Fanless-Out-Of-The-Box-XMBC-Device
#31
What about getting an Apple TV for $99 and jailbreaking it? There's even an XBMC release specifically for that.

(1st post FTW) Smile
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#32
(2012-06-07, 19:41)Kloopy Wrote: What about getting an Apple TV for $99 and jailbreaking it? There's even an XBMC release specifically for that.

(1st post FTW) Smile

You would need the v1 or v2 Apple TV. The new one is not jail broken yet, is it?
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#33
(2012-06-07, 19:41)Kloopy Wrote: What about getting an Apple TV for $99 and jailbreaking it? There's even an XBMC release specifically for that.

(1st post FTW) Smile
You need to read OP messages.....it have to be able to bitstream DTS-MA/TrueHD audio....

>Alienware X51- do it all HTPC
>Simplify XBMC configurations
>HOW-TO Bitstreaming using XBMC
I refused to watch movie without bitstreaming HD audio!
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#34
(2012-06-07, 04:44)bossanova808 Wrote:
(2012-06-06, 22:14)lrusak Wrote: [
It's just not really possible without a fan. Convection beats conduction ten fold. Just having a slight breeze over the heatsinks makes all the difference.

I don't care how good your hearing is there is just no way you can hear a low rpm fan in a silent case from your normal seating position. To each their own I guess

What's not possible without a fan? These days, quite a bit is possible without a fan. While they don't officially talk about it, Streacom have commented that 95W TDP A8s work well in their cases....even the A6 is already very powerful for XBMC, Aeon Nox is very smooth with it for example, and the new trinity chips like the A10 at 65W or if you want to live on the edge the 95W version, will absolutely fly with XBMC I'm sure. And trinity + 1 is reputedly less than a year out, which will also have 65/95W version of course, so it's really hard to see from an XBMC perspective what you can't do with a machine with passive cooling these days.

I'm not, BTW, claiming to have super ears, it's just that my house at night, with kids in bed, is completely silent - we live in the 'burbs next to a park basically, and you can't hear a thing usually - it's pin drop silence. I sit @ 3 metres (= 9ft I guess) from a 50 inch screen. No AC, no nothing. I often watch with subs so I won't disturb my wife (currently recovering from brain surgery), or my young kids. And in this environment, I have tried with fans, but there's still a hum. It's not wildly offensive, or high pitched or anything, but it's there. And I personally wanted it not to be there....so I made it so.

As you say, to each their own. One nitpcik - you mean heat transfer by convection. Convection itself is really just molecular movement. Pet peeve, although yours is definitely the popular usage.

Go and run your PC's without the fans, see how that works out for you Smile

PS. I've taken two thermodynamics courses Wink
"PPC is too slow, your CPU has no balls to handle HD content." ~ Davilla
"Maybe it's a toaster. Who knows, but it has nothing to do with us." ~ Ned Scott
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#35
My main HTPC works without a fan in the winter, but I have to have a 5v fan on in the summer. Mostly silent either way (and hell it can bitstream HD audio), but it is large (Micro ATX).

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#36
(2012-06-07, 20:15)lrusak Wrote: Go and run your PC's without the fans, see how that works out for you Smile
I do run my htpc without a fan (see my sig). It works just fine, thank you very much.

(2012-06-07, 20:15)lrusak Wrote: PS. I've taken two thermodynamics courses Wink
I have a masters degree in Engineering. I hope that in your two courses you learned at least a little bit about:
1. how it's impossible to create or destroy energy
2. heat transfer, and how surface area affects it.

Those two concepts explain why some PC's require active cooling (be it via transfer to air or water), and others do not. You can run some experiments to prove it to yourself.
1. place a call on a smartphone (fanless pc) and place it on a table. It will get warm.
2. place a fan near the phone. It will cool off slightly.
3. place the phone (still in a call) in a sealed container, like a igloo cooler. It will overheat to the point of failure. (Note, I am not responsible for your melted iPhone!)
Thought experiment #1: Would placing the fan inside the cooler have kept the phone from overheating?
Thought experiment #2: What if the igloo cooler were larger - like the size of a house? Would that have kept the phone from overheating?
If you said "yes" to either question, re-take thermodynamics.
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#37
I think we'll see a lot of fanless machines appearing soon, all these lower power and lower heat chips.....you can see Apple (for all tehir faults) have tried to minimise noise wherever possible, and PCs are bound to follow (be they desk- or lap- top).

It just seems to be the ergonomics people want, and while heat transfer by convection ( Smile ) = > conduction in general, it doesn't therefore follow that conduction isn't sufficient in a lot of cases, and more in tune with what people want.

Addons I wrote &/or maintain:
OzWeather (Australian BOM weather) | Check Previous Episode | Playback Resumer | Unpause Jumpback | XSqueezeDisplay | (Legacy - XSqueeze & XZen)
Sorry, no help w/out a *full debug log*.
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#38
If this forum is about "Home THEATER PCs", why isn't there more emphasis on making it like a theater? When I walk into a Harkins and sit down, I better not see any hardware, except for some speakers, maybe. I believe that a home THEATER should be this way, also. In other words, who cares what the case looks or sounds like? It should be tucked away, out of sight, where fan noise is a null point. I guess I'm part of the minority when it comes to this, though?
My Living Room Theater XBMC Mini-ITX Build
CASE: MI-100 - MOBO: ASRock A75M-ITX - APU: A6-3500
Kingston 4GB 1600MHz - SanDisk 128GB SSD -- DVDRW
W7 HP - Kodi 15 - Confluence | ATV1 w/BCM970015 & Crystalbuntu in the BR
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#39
Nice idea but I am too much of a tinkerer myself, always trying things out etc, too much hassle to have it all off in rack somewhere. I think 'home theatre' is kinda over-rated anyway as a concept - for me it's my lounge....which is quite a different thing, intentionally, from a theatre. The AVS forums are the place for those vanity home theatre projects - there are some amazing things on there, but for me I can't see the point in that much dedicated space & $s to it.

I did try running a long hdmi cable once, with the PC in a study room and nothing but a remote sensor and a screen in the lounge, but it was a PITA for me, I was always running back over to the loung etc, even with SSH/remote desktop etc., I just found myself mucking about with the box too much.

Addons I wrote &/or maintain:
OzWeather (Australian BOM weather) | Check Previous Episode | Playback Resumer | Unpause Jumpback | XSqueezeDisplay | (Legacy - XSqueeze & XZen)
Sorry, no help w/out a *full debug log*.
Reply
#40
(2012-06-08, 04:26)maddog808 Wrote: If this forum is about "Home THEATER PCs", why isn't there more emphasis on making it like a theater? When I walk into a Harkins and sit down, I better not see any hardware, except for some speakers, maybe. I believe that a home THEATER should be this way, also. In other words, who cares what the case looks or sounds like? It should be tucked away, out of sight, where fan noise is a null point. I guess I'm part of the minority when it comes to this, though?
Good point....and here are some ideas- Home Theatre Design.......

>Alienware X51- do it all HTPC
>Simplify XBMC configurations
>HOW-TO Bitstreaming using XBMC
I refused to watch movie without bitstreaming HD audio!
Reply
#41
(2012-06-08, 05:01)bossanova808 Wrote: Nice idea but I am too much of a tinkerer myself, always trying things out etc, too much hassle to have it all off in rack somewhere. I think 'home theatre' is kinda over-rated anyway as a concept - for me it's my lounge....which is quite a different thing, intentionally, from a theatre. The AVS forums are the place for those vanity home theatre projects - there are some amazing things on there, but for me I can't see the point in that much dedicated space & $s to it.

I did try running a long hdmi cable once, with the PC in a study room and nothing but a remote sensor and a screen in the lounge, but it was a PITA for me, I was always running back over to the loung etc, even with SSH/remote desktop etc., I just found myself mucking about with the box too much.


I hear ya! It is a PITA, if you are always messing with the box. I try to mess with it for a couple weeks, then hopefully leave it alone for a while and just enjoy the actual media. LOL

When people come over, they kind of look around, and don't understand how we are watching unlimited movies and TV shows, and listening to unlimited music. It's like magic, especially because they can't see anything except the screen and speakers. My wife especially likes it, because for some reason, wives hate looking at A/V equipment.

What really freaks people out is when you use the Android XBMC Remote and just randomly change songs or movies, while the regular universal remote is laying on the coffee table.

It doesn't have to be expensive to hide A/V equipment, either. Long HDMI cables and RF remotes are pretty affordable these days. You can put it in a coat closet, cabinet, etc. My HTPC has horribly loud fans, but if I tested with a dB meter from my couch, it would be completely silent. Nod
My Living Room Theater XBMC Mini-ITX Build
CASE: MI-100 - MOBO: ASRock A75M-ITX - APU: A6-3500
Kingston 4GB 1600MHz - SanDisk 128GB SSD -- DVDRW
W7 HP - Kodi 15 - Confluence | ATV1 w/BCM970015 & Crystalbuntu in the BR
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#42
(2012-06-08, 05:13)maddog808 Wrote: It doesn't have to be expensive to hide A/V equipment, either. Long HDMI cables and RF remotes are pretty affordable these days. You can put it in a coat closet, cabinet, etc. My HTPC has horribly loud fans, but if I tested with a dB meter from my couch, it would be completely silent. Nod
Agree 100%. I installed a long HDMI cable in my walls, and in the guest room put a HDMI switch which all my equipment connects to. Add a RF remote, and the only equipment in the living room is a TV and speakers. The wife likes it a lot better than the "pile of electronics" I had before I met her - and she even likes it more than the "ugly electronics furniture" we bought to house it all when we got married.
If you are running into the other room constantly to tinker with it, it just means you hadn't done enough "pre-tinkering" beforehand Smile


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#43
(2012-06-08, 05:13)maddog808 Wrote: My wife especially likes it, because for some reason, wives hate looking at A/V equipment.
Most wives are the same way......they don't care what you use to playback media....Wink As long as they can see video on the screen and hear sound from speakers, they are happy. I never hear any wife that visited us notice any of my AV component. And they still think that DVD and blu-ray video look the same and Bose surround sound speakers sound better than the two 12" subwoofers surround sound system......Confused

The husbands on the other hand, questioned me about my media components all the time...........Nod

>Alienware X51- do it all HTPC
>Simplify XBMC configurations
>HOW-TO Bitstreaming using XBMC
I refused to watch movie without bitstreaming HD audio!
Reply

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