Posts: 527
Joined: Nov 2012
Reputation:
10
2014-04-19, 05:03
(This post was last modified: 2014-04-19, 05:10 by tential.)
ChromeBox may be not be hard to setup, but OP doesn't seem tech savvy. I mean, the NUC is a 15 minute setup tops and he's researching day and night about it (No offense OP just giving people an idea of your tech savviness for PC stuff).
The NUC may take more hands on work to setup(Plug in Hard Drive (Dont' even need this actually just need a USB), Plug in Ram and you're ready to go). But OpenElec will instlal easily and he'll be good to go.
ChromeBox will take him to do more software stuff which I doubt will be easy for him.
The NUC setup of simply putting ram into a slot is not hard. It's so simple. Then OpenElec on a USB and he's good to go. I'd go with a BayTrail NUC or whatever is cheap.
Edit: To give you an idea how easy it is to build a PC OP.
Imagine you have a set of legos. You played with these as a kid so it's familiar. You have those green boards where you can put tons of legos on. That's the Motherboard. You plug in a processor. Literally, just plug it in like a lego. However, with the NUC this is done for you. You put the Motherboard inside of a case. This is already done for you with a NUC though. You put a powersupply in and hook it up to the motherboard (a labeled cabel connects the two). This is already done for you with a NUC. You plug in ram. Ram are thin sticks that slide into a corresponding connector ONLY ONE way, and it's obvious which way because you can just line up the pieces. It fits just like a lego block would. This is the only thing you have to do with a NUC (Because you get to choose which ram/how much you want to use). You also need a hard drive, but since you're running OpenElecf you actually dont need one. You just need to plug a USB stick in and you know how to do that.
In fact, plugging a USB stick in is pretty similar to plugging in a Ram stick. It only goes in 1 way, and you can't mess up your whole PC by attempting to plug in USb stick wrong (Oh wrong way flip it around and it fits). That's all you have to do, plug in a ram stick. Then you're ready to go.
Really, it would take you 15 minutes to plug a ram stick in your NUC, download/install OpenElec, and get into XBMC.
I spent a lot of time reading how to build a PC online OP before I built my first one. When I actually got the stuff, it was painfully easy. Made me feel stupid for worrying so much. It's not hard to do OP, it's not rocket science or anything. Building a PC seems super nerdy/hard because people don't want to take the 5 minutes to actually try to do it. Once you start, you realize how insanely easy it is.
Posts: 527
Joined: Nov 2012
Reputation:
10
2014-04-19, 05:39
(This post was last modified: 2014-04-19, 05:41 by tential.)
Well that's exactly the reason building a PC gets a bad rep. "I don't want to learn tech stuff I just want it to be easy" is the general consumer sentiment. It's why people end up paying $100s mark up to get a built PC over taking the time to simply learning to do it (Which takes like 30 minutes tops IMO).
As for "NAS Setup". This is why I hate these terms. A "NAS" is simply a PC where you store all your data that is hooked up to your router. "Networked Attached Storage". (This goes for the CLOUD, which is basically paying someone for a NAS that you could easily build yourself and avoid the monthly fee that these people want to charge you, or the term "App" which is hilarious that people think apps are brand new when everything is technically an "App". Most of these names are just branding to make it simple to the consumer who doesn't want to do ANY thinking).
I simply have my PC with all my storage on it. And I shared the folders with all my media using the share function that's been built into Windows for awhile. Boom, my media is accessible on every PC/device in the house.
It's all much easier than it seems, it just is the fear of doing something new and worrying about things that can go wrong (most of which is way blown out of proportion).
Setting up the NUC is literally plugging in ram, installing OPEN ELEC. If you can't do it in under 15 minutes without minimal thinking then there is an issue lol.
Posts: 1,074
Joined: Jun 2012
Reputation:
16
Yeah. I'm guilty of going cheap a few times. At least I'm on the right path!
I get it, I just get freaked at buying stuff and breaking everything.
I've hacked game systems, I've rooted phones, I've recovered lost data from destroyed PCs, but only with guides and research and digging, etc. I was hoping to avoid time waste and returning stuff.
I should be good now. I'm going to get both and test. Hopefully both operations play and don't freeze up my vids.
As far as the NAS, my phones backup to my laptop, my laptops network. I kinda just want a central cloud that isn't a laptop, A BACKUP of that device, and maybe have remote access. Baby steps.
As far as buying cloud storage, I only see the point for important document redundancy. Nobody would pay to have their movies stored, right? Nonsense.
Posts: 28
Joined: Apr 2014
Reputation:
0
I too have been considering the NUC - Celeron and almost ordered the components. But then came across all the talk about XBMC on Fire TV. Setting up the NUC won't be an issue for me (I have built PCs before), but I have no experience of using XBMC on anything other than a Windows 7 PC.
So my question is, between NUC and FTV, where would it be *easier* to use XBMC? Especially in terms of on screen navigation, adding things to Favorites, searching, fast forward, rewind, shutdown etc. Would it require an elaborate kind of setup to get any remote to do these kind of things?
Thanks in advance for the response.
Posts: 1,074
Joined: Jun 2012
Reputation:
16
I vote NUC. There is a huge post on XBMC on the FTV. I'd like to try, but I'd it's anything like an Ouya, it will work, but you won't be happy about it in the long run. File compatibility would be a concern for me. It's why I'm unsure of Chromebox, but I ordered one and am searching out a good NUC today. I'd test the fire, but I dont want to burn more money. Buy one at Best Buy, try it, and take it back?
Posts: 1,074
Joined: Jun 2012
Reputation:
16
File compatibility for the Fire, since Ouya has some troubles. I'll pass on the fire. It's too new, and I don't want more inconsistencies. Chrome ordered. Still checking NUCs. Can't find one with specs I like better than the 2820... Which is still not available.
Posts: 6,743
Joined: Oct 2008
Reputation:
317
noggin
Posting Freak
Posts: 6,743
2014-04-20, 10:07
(This post was last modified: 2014-04-20, 10:10 by noggin.)
I've got the Acer C720 Chromebook, which is pretty close in specs to the Asus Chromebox (same SSD, RAM, CPU+GPU combo etc.). It works brilliantly with OpenElec. Blu-ray lossless rips, HD Audio over HDMI etc. all great, and it can de-interlace 1080i content (needed for Live TV and some Blu-rays) using a high-quality de-interlace.
The Celeron 2955U in both devices is probably one of the best CPU+GPU combos for low-cost XBMC boxes available at the moment (it can YADIF 2x de-interlace in software - which I don't think the BayTrail NUC with the N2820 can) If you watch Live TV and have HDTV sources, or have 1080i Blu-rays (concerts etc.) the Chromebox will outperform the N2820 - though it doesn't have a SATA i/f or internal IR receiver.
It's a pity Intel don't do a 2955U NUC - though Gigabyte do a 2955U Brix (without an integrated IR receiver), and the Chromebox is great value.
