[nokian]

As you all know ATV2 is limited to 720p and streaming HD movies does not work that much. I read HD in MP4 works but not in Xvid/DivX. So, I'm considering a replacement. What are your suggestions?

Thanks!

[wgstarks]

I bought a used Mac Mini from eBay. Price is higher than the atv2 of course, but performance is miles better. Also allows me to be able to view web based content (hbo go, espn3, etc.). There are also lots of nucs available if you want something windows based. Personal preference is a big factor here.

[Dougie Fresh]

Something along the lines of this would work very well with OpenELEC: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883103785 $179.99

Look for barebones/nettops with Celeron 8x7 or 10x7 CPUs. They have Intel HD GPU built-in. There's lots of threads around here about great success with that chipset.

More examples:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856164005 $169.99 (Celeron 1037U)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856119083 $152.99 (Celeron 847)
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaCentre-...B00CPZJ5EK $344.99 (Celeron 1017U, 500GB HDD, 4GB RAM Windows 8, remote keyboard/mouse)

If you prefer Nvidia GPU:
http://www.ecosmartpc.com/s197h55d2550gt610.html $249.99 (Atom D2500/Nvidia GT610m)

Stay away from anything GMA3150/GMA3650

[nmt1978]

If you prefer Nvidia GPU:
http://www.ecosmartpc.com/s197h55d2550gt610.html $249.99 (Atom D2500/Nvidia GT610m)

Stay away from anything GMA3150/GMA3650

Hi Dougie

can this Atom D2500 be capable of playing bluray folder?

thanks

[Dougie Fresh]

If you prefer Nvidia GPU:
http://www.ecosmartpc.com/s197h55d2550gt610.html $249.99 (Atom D2500/Nvidia GT610m)

Stay away from anything GMA3150/GMA3650

Hi Dougie

can this Atom D2500 be capable of playing bluray folder?

thanks

The Nvidia GT610 GPU can definitely play H.264 and VC-1 1080p no problem as long as the software support GPU acceleration. I am not sure about 3D support however beyond SBS. Maybe someone who has 3D equipment can answer about GT610m support for full 3D (which I believe XBMC does not support because it doesn't support MVC decode).

[memeka]

I am using Odroid XU with linux

samsung exynos5 octocore, it's got 4 arm A15 cores at 1.6GHz, 2gb ram, usb3, powervr graphics...
it runs hw accelerated 1080p video decoding, with one core at 25% and the rest ~10%....

so that's a good replacement, though it does not support passthrough sound.

[p750mmx]

If you prefer Nvidia GPU:
http://www.ecosmartpc.com/s197h55d2550gt610.html $249.99 (Atom D2500/Nvidia GT610m)

Stay away from anything GMA3150/GMA3650

Hi Dougie

can this Atom D2500 be capable of playing bluray folder?

thanks

The Nvidia GT610 GPU can definitely play H.264 and VC-1 1080p no problem as long as the software support GPU acceleration. I am not sure about 3D support however beyond SBS. Maybe someone who has 3D equipment can answer about GT610m support for full 3D (which I believe XBMC does not support because it doesn't support MVC decode).

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...pid1554374

The ID80 has an D2700 (D2550 is the successor), and a GT520m (GT610m is the successor).

Although the configuration can play Real 3D it is quite slow on starting programs even if they run from SSD. So media is playing fine, the steps before playing are quite slow. Real 3D must be played by an external player (under Windows). So besides starting XBMC (or MediaPortal), a second program must be started when one wants to display Real 3D. If that should be played from a BR ISO, then a step between selecting and (dis)playing, is loading the ISO into a virtual drive. All and all quite CPU demanding and that is the weakness of the Atom. Non 3D BR ISO's (or image on HDD/NAS/whatever), can be played directly within XBMC and that is no problem for the combination, works just fine.

Resuming: Non 3D BR is fine, Real 3D BR plays but you should not be in a hurry.