[conecommander]

Hey everyone. I've been an XBMC user for around 6 years now. I have a Windows i5 system in my media room that I store and play all of my content on. I would like to expand out and have the ability to play this content on my living room TV and possibly other rooms later on. I heard of the Raspberry Pi and thought I would pick that up.. Well with initial research it seems like it could be slow and also requires a bit of setup and tweaking. Back in the day not a problem, but I am married and have a baby, so free time is on the short side.

I have been trying to research some other options, but there is just so much out there now I am getting overwhelmed to be honest.

I saw OpenELEC mentioned a few times in some threads and looked it up.. WOW! This seems like it may be exactly what I need.

I'm looking for the ability to do the following at a minimum:
- Play 1080p HD video (7-20GB w/HD audio) out a single HDMI cable without buffering
- Connect to my existing Win HTPC XBMC library
- Fast response from the GUI/Menus
- Reasonably priced and simple solution, less than $250 would be nice but can spend more
- I have an old IO Gear RF keyboard/mouse combo for my HTPC now, I would like to use something similar or a regular type TV remote (maybe game controller..?)
- I don't need wifi
- That's all I can think of at the moment


I took a look at the HTPC build sticky and it seems helpful. Is a NUC type box my best bet? I'm just hoping I can get a little nudge in the best direction from the very knowledgeable folks on this forum.

Thanks

[noggin]

Sounds like an Asus or HP Chromebox running OpenElec standalone would do what you want. Matt Devo's instructions are pretty straightforward to follow.

[conecommander]

Sounds like an Asus or HP Chromebox running OpenElec standalone would do what you want. Matt Devo's instructions are pretty straightforward to follow.

Thank you for the quick reply noggin. Yet another option I was unaware of.. Seems like a good little system. Is this the thread you were mentioning? http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=194362

Sounds easy enough.. Is there something I'm not thinking of, or is it really that easy of a "plug 'n play"?

[nickr]

Yep.

I would also set up MySQL to share your library info so that you get consistent library across both machines.

[conecommander]

Yep.

I would also set up MySQL to share your library info so that you get consistent library across both machines.

Thanks for the tip! I'm sure I will be back here to research once I get the hardware. It looks like the ASUS Chromebox has a $50 rebate ending tomorrow.. Soo.. Is the i3 plenty, or should I look at the i7? Or is the Celeron just fine? Looks like I need to make a snap decision on this. http://www.amazon.com/Asus-CHROMEBOX-M00...B00IT1WJZQ

[nickr]

Celeron is fine.

[teki4u]

+1 for the celeron asus chromebox with openelec, it will cover all the things in your list. Also built in UpNP in XMBC is the easier and faster way to connect to your Win HTPC XBMC library but the way you access to it is not "'sexy" (quick youtube search). You can also setup Media Browser (google it) instead of MySQL in your Win HTPC, it is easier and you can do more with it thanks to it's nice features.

[DocG]

As others have said, Celeron is fine, and if you're not planning on VESA mounting, or can't be bothered chasing rebates, you can get a turquoise HP for $142.88 and the white one for $144.68. Just in case you want to spent a little less even.

[conecommander]

So I went ahead and splurged for the i3. It should be here tomorrow per UPS tracking. I have been looking through the threads and I am pretty excited to try this out.

I plan to do a dual boot with the default to OpenELEC and the other partition Chrome OS. If all works well I may end up dual booting my Windows HTPC with OpenELEC as well. The vast majority of the time I only use it for watching movies, so skipping the boot times and Windows loading will be great benefit. Thanks for the input and product recommendations!

[RaggSokk3n]

Doing 8sec boot on my amd a1 rig with win 8.1 if you're just chasing boot time Linux can't do much better than w8.1 if you've got a ssd

[loki05]

check my ASUS Chromebox setup...hope it helps you out!