MediaPortal on ITX (1 Viewer)

[meq123]

One thing to remember here is to make sure your proposed board(s) support 5VSB to the USB ports, so that you can wake from sleep using your remote. Similarly WOL support is also important for a server HTPC. You may need to do some quite deep research on this, maybe even in user forums, before buying.

I used to use an eVGA7100/630i MB (only a year old) which had neither of these features, making it a pain for an HTPC. The eVGA claimed to support WOL, but even though there was a setting in the BIOS, it turned out that wasn't true (at least not wake from S3). [I replaced it with an ECS Intel G43/X4500HD-based board which works great.]

 

[Vampiro]

Please look to my htpc specs and see if are better or worst than a ZOTAC Ion A with 2 GBDDR2 and a 500mb sata drive. Thanks
Current specs:
CPU: DualCore Intel Pentium E2140
Mainboard: Asus P5LD2-X
RAM: 2048 MB (DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM) Team Elite
HDD: WDC WD1200JD-00GBB0
Video: ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO (256 MB)
Sound: Realtek ALC662 @ Intel 82801GB ICH7 - High Definition Audio Controller
TV-Card 1: Prolink PlayTv Pro Pci (Bt878)
PSU: 460W Eurotech Silent (not realy)
Case: Nox Media
Remote: Soundgraph Imon MM
TV: LG 32LX2R

 

[ToyRotar]

Hi,

Have you seen this from Asus - EeeBox PC B208?

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Your thoughts?

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Not cheap, retail here in the UK is going to be about £500, where the other models are priced in the £200-350 bracket, but then its the new ipod

 

[zicoz]

And I believe that it's not as strong for media use as the ION, but this might be a newer and better version? I seen to remember the one that struggeled was 204 or 205 or something?

 

[ToyRotar]

Hi Guys,

Regarding the Asus Eee Boxes there is a thread here that discusses these in more detail, with the 206 looking close to the mark/better than the Nvidia Ion:

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...-box-204-206-perfect-client-49563/index2.html

I've just bought a B206 and I was able to do very few experiments up to now (still fighting with EPG eheh ).Anyway, SD television works OK (DVB-T) and .ts files play very OK as all SD movies do.Using Cyberlink H264 decoder I can see some 720p and even some 1080p files My collection of short anime reviews and the fantastic four trailer which is 720p). Coral Reef WMV9 is stuttering both 720p and 1080p.

The key being getting the right drivers to offload processing to GPU & enough CPU to cover the rest.
The 208 is supposed to be even better again.

Regardless of this, I'm keen to hear from anyone who has a solution that meets Tinyputer's original requirements:

My requirements are:

- Clients must consume less than 60w
- One of the clients must include a standard dvd player
- Clients must be able to handle the smooth running of MediaPortal
- Clients must be able to come out of sleep mode/boot from cold in <60secs
- Server must be able act as TV-Server and NAS
- Server must consume less than 150w
- Server must be able to handle up to four tv streams simultaneously
- Server must be able to record up to four tv streams simultaneously
- Server must be able to record up to two HD streams simultaneously
- Server must be able to serve up to two HD streams simultaneously
- Solution must be able to timeshift one HD tv stream

Tinyputers - any progress from your end?
Best Regards,
David.

 

[Vampiro]

Please look to my htpc specs and see if are better or worst than a ZOTAC Ion A with 2 GBDDR2 and a 500mb sata drive. Thanks
Current specs:
CPU: DualCore Intel Pentium E2140
Mainboard: Asus P5LD2-X
RAM: 2048 MB (DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM) Team Elite
HDD: WDC WD1200JD-00GBB0
Video: ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO (256 MB)
Sound: Realtek ALC662 @ Intel 82801GB ICH7 - High Definition Audio Controller
TV-Card 1: Prolink PlayTv Pro Pci (Bt878)
PSU: 460W Eurotech Silent (not realy)
Case: Nox Media
Remote: Soundgraph Imon MM
TV: LG 32LX2R

Anyone?

 

[Peter2]

Hi Vampiro, this thread is about running MP on a mini-itx (mini size mainboard) configuration and you are asking advice on different kind of hardware for which there is another forum (https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal-htpc-hardware-software-forums/)

 

[Vampiro]

Hi Vampiro, this thread is about running MP on a mini-itx (mini size mainboard) configuration and you are asking advice on different kind of hardware for which there is another forum (https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal-htpc-hardware-software-forums/)

That's what I'm talking about. I want your opinion in a Zotac Ion board (mini itx) based htpc or my current htpc. Please read my full post...

 

[pharaohamps]

I'm running MP on two Atom 330-based systems in my home and they're both quite acceptable. Both are running XP SP3, using the Intel D945GCLF2 motherboards, 2GB RAM. Both are networked wirelessly using PCI wifi cards (USB wireless wasn't reliable enough in my opinion,) and can easily play 720p MKV's using CoreAVC. They both access all content from my HTPC server downstairs, which has an Athlon 64 x2 running at 2.6GHz. I see no reason why the ION-based systems shouldn't outperform the Intel 945-based D945GCLF2 boards. If you're using the nVidia or CoreAVC decoders, you'd get a nice speed boost when decoding video, so processor utilization should be quite reasonable.

I don't have direct experience with the Zotac products, but the Atom 330's have been good in my opinion. I don't use packed textures with my machines, and this speeds up things a bit (do a search for "do we really need packed textures?"...)