Posts: 11
Joined: Sep 2009
Reputation:
0
2009-09-01, 15:38
(This post was last modified: 2009-09-01, 15:49 by shaklee39.)
Hi, I currently have an xbox that I've been using XBMC on for several years, since XBMP started. I've noticed that I'm watching more and more 720p video, and they will not play on the xbox. I'm ready to swap it out for a linux/windows server, but the hardware choices seem overwhelming. I've seen some of these new Ion chips, but they don't seem that much better than just building a fairly powerful computer from scratch with a good output card. I'm leaning towards linux since I'd like to run Asterisk on it for a PBX as well. Can anyone recommend hardware for this machine as far as output card/processor? I don't have an HDTV right now, but plan to get one soon. My budget is around $500 for the CPU/video card since I have many of the other parts. Thanks!
I forgot to mention It'd be ideal to be running mythv on this box as well, but it's not absolutely necessary.
Posts: 136
Joined: Mar 2009
Reputation:
0
Hey im using a 30€ Celeron Dual Core and a 15€ Geforce 8400 from Ebay and i can play all videos without any problems and thanks to VDPAU the HD stuff doesn't even need any CPU power.
So my advice i wouldn't spend so much money on CPU/GPU because you won't really benefit from it.
Posts: 11
Joined: Sep 2009
Reputation:
0
What about for input? Should I just skip the mythtv part?
Posts: 11
Joined: Sep 2009
Reputation:
0
On a related note, is there a big difference between Windows/Linux versions? I've looked around and all the information about the differences seem outdated. I think that's probably the first thing I'll need to decide before buying hardware. I'm assuming that at least SOME of the functionality is not done since the Xbox version I'm used to.
Posts: 94
Joined: Dec 2006
Reputation:
0
$500 is a lot of money. You can get something a lot more powerful than ion, for example a Mac Mini with Nvidia gpu and a Core2Duo cpu. It is small, quiet, and is so power efficient in sleep that you don't have to turn it off. Maybe somebody else here can speak about how Linux runs on it.