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JeeGee
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Nice, curious about your experience....
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Kermee
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Just ordered one from Newegg after reading through this thread. I have a spare Micron C400 256GB SSD and an 8GB DDR3 SO-DIMM so I'm going to split the the drive into two partitions and load Windows 7 on one and Ubuntu on the other just to see how it runs in each OS.
Cheers,
Kermee
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I actually picked the AD12 up a couple weeks back, I've just been too busy (and sick) to post back my results.
So far I love it. It's a little less powered than I want for my main room, but I expected this, and it's actually plenty of power to get the job done. I doubt I'll demote it to the bedroom for a while.
Off the top of my head my suggestions to people that get this and use windows for HD are:
1. Install the zotac page's video/chipset driver package, then you can upgrade the ATI graphics drivers. There are chipset/usb drivers that aren't in the normal package.
2. The LAN driver link was broken for me (it's fixed now), if it goes down the NIC is a Realtek R8169C if I recall.
3. I had problems with the device waking up too often, I think it was the "Wake on pattern match" set to true in the NIC adapter settings.
4. I use a harmony one remote, downloading and customizing the MCE Keyboard device from harmony gave me much better functionality than the MCE Remote.
I just got what I think are the last few quirks worked out and am loving it so far. If anyone has setup/configuration issues I'd suggest posting here as I'm sure we've all hit little things and can help you save some time.
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SSD from amazon: Crucial m4 64GB 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT064M4SSD2
RAM from newegg: G.SKILL 8GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-1333C9S-8GSA
I have an old laptop hdd here that I'll try when I buy my next unit, but I haven't had the time to test it yet. I'm interested to see any playback difference.
I didn't know this before, but the AD12 requires a 9.5 mm hard drive (I had no clue there were differences). Evidently the one I got I got is 9.5, but it was a TIGHT fit screw hole wise for the bracket. I was concerned getting it put together. I'm not sure if this is just this drive or it's something with the bracket. Either way, definitely pay attention and don't accidentally grab a larger drive, it'd definitely be a problem fitting in the unit.
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So will I have to use XBMC for playing media or can I also use something like KMPlayer or VLC? I think I read that hardware decoding is required?
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You'll want hardware decoding because of the lack of processor speed.
You can use anything you'd be able to on a normal computer if you can work out the remote control and other things. It's really just a normal PC, just without the processing power and ability to upgrade.
Kermee: Definitely agree on the size, I knew it'd be small but laughed when I took it out of the box and looked at it.
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djon
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What's the noise like on this unit?
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I haven't noticed it at all, but I'm not as picky as some other people I know and have a lot of other devices in this room. I've put my ear down to it and I don't notice anything that should ever be audible during a movie or show.