[ibrahimbenyahya]

Hello,

My question is very simple. Will xbmc run better on a nettop with a atom 230 processor in combination with openelec (acer revoo 3600). Or wil xbmc run better on a RK3066 processor on a android tv stick (mk808).

I am doubting between these two, and i can't afford to buy them both and test them both out.

[jammyb]

Revo 3600/3700 run xbmc just fine.

[prae5]

Review by a long way

[noggin]

The Revo definitely.

[ibrahimbenyahya]

And what about a quad core android stick like the mk908? And in which way is the revo better than a android stick for using xbmc

[noggin]

The Revo will run OpenElec and has an nVidia ION GPU which will handle graphics and video decoding/de-interlacing brilliantly. It's a very good quality graphics and video playback solution (and was also used with Core 2 Duo and higher-end builds as it was so good) - it was THE HTPC platform a year or two ago as it was the first platform that was low-power (i.e. quiet) but delivered full quality video with no real compromises.

The CPU shouldn't get involved with video playback that much, so having a Quad Core or a Single Core won't make a huge quality difference if the video playback is being handled by the GPU. (Some Android and ARM Linux solutions don't have good VPU/GPU access though - so have to fall back on software decoding. Not great)

The key thing is that the Revo was, and is, a very popular platform among XBMC users (particularly OpenElec users) so has excellent support and a large installed base of users. They did this for a reason.

The Android sticks all appear to look powerful and have great specs, but are always compromised in one way or another, partially because Android isn't a great OS for HTPC uses. There are so many different models that support is very fragmented. If you want Android on your TV they're fine. If you want a decent HTPC, you are much better off with the Revo.

HOWEVER - please note that it must be a Revo and have ION (sometimes called nVidia 9400M or 9300M ISTR?) GPU. Non-ION Atom 230 Net tops are a very bad solution for an HTPC.

[ibrahimbenyahya]

Thank you for your detailed explanation noggin. But what about the speed in the menus of xbmc. I am afraid openelec on the revo will be a bit laggy and slow. Like when I move down my movie list, I have to wait a couple seconds before I can see the right coverart and fanart. Or slecting the section movies and wait half an hour before you see the movie list.

Personally, i find speed and stability more important than picture quality. So what about the speed and stability?

I know that soon gotham will be released. Can you maybe also give me an indication how well xbmc will run on a android mini pc when gotham will be released. And if the revo still beats android his but

again, thank you for your help

[noggin]

I'm afraid I gave up on Android for XBMC when I discovered how limited the picture quality was. The devices I was using didn't appear any better in UI terms than a Revo, and from memory they felt a bit more sluggish. I was using the default Confluence in both of them as the skin.

But we obviously differ. I spend 90 minutes watching a movie and probably only a minute or two in the UI. I therefore care more about the quality of the movie replay (and how well things like subtitles, refresh rate and audio output are handled) than the UI - though agree an unresponsive UI gets annoying (I found the Raspberry Pi early stuff just that bit too slow).

However if stability is an issue for you - then the Revo is definitely a better bet. It's pretty rock solid. Android is still in the relatively early stages - and the XBMC devs are having to work around a number of limitations to do with accessing VPU acceleration - so I wouldn't expect the Android version to be better than, say, OpenElec on a Revo.

I can't really comment more on Android. It wasn't good enough for my needs - and the limitations that it had were, and remain, deal breakers. Now that x86 solutions are at a price point that is much closer to the higher-end Android solutions, I don't see the point.

[Ned Scott]

The Atom will be much faster than the RK3066. Cores and Ghz don't can't be compared when the chips are different architectures.

[ibrahimbenyahya]

The Atom will be much faster than the RK3066. Cores and Ghz don't can't be compared when the chips are different architectures.

And what about a quadcore android stick (mk908)

[noggin]

It's quite tricky to compare them in a like-for-like environment as it is difficult to run the same benchmark suite in a meaningful way on both. However given that they are likely to run totally different operating systems - Linux on the Atom and Android on the RK3188 (which I believe is the processor in the MK908 stick) this is understandable. The issue with Android is that you don't get direct access to much of the hardware in the same way that you can with Linux and the right drivers. I believe that H264 stuff is more reliably played using hardware acceleration than MPEG2 and VC-1, whilst all three are fine on the Revo. Similarly de-interlacing is likely to be a lot better on the Revo.

From my experience with a number of Arm platforms, Odroid U2, Solid Run Cubox, Raspberry Pi, and a number of Android sticks, is that the Revo is a MUCH better platform for XBMC. The Pi was the best of the ARM bunch in video terms - and it handled refresh rate switching and deinterlacing well - and the UI is less sluggish now, though still noticeably slower than most x86 implementations. However IMO the Revo was in a different league. Perfectly usable UI, and incredibly stable.

I get the feeling you have almost decided on the MK908 because it is newer and smaller and has "Quad Core"? However most of us with experience of multiple platforms would still suggest the Revo is a better bet. The only reason I retired my Revo 270-based box was because I wanted HD Audio bit streaming, and the ION platform didn't support it (just DD/DTS and multichannel PCM) Android sticks are quite tricky when it comes to audio support. Many only output Stereo, some can be persuaded to output SPDIF-quality DD/DTS, and AFAIK none currently support HD Audio. (The Pi, running Linux, has better DD/DTS/PCM support - and I believe even supports multichannel PCM?)

[ibrahimbenyahya]

I've done some more research.

And what about the android tv box? ( E-M6 Mini PC TV-BOX AV Android 4.2 AML8726-MX Support XBMC Preinstalled 1G/8G HDMI SPDIF W/IR Remote Controller RJ-45)

And i am not planning to use linux, just a xbmc app on android