[Poensch]

@dougie
I if sum up the cost for the itx-solution, I'm way over my budget. But thanks anyway for your input. would mATX make a significant difference in the price?

About the rasberry pi, looks promising:

@vertigo: thank for your summary in the other thread (and where the heck is that +-sign to add to your reputation?)

In this video it runs really smooth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_r1o_0QfI

How smooth does it really run? IMHO even little money for a solution that doesn't fit the needs is wasted money.

Sound (DTS, AC3)
If I connect it with HDMI to my tv (philips 55pfl7007) and from there via toslink to my Logitech Z906, would that work for DTS and AC3? The philips tv has problems with dts streamed from a nas.

thank you guys!

[Vertigo]

@vertigo: thank for your summary in the other thread (and where the heck is that +-sign to add to your reputation?)

At the left bottom of the post

In this video it runs really smooth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_r1o_0QfI

How smooth does it really run?

That video uses Rasbmc rather than Openelec. After seeing that video, I downloaded raspbmc and ive been testing it very briefly, and it is indeed smoother than openelec. But Im also testing installing on USB sticks and USB HDD (instead of SDcards), that tends to make a serious difference too, but much depends if you have the right USB stick or SD card. Oh, and this is only true when using a lightskin like Confluence or Quartz. Forget about Aeon Nox and the like, it becomes unusable.

But yeah, with the right memory card/stick, it really is as smooth as you see on that video, at least as long as you dont try youtube plugin.

IMHO even little money for a solution that doesn't fit the needs is wasted money.

I agree.

Sound (DTS, AC3)
If I connect it with HDMI to my tv (philips 55pfl7007) and from there via toslink to my Logitech Z906, would that work for DTS and AC3? The philips tv has problems with dts streamed from a nas.

Im not 100% sure. I quickly glanced at your TV manual, and it states it supports 5.1 audio on the toslink, but it doesnt mention DTS. It does mention Dolby Digital (AC3) so there might be an issue. Your logitech supports both. What problems are you seeing when you feed it a DTS file? Is it stuttering (possibly just a network bandwidth issue?), or does the audio not play correctly? Does your Logitech ever detect a DTS signal when connected to the toslink of the TV? You could just try with any DVD with a DTS track.

[Poensch]

@vertigo: thank for your summary in the other thread (and where the heck is that +-sign to add to your reputation?)

At the left bottom of the post

Nope, there's just the PM and Find-Button!

If I stream a mkv-file with dts-audio from my nas to my philips, it says something like audiostream not playable. It works fine, if the file is on a usb stick attached to the tv. That is with the tv directly attached to the network, maybe it differs with the input via hdmi.

But this is just why I want to have a htpc in the first place, so I don't have to struggle with the limitations of the tv etc. It should play all the usual formats out of the box.

I don't know, if the solution is to replace the limitations of the tv with the limitations of rasberry pi...

[Vertigo]

Nope, there's just the PM and Find-Button!

I guess you need a minum number of posts before you can use it

If I stream a mkv-file with dts-audio from my nas to my philips, it says something like audiostream not playable. It works fine, if the file is on a usb stick attached to the tv. That is with the tv directly attached to the network, maybe it differs with the input via hdmi.

But this is just why I want to have a htpc in the first place, so I don't have to struggle with the limitations of the tv etc. It should play all the usual formats out of the box.

I don't know, if the solution is to replace the limitations of the tv with the limitations of rasberry pi...

Well, the limitation I see is that the HDMI to toslink conversion on your TV doesnt support DTS, and your logitech doesnt support HDMI. Well, I guess its also a ptty the Pi doesnt do toslink .

However, as mentioned already, you should be able to get around this by adding a HDMI splitter so the audio is fed straight in to your Logitech over toslink. I have not tried it, but I see no reason it wont work, as unlike your tv, those splitters dont even try to decode, so they should be agnostic about the audio encode format. Do make sure to buy a splitter that supports 6 channel audio, like the one I linked. This almost doubles the price of the Pi, but even then its still pretty cheap compared to an x86 box. I read others use an external USB audio card with the Pi, but thats likely both more expensive, and more risky IMO.

[Poensch]

I'm still thinking in two directions:

as an alternative to the rasberry pi I tried to think of an affordable mitx solution.

Asrock H61M-ITX (one of the few affordable mobos with hdmi and toslink )
Intel G860
Corsair DDR3 1333MHz 4GB
Some SSD
Picopsu 120

I think it should be sufficient for openelec. Would it also be possible to install windows 7 64bit?

[Dougie Fresh]

I'm still thinking in two directions:

as an alternative to the rasberry pi I tried to think of an affordable mitx solution.

Asrock H61M-ITX (one of the few affordable mobos with hdmi and toslink )
Intel G860
Corsair DDR3 1333MHz 4GB
Some SSD
Picopsu 120

I think it should be sufficient for openelec. Would it also be possible to install windows 7 64bit?

For OpenELEC (or Windows for that matter), you don't even need the G860. The G6x0, G6x5, G5x0 or G5x5 processor will also work. You also only need a picoPSU 90 which unlike the picoPSU 120 comes with the CPU power (P4) plug so you won't need to buy a molex-to-p4 adapter.

For OpenELEC, you can run it off a USB stick which it does very well (I have my daughters' playroom media center running off a 16GB Sandisk USB stick).

For Windows, yes 64-bit will run fine. Even the bottom of the line G530 is a 2.4Ghz dual-core SandyBridge processor so it's very fast. The built in GPU is more than enough for 1080p video and if any software can't use the GPU, the CPU can handle it no problem.

[Vertigo]

I think it should be sufficient for openelec. Would it also be possible to install windows 7 64bit?

I suppose its possible somehow to dual boot openelec with windows from the same drive, but its not going to be easy, so the easiest way is to just run openelec off a cheap 4GB USB stick, and (optionally) install windows on the SSD. Boot from the stick for openelec, and without stick for windows.

[Poensch]

I'm getting closer, step by step.

Streacom ST-F1CB EVO
Asrock H61M-ITX
Intel G860
Corsair DDR3 1333MHz 4GB
Some SSD
Picopsu 90
Blueray player as possible update

Questions:
- Does this build fit into the Streacom ST-F1CB EVO?
- Which cooler fits in the case (Max height 34mm)? (I just found that: Gelid Slim Silence i-Plus (28mm), any experience with it?)
- For the picopsu, which ac adapter? 80w or 110w?
- Should I use an internal IR-receiver or a usb-receiver?

thanks in advance!