Is it THAT HARD to find a good 1080P XBMC solution?

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Talkiet

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Topic # 113410 16-Jan-2013 11:30

I have an ATV2 running XBMC, it's great.

I then made the foolish mistake of buying myself a 1080P Christmas projector and now I want a 1080P XBMC solution.

Short of buying a modernish Mac Mini, or a full Media PC, are there any boxes out there that actually work well with XBMC at 1080P?

I have tried this:

http://androidtvbox.us/products/g-box-midnight/

and it's rubbish. Says 1080P all over the place but it's actually upscaled 720P unless you modify some parameters and then it's 1080P but it's not fluid.

and I have a Raspberry Pi. 1080P alright, and works reasonably well, but again, it's just not fluid.

Even at 720P, the ATV2 kicks both of their asses.

Any suggestions from people with experience? Please don't point to boxes just cos they have great specs - most of them are playing loose with the truth.

Regards
Neil Gardner

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BDFL - Memuneh
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Reply # 745600 16-Jan-2013 11:37

Got this box here yesterday for review. Installed XBMC and today I'm going to plug to my TV via HDMI. It works with its own remote control, Microsoft MCE remote control or iOS app remote control.

Storage is great, four bays - currently with four 1TB WD HDD in RAID 5. Copied large Windows 2012 ISO files (4 GB each) to the box at 65 MB/s (around 520 Mbps), which was twice the rate my Synology does, both plugged to same switch.

I will report later in its own thread when I have tested XBMC output on a real TV.

It all comes down to "how much you want to spend"...

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

nickb800

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Reply # 745610 16-Jan-2013 11:48

freitasm: Got this box here yesterday for review. Installed XBMC and today I'm going to plug to my TV via HDMI. It works with its own remote control, Microsoft MCE remote control or iOS app remote control.

Storage is great, four bays - currently with four 1TB WD HDD in RAID 5. Copied large Windows 2012 ISO files (4 GB each) to the box at 65 MB/s (around 520 Mbps), which was twice the rate my Synology does, both plugged to same switch.

I will report later in its own thread when I have tested XBMC output on a real TV.

It all comes down to "how much you want to spend"...

I feel like I'm missing something here - that QNAP doesn't seem to have HDMI? So wouldn't be a solution to the OP's problem? What XBMC client are you using Mauricio?

freitasm

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Reply # 745619 16-Jan-2013 11:51

nickb800: I feel like I'm missing something here - that QNAP doesn't seem to have HDMI? So wouldn't be a solution to the OP's problem? What XBMC client are you using Mauricio?

Y U NOT BELIEVE ME? Not only HDMI but VGA as well...

There's a XBMC package for QNAP, just installed from the repository. They actually sent me this box exactly because it has HDMI and the new XBMC package.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

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Reply # 745625 16-Jan-2013 11:57

Interesting, I stand corrected. Zero mention of HDMI on the manufacturer website, you'd think they would be pushing it, as it is a novel feature for a NAS

robjg63

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Reply # 745635 16-Jan-2013 12:13

Any particular reason it has to be XBMC?
I have an ATV2 with XMBC at home - and its great.
Also a raspberry pi (with raspbmc) - I ran some 1080 media on it the other day and was pretty impressed.
The network connection is always the issue with any streaming media player.

I also have an older AC Ryan Playon HD mini. It streams over the network - handles 1080 fine - not hard to navigate.
I wouldnt suggest that particular box - its an old model now - but there are the WDTV boxes etc that seem to get good feedback.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

Talkiet

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Reply # 745636 16-Jan-2013 12:16

Looks interesting, but I should really mention my other requirements... OK, here's a complete list

- Runs XBMC and outputs at native 1080P
- MUST BE COMPLETELY FLUID IN PLAYBACK. I don't mind if the menus are a bit clunky
- Silent
- Small
- Doesn't need any local storage
- Prefer IR remote (in addition to the XBMC smartphone remotes)

Essentially an ATV2 is perfect except for the 1080P native, and I am not holding my breath waiting for an ATV3 jailbreak.

I definitely do not want to have storage (multiple spinning discs) in the media centre. I have a lot of consolidated storage elsewhere in the house in a rack on a UPS.

Cheers - N

reven

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Reply # 745637 16-Jan-2013 12:16

I suggest you wait a few more months if you can.

the ouya will be out in april and will likely be a very good xbmc client.

now frodo is coming out with android support there should be more android based devices that work well with it. pivos is sponsoring xbmc they have a device (never used it myself) which may be worth a look.

currently im running 3x pis, they're not perfect, can be sluggish at times with the menus, but playback is pretty much perfect, does struggle on DTS sometimes (only issue if youre tv/receiver doesnt do dts).
ive preordered a ouya tv and cant wait for that to arrive. until then my pis are good enough.

use to use mac mnis, but they're an expensive solution, and didnt like running a full OS. openelec on a small nettop is an option, but also more expensive.

ajobbins

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Reply # 745640 16-Jan-2013 12:17

Raspberry Pi.

Mine cost me $48 AUD shipped including a case and runs XBMC at 1080p happily decoding 1080p H.264 video.

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Talkiet

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Reply # 745641 16-Jan-2013 12:17

robjg63: Any particular reason it has to be XBMC?
I have an ATV2 with XMBC at home - and its great.
Also a raspberry pi (with raspbmc) - I ran some 1080 media on it the other day and was pretty impressed.
The network connection is always the issue with any streaming media player.

I also have an older AC Ryan Playon HD mini. It streams over the network - handles 1080 fine - not hard to navigate.
I wouldnt suggest that particular box - its an old model now - but there are the WDTV boxes etc that seem to get good feedback.

Yes it does have to be XBMC. I have had a WDTV (great playback, possibly the best of any device I have tried) and an ACRyan (AWFUL - ended up returning it) but XBMC does a superb job of managing a movie collection.

Cheers - N

reven

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Reply # 745643 16-Jan-2013 12:19

Talkiet:
- MUST BE COMPLETELY FLUID IN PLAYBACK. I don't mind if the menus are a bit clunky

and your pi didnt achieve this? thought you meant the menus weren't fluid.

playback is perfect on my pis (except occasional DTS issue, I just added AC3 track to the mkvs it struggled with). I sometimes get buffering issues if im watching a raw copy of a bluray where the file is too large for the pi to handle (a 25gb file for a 2 hour movie), but all my ~15GB moves are fine.

Talkiet

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Reply # 745647 16-Jan-2013 12:21

ajobbins: Raspberry Pi.

Mine cost me $48 AUD shipped including a case and runs XBMC at 1080p happily decoding 1080p H.264 video.

I have a Raspberry Pi and playback is not fluid. There are occasional jerks in playback even in 720P. Maybe most people don't notice it, but I definitely do. To be fair I have only tried the latest RaspBMC (on a 512MB rpi) but no-one seems to think that any given version is significantly better in actual HW accelerated playback than others.

Cheers - N

freitasm

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Reply # 745649 16-Jan-2013 12:23

Talkiet: Looks interesting, but I should really mention my other requirements... OK, here's a complete list...

Ah, those clients who fail to mention requirements when the project starts.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

Talkiet

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Reply # 745652 16-Jan-2013 12:26

freitasm:
Talkiet: Looks interesting, but I should really mention my other requirements... OK, here's a complete list...

Ah, those clients who fail to mention requirements when the project starts.

Chuckle, fair enough...

But if I drove into a caryard in a corolla and said I wanted something a bit fancier but was happy with most of the things (maybe I wanted a 1080cc engine instead of the current 720cc model) I wouldn't expect to be shown an articulated lorry :-)

Cheers - N

ajobbins

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Reply # 745653 16-Jan-2013 12:28

Talkiet: I have a Raspberry Pi and playback is not fluid. There are occasional jerks in playback even in 720P. Maybe most people don't notice it, but I definitely do. To be fair I have only tried the latest RaspBMC (on a 512MB rpi) but no-one seems to think that any given version is significantly better in actual HW accelerated playback than others.

Interesting. Are you running the nightly builds, or one of the more stable ones?

I haven't had any issues with mine (Not that I have used it that extensively), and I am the first to notice if there are any slight problems with the video (I can't stand dropped frames, lip-sync issues, stutter etc even minor) but the Pi seems to be very good.

I did have an issue with a 1080i H.264 .ts file (Freeview grab) that wasn't playing nice, but I understand that was a XBMC issue that was to be fixed (Must test that again).

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Reply # 745658 16-Jan-2013 12:42

Except this is not a car yard, written medium is harder to catch other communication signals, our crystal ball is broken and you have to help people help you.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

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