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squareatom · (This post was last modified: 2011-01-23, 20:16 by squareatom.)

Looking to get an Atom/ION HTPC. I want to directly connect to my TV via HDMI with an attached USB 2.0 external HD. Was wondering if its powerful enough to do what poofyhairguy is doing: USENET + sabnzbd + sickbeard +couchpotato as well as the PAR and unraring.

Can I watch video and download at the same time without stutter? or would this purely depend on my HDD setup?
Also, curious about the remote control situation. Do these all these ION boxes come with built in IR? Or only the ones that come with a remote?

I currently have a WD Live TV with hacked firmware directly connected via HDMI with an attached USB 2.0 external HD. It's capable of doing bittorrent and newsgroup downloads but it's not an optimal solution. I can unrar from the box to the ext HD and watch video with no stutter. The box is capable of running an nzb client as well as bittorrent but not terribly user friendly. In the process of attempting setup...

eskro · 2011-01-24, 00:16

to me, those nettops are underpowered....

and honestly, if your capable of doing so, build your own HTPC Smile

we can assist you!

squareatom · 2011-01-24, 00:22

Underpowered compared to what? A full-blown pc? Yes I know that. And yes I'm capable of building any type of box. Just trying to find out what the atom/ion combo is capable of doing. So by "build your own" what type of box were you referring?

If yo have experience with the type of setup that was previously mentioned I would appreciate your comments.

Thanks

bmcclure937 · 2011-01-24, 00:32

No need to take offense!! Shocked

The IONs are capable of 1080p but some prefer building a custom HTPC for a number of reasons.

If you are simply looking for a cheap, small, low-power HTPC then the ION will work fine for you. The reasons I chose a custom build were future upgrade potential and functionality. For example, the GT430 can do 3D and HD audio bitstreaming once the support is fully added. This is important to me in my setup.

Also, down the road I can upgrade the hardware easily to accomodate my needs! Wink

squareatom · 2011-01-24, 00:45

Sorry if I came off that way. I'm not. Had a few drinks and watching the games. Lol. Just wondering what the atom/ions are capable of because they seem great for the price. Like I said I have a wd live tv and it can do what I want. Just wondering how much better those boxes are. Trying to figure out if it's worth the "upgrade". So can anyone answer the questions in my first post.

Thanks again.

ion_man · 2011-01-24, 01:12

Assuming you intend to use Linux as OS, then yes an ION can do what you want. providing it's set up correctly (using ION hardware decoding).

Consider that the Atom cpu runs at less than 10% load when playing back a 1080p Bluray backup using the ION hardware decoding, so there is plenty of cpu cycles left to do the other stuff you want to do in the background.

Personally I wouldn't use a USB hard disk though, as USB is much slower and heavier on the cpu than an internal SATA hard disk or a remote network share.

squareatom · (This post was last modified: 2011-01-24, 01:18 by squareatom.)

Yep I had hoped to do Linux. As far as the USB, that's what I have right now. I'm not ready to dish out for a NAS. So youve answered one of my questions.

What are the prebuilt ions that have built in ir? Or do i have to get a separate adaptor and what is te support like in Linux for them?

wiz561 · (This post was last modified: 2016-04-13, 21:49 by wiz561.)

I do something similar to that, but instead of using the ION box, I use another box and watch everything over the network (samba share)..

I would *guess* that it would work fine for what you want to do. My only thing would be it might slow up during extractions, but not because of the CPU, but because of the hard drive.

I believe that moving to the ION direction is smart, given the low prices and abilities to play 1080p smoothly. I would say try it out to see if it works for you. If it doesn't, you can always adjust SAB to download only during x hours (middle of night?). Additionally, in the future, you could also get a small NAS box and run sab on it.

I know there's some people that bash the Zotac boxes. I've built my machines in the past, but I find it easier (and sometimes cheaper) to just buy something.

I know I didn't give you an exact answer on what you want to do, but hope that this gives you some hints on what direction to go. My only concern with your setup would be a bottleneck that might exist with the HDD. Another thought would be to get an external solid state drive with usb 3.0 or external sata.

squareatom · 2011-01-24, 01:38

Well you guys have been helpful. I was just going to order from amazon and hope for the best ;-). But what what you are telling me these units should be able to do what I want (which is what I figured as a wd live can do it on sigma processor).

spencers · 2011-01-24, 01:58

My Revo 1600 does just dandy with XBMC playing HD content and SABnzbd downloading simultaneously; even while SAB is PARing/unpacking/unraring! I have an SSD inside, which I'm sure it aids with the process.

squareatom · 2011-01-24, 02:12

I'm liking what I'm hearing! What about the remote situation. Do most on the prebuilt atom/ion units have built in IR? Or only the one that come with remotes? I already have a harmony 900..

ion_man · 2011-01-24, 06:55

squareatom Wrote:I'm liking what I'm hearing! What about the remote situation. Do most on the prebuilt atom/ion units have built in IR? Or only the one that come with remotes? I already have a harmony 900..

AFAIK only the ones that come with remotes have sensors.
Have a look at this overview, it lists IR if it's built-in:
http://www.linuxtech.net/features/nvidia...rview.html

PatrickVogeli · 2011-01-24, 09:34

I use usenet + sabnzb with no problems, the ION handles it right. Yeah, checking, repairing (if necessary) and unpacking takes longer than with a more powerful machine, but appart from that, it's ok.

The only minor glitch, to me at least, is that if the thing is repairing, checking or unpacking then you can't watch a movie (not HD, at least). I've not determined if it's because of the CPU or the HDD yet.

Anyway, would I buy atom+ION combo again? Yes, without a single doubt.

squareatom · 2011-01-24, 14:58

ion_man Wrote:AFAIK only the ones that come with remotes have sensors.
Have a look at this overview, it lists IR if it's built-in:
http://www.linuxtech.net/features/nvidia...rview.html

Thank you my friend. That is one immensely helpful link!

PatrickVogeli Wrote:I use usenet + sabnzb with no problems, the ION handles it right. Yeah, checking, repairing (if necessary) and unpacking takes longer than with a more powerful machine, but appart from that, it's ok.

The only minor glitch, to me at least, is that if the thing is repairing, checking or unpacking then you can't watch a movie (not HD, at least). I've not determined if it's because of the CPU or the HDD yet.

Anyway, would I buy atom+ION combo again? Yes, without a single doubt.

I find this strange. Since posting I have been able to test with my wdlive with attached 2.0 USB and I can unpack and watch 1080p video without a hiccup. It's a sigma processor running Linux. Are you running windows or Linux? In any case I'm still interested in these boxes and appreciate your feedback.

maxinc · 2011-01-24, 18:13

Atom / Ion boxes are excellent. Super efficient, very quiet and take very little room. Video playback is flawless and I simply love them.

The Atom cpu it pretty slow though. You can feel it's limits with more advanced skins. I use reFocus which should be of the lightweight ones but since it uses full screen fanart, you can feel the cpu struggle especially if you have something to compare it to. Even navigation sounds can't really keep up with keyboard clicks (better off anyways). It makes a wonderful bedroom player but for the living room I am keeping the custom i3.