Poofyhairguy's HTPC Recommendation Thread

dopethrone Wrote:Should the wireless transfer rates be that much slower than hardwired?

Yes, wireless transfers are always slower than gigabit cable. That's the tradeoff you make for not having wires

i would be happy at ~11 MBs via WiFi Transfer..

here at home, i get only ~4 MBs via WiFi Transfer...

Both my WiFi card and Router are Single Band N Draft2 (300MBs)....

OK thanks guys. I'll stop worrying about it.

eskro Wrote:i would be happy at ~11 MBs via WiFi Transfer..

here at home, i get only ~4 MBs via WiFi Transfer...

Both my WiFi card and Router are Single Band N Draft2 (300MBs)....

By the way guys, is this normal :/ ??

eskro Wrote:By the way guys, is this normal :/ ??

It is normal. Especially if your network is 2.4Ghz. Speed will vary due to interferences with neighbors 2.4Ghz networks. The best I ever got with a perfect line-of-sight between the router and HTPC on a 5Ghz band network is 14 MBs (no interference). But with non-line-of sight router-to-laptop on 2.4 Ghz network it varies from 4 to 6 MBs.

thanks bodhi, now at least i'll stop worrying...

Awesome thread. Thanks for all the info.

What are your thoughts on a Group 0.5 for playing music only? I have a couple xboxs, but they are big and clunky. I am looking for something small, cheap, low power and silent that I can use to play music through a powered speaker. Video is optional as I can use web interface or some of the remote apps to control xmbc. How about someday using android remote to control my android xbmc box ;-)

Best,
mtense

Been searching the posts looking for some info on whether the latest Zino's will work (nicely) with XBMC and no luck - so asking here.

Here's the link: 4 Zino PC's to Compare

Obviously trying to keep the expense to a minimum.

Intended Use:
- Not concerned about playing 1080p, 720p is fine.
- Would like to stream from Hulu/CBS etc - either within XBMC with BlueCop's Addon's or direct using Hulu desktop or the CBS website.
- Not concerned with wireless, using a Gigabit network
- Not interested in playing BluRay discs

It's not an nVidia GPU - but if running Windows 7 - will the GPU handle the video processing or is it all on the CPU?

Is 3 or 4 GB of memory enough?

Also - I could upgrade the low end model to the same CPU as the next one for $50, but given I can get an additional Gig of memory and double the hard drive for another $30 - likely that would be better if the Sempron isn't beefy enough.

Anybody using any of these currently? Thanks for the assistance...

Quote:but if running Windows 7 - will the GPU handle the video processing or is it all on the CPU?

Decode will be done on GPU (but you must running win7)

nemek Wrote:Decode will be done on GPU (but you must running win7)

Thanks - Yes, I do plan to run Windows 7.

So does the low end Zino HD have sufficient guts to handle all I need?
- AMD Sempron™ II V160, 2.4GHz, 512K
- 3GB2 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
- Integrated ATI HD4250 Mobility RadeonTM

The next model up has the same GPU but moves up to the AMD Athlon™ II X2 P360, 2.3GHz, Dual Core 1MB CPU. You don't get away form the integrated until the third (more pricey) one. From what I've read - an ION based nettop PC (Revo or Zotac type solution) would provide enough guts to handle things and less cost than the 3 upper models of the Zino?


On the Zino - I read in another post that a user reinstalled Windows using the 32 bit version of Windows 7 instead - and that it "played" better with XBMC - wondering if there is any truth to that.

Thanks for any additional feedback.