(2014-08-04, 11:03)djon Wrote: Thought as much. I'll be spending the big bucks instead.
Another thing. I'm a bit fearful of only having a HDMI output for sound. I have had nothing but issues with my current setup with HDMI to my Denon receiver before I sent the sound via S/PDIF instead and HDMI directly to the TV.
It was like the HDMI handshake between the receiver and PC often didn't work, leaving me to have to reboot to get a picture again.
Is this an issue that people are having a alot with the NUC's?
You can do try Pin 19 trick - it basically deactivates communication between HDCP/HDMI host / client regarding on/off/sleep etc. In practice this should mean that there is no need for new handshaking after power off / sleep etc. It takes about a minute to apply, and about 2 seconds to undo.
The DN2820FYKH has no problem handling netflix streams through Win8 metro app - I have yet to see any stuttering @ "UltraHD" bitrates (1080p, 6000kbit+). It does, however, have a PAP (Protected Audio Path) issue. This might have been resolved by now - I'm unable to check as I've fallen back to an older, non-HDMI receiver.What this basically means, is that DTS-HD bitstream, and Netflix
multichannel audio bitstreams won't work properly over HDMI.
Personally I worked around this audio/DHCP issue with a $15 USB 5.1 analog + SPDIF output ( I got mine here - I'm sure you'll find it on ebay but might be more difficult to confirm the chipset (Same as Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II).
http://tinyurl.com/pcgsrm8 ). Works fine, even for Netflix. Won't do DTS-HD though, but for me my current AVreciever can only handle the DTS core anyway. There is always the option software decoding to analog outputs, but I'm not sure where XBMC is atm, on full DTS-HD/MA software decoding. Dolby TrueHD is fine though.
I have not experienced the Silverlight issues portrayed in the linked article - your milage may vary. Please note that the DN2820FYKH was barely out of the factory when that review was done. A lot have changed since then - OpenELEC, XBMC, NuC drivers & bios/UEFI - even hardware revisions.
This celeron nuc was never meant to be an overall workhorse. After all, Its a dirt-cheap fullworthy bare-bone celeron computer. It can hardly be matched given the price tag, but you can't expect the world at the price of a small city
It can easily handle light to moderate work, browsing etc etc - but where it shines is AV media. This is down to broad video hardware acceleration, not "brute force". If you want "Software rendering" for these things, you better be prepared to pony up 4-5x ++ the cost. That route might be both simpler and cheaper if you steer clear of NuCs all together