ECS Liva = The best htpc I've ever owned
#1
First let me say that I have no ties with ECS and I am not trying to sell these devices. I'm just wanting to share my success with fellow XBMC (Kodi *puke*) users.

Since starting with XBMC a few years ago I've built several small foot print pc's and installed the quietest fans I could find in them.. everything possible in the search for a silent htpc. I recently took a gamble and bought an ECS Liva 32gb model (they are coming out with a 64gb model shortly) and installed windows 8.1 on it. These boxes are fanless, about the size of 2 packs of playing cards stacked ontop of one another, have built in eMMC storage, 2gb of ram and a pretty weak processor but to my surprise it's more than enough to run Windows 8.1 and XBMC quiet effectively.

I've tested with:

1080P 24hz, 50hz and 60hz
DTS-HD and regular DTS
Streamed HD off youtube
Tried Steam Streaming

All worked perfectly and there was no dropped frames over a 100mbit wired network.

Disk Space concern. It comes with 32gb of disk space. After installing Windows 8.1 and updates it left me with 15gb. After xbmc and indexing my 17tb of TV shows / Movies I was left with 11gb. You don't have a ton of space to screw around with. It does have a USB 3.0 port so you could plug in a usb 3.0 memory key and use this for some things I suppose. A 64gb version is being released according to the ECS Liva website.

Windows Defender - Turn off the real time scanning. The speed improvement was massive.

Drivers - Install all the drivers off the CD before judging it's speed. Also if you want DTS-HD you have to install the audio drivers off the Intel website directly.

Questions?
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#2
can you make a video?
My XBMC/Kodi folder: addons, skins, addon/menu backgrounds & more
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#3
Are you bitstreaming DTS-HD for decoding on an AVR? as I'm really surprised you got it working under Windows unless something has changed recently, up until now all reports have indicated the Windows drivers for Bay Trial processors couldn't do DTS-HD.
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#4
Does it support 3D movies?
All the HD sound types?

And a video it a good way for us other to see it in action! :-)
Petter :-)
Many thanks for all the effort YOU all do! THANKS! :-)
nVidia Shield TV (2015), Samsung QE75Q70R and Yamaha RX-V767
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#5
2gb of ram and a pretty weak processor and no room for storage drive says it all really theres nothing like building your Own.
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#6
I will make a video but I loaned the Liva to a friend who has a 3D capable projector so he could test the 3D movie types.

It is DTS-HD bitstreaming as my AVR shows it as DTS-HD. It would not bitstream Dolby Digital Plus however. DTS-HD is only working after I downloaded the latest Intel HD audio driver from Intel (not from the liva support site).

My friend has a far more impressive theater room than myself and is a bit of an audiophile. I'll find out what his take is on it.

Earliest chance I'll have to make a video is Monday night. I'll post one then.
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#7
Sounds good. thanks for considering making a video, that is the only way for us to see what is really capable of doing.
My XBMC/Kodi folder: addons, skins, addon/menu backgrounds & more
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#8
I wonder if you would consider trying openelec on it, this could be done from booting from USB, your windows does not need to be disturbed.
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#9
AnandTech confirms HD audio under Windows: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8262/ecs-l...es-again/4

Considering it's fanless and has been sold as low as $150 USD, this looks like a fantastic unit for the money. If I had money to burn I would buy one (or at least, if I needed another HTPC).
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#10
The situation with Bay Trail processors gets stranger then, Intel answered yesterday that the Bay Trail NUC processor will not support DTS-HD in Windows, and people with Bay Trail processor motherboards for home built htpc's have also reported DTS-HD not working.

I wonder what this ECS Live does differently then Huh
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#11
Same price as a haswell celeron Chromebox, but a much slower CPU and the memory and storage are not upgradeable.

On the upside, it comes with 32GB of storage rather than 16GB and it can run windows. And it's completely silent.

I would personally buy a Chromebox over this every day of the week, but the fanless aspect means it is also an attractive choice.
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#12
Also worth mentioning the Brix 2807 (around 120$ without memory and storage) which is also fanless.

I think I was going for the Liva, just because the USB 3.0 port is at the back for elegant setup with external USB 3.0 drive / multi-bay enclosure.
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#13
(2014-08-16, 22:08)dhead Wrote: Also worth mentioning the Brix 2807 (around 120$ without memory and storage) which is also fanless.

I think I was going for the Liva, just because the USB 3.0 port is at the back for elegant setup with external USB 3.0 drive / multi-bay enclosure.

Oh nice, I didn't notice that the Brix 2807 was fanless!
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#14
(2014-08-15, 00:59)stryguy Wrote: Drivers - Install all the drivers off the CD before judging it's speed. Also if you want DTS-HD you have to install the audio drivers off the Intel website directly.

Questions?

What Drivers do you exactly use for DTS-HD? TXE from ECS or don't you need that for DTS-HD?
| myHTPC |
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#15
Wonder if the PAP support differs between the N2807 and the N2820 if people are having success with bitstreamed HD Audio under Windows with the Liva but not with other Baytrail solutions like the NUC?
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