[virtus]

Hi all,

Just a quick question; i am thinking about purchasing the M099U Chromebox from Maplin and just wanted to know if i would follow the same set-up for installing openelec for this model; the wiki mentions models (M004U) & (M075U) and I just want to make sure before purchase

Thanks in advance

[Matt Devo]

yes, that appears to just be the celeron (M004U) with 4GB RAM instead of 2GB

[noggin]

If you can find stock in your local John Lewis they have the 4GB HP Chromebox for £149.

http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-chromebox-cb...e/p1583328 (Currently out of stock online)

[fryster]

UK Catalogue shops like very.co.uk also have it for £150 in stock, got mine delivered yesterday

[bobones]

Are the Chromeboxes a better option that the Intel NUC Kit Celeron N2820 which together with 4GB RAM and a 64GB SSD can be had for £170 from Ebuyer? ( or £145 with 2GB RAM and 32GB SSD)

AFAIK the Chromebox doesn't have an internal IR, but what are the other differences in terms of CPU or graphics capabilities for use with XBMC (assuming OpenELEC is OS)?

[DocG]

Are the Chromeboxes a better option that the Intel NUC Kit Celeron N2820 which together with 4GB RAM and a 64GB SSD can be had for £170 from Ebuyer? ( or £145 with 2GB RAM and 32GB SSD)

AFAIK the Chromebox doesn't have an internal IR, but what are the other differences in terms of CPU or graphics capabilities for use with XBMC (assuming OpenELEC is OS)?

Unless you have more specific needs, you shouldn't notice any difference, but the Chromebox is better in terms of performance.

[noggin]

For 1080p decoding there is unlikely to be any major difference between the two. However for SD upscaling and for interlaced 1080i content the 2955U is a better bet IMO.

The 2955U has a significantly better GPU, so should offer improved SD->HD scaling I believe. The 2955U can also do improved software de-interlacing of VAAPI decoded video (important if you want to watch Live TV - particularly 1080i) as it can do YADIF 2x, whereas the N2820 is limited to Bob.

There are some hardware VAAPI de-interlacers coming on stream in development builds and with new pre-release drivers, that offer something than the previous "VAAPI Bob" option. These allow you to do a good quality Motion Compensated on a 2955U, but are only likely to do a lower-quality Motion Adaptive on a N2820. (However this may be a minor difference for many. The YADIF 2x vs Bob was a more significant difference)

The 2955U is a dual-core CPU/GPU based on the Haswell Core series (i.e. same architecture as the Haswell i3/i5 etc.), and with a reasonable GPU for the money (It has 10 Execution Units) The N2820 is dual-core CPU/GPU based on the Baytrail (which was developed for the Atom range) series and it has an older GPU (cut-down Sandy/Ivy Bridge I believe) with a very small number of Execution Units (4)

[bobones]

Thanks guys, very clear now!