[max71]

Guys,

I have been a WMC user for past many years (Since 2008) via media extenders (Linksys DMA 2100) to stream media from my Windows 7 PCs... Mainly streaming music/photos to my TVs using Linksys extender but using PS3 to stream HD movies (mkvs/MP4) and home videos from my PC as Linksys sucks in that area. I also use PS3 to stream from Netflix.

I'm thinking to make switch to XBMC.. Here is how I'm thinking about it..


-NAS as Media storage server
- Media PCs for XBMC on Windows ( so I can use both WMC & XBMC..My kids/wife are used to WMC UI )

usage

Watch 1080p HD video ( MKV, M2TS, MP4)
Play Music
Watch Photos ( JPEG )
Stream HD content from Netflix+Utube etc.
like to use my Logitech Harmony 620 to control(including turning off/on ) this PC or Wireless K/B.





Looking at ZOTAC ZBOX Nano with SSD and 4-8GB RAM.

http://www.rakuten.com/prod/zotac-zbox-n...=278933729


Anyone using this PC today.. If so,

How is performance in playing 1080p HD/BD Videos?
How is performance streaming HD content from Netflix/Hulu?
Any issues encountered?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[john.cord]

There are still missing features on AMD Hardware like no MPEG2 and MPEG4 Hardware decoding and bad deinterlacing performance so be aware of that if you buy a amd based box.

[max71]

There are still missing features on AMD Hardware like no MPEG2 and MPEG4 Hardware decoding and bad deinterlacing performance so be aware of that if you buy a amd based box.

Good point..

It has built in AMD Radeon HD 7340 GPU.. I googled for the features/specs of the same and looks like it supports HC for both MPEG2 & MPEG4.


http://www.gpuzoo.com/GPU-AMD/Radeon_HD_7340_IGP.html

So do I have to be concerns about it? Is there possiblity that driver that comes with Windows or OpenElex/XBMC may not use these capability?

Thanks

[GortWillSaveUs]

I'd recommend looking into the Acer Revo RL70-UR10P. I've setup a few of these for friends and family and they love it. Plus, it comes with Windows 7.

[john.cord]

It has built in AMD Radeon HD 7340 GPU.. I googled for the features/specs of the same and looks like it supports HC for both MPEG2 & MPEG4.


http://www.gpuzoo.com/GPU-AMD/Radeon_HD_7340_IGP.html

So do I have to be concerns about it? Is there possiblity that driver that comes with Windows or OpenElex/XBMC may not use these capability?

Thanks

All features only with Windows. Under Linux no HD Audio Bitstreaming, no HW MPEG2 and only BOB Deinterlcing with AMD GFX. So if you want to use Windows a AMD Based Box is fine, under Linux i would prefer Nvidia GFX.

[max71]

It has built in AMD Radeon HD 7340 GPU.. I googled for the features/specs of the same and looks like it supports HC for both MPEG2 & MPEG4.


http://www.gpuzoo.com/GPU-AMD/Radeon_HD_7340_IGP.html

So do I have to be concerns about it? Is there possiblity that driver that comes with Windows or OpenElex/XBMC may not use these capability?

Thanks

All features only with Windows. Under Linux no HD Audio Bitstreaming, no HW MPEG2 and only BOB Deinterlcing with AMD GFX. So if you want to use Windows a AMD Based Box is fine, under Linux i would prefer Nvidia GFX.

So, hardware is capable of all of above but OSs (especially Linux ) does not leverage it.. Did I get that right?

If Which version/flavor of Linux are you referring here? Is XBMCubuntu or OpenElec capable of leveraging full capability of hardware?

Thanks

[War-Rasta]

I have this very same box and I had a ton of issues with it under Linux (you can see my post about it here).
If using Windows is not a problem for you then I'd say go for it since I already set one up for my cousin using Windows 7 and it played everything I threw at it with no issues. Just make sure you get the latest drivers from Zotac's website and you will be fine.

[max71]

I have this very same box and I had a ton of issues with it under Linux (you can see my post about it here).
If using Windows is not a problem for you then I'd say go for it since I already set one up for my cousin using Windows 7 and it played everything I threw at it with no issues. Just make sure you get the latest drivers from Zotac's website and you will be fine.

I saw you were planning to switch to ID83.. If you switched,How is ID83 working for you? Any issue with XBMCubuntu or Openelec? Is onboard GPU capable of handling large mkvs (1080p) and streaming of netflix , Hulu content at 1080p?


Thanks.

[War-Rasta]

I still haven't moved on to the ID83 but that's still my plan (I'll be setting up a small network with a few boxes running XBMC on a a LAN for a client of mine and he's the one who's keeping my current AD12 so I'm just waiting for him to give me the green light). In the mean time I've been living with the issues ans trying not to pay much attention to them.

I'm not planning to use OpenELEC though since it wouldn't allow much control over the box itself for all the extra stuff I want to do with it. My plan is to install Lubuntu and take it from there. As for streaming Netflix or Hulu, I don't use either one (I live in the Dominican Republic and the selection that Netflix offers just sucks. Hulu I think is not even available) so I will only be able to comment on large MKV files both local and over the LAN.