2014-06-29, 13:20
I know there is an endless offering of boxes that allow you to playback your average H.264 10-15 Mbps / DTS 5.1 MKV file. I want to aim a bit higher than that.
I'm a long-time owner of the Xtreamer MK1 which, if you're familiar with it, isn't too fancy in terms of its GUI but does an excellent job at decoding the aforementionted type of video and is quick and reliable to use for navigating to your videos.
Now, I'm considering buying an XBMC capable box, but on the condition that no quick- and smooth- and stableness is sacrificed with respect to my current situation. I have the feeling that those considerations steer me towards an Intel NUC instead of a Amazon Fire TV or Raspberry Pi, but I might be wrong.
To be more specific: I'd like to smoothly run a skin like Aeon MQ (in any view) and not be limited in the add-ons that I want to add. Also, I don't need anything other than XBMC on the device (no games or Netflix), so OpenELEC as a OS is probably fine. Finally, I'm not really in DIY mood at the moment, so an off the shelf solution is probably what I'm looking for.
As for budget: obviously there are limits, but what I'm mainly looking for with this thread is the 'minimum type of hardware' (and budget) that is needed to run XBMC stable and smoothly. So I'd like to look at the options first before thinking about my budget.
If you could offer me some options, that would greatly appreciated. If I missed out on any info, please let me know. Thanks!
I'm a long-time owner of the Xtreamer MK1 which, if you're familiar with it, isn't too fancy in terms of its GUI but does an excellent job at decoding the aforementionted type of video and is quick and reliable to use for navigating to your videos.
Now, I'm considering buying an XBMC capable box, but on the condition that no quick- and smooth- and stableness is sacrificed with respect to my current situation. I have the feeling that those considerations steer me towards an Intel NUC instead of a Amazon Fire TV or Raspberry Pi, but I might be wrong.
To be more specific: I'd like to smoothly run a skin like Aeon MQ (in any view) and not be limited in the add-ons that I want to add. Also, I don't need anything other than XBMC on the device (no games or Netflix), so OpenELEC as a OS is probably fine. Finally, I'm not really in DIY mood at the moment, so an off the shelf solution is probably what I'm looking for.
As for budget: obviously there are limits, but what I'm mainly looking for with this thread is the 'minimum type of hardware' (and budget) that is needed to run XBMC stable and smoothly. So I'd like to look at the options first before thinking about my budget.
If you could offer me some options, that would greatly appreciated. If I missed out on any info, please let me know. Thanks!