(2014-05-16, 00:12)MrCrispy Wrote: buy this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856119095
with some cheap ram and storage, and you can sell the free dvd burner. Its a full x86 pc so will play back everything. I suggest this because its cheaper than the Baytrail NUC, although if you increase your budget a little bit NUC becomes obvious choice.
I keep seeing this deal and it was too tempting. Broke down and bought one just now. Got some dirt cheap ram that looked kind of sketchy off of ebay for $15 (2GB), since it will only be for XBMC and the idea is to keep the price as low as possible while still being x86. I can throw on an 8GB USB thumb drive for another $5. $130, shipped, for everything. You could say "but it needs a remote", but even for a cheap Android box I would most likely buy a good remote rather than use what it came with, and I would recommend that to anyone who wants to stay sane and use their HTPC. Otherwise, add $10 for a decent remote with some kind of included receiver.
Back on topic for OP:
Don't get a VidOn.Me unit. Their newest boxes aren't horrible, but they're not great, and VidOn.Me has yet to really prove themselves. Their custom build of XBMC, which is required if you want their full bluray playback, is very buggy and generally not worth it.
Get an OUYA if you can get it for around $70 or less (which happens often when you buy used units from disgruntled owners who thought it was going to be an awesome gaming console. I bought mine used for $80 with two controllers, and it was in perfect condition). It's a great little box, and I like mine a lot. It's not bad at $100, but the FireTV is a better deal at that price. Both units will likely make you happy. USB storage on the FireTV is inevitable. If hell freezes over and it never happens, $20 and you can throw any USB drive up as a NAS (my $20 pogoplug also handles my downloads).
Don't get the Pivos XIOS DS. They have a new one coming out... someday... that will be much better. XIOS DS is a good deal for $50 range.
ODROID-U3 is another one I would say is a good buy in the $100 range, but you have to be willing to tinker with it.
AMLogic has the upper hand right now if you need VC-1 and MPEG2. Otherwise, meh.
CuBox-i looks freaking awesome, and I have high expectations for this since it is using Freescale processors, which have excellent documentation. That allows the hardware to preform better even if there are "faster" chips out there, because in the end you have better support and a better experience. Consider them as well.
If $70 is your max budget then get a used OUYA. Sometimes you can even get them new for $80 on sale.
If $120 is your max budget then cough up $15-25 more and do what I just did. Netflix on Ubuntu on another Celeron-based system I have (which is a little more powerful than the Foxconn unit, but not much) runs HD video quite well using the "Netflix Desktop" method.
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