[Avenger_Zero]

How about this?

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/i...tegory_id=

I also thougt about the opinion to buy an Popcorn Hour. It has also a larg community and many, many developers. But in fact, it is not XBMC.
It cost about the same as my Wish-PC (at least in Austria). I think, a custom PC is way more flexible than such a media center.

[HexusOdy]

But the point is we want something with XBMC. The PCH is a cheap solution for a media center but it has ahorrible ugly front end.

Really it offers nothing more than an Xbox 360 or PS3 apart from some extra formats like MKV.

What we want is something cheap and quiet like the PCH that we can get XBMC on.

Avenger Zero's post is a start but we need a total solution with case and storage. And I'm also not too sure that the Celeron CPU's could handle the load of 1080p if the GPU won't take any strain.

Manybe one of the XBMC team can help?

[CASHMON3Y]

I dont think ill ever buy my HTPC... If I can't find the very best parts for the cheapest price, I will always be hitting my self for it down the road...

[Geeba]

Hi Patrick and welcome....

Not really sure what you wanted out of a 90's designed games console... I think personally they did a dam fine job all things considering.. and after Team XBMC got their hands on it I personally think M$ we're mad to drop it... look at the PS2 and what with a huge market in China just ripe for the taking the Xbox could of been a good foot in the door.

* the need of a mod-chip or soft-mod
A 5 minute job... you dont even have to open it.... and the kit can be found in 2nd hand shops for a few quid.

* the lag of CPU-POwer for watching 720p and 1080p Material
It will if you encode your video in the right format and 1080p in 2000 was like asking for a 2160p TV now.... the skins are 720p and look AMAZING!

* the missing of hdmi, vga-output (except xbox v1.0)
Again HDMI was probably on a drawing board somewhere... but your'd be hard pushed to see a difference over Component which Xbox does run.. its main purpose is for DRM content.

* the missing of native-wlan
Use a faster wireless bridge....

* the fact that there is no end-solution for me, the customer, I mean, i have to solder the mod-chip, install the ir-mod for remote-controll and so on...
Thats why i stopped my project and searched again for a solution. I was very happy to see, that the xbmc- team have started the port of xbmc to pc or mac.

I think your'll be hard pushed to find a complete end solution in any software/hardware, take a look at a fully setup xbox running upscaled full dvd rips and DD 5.1 or DTS... you'll like it trust me.

* not to expensive
* as small as possible
* powerfull hardware, capable to handle hd-content for at least 3 years
* Multichannel-support (at least DD and DTS) for my receiver

Gonna be a toughie! cheap, powerfull and futureproof!

[HexusOdy]

Just looked at the board Avenger suggested and while its a feature packed board it does require a full size heatsink. I think any solution has to be a slimline one and this would require a cube style case.

[Avenger_Zero]

Hi Geeba!

Thanks for welcome. My purpose was not to write bad about XBMC for XBOX. Its a great solution and even ways better than most of commercial media centers (imho i know no better mc). Sure, you right, the xbox 1 is a console of the the last decade, well for its time, even better today, thanks to XBMC. The answers you write about my comments are right. With end-solution i mean the following:

Steps for buliding a custom media center made of XBOX:

Step 1: Get an old xbox or mod your already purchased box
Step 2: Get an Mod-Chip for xbox, solder it in
Step 3: Get an DVD-Kit and an ir-mod, solder it in
Step 4: Get an TOS-Link-Output (for the receiver) and solder it in
Step 5: Buy a Component-Cable or build your own for HD
Step 6: Install XBMC and custom it for after your wishes
Step 7: Buy or build a nice front-end for your new media center.
Done.

Steps for building a custom media center made of PC:

Step 1: Buy your components
Step 2: Bring them all together
Step 3: Install XBMC and custom it for after your wishes
Step 4: Buy or build a nice front-end for your new media center.
Done.

If i had bought all the needed componets for my XBOX XBMC i would only save about 60~70€ but would have all the "cons" from my first post.

But I think, that is OT. In fact, it will buy this ITX-Motherboard in October. The CPU is strong enough, i think. I could overclock it, but the problem is the cooling from the motherboard.

For Study and Gaming i have an Gigabit P35-Neo2-FIR Motherboard with an E2140. It's the same as the celeron, but has 1MB L2-Cache. I have succesfully overclocked it from 1,6GHZ to 3,2GHz. Up to 3GHz you can cool this CPU with the boxed cooler without a problem. One hour prime95 creats about 65oC. At 3GHz the E2140 is as strong as an Q6600 (not in Games, but in Simulation, WinRar, DivX, and so on).

[Avenger_Zero]

Hi HexusOdy!

I think, a custom case with the following dimensions would be fine:
(175x175x90)mm.
Build this cubus with a sheet of paper. Very nice size. SUre, if you buy a case you have to take what you get.

[icekiller]

The GPU takes the decoding. I read a review, where they tested the motherboard with an E8500. These CPU is ways to strong for a media center.

urgh.. XBMC doesn't YET support GPU decoding aka EVERYTHING has to be done @ cpu which means E8200@ 3ghz has a load of around 80% (correct me if i'm wrong.. 60-80%)

[Avenger_Zero]

urgh.. XBMC doesn't YET support GPU decoding aka EVERYTHING has to be done @ cpu which means E8200@ 3ghz has a load of around 80% (correct me if i'm wrong.. 60-80%)

Ohh, thats interessting!

[pko66]

The GPU takes the decoding.

Not in current XBMC (nor in the near or no-so-near future, I'm afraid). You need a CPU capable of decoding 1080p by itself, that means now a fairly powerful C2D at least. For GPU, almost anything modern could be used hw-wise, but you need OpenGL 2.0 drivers. nVidia is the best supported (for now).

What XBMC desperately needs to get mainstream and to be loaded on really cheap machines is video decoding at GPU level, but that is really difficult and needs very specific skills from the developers; it may happen eventually but I suggest you to not try to hold your breath till then...

[HexusOdy]

Not in current XBMC (nor in the near or no-so-near future, I'm afraid). You need a CPU capable of decoding 1080p by itself, that means now a fairly powerful C2D at least. For GPU, almost anything modern could be used hw-wise, but you need OpenGL 2.0 drivers. nVidia is the best supported (for now).

What XBMC desperately needs to get mainstream and to be loaded on really cheap machines is video decoding at GPU level, but that is really difficult and needs very specific skills from the developers; it may happen eventually but I suggest you to not try to hold your breath till then...

What is the GPU natively decodes HD formats such as VC1 and H.264? Will XBMC still only use the CPU?

[pike]

What is the GPU natively decodes HD formats such as VC1 and H.264? Will XBMC still only use the CPU?

Yes. XBMC uses FFMpeg and it relies purely on software decoding (CPU) today
We like FFMpeg, it's FOSS just like XBMC

[flxfxp]

wasnt there a summer of code event involving gpu offloading? The thread is getting a bit off course tho

[funkmasta]

What about an Apple TV? Isn't that capable of playing HD content?

[flxfxp]

What about an Apple TV? Isn't that capable of playing HD content?

Too weak for HD content. Plus I don't know if they managed to get xbmc running on it. Your best apple alternative seems to be a mac mini.