WTB: Complete, Ready to Go System
#1
Hi Everyone,

I've tinkered with XBMC and am quite impressed, but I don't have the inclination to learn how to setup and customize a HTPC. Is there anyone that sells pre-configured, ready to go XBMC machines?

If not, perhaps someone local to Sacramento, CA would like the job? I'll buy the parts, you build it at my home and get paid for the time.

There are some areas where I know I need help:

1. System must operate wholly by remote for a high spouse acceptance factor. (Ideal remote would also control my Samsung TV and Bose Lifestyle 35 (which I think will receive both Infrared and RF)). Personally, I think I prefer RF.

2. System must stream video (all typical formats), music, and pictures from my Unraid machine (I'm not Linux knowledgeable, despite my Unraid, so I'm looking for some flavor of Windows on this machine).

3. Would like to use one of the non-standard Skins and would like advice on additional functionality and "gotta have it" features. Can it be configured with Tivo recording functionality? What features do you all recommend?

4. Not sure if this should be a small formfactor machine like the new Acers and run XBMC Live on a flash drive or if it should be a full fledged machine - even though it's not storing the content.

5. I need a few quick lessons on how to prepare my content for use on the system (spouse wants lyrics with her audio, for example). While I've tinkered with Media Companion, I couldn't get Ember to launch successfully on three different computers. (I'm far from computer illiterate).

Looking for your advice.

Thanks everyone,

Russell
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#2
What you want exists. Its called a Mac Mini + Logitech Harmony remote (I assume you have an N router).

Hook up the mini via HDMI and connect it to your network. Download XBMC. Add the "Plex" profile to the harmony. Enjoy your working very wife friendly setup.

Seriously, you are basically "hit the nail on the head" target market for the new Mac Mini. I mean the only thing is its IR instead of RF, but I'm sure she will be ok.
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#3
That'll run some flavor of Windows? (I haven't touched a Mac since the IIE!)

Thanks,

Russell
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#4
If you pay my ticket to CA will i do it for free Big Grin
A ticket from Denmark to CA is only $1500 Big Grin
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#5
Doomstone Wrote:If you pay my ticket to CA will i do it for free Big Grin
A ticket from Denmark to CA is only $1500 Big Grin

LaughLaughLaugh
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#6
RussellinSacto Wrote:That'll run some flavor of Windows? (I haven't touched a Mac since the IIE!)

Thanks,

Russell

Mac mini will run Windows but there is no need for it, imho

I can talk you through setting XBMC up on it in 20 minutes(excluding scraping of the movie info) and getting it to work with harmony remote is also easy enough.
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#7
RussellinSacto Wrote:That'll run some flavor of Windows? (I haven't touched a Mac since the IIE!)

Thanks,

Russell

You keep it in OSX and you have a set-top, appliance like XBMC box in like 3 mins (or as fast as it takes to download the OSX version of XBMC). If you just can't LIVE without Windows for some reason, then boot camp the darn thing and add Windows.

Half its upside is an easy to use OS for XBMC, half the upside is the form factor. Even half that upside still beats any other solution on the market.

But yes, half the upside is OSX. OSX has:

-No hassel optical output
-No hassel remote input
-No hassel XBMC install (as in no codecs to install, backends to fix, etc)

Basically an OSX is the absolute easiest way to get a XBMC box going, and you seem to want to spend the minimal time working on this as possible.

If you were like the rest of us, then I would bust out the recommendation of "and ION XBMC box running a custom Linux blah blah blah."

But you made it clear: "I would rather spend more on my HTPC experience to not make it a pain in my ass"

That makes you the exact target market in this case of not only OSX, but of a Mac Mini specifically. If I did live in Cali near you I would throw the kitchen sink at a Mac Mini solution for you, because its what best fits your needs by far.

Windows is a tinker OS on HTPCs. Heck, the entire HTPC market is targeted towards tinkerers. Most people like yourself that seem unwilling to deal with the tinkering have purchased a Popcorn hours or something. But if you want a full blown HTPC, the Mac Mini offers the only completely decked out computer in such a form factor.

Good luck!
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#8
just a quick note to point out something most people forget -- power usage. Supposedly the new mac mini only requires 10W idle. My current HTPC is probably 100-150W idle which likely costs me at least $10/month to have turned on 24/7 (which I don't really need - I'm reworking everything soon so that I have all my computers save the NAS able to sleep and wake nicely)
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#9
I'm not saying don't buy a mac if that's what you want but for the money, if you're not gonna use it as a mac it seems pointless to me, mac version of xbmc seems to get the least development and the mac tax makes it way more expensive than an equivelant pc.

I'd pick up a zotac or acer ion system personally with win 7. Its 2 cables, power and hdmi, multi channel outputs faultlessly to my onkyo system, setup 30 minutes, 20 mins install win7 from sd card, 10 mins download and install xbmc and eventghost.

Eventghost is the easiest app in the worl to control xbmc and made live a no go for me as couldn't be arsed configuring wireless, and remote through putty.

If you want a bit more grunt or need an dvd drive/internal tv tuner go for a small form factor pc but make sure it has an nvidia gpu.

As for windows as a tinkering os, win7 is a dream, low cpu load and I literally only have two apps installed, don't even have a keyboard or mouse attached to tinker with.

On my R3610's had no probs with any skins I've tried and performs better than my two core 2 duo machines that are non nvidia gpu's. Win boots and auto starts xbmc and eventghost there's a remote key mapped to restart it if something goes wrong and the rest of the time it sits there playing videos or in standby.

the mac mini will do the job but there's equally as good solutions for a 3rd of the price if it's purely an htpc.

***edit***
also power consumption on a ion is reportedly around 25-30w under load, and less than 1w on standby and is easily set to standby whenever your not watching it with a harmony remote
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#10
craigd Wrote:I'm not saying don't buy a mac if that's what you want but for the money, if you're not gonna use it as a mac it seems pointless to me, mac version of xbmc seems to get the least development and the mac tax makes it way more expensive than an equivelant pc.

I won't argue the expense, but OSX XBMC development is NOT behind Windows/Linux versions.

Quote:Eventghost is the easiest app in the worl to control xbmc and made live a no go for me as couldn't be arsed configuring wireless, and remote through putty.

I agree with you personally, but I must say messing with Eventghost is like rocket science compared to what you have to do to get remotes to work on Mac (which is nothing as it works out of the box). OP made it clear he wanted the least amount of work possible

Quote:As for windows as a tinkering os, win7 is a dream, low cpu load and I literally only have two apps installed, don't even have a keyboard or mouse attached to tinker with.

I am not saying that Windows isn't a great OS or a good option. It just requires more work.


To get a Windows XBMC HTPC to work you have to:

-Install Windows 7 on the box (if it comes with XP or something)

-Mess with Eventghost to setup the remote

-Mess with AC3 filter or whatever to get solid working digital audio out

-Mess with you display drivers so you can make sure you have DXVA support

-Then install XBMC and enjoy your HTPC



To get a OSX HTPC to work you have to:

-Download and install XBMC and enjoy your HTPC

Everything else- optical audio, remote control, hardware acceleration backend- it all "just works."



Quote:the mac mini will do the job but there's equally as good solutions for a 3rd of the price if it's purely an htpc.

That "just works" approach might have have no appeal to you or me as tinkerers- you and me would put in the time on a ION Windows/Linux box to tweak it how we want. In fact, the setup is half the fun.

Trust me, I usually push ION boxes in the hardware forum like I make money off them or something. For most the people that come here that want the best and cheapest HTPC possible it is the best option (I would even go as far as to use Linux personally to get the appliance feel, but that is me).

But OP made it clear he has no patience for the setup, he just wants the result. As I said, I personally think what he really wants is something like a Popcorn Hour, but if XBMC is the choice than by far the easiest path to a setup XBMC HTPC is via OSX via the Mac Mini.

There is a reason people pay they Mac tax remember, it is called convenience.
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#11
poofyhairguy Wrote:I won't argue the expense, but OSX XBMC development is NOT behind Windows/Linux versions.

I may well be wrong on that, certainly at the start was a lot slower, as was windows to be fair.

poofyhairguy Wrote:I agree with you personally, but I must say messing with Eventghost is like rocket science compared to what you have to do to get remotes to work on Mac (which is nothing as it works out of the box). OP made it clear he wanted the least amount of work possible



I am not saying that Windows isn't a great OS or a good option. It just requires more work.


To get a Windows XBMC HTPC to work you have to:

-Install Windows 7 on the box (if it comes with XP or something)

-Mess with Eventghost to setup the remote

-Mess with AC3 filter or whatever to get solid working digital audio out

-Mess with you display drivers so you can make sure you have DXVA support

-Then install XBMC and enjoy your HTPC



To get a OSX HTPC to work you have to:

-Download and install XBMC and enjoy your HTPC

Everything else- optical audio, remote control, hardware acceleration backend- it all "just works."
With my R3610, it came with linux but a quick google easily got me a free win7 ultimate upgrade, else buy it with win7 pre installed. Multi channel out of hdmi worked without any extra config other than installing the nvidia ion drivers, can't verify for spdif admittedly but appears just the same in settings and dxva required selecting the radiobox for it in xbmc.

on windows you don't need eventghost, it'll work out the box with a proper media center remote, but I think it's worth it to take advantage of better control over standby, toggling views etc. If these aren't need it should same functionality as mac os with native remote setups.

if you buy it with windows, it is simply turn on, install xbmc, drag shortcut to startup folder, plug in remote, disconnect keyboard & mouse, never do anything to it again barring turning on and off.

poofyhairguy Wrote:That "just works" approach might have have no appeal to you or me as tinkerers- you and me would put in the time on a ION Windows/Linux box to tweak it how we want. In fact, the setup is half the fun.

Trust me, I usually push ION boxes in the hardware forum like I make money off them or something. For most the people that come here that want the best and cheapest HTPC possible it is the best option (I would even go as far as to use Linux personally to get the appliance feel, but that is me).

But OP made it clear he has no patience for the setup, he just wants the result. As I said, I personally think what he really wants is something like a Popcorn Hour, but if XBMC is the choice than by far the easiest path to a setup XBMC HTPC is via OSX via the Mac Mini.

There is a reason people pay they Mac tax remember, it is called convenience.

I'm not trying to push ion, or windows as the only solution, and certainly not trying to argue with you, but windows setup of xbmc has gotten rediculisouly simple since camelot and Win 7 is a massive step forward in stability and power management. In my experience windows 7 is as complicated as you wnat to make it for xbmc. If you want to make it do a lot you tinker once, if you don't you plug in your hdmi lead and remote, install xbmc and just enjoy it.
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#12
RussellinSacto Wrote:3. Would like to use one of the non-standard Skins and would like advice on additional functionality and "gotta have it" features. Can it be configured with Tivo recording functionality? What features do you all recommend?

PVR functionality is not in the stable release. It is available in the SVN. This means it will have more bugs, which can have a very negative WAF.

The PVR capability is scheduled for the next release after 10.05, so stable release of the PVR is likely year end.
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#13
craigd Wrote:if you buy it with windows, it is simply turn on, install xbmc, drag shortcut to startup folder, plug in remote, disconnect keyboard & mouse, never do anything to it again barring turning on and off.

Sounds good to me. I hope the OP is reading our posts at this point, as you have a good solution there.
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#14
I've had too much experience with Windows to ever consider it as an appliance. One of the things that brought me to XBMC was the Live version. It is almost a plug and play solution.
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#15
hey, do i get audio over HDMI from the MAC?

thx,
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