It has found an honored location in our work-out room.

The max resolution that it did was 1080i (not p), so that is likely why 720i showed up.

But yet, the Xios recognized it, and presented it as an option.

[Sensite]

how about the M1?

The M3 is capable of bitstreaming HD audio codecs but I have that disable right now until it gets fixed under SoftAE (Linux).

[noggin]

1) 1280 x 720i
2) 1280 x 720p
3) 1920 x 1080i

Are you sure about 1). 1280x720i isn't a standard - or even valid - video format AFAIK.

720x576i, 720x576p, 720x480i, 720x480p, 1280x720p, 1920x1080i and 1920x1080p are the mainstream video formats you would expect to be output by a media player or supported by a display (Though 576i and 480i aren't universal and have to use a pixel-doubling trick to get their pixel clock rate high enought for HDMI)

Yes. It's there... because (as we saw later) my TV supports it.

The Visio Plasma that I have is quite old. (model P50HDM, new back in2005 ! )

... funny ... 7 years is "quite old" for a TV. lol ...


Anyways, It has found an honored location in our work-out room.

The max resolution that it did was 1080i (not p), so that is likely why 720i showed up.

But yet, the Xios recognized it, and presented it as an option.

How odd.

I'm a former broadcast R&D engineer - and I've never heard of 720i - and checking reference documents 720i isn't listed as a standard EDID format (EDID is the data that a display sends to a source to signal supported formats) and isn't in the HDMI spec http://www.evernew.com.tw/HDMISpecification13a.pdf as either a primary or secondary timing format (and that includes some really oddball formats). I can't find any online reference anywhere that defines it as either an analogue or digital video format.

There isn't a way of generating 720i in a studio, and you can't shoot 720i on any cameras I've come across. You certainly can't carry it over standard studio HD-SDI interconnects AFAIK.

However I see it IS listed in the XBMC advanced settings.xml as an option...

Wikipedia - which I know is not always correct - has this to say : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720i

720i (720 lines interlaced) is an erroneous term found[citation needed] in numerous sources and publications. Typically, it is a typographical error in which the author is referring to the 720p HDTV format.[citation needed] However, in some cases it is incorrectly presented as an actual alternative format to 720p.[3] In fact, no proposed or existing broadcast standard permits 720 interlaced lines in a video frame at any frame rate.[4]

So I'm kind of curious about it!

Of course TV manufacturers famously get some of their nomenclature wrong. Some TVs have used IRE On/Off settings (designed to cope with the +7.5 IRE black level set-up in North American NTSC analogue video that wasn't used in PAL, SECAM or Japanese NTSC-J content) to incorrectly describe switching between 16-235 and 0-255 levelspace over HDMI.

I know some early plasmas were natively interlaced used ALiS - Alternate Lighting of Surfaces - technology (NHK developed this to display 1080i interlaced pictures) - so I wonder if 720i is used to indicate a 720p source that has been re-interlaced for display?

[drhill]

The M3 is capable of bitstreaming HD audio codecs but I have that disable right now until it gets fixed under SoftAE (Linux).

What about 3d MVC support? It wouldn't work at 1080p until 24fps is implemented, but it would be great if it is something that will be added.

[zebraitis]

I know some early plasmas were natively interlaced used ALiS - Alternate Lighting of Surfaces - technology (NHK developed this to display 1080i interlaced pictures) - so I wonder if 720i is used to indicate a 720p source that has been re-interlaced for display?

So, back at Michigan State University... a L O N G time ago, I had the bright idea of taking a Greek literature class as an easy blow-off class...

I figure some Homer, and some other epic tales... I could do that.

The instructor was so enthralled by her area of study, that she though it would be REALLY AWESOME ( !!! ) if first we learned to speak and read Greek, so that we could read it in the original text.

Keep in mind, at that time, a semester was 10 weeks long.

I dropped that class faster than a hot rock.


You may ask: S O


My point is this: I have NO idea about the validity of 720i. And, I don't think that I have the real burning intellectual fascination to find out.

I just know what I saw displayed on my screen by the setting in the XIOS for THAT specific monitor. If you want, I COULD provide a screen shot.


Terminator: The 12-gauge auto-loader.
Terminator: The .45 long slide, with laser sighting.
Clerk: Anything else?
Terminator: Phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range.
Clerk: Hey, just what you see pal.

[davilla]

Code:

typedef enum HDMI_Video_Type_ {
    HDMI_Unkown = 0 ,
    HDMI_640x480p60 = 1 ,
    HDMI_480p60,
    HDMI_480p60_16x9,
    HDMI_720p60,
    HDMI_1080i60,
    HDMI_480i60,
    HDMI_480i60_16x9,
    
    HDMI_1440x480p60 = 14 ,
    HDMI_1440x480p60_16x9 = 15 ,
    HDMI_1080p60 = 16,
    HDMI_576p50,
    HDMI_576p50_16x9,
    HDMI_720p50,
    HDMI_1080i50,
    HDMI_576i50,
    HDMI_576i50_16x9,
    HDMI_1080p50 = 31,
    HDMI_1080p24,
    HDMI_1080p25,
    HDMI_1080p30,
} HDMI_Video_Codes_t ;

I see no 720i there.

1280 x 720i smells like a bug. You know what comes next... xbmc.log

[hick]

The M3 is capable of bitstreaming HD audio codecs but I have that disable right now until it gets fixed under SoftAE (Linux).

Does it have any issues taking a DTS-HD or TrueHD and dropping it down to stereo? I have been looking for a month or 2 about replacing my secondary HTPC's and this looks perfect. All of my movies are 1:1 blu-ray (few HD DVD) with only the HD audio track left.

[zebraitis]

[code]

I see no 720i there.

1280 x 720i smells like a bug. You know what comes next... xbmc.log

That part, you know... the "I don't care" part ?

You may have missed it.