Acer Aspire Revo 3610 Atom ION 330 (1 Viewer)

[alank]

Anyone running this with MP? Could you post your review? I am very interested to hear about it's performance. Thanks!
Acer Aspire Revo 3610 Atom ION 330

 

[PhilUK]

I am currently using the Acer Revo 3600 (Single Core) and absolutely love it.

I bought the Linux version as I had an XP license spare. After an absolute nightmare of getting XP on it without a DVD Drive (I've ended up with a system drive with the letter G: ) I finally got it up and running. P.S. Getting Windows 7 on there from a USB drive is very easy comparatively as far as I can determine from forum posts.

I then installed a variety of different HTPC software on there including Boxee, XBMC and finally Mediaportal. MP ended up being the one to choose as it had a great interface (I use the black glass skin) and lets me easily sort my movies and TV Shows stored on a 500GB external laptop drive.

I have a dual DVB-T 399U USB tuner from kworld which works flawlessly though a bit slow to load sometimes, the quality is fine and recording one channel and watching another is great. (I had some issues when I unplugged it and plugged it back into a different USB port with only one tuner being recognised though a driver uninstall and reinstall fixed this)

The 3600 plays high definition 720p mkv files perfectly though I had to buy the CoreAVC codec to stop the video stuttering after about 2 minutes which I guess was a limitation of the FFDshow decoder and the single core atom. With the dual core I would assume that CoreAVC would be unnecessary.

I now also use it to play my DVDs using an old external slimline drive which runs perfectly.

Only thing I would say is that in the version of MP that I'm using (1.0.2) the scroll menus run a bit slow when not in list mode. e.g. In Moving Pictures I have to use list not filmstrip to let it run smooth. Again, I guess the single core atom of the 3600 may be limiting here so the 3610 should be fine. It may also be better in 1.1.0RC1. It dosent bother me though to be honest.

It may take a fair bit of setting up initially but MP on the revo is absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it. I have it attached to the back of my 32inch Samsung LCD tv and its totally silent and runs almost 24/7 happily.

Hope this helps!

Cheers
Phil

 

[Spagbol]

It may take a fair bit of setting up initially...

Is that setting up beyond the usual for a MediaPortal installation? If it's specific stuff for Revo or Atom based pc's could you share a little about the extra setting up?

Regarding dual tuners, how have you found recording one channel whilst watching another with the Revo?

 

[CHBMB]

I've got a Revo 3610 running windows 64bit on 4GB ram,

I love MP and it works brilliantly but I had a fair few problems with being unable to watch TV after restarting from sleep.

Trouble

For the moment I've had to go back to MC7 which works fine also, but I'm hoping RC2 will sort my issues out. Probably fair to point out that I was using 4TR as well.

We should keep this thread going as a Revo information thread as they are getting fairly popular and make a cracking HTPC.

What do you think guys?

 

[PhilUK]

It may take a fair bit of setting up initially...

Is that setting up beyond the usual for a MediaPortal installation? If it's specific stuff for Revo or Atom based pc's could you share a little about the extra setting up?

Regarding dual tuners, how have you found recording one channel whilst watching another with the Revo?

The setting up was just the norm for MP to be honest. The hardest part with the revo was getting XP on without a CD drive! Getting the correct codecs was important as well as I said above. With the dual core I don't think it would be as important. I used the Combined Community Codec Pack and CoreAVC and all my media works fine! Getting the ION to do the decoding here is great. I think Flash have released their new version now so HD flash videos (like on BBC iPlayer) work great.

The dual tuners work absolutely fine, watching 1 channel and recording another works flawlessly, no stuttering except for loss of signal due to my rubbish indoor aerial! I may shortly be trying another single usb tuner alongside the dual tuner so I can let you know how that goes and whether it can cope. From what i've read, recording channels doesn't generally take that much cpu.

I've got a Revo 3610 running windows 64bit on 4GB ram,

I love MP and it works brilliantly but I had a fair few problems with being unable to watch TV after restarting from sleep.

Trouble

For the moment I've had to go back to MC7 which works fine also, but I'm hoping RC2 will sort my issues out. Probably fair to point out that I was using 4TR as well.

We should keep this thread going as a Revo information thread as they are getting fairly popular and make a cracking HTPC.

What do you think guys?

Can't say i've tried running it from sleep yet, might give it a go once i've set it up again. Just currently moved it around the house! Will let you know if it works ok.

I'm happy to provide any info anyone needs on the Revo. I love mine and recommend it highly!

Cheers
Phil

 

[blanquart_c]

good morning,

sorry for my english. I have the revo 3610 with 4gbt of ram and windows seven 64bit installed originally.

I use Mediaporal RC1 and my revo is a TV client with ethernet connmexion.

I have other tv client with other hardware without problem.

My revo in TV client hace pb of freeze and sutter. is possible to have your configuration of nvidia card and mediapoortal codecs if you not have this pb?

Thank you.

Christian.

 

[PhilUK]

good morning,

sorry for my english. I have the revo 3610 with 4gbt of ram and windows seven 64bit installed originally.

I use Mediaporal RC1 and my revo is a TV client with ethernet connmexion.

I have other tv client with other hardware without problem.

My revo in TV client hace pb of freeze and sutter. is possible to have your configuration of nvidia card and mediapoortal codecs if you not have this pb?

Thank you.

Christian.

Could be down to the codecs you are using on MP? I recommend the codec pack I am using (CCCP - See above) as it contains all the codecs you are likely to need.

Its not a limitation of the hardware as mine runs fine and yours is dual core with 3gb more ram! It could be an issue with the network? Updating drivers may help...

May be worth asking in a new post in a different area of the forums to get more of an idea as I personally havent had this problem so im just putting out a few suggestions!

Cheers
Phil

 

[alank]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I did a lot of research on this box and was impressed with the overall great reviews so I decided to give it a try. And I am very pleased to say it's really working great with MP! I was concerned of course with it's ability to play back smooth video. Well no worries. It really hits the mark. Video nice and smooth. The only issue I had was the same as reported above by PhilUK with the scrolling lag in MovingPictures. But after some searching I found the answer here. Thanks to armandp for providing a patched core.dll which fixes the scrolling problem.

Here is some more info about how I set mine up....
1. Before even turning on the unit for the first time was to create a bootable USB flash drive loaded with Acronis True Image. I then booted up True Image and made an image of the factory harddrive to an external USB drive. That way I could restore to factory in case any of the below failed.
2. Next was to do a clean install of Win7 64bit. They do not include a copy of Win7 with the unit so I had to use another copy I had. I copied the disc to another USB flash drive following these procedures. I had to create an ISO of my Win7 disc first but once I had that everything worked well.
3. Next was to activate Win7 using the key that is printed on the side of the unit and run Windows Update. Now I had a nice clean up-to-date activated install of Win7 64bit.
4. Then installed the most current drivers for Audio, Video, and the Chipset. Got these directly from NVidia's and Realtek's websites rather than using those posted on Acer's site.
5. Made another image so I could revert back to this vanilla state if ever needed.
6. Finally, installed MP. I like a minimum setup so the only plug-ins I installed are Moving Pictures and TV Series. (And the one core.dll patch as mentioned above).
7. Lastly, installed SAF 5.0.

So that's about it and it's really working great. I mounted the unit using the included mounting kit to the back of my TV stand. Nice and small and tucked away. Very wife friendly! All-in-all a pretty nice setup at a pretty minimum cost. The big plus for this unit is the space savings and "coolness" factor. If that is not something you care about you can spend a few more bucks on something else and get a more powerful system. But if you just want to run MP and have a very little footprint, then I would recommend going this route.

 

[akhlaq768]

I've got a Revo 3610 running windows 64bit on 4GB ram,

I love MP and it works brilliantly but I had a fair few problems with being unable to watch TV after restarting from sleep.

Trouble

For the moment I've had to go back to MC7 which works fine also, but I'm hoping RC2 will sort my issues out. Probably fair to point out that I was using 4TR as well.

We should keep this thread going as a Revo information thread as they are getting fairly popular and make a cracking HTPC.

What do you think guys?

how much did your system cost and how smooth does it run? are there any lag issues?

thinking about buying a Revo also, does the Harmony one work well with this machine?

thanks

 

[CHBMB]

I've got a Revo 3610 running windows 64bit on 4GB ram,

I love MP and it works brilliantly but I had a fair few problems with being unable to watch TV after restarting from sleep.

Trouble

For the moment I've had to go back to MC7 which works fine also, but I'm hoping RC2 will sort my issues out. Probably fair to point out that I was using 4TR as well.

We should keep this thread going as a Revo information thread as they are getting fairly popular and make a cracking HTPC.

What do you think guys?

how much did your system cost and how smooth does it run? are there any lag issues?

thinking about buying a Revo also, does the Harmony one work well with this machine?

thanks

I paid about £300 for the machine with the above specs from ebuyer.com, with the default install of Windows I found it a little bit laggy but reinstalled using a windows 7 upgrade disc and used my Revo's Windows 7 Product Key and reinstalled windows from scratch and it's been much much better.

Harmony One works perfectly once it's set up although if you've got a Harmony you'll understand that there is always a little fiddling to tweak the remote setup. You do need to get hold of a IR receiver though. I use this one from Maplins which works perfectly and cost £20 aas you tend to need to purchase a MCE remote to get the receiver although I'm sure you could find one cheaper

Windows Media Centre Remote Control : Remote Controls : Maplin

I've also got two USB dual tuner sticks working on a USB extension as it's difficult to fit them all into the Revo as they're rather large.

Dual Tuner Digital DVB-T USB Stick : Maplin

USB 2.0 4-Port Cable Hub with 120cm cable : USB Hubs : Maplin

I know I seem to get all my stuff from Maplins, it's just because there is a branch about 4 miles down the road and I can never be bothered to order something online and then go and pick it up from the depot as I'm never off work to arrange deliveries!

Hope that helps