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Just curious but is there a Plex for XBMC or vice versa so that i can just leave it runninng and not have to exit one program to enter another. (Easier for wife and kids)
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bezza
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I use an ATV2 with Quartz 3 skin, wired connection to home network, streaming movies from NAS
I rip my movies using the same format as currently available when downloading from itunes, they play seemlessly with no buffering issues. The quality is great as far as I'm concerned on a 40" 720p TV
I use the icefilms, iplayer, youtube, 4OD and 5 demand plugins
IMO Quartz3 makes XBMC very slick on ATV2, it's a very user friendly skin, my 3 yr old daughter can use it (not sure if that is a good thing though!)
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2012-05-01, 16:14
(This post was last modified: 2012-05-01, 16:21 by langdoy.)
I know this is an old post but this exact same situation came up for me. I used to have the ATV1 but that was just not power enough and XBMC did not run smoothly unless you made a few hardware changes. So I went out and bought an ATV2, did a tethered jailbreak and loaded XBMC. Problem is, it has a big buffering issue with some HD content. They say it plays H.264 encoded mkvs well, but for me, it buffers much too often. Apparently the ATV2 will never be power enough to work like how XBMC was designed for, playing back any media you grab off the net.
So I was looking at other streams like the Roku 2, WD Live TV, and Boxee, but they might have the same issues. I then figured having a Mac Mini might be the best option to avoid any hardware restrictions and play back issues. Also, I'd have a spare computer in case I needed it and can use it off the TV. Also, you can pull up other content like you normally would on a computer. Also, if you don't want to use the TV, I hear you can just VNC with the Ipad and use that as the 'monitor'.
As reference, I was trying to stream a episode of Game of Thrones encoded in x.264. One buffered twice and played back fine the rest of the way. The next episode buffered about 10 times within 10 minutes. I ended up streaming it off the Macbook which was a FAIL. Instead of watching it on a 60in, watched it on a 15.4 inch screen. And the Macbook was wireless and the ATV2 was hard wired so I definitely know the ATV has limitations.
The iOS forums will tell you that the ATV XBMC implementation definitely has these limits. I'm not one to be wary of the encoding when I download things. Also, I don't feel like re-downloading content just so it will maybe play properly on the ATV2.
So my solution? I'm going to get a MAC Mini.
Edit: Yes, price is probably the biggest difference but the HD playback compatibility and buffering is just too annoying to push me to make the spend. Another thing I like about the ATV was the power consumption which I'm not happy to switch to the MAC Mini but hopefully it's not a big power spend.
And in reference to Bezza where it works well for him, that's because he is specifically getting SD content. This would work well with the ATV if you find content all the time.
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I'm a huuuuuuuuge fan of the Mac Mini, but ...
... current low end models have an Intel GPU and I don't know how well this works with DXVA. Even the i3 Mini probably has enough guts to play 1080 without acceleration, but it would annoy me to have to disable DXVA. I would seek reassurance from the forum that the hardware acceleration is OK on the current Minis.
The last time I wanted a Mini (I now own three!) I bought it from ebay to get the 2010 model with the DVD drive and NVIDIA GPU. I use Windows 7 on it, and it's just wonderful :-)
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I just picked up a Mac Mini, NIB off Ebay! Everything I've tried works great!
Is there a way to get a microphone working on these for Karaoke? That would be incredible!!!
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(2012-12-10, 00:21)forbes256 Wrote: I just picked up a Mac Mini, NIB off Ebay! Everything I've tried works great!
Is there a way to get a microphone working on these for Karaoke? That would be incredible!!!
Which model and which version of Mac OS X?
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I'd have to say the Apple TV 2 is my favourite, and I have all 3.
