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+--- Thread: XBMC vs WD HD TV - Lots of Questions (/showthread.php?tid=63832)
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XBMC vs WD HD TV - Lots of Questions - Honour81 - 2009-12-10
Hi All,
Greetings from a newbie
I have searched the forum first and couldn't find a complete answer.
I already have a WD HD TV, and it is doing his work great, playing the MKVs in my 1TB Seagate External USB disk.
However, I am looking for a more sophisticated device where I can;
* Download Torrent
* Download Rapid-share files by using my Rapid-share premium account ( i.e. Flashget )
* Play Movies from my usb HDD ( up to 1080p with Full HD quality) and also demuxing DTS files ( no more conversion for DTS editions)
To be honest I do not think that Acer Revo can catch the quality of WD HD TV, because I already have a Sony Vaio VGN-SR430 and it has HDMI output in 1080p, however when I play the same movie on my Samsung LCD via WD HD TV or Vaio, WD HD TV always beats Vaio as it is also supports FULL HD besides 1080p. ( Quality in the colours and in the movie is clearly visible )
1 - Is there anyone here both experienced Acer Revo and WD HD TV ? Please comment on 1080 p Full HD quality ( sometimes WD HD TV get sluggish in some movies ( i.e. 300 - 1080p ) I think it is because of the codecs used)
2 - I know I can install Ubuntu + XBMC on Revo and as far as I know it seems the best solution for the best quality in Revo, but is it also possible to run the torrent and a download client while not watching movies ? Or even while watching movies ( on the background) ?
I do not want to leave my laptop all the day for torrents and rapid-share as it is so much power consuming, I am looking for a compact, minimalist and economic solution and so far Acer Revo can be the best option if it is capable of beating WD HD TV.
There are also some modification that can be done on WD HD TV to make it download torrents and rapid-share, but I do not think it is going to be easy as this box is just designed for playing mkvs and has very limited unix inside.
Regards and Thanks in Advance - Any comments are welcome
- Geeba - 2009-12-11
XBMC - why compromise?
- UnisonRuss - 2009-12-11
The Revo sucks, thus the price. There already a lot of complaints from people that bought it... If you want the best, especially for 1080P, get a Dell Mini if your like PC or get a Mac Mini
WDTV Live is great for what it is, but the UI is boring and the organization/aesthetics lack compared to XBMC.
I have a Mini, and I have jDownloader accompanied with FlashGet, and I can download while running XBMC flawlessly, plus the performance is great
- jmarshall - 2009-12-11
Nothing wrong with the Revo if you use XBMC Live. With VDPAU it'll quite happily playback 1080p content without breaking a sweat. The only problem with the Revo is it's a single core atom, so some of the heavier skins *might* slow it down a bit. Something like Confluence shouldn't be a problem though, and it's the best skin out there anyway. The big advantage is it's economical.
Cheers,
Jonathan
- dan1son - 2009-12-11
I've been loving my Revo with Confluence skin. Minimeedia, Transparency, and Rapier are also fine on it (Aeon is really the only one that struggles). Confluence has the views and features I like the most anyway at the moment and it runs quite well on the single core atom.
It can playback 1080p on ubuntu with VDPAU very well. Haven't found anything it won't play over 802.11n and NFS. Full VC-1 or H.264 blu-ray rips are no problem.
- blittan - 2009-12-11
There are Revos with dual core Atom aswell as Asrock ION 330 and serveral others. Even Aeon is smooth on a dual core Atom.
- ashlar - 2009-12-11
Well, just be careful if you download "scene" releases. In that case, they don't necessarily play with hardware acceleration, due to unorthodox encoding settings. And if they don't get hw accelerated decoding, an Atom, even Dual Core, will never be able to play back a 1080p movie.
- UnisonRuss - 2009-12-11
Yeah obviously each user is unique, meaning we all use our HTPC's for different things. The Revo would drive me nuts because I always have at least 6 programs open while using XBMC and watching high def. content. For the money, you can't beat the Revo, but if you plan on doing a lot of multitasking with it I suggest you invest in some upgrades
As stated above there is a dual core available, which is better for HD playback. You could also upgrade the RAM yourself if you feel the performance is too slow :cool
- Honour81 - 2009-12-11
Heeyy, Lots of answers there
I think I will not use XBMC live, I will go with ubuntu + XBMC so I will be able to download torrents and rapid.
I am still concerned if it may provide FULL HD sharp & clear picture for my mkvs :S
as far as I know Mac Minis are very expensive compared to Revo.
I think I will sell my WD HD Tv then get a Revo with one core then upgrade the ram to 2gb.
My other concern is the customs for the moment, As I live in Turkiye and there is no revo here
- dan1son - 2009-12-11
I don't think I'm in the minority here when I say my HTPC box is for XBMC. It boots into ubuntu, logs in, and runs XBMC on startup. It doesn't even have a keyboard or mouse hooked up to it. For that setup my new Revo R1600 works great. I also have an ATV with CrystalHD card which also works very well for the same purpose on another TV.
Unless your HTPC is also your PC I think you'll find anything capable of VDPAU to be quite adequate if running under Linux. I find the Windows support to be a bit hokey still (it's getting there).
EDIT: My single core Revo can playback full 1080p at 24hz with no fuss in Linux/VDPAU. m2ts rips or MKV transcodes. Even the killa sample.
- TheDean - 2009-12-11
dan1son Wrote:EDIT: My single core Revo can playback full 1080p at 24hz with no fuss in Linux/VDPAU. m2ts rips or MKV transcodes. Even the killa sample.
That is excellent! I am leaning towards a Revo for my set-up. Will it pass through all sound codecs (Inc HD sound) to an Amp to decode? My main concern is DTS
- dan1son - 2009-12-11
TheDean Wrote:That is excellent! I am leaning towards a Revo for my set-up. Will it pass through all sound codecs (Inc HD sound) to an Amp to decode? My main concern is DTS
Depends. Does your receiver support HDMI audio? The Revo doesn't have optical or coaxial digital outputs, only HDMI and analog audio.
I remedied this problem with a "Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro" which has optical out. I had one laying around for quite some time and it works great in Ubuntu with XBMC. So I get DD or DTS just fine with pass-through.
- TheDean - 2009-12-11
dan1son Wrote:Depends. Does your receiver support HDMI audio? The Revo doesn't have optical or coaxial digital outputs, only HDMI and analog audio.
I remedied this problem with a "Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro" which has optical out. I had one laying around for quite some time and it works great in Ubuntu with XBMC. So I get DD or DTS just fine with pass-through.
Yeah - i'll be getting an Amp with HDMI audio support. Will the Revo pass through all formats and also downmix all formats to stereo for the timebeing?
- dan1son - 2009-12-11
TheDean Wrote:Yeah - i'll be getting an Amp with HDMI audio support. Will the Revo pass through all formats and also downmix all formats to stereo for the timebeing?
It should do whatever you need it to as long as you only need HDMI or analog. I don't use HDMI audio so I'm not sure how it handles DTS or DD over it if the device only supports stereo (like a TV), I'd imagine it just converts it to stereo PCM and throws that across, or the TV does it...
- fuzzmonkey - 2009-12-12
dan1son Wrote:Depends. Does your receiver support HDMI audio? The Revo doesn't have optical or coaxial digital outputs, only HDMI and analog audio.
I remedied this problem with a "Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro" which has optical out. I had one laying around for quite some time and it works great in Ubuntu with XBMC. So I get DD or DTS just fine with pass-through.
The newer dual-core revo has digital out via optical spdif. I bought one last week, not thrown any 1080p content at it yet but it flies for standard def. Love it