New generation Acer RL80 - Celeron 1007U
#1
Hi all

The Acer RL80 is on sale in the UK at the moment - a new version with a Celeron 1007U instead of the previous 887. I believe the previous RL80 had some issues which caused problems, since resolved?

It's available for £129 after cashback at eBuyer.com and comes with 2GB RAM, 500GB HD, has 10/100/1000 Ethernet, Wifi b/g/n, Bluetooth, 2xUSB3 and 4xUSB2, Card reader, HDMI and DVI-I outputs. (No eSATA) Specs say it has 2 Mini PCI Express slots (I assume one is taken up by WiFi?)

Looks to be quite a reasonable spec for the price - comparable with the Brix and NUC Celerons - a bit bigger but includes storage (albeit non-SSD) and RAM at a similar price point, and has USB3.

Thought it was worth a go - wondered what others thought?
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#2
I've installed openelec on the RL80. Performs really well. My only issue which I've yet to solve is the inability for it to wake from suspend via USB which is quite frustrating but by no means a deal breaker. I certainly recommend it from my so far limited experience.
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#3
(2013-09-30, 11:54)1981suede Wrote: I've installed openelec on the RL80. Performs really well. My only issue which I've yet to solve is the inability for it to wake from suspend via USB which is quite frustrating but by no means a deal breaker. I certainly recommend it from my so far limited experience.

If you don't mind - a few questions !

Are you running OpenElec from the internal HD or from a USB stick?

Are you bitstreaming HD Audio to an amp - any issues if you are?

Do you watch any native interlaced content - if so, how is the de-interlacing?

Slightly techy query - are you running 16-235 Limited or 0-255 Full range if you are using HDMI (no worries if you aren't sure - it's not always an easy thing to know)

Mine is due to arrive tomorrow - but I'm impatient!
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#4
Hi mate, i got the exact same deal (from Ebuyer), and have had a bit of a mare with it so far. If you're prepared to spend a bit of time setting it up, i think its a nice little unit. The documentation for the unit in the box is worse than useless/non-existent, the driver disc doesn't work, there doesn't appear to be any drivers on it!

I booted mine up, got the freedos screen up, and after having made a bootable USB stick with my genuine Win7 disc, inserted it into the USB port, rebooted it and waited. The RL80 started, then promptly completely ignored my USB stick, (yes, i'd changed the boot sequence in the BIOS), and started FreeDos again. Tried again in a different USB port, no different. Tried 4 different USB sticks, to no avail. Friend of mine lent me his external DVD drive, plugged that in, and it fired up straight away, and installed Win7.

Next the drivers, put the Acer Driver Disc in the external drive, the installation software started up, i clicked the large green 'drivers' button, and it displayed ....nothing, not a single driver.

After visiting Acers website, the only drivers available for the RL80 were for the Intel i3 version, so i downloaded them anyway, unzipped them (WinRAR), and installed as many as i could. I then downloaded XBMC, installed it, started the software, and got a black screen with an error message saying 'ERROR, unable to start GUI'. After checking this forum, a few people have had similar problems, and the concensus is to change your video driver. Again, Acers website was useless, but the Intel website, bore fruit. Checked on their graphics driver pages, found my chipset/device, and downloaded the driver. Installed it, rebooted, started XBMC and up it came, straight away.

Thats all i've done with it so far, but patience and determination is paying off, i didn't realise it has bluetooth (again, sort out the drivers, the ones from the Acer website for the expensive version they tout on there), it's starting to shape up nicely.

On a by note, i thought i'd made the USB sticks wrong, (when i made them bootable), tried several methods, then went back to google, asking why my 'bootable' USB sticks, won't boot up this PC. Several answers said try it with Partition Magic, which i downloaded, tried to use it, and a box pops up saying 'this software is not compatible with Windows 7. I then uninstalled it, and halfway through the uninstall process, my screen goes black, and PC will not restart. Turns out it had wiped out the bootsector on my harddrive (on my main PC), now reporting my 500Gb HDD as a 100Mb drive. Not happy in the slightest. At least it's my birthday today....Angry
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#5
In the US lenovo q190 is much cheaper than this one with similar specs(barring bluetooth)
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#6
Hello all,

I have a few questions about this box:

I presume this will have the usual slight problems with 24p?
Will it pass through hd audio (with appropriate os etc) ?
Is there an IR header inside?

I wonder what the possibilities are of taking this apart and DIY case with passive cooling Smile

Thanks!
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#7
(2013-09-30, 23:16)milli Wrote: In the US lenovo q190 is much cheaper than this one with similar specs(barring bluetooth)

In the US everything is cheaper, in the UK the Q190 is £200+ ($340)
Please read the online manual (wiki) & FAQ (wiki) before posting.

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#8
(2013-09-30, 17:36)noggin Wrote: If you don't mind - a few questions !

Are you running OpenElec from the internal HD or from a USB stick?

Are you bitstreaming HD Audio to an amp - any issues if you are?

Do you watch any native interlaced content - if so, how is the de-interlacing?

Slightly techy query - are you running 16-235 Limited or 0-255 Full range if you are using HDMI (no worries if you aren't sure - it's not always an easy thing to know)

Mine is due to arrive tomorrow - but I'm impatient!

I'm running openelec on the internal HD. HD audio was one of the primary motivations for buying this (upgraded from a revo 3610) and I'm very pleased to report that HD bitstreaming works perfectly, my amp is reporting DTS-HD MA like an absolute champ Smile

All my content is progressive I'm afraid and I've absolutely no idea about your HDMI question. What does that mean and is it important, I like to learn new stuff Smile

It would be nice to get a thread on the RL80 going. If anyone manages to get wake on USB working can they let me know how they managed it?
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#9
(2013-10-01, 11:17)Thebluevoice Wrote: Hello all,

I have a few questions about this box:

I presume this will have the usual slight problems with 24p?

Yes - presume so. It's an Ivy Bridge Celeron AIUI - and the 24p stuff has only been finally fixed in Haswell.

Quote:Will it pass through hd audio (with appropriate os etc) ?
Yes - both Windows and Linux support HD Audio bitstreaming on modern Intel GPUs.
Quote:Is there an IR header inside?
I've read reports that there is - but am not aware what the header is designed to take (i.e. what you need to source to populate it!).

(2013-10-01, 11:41)1981suede Wrote: I'm running openelec on the internal HD. HD audio was one of the primary motivations for buying this (upgraded from a revo 3610) and I'm very pleased to report that HD bitstreaming works perfectly, my amp is reporting DTS-HD MA like an absolute champ Smile

That's what I plan to do - good to know it's working OOB in OpenElec.

Quote:All my content is progressive I'm afraid and I've absolutely no idea about your HDMI question. What does that mean and is it important, I like to learn new stuff Smile

All (well almost all) video is captured and encoded in the 16-235 level space (i.e. black is 16, white is 235) - as this is how broadcast video is carried around studios, recorded on tape deck/servers etc. It's the standard for DVD, Blu-ray, SD and HD digital telly etc.

Usually HDMI also supports 16-235 level space - HOWEVER there is an alternative level space based on 0-255 ( where black is at 0 and white is at 255 - or max RGB is 255 and min is 0 - which is what DVI usually runs in - and DVI and HDMI are compatible with simple cable converters)

Some tellies can cope with 0-255 as well as 16-235, and some PCs will output 0-255 and/or 16-235. If both are correctly configured (and the video replay software is as well) then you're fine. However if you end up with a PC and a Display running in different level spaces, you can get nasty results.

There are also options on HDMI as to whether you run YCrCb or RGB, and if you use YCrCb whether you use 4:4:4 or 4:2:2. YCrCb 4:2:2 is how most bits of non-PC kit use HDMI - where the CrCb colour differences are sent at reduced resolution compared to the Y luminance information (DVD, Blu-ray and broadcast digital TV actually use 4:2:0 - where Cr and Cb are only sent on alternate lines, reducing the resolution of the colour vertically as well). YCrCb 4:2:2 is fine for video playback, but can make windows and on-screen text look a bit nasty, as the reduced colour resolution makes fine coloured detail appear to bleed. YCrCb 4:4:4 or RGB will stop this - though then you have to have fait that your graphics card is doing good 4:2:2 to 4:4:4 scaling. (Or better than your telly would be doing)
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#10
(2013-10-01, 11:17)Thebluevoice Wrote: Hello all,

I have a few questions about this box:

I presume this will have the usual slight problems with 24p?
Will it pass through hd audio (with appropriate os etc) ?
Is there an IR header inside?

I wonder what the possibilities are of taking this apart and DIY case with passive cooling Smile

Thanks!

Yes, it can passthrough HD audio. You can also get Celeron 847, 1007U and 1037U motherboards in the US so you don't need to buy this to take apart and DIY -- you can DIY from scratch. The Gigabyte C847 a C1007U boards run very quiet, albeit not passive.
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#11
Revo arrived today. Installed OpenElec 3.2.1 Intel build to its internal hard drive (which took no time at all)

HD Audio passthrough working fine.

HDMI levels appear to be fine (I'm running 1920x1080 at 24/50/60Hz and it appears to be correctly handling 16-235 output levels over HDMI)

It's playing everything I throw at it - 1080p H264 Blu-ray rips (full original bitrate) are not making it break a sweat. Haven't tested WiFi - but it sees my networks. I'm using cabled Ethernet at the moment.

Aeon Nox skin pretty snappy. Occasional stutter. I don't have much XBMC library stuff set-up so can't comment on navigation speed of that.

Fan audible but not horrific.

Only thing I haven't got working properly yet is HD native interlaced content being de-interlaced at full frame rate. SD interlaced stuff can be BOB-ed but doing that to HD stuff you don't get proper motion.

Haven't taken it to bits so can't comment about IR header and/or extra SATA connector.

For £129 after cashback - I'm a happy camper.
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#12
Do you use an IR remote Noggin? Intrigued to see if anyone else is able to wake from suspend via USB.
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#13
Just found this : http://openelec.tv/forum/116-vaapi-intel...mitstart=0

Am running the version linked to here and VAAPI de-interlacing is working on H264 1080/50i stuff at full 50p with no problems. Cracking. Very happy bunny. Suspect this will be rolled out with Gotham Open Elec?

(2013-10-02, 01:18)1981suede Wrote: Do you use an IR remote Noggin? Intrigued to see if anyone else is able to wake from suspend via USB.

Yes - but I usually shutdown rather than suspending.
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#14
(2013-10-02, 01:18)1981suede Wrote: Do you use an IR remote Noggin? Intrigued to see if anyone else is able to wake from suspend via USB.

The Revo RL80 has an onboard Consumer Infra Red header which is unpopulated.

Over here : http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-ente...-rl70.html someone has documented how to add a cheap TSOP and header cable to add IR functionality.

Haven't tried it yet - but hope to soon. I believe this may even allow power-on from a Windows Media Center remote (if you disable Deep Power Off?) - though possibly only if you have already booted and shutdown rather than unplugged from the mains and then plugged back in?

More details - this time for the RL70 but the CIR stuff appears to be common : http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=147593

So whilst USB IR remotes may not be capable of taking things out of standby, it may well be possible to add an IR receiver internally.
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#15
That is really interesting. will this work with OpenELEC do you think?
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New generation Acer RL80 - Celeron 1007U1