Atom+ION+Linux = HTPC?

[costi]

Just go download Thora's K-on!'s (first season) OP2.

http://img704.imageshack.us/i/kon1080pionn330.jpg/

Board used: Zotac IONITX-F-E (which is practically the same as the Asus I want to buy, CPU and GPU-wise)

EDIT: sorry for the double post, my mistake. Can a mod merge this post and the previous one?

[vuzedome]

What you wanna get is the video playback stats, MPC-HC , go to View then select statistics to enable.

[halfelite]

Just a suggestion why not go for a media player device like a popcorn hour instead? I run a zotac zbox HD-ID11N and It will play a lot of stuff but be warned simple functions like file transfer are slow. And never ever ever update the bios it will brick the unit and Zotac customer support is the worst ever.

And for the record I run a popcorn hour for all my media player. The zbox is used as my main desktop now. I traded in my mammoth water cooled desktop that was using 285watts an hour to the zbox which uses around 28watts an hour.

[costi]

Just a suggestion why not go for a media player device like a popcorn hour instead?

Because I want to use it as a download box and storage server, run OpenSSH on it and besides, from my experience with standalone players, there's always someting wrong with them in terms of capabilities and configuration, always.
The cost is about the same, so I prefer something that's completely configurable.

[halfelite]

Just a suggestion why not go for a media player device like a popcorn hour instead?

Because I want to use it as a download box and storage server, run OpenSSH on it and besides, from my experience with standalone players, there's always someting wrong with them in terms of capabilities and configuration, always.
The cost is about the same, so I prefer something that's completely configurable.

Both have there good points and weak points I guess. Although most media streaming box;s now have internal drives, usb drives and torrent clients. although they lack openssh.  You will find the same capabilities and config problems on an htpc also. Unless you are running high end cpu's which you are not. Cuda is not the holy grail of playback it works sometimes but not always, MKV takes more overhead from the cpu then an mt2s. If you ever get into bit streaming of HD audio you will need something besides and htpc. Going with a low end nettop board is what makes your htpc build a lot more iffy because you are basing a large percentage of playback support on cuda.

I dont want to change your mind or anything just letting you know the hurdles you might encounter and the let downs you might see.

[costi]

I'll see if I'll be able to get a good deal on the board from Asus from a guy I know that works in the local Asus office. If I do, I'll go with the ION board mentioned above (especially since I already have a HDD and 2x1GB DDR3 RAM, which I bought for almost half price). If not, I'll consider other options. Tho I'll probably still stick to a PC, but maybe change to a Core i3 ITX board.

BTW. I wrote a review of MSI Wind U100, one of the first netbooks (the only previous ones were Asus eeePC 701 and 901) just as it entered the market. It had a single-core Atom, 1GB of RAM and Intel GMA900 (which is the most basic Intel GPU) and ran WinXP. I watched a 720p release of Paprika on it without any problems, as well as 720p videos from gametrailers. They were decoded only by the CPU, so I think that even if the GPU on the ION will not be able to fully process the movie, a dual-core Atom with 2GB RAM will be enough, even if the movie takes 100% of CPU time.

[halfelite]

If you get everything for a good price then go for it. And an i3 should be able to handle it all then if the atom does not work so well for you.

[agentbad]

Just throw XBMC live on it and stream from your computer.

[halfelite]

update your post if you do buy everything and tell us how it went.

[bloody000]

If you want to use Linux, avoid VIA at all cost. They have craptastic driver support on Linux, even the Windows counterparts aren't that great.

[costi]

update your post if you do buy everything and tell us how it went.

Actually, in the end I went a slightly different route. I bought one of these: http://gizmodo.com/5383094/acer-aspirerevo-upgraded-windows-7-ion-graphics-dual+core-atom-cpu
Second hand, but still under warranty (in fact, the guy claims he bought it two weeks ago - I'll check the receipt as soon as I get it, hopefully by the end of the week). The hardware is practically the same as the Asus board I was keen on buying (Dual-core Atom 330, ION and 2GB RAM). Sure, it does not have RAID support or a PCI-E port, but on the other hand, I get an eSATA port, card reader (limited, but still) in a very compact, great looking case. And I paid less that I would have for the Asus board + case (which would end up 2-3 times larger). I paid 880 PLN for the Acer, while Asus AT3IONT-I DELUXE starts from 630 PLN and 300+ for a good-looking case - and I still need the RAM and HDD.
Also, it already has Windows 7 and a wireless keyboard+mouse, so it's even more cost-effective (Windows 7 Home Premium costs about 350PLN, keyboard + mouse would be another 50).

Ok, the HDD is a bit smallish. But if I really need to, I can always swap it for a bigger one, and for now I'll just keep the external 3.5" enclosure that houses my 1.5TB drive and hook it up to the Acer (I planned to use said HDD together with the Asus board).

And I ended up with spare 2x1GB DDR3 RAM, which I'll prrobably sell since it's kinda useless to me. Or maybe I'll keep it, and if the Acer nettop doesn't satisfy me, I'll sell it and build myself a Core i3 machine

So, the current setup means I'll probably use MediaPortal (since I already have Windows on board), tho I'm still tempted to try Linux. Oh well, we'll see.

Now, all I need is a remote - can anyone recommend something, preferably below $20 with shipping?

[fohfoh]

Since you have a card reader (I assume it can read SD at the very least) a "small" 8-16GB one can be had for cheap and you can install linux on it. (Sort of like a dual boot). So you can still toy with it. 16GB for sure should be enough to try to play with. 8GB might cut it close. You can also consider installing it to a thumb drive (It says you have 6?) but be wary that your speed may drop if your USB ports become warm. (Which I highly doubt, but you never know)

However, I'd double check the HDD and roll in at least a 7200rpm one in there if it's not at least at that standard. Night and Day. Seriously.

No idea on the remotes. I personally would be served well with a wireless keyboard/mouse set so I have never really considered remotes.

[costi]

Yeah, an SD card sounds like a good idea. After installation read and write speeds shouldn't be such a huge problem, given the minimal access time.

The HDD is most probably a 5400rpm one, I wouldn't expect a 7200 one in a budget machine like this one. I'd love to put an SSD in there, but the prices are waaay too high.

As for remote - keyboard and mouse is fine, but a remote is simply something that really makes this stand out as a media device and not your typical computer, at least for me. So I'll probably get one sooner or later, maybe scavenge a Logitech Harmony from my father, who doesn't seem to use his

[halfelite]

you can check my post here for a good remote options. just be careful if you order the RII. they were pushing orders out like crazy in the beginning then i herd people started not to receive them anymore.

http://forums.bakabt.me/index.php?topic=24528.msg4442131#msg4442131

[agentbad]

anything less than xbmc sounds like suck.

[costi]

Okay, I got the nettop today, finally managed to hook it up and remove some Acer bloatware (tho they don't include too much stuff, I'll give them that).

First of all, a small rant: normally, the 3610 comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse. However, the Polish Acer branch decided to be "funny", and included a USB, wired K&M instead. On top of that, the keyboard has the official Polish layout, which is strange and unintuitive (99.9% keyboards sold in Poland have the English(US) layout, even though it's, technically speaking, illegal, since it's incompatible with the Polish norm and therefore shouldn't be sold - like anyone cares). Stupid bastards.

Apart from that, I'm really happy with it. It's absolutely silent, even under full load (you can hear the fan if you put your ear next to the exhaust). It is very good-looking and very well made - sturdy, good quality plastic, no misalignments of any kind. One drawback is that the warranty sticker is covering the screw which holds the lid, so upgrading RAM or HDD will void the warranty. Stupid bastards again.

As for HD playback - not a problem. On some dated drivers that were pre-installed with the OS (186.xx) the K-On! OP2 file which was tested above played flawlessly in 64-bit MPC-HC. CPU use was around 50% (I'll see how it goes with the latest drivers), stats in MPC: 8 frames dropped out of about 1800 total, jitter 10ms, audio sync kept within -9 to +3ms (which is unnoticeable). I'll post a screenshot later.

EDIT: with 257.21 drivers, jitter dropped to 8ms, number of dropped frames to 4 and CPU use never exceeded 30%.