[donwhill]

Hi everybody

I decided to move my HT system to the next step (at the moment a hocked laptop to the receiver and local storage of the files) and the first step is to buy the right set top box. After reading this thread, I know that the ATV 1200 would be a perfect fit (the other option was the Pivos Xios - much less work, but only HDMI output and single core). The only thing which is holding me off, is that I'm not able to find a remote control app as it exists for the more comercial STBs (as for the Pivos).

So does anybody of you nows about some apps?
(Just to clarify, I'm not talking about remote control apps for the xbmc, but for the rest of the options).

srle, i noticed your "bottom line" comments in the firt post on this thread.

Have these changed now since the performance of the box has improved since then?

Just wondered because it seems a bit harsh in the new context of xbmc working a lot better recently.

"The bottom line:
- Android is not Linux - Linux is way, way better
- If You want XBMC, and price is not an issue, buy a box that works with Linux builds
- If You want XBMC, and price is an issue - go with the somewhat slower but much cheaper Raspberry Pi
- If You want this box and no other - well read this tutorial
- If the optical/coax audio out does not get fixed in future builds then there is hardly any reason to go with this, and not with some cheaper box with analog audio out"

I have to say if you want just a box for XBMC, then a dedicated linux box is probably a more simple solution to set-up and configure
If you have no android ROM flashing experience and do not know what recovery is - I would not recommend a box like this to you

If you are looking for a box to play around with, that works quite well with XBMC now, and can browse the net and run other android apps as well - then this is probably it.
Again, if you are not up to the task of flashing ROM, backing up apps and do not enjoy setting up your system from scratch - then I would suggest something else - something that has commercial XBMC support - like Pivos XIOS

I personally have owned a dozen android phones, starting from G1, all have had custom firmware, and I also develop for android, so this box is a great thing to play with. I bought it to be an XBMC box, but I do not mind playing around with it.

The thing that still annoys me is the lack of NFS support and general android networking mess - but this is an issue that more or less relates to my setup because I added another ethernet interface (usb) to the box. Most people will not need or do that. Lack of NFS is a nasty one, but luckily XBMC has other options - WebDav and HTTP more or less work as well as NFS streaming wise.

I decided to go with this box primarily because of the SPDIF outputs (that work great now), Amlogic chipset and support it got from the XBMC (because of Pivos - I could not get Pivos with a reasonable delivery price, was not willing to go for a single core chipset, and it has only HDMI).

I am guessing that the Pivos guys will be releasing a dual-core XIOS soon (is this it? http://www.geniatech.com/pa/atv1210.asp ) and if I had that option at the time of purchase I would have probably payed a bit more to have a piece of mind that the box will be supported with XBMC build made for it, and to have an option to run XBMC on Linux.

Thanks Srle for this perfect summary of which people should buy this STB, made the choice easier. Are there any news regarding a new Pivos device (which could make the hole choice a mess again)?

Thanks in advance for all your help!!