[ketchup318]

Hi All

I'm looking to build an AppleTV alternative. I've been looking on ebay and it seems like the 2nd generation AppleTV is going for upwards of 200 dollars, makes sense, since it's the only one that's jailbreak-able (other than ATV1). I figure since I would spend close to 200 anyways, why not get something that's upgradeable. So after using a friend's ATV for a while, this is what I like and don't like about it.

Pros
-Extremely user friendly.
-Low Power
-Quiet
-Wife friendly
-Can turn on and off with remote (or harmony)

Cons
-Can't play 1080p (have a 55in TV)
-Can't play DTS-MA and TrueHD (have a nice surround sound system)
-Even with confluence, it's kinda laggy
-Youtube support very slow, and Hulu pandora kinda non-existent

Now what I would like is something like the ATV2. I will be streaming from a media server exclusively. I have Baby Einstein and Pixar movies my kid likes, and rom-com's my wife likes. I have wired gigabyte, so I don't need wireless, and I will not upgrade my TV to 3D for the foreseeable future.

I've looked at complete packages like the Artic boxes, and android boxes, but they seem too limiting. I have a spare copy of Win 7 I would like to use, and if that means using media center, i'm ok with that.

I'm hoping for any help you guys can give me, thanks.

[calev]

You could do this,
Intel nuc
plus

2 gig Ram
plus

32 gig SSD
plus

MCE remote with dongle
and

openelec, free
Total = 382$ or 284 euros.

Tiny like apple TV but way more powerful. You could put windows on it but that would make it less wife friendly.

[touser]

If you just want to stream content with no other requirements the pivos xios ds is coming along pretty well (put the linux firmare on it). $99 is tough to beat. Otherwise i completely agree with calev, go with the NUC and be happy.

[T800]

You could do this,
Intel nuc
plus

2 gig Ram
plus

32 gig SSD
plus

MCE remote with dongle
and

openelec, free
Total = 382$ or 284 euros.

Tiny like apple TV but way more powerful. You could put windows on it but that would make it less wife friendly.

I agree with the build. I see you get free RAM at the moment.
I disagree that a Windows build will be less wife friendly if set up correctly.

[ketchup318]

Hmm, sounds like the NUC is the way to go... although I'm a bit concerned that I'm buying a $400 system that isn't really upgradeable.

Also, I've been reading posts saying that OpenELEC doesn't support DTS-MA or TrueHD... any of this true?

[PobjoySpecial]

...

[Ned Scott]

Also take a look at the Pivos XIOS. It's still being tweaked, but still less work than an Apple TV 2 would take to get XBMC running, and runs it a lot better. Boot it up with linux and it more than out preforms the ATV2 and supports more codecs. Runs about $100-$115.

Full disclosure, Pivos is a sponsor of Team XBMC, but Team XBMC sponsorships are "no strings attached", meaning they give us money upfront and we don't do anything special for them except mention that they're a sponsor. The idea being that Pivos will get their money's worth just from general XBMC improvements. Also, they hired two of the Team XBMC devs to work on the Pivos.

Other Android-based set top boxes are also on the rise and have pretty much de-throned the ATV2 as the inexpensive XBMC king.

[JermZone]

Anyone with an Ouya dev kit tried xbmc? I'm hoping that'll be the ATV2 killer. I'm just fascinated that there isn't as much buzz around the xbmc community about it. I pre-ordered one so here's hoping!

[airy52]

this is a real up-gradable system if thats what you're looking for. Assuming the OS is gonna be free, and you don't need a bluray drive, its only gonna cost 300-400. http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=105829&page=7