XBMC + unRAID and whatelse?


kizer

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What you said makes a HUGE amount of sense. Thats why I was considering the WD Live Plus in my office as a test and considering an option for my guest room where my kid watches tv now and then along with playing on the Wii and other things.

 

Thats why ATV2 and the WD Live Plus sound like winners. I'm really used to the interface of XBMC so the ATV2 has a huge advantage, but XBMC on it is rather new and the entire JailBreak today and again later if you reboot unless they finally got it figured out for windows.

 

No worries anymore about the Jailbreak.

A couple days ago a untethered jailbreak that can be done from a Mac or Windows PC was released.

 

It is very easy to do and survives re-boots/power outages just fine.

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This is a very interesting topic...

 

In my LR I have an Atom Ion computer I built about a year ago. I installed Win7 and primarily use Media Center w/ Media Browser. But it is a slow donkey... I like TaterSalad's idea of installing the XBMC Live to it and see how it performs.... I will add a partition to the drive and test it.

 

I also just bought an ATV2 which I will test out as well. I hate the idea of no 1080p.... but it could not get any cheaper.

 

Guys, please read my related post and question and please try to respond.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=11091.0

 

Thanks,

 

H.

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Just jailbroke my new ATV2. Not too easy, but not impossible. Instructions were not quite right.... Installed XBMC and tweaked with it for a couple hours. I am spoiled by my Win 7 HTPC, 1080p resolution. Text and images look nice and clear and clean. 720p feels very mediocre. But that is just the GUI. Movies seemed to play OK.

 

Towards the end, I was getting some long system freezes inside XBMC. Not sure if it was because it was updating my movie library, or if that just plain is the way it is supposed to run. I will keep testing tomorrow. Apart from that, the interface and navigaion was quite fast, with no real lagging like I often get on my Atom Ion with Win7...

 

I am trying to love the XBMC interface... but it just keeps coming short... I am a creature of habit.

 

 

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I have an ATV2, ATV1 and HTPC.  I have used the WDTV, WDTV Live, WDTV hub, and a few other set-top streamers in the past.  For a secondary TV such as a bedroom or kitchen, the ATV2 with XBMC is far and away the best option.  You get the most functionality for the least money.  The jailbreak process is a little tricky (it took me 3 tires to get it right), but once done you never have to worry about it again.

 

For $99 you get XBMC (best interface anywhere IMHO), netflix, youtube, itunes audio and video, and a remote that even my mother can understand.  It even has built-in wifi (most other set-tops don't) and is about the size of a hockey puck.  The 720p limitation keeps me from recommending it over an HTPC for a big living room TV, but for anything under 36", it's absolutely perfect.

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I bought the WD Live Plus yesterday and I will admit it plays videos amazingly smooth. I gave a few 1080p MKV's a try and man it played them without a hitch. However I'm so spoiled with the look and feel of XBMC on my little AsRock ION and I will be the first to admit I'm not liking the interface of the WD Live Plus that much. I guess because I'm using it with Network Shares opposed to linking up with a Media Server.

 

I think I'll have to do that here just to play fair in my decision to either keep it or give a ATV2 a try.

 

I need to use this device in my guest room for people that well stay over as a guest and something even my 5year old can figure out. He has the XBMC figured out as well as my Roku that has NetFlix. My goal was to have something that fit both rolls.

 

Off to fire up a media server. ;)

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However I'm so spoiled with the look and feel of XBMC on my little AsRock ION...

 

Right there with you.  I built an ION system using a Zotac board and love it to death.  Wakr-On-USB is the greatest thing ever.  Now the wife and just hit the power buton and be at the Home screen in 3 seconds.  :)

 

I really didn't care so much about a small footpriant as much as I wanted the system to blend in.  So I went with this case and absolutely LOVE it (FYI...teh display arm detaches):

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233060&cm_re=gigabyte_case-_-11-233-060-_-Product

 

John

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Thought I'd toss my hat in the ring as well...  

 

The ATV2 is pretty awesome for $99.  I wanted something for my bedroom, and tried the WD Live Plus.  Took it back, as I just didn't like the interface.  Got the ATV2, jb'd it, threw on XBMC and Plex.  I would rather use Plex, as I can manage my media all from one server, but Plex requires a transcode and my Mac Mini (where Plex resides) can't keep up with transcoding 1080p content.  XBMC, however, can play most of my 1080p media fine, but as discussed in this thread, the output is limited to 720p.  Honestly, though, my bedroom TV is only a 720p TV, so I'm fine with it (I have just tried it on my 52" 1080p Sammy, and I think it still looks great even at 720p).  

 

There are only a handful of my 1080p files that have some trouble keeping up (Dark Knight and Avatar, but they're super high bitrate).  No issues with any 720p stuff.  I have read, however, that the ATV2 can only hardware decode (currently... working towards others) x264 encoded stuff.  So like XviD 720p content may stutter.  I do not have any XviD encoded HD media, so I can't speak of it personally.  Even the second official release of the software has speed improvements and better playback, so I expect more and more files will be able to play smoothly as it evolves.

 

XBMC keeps on getting better with their ATV2 client, and the code is about to get synced to the main trunk, so more and more features are forthcoming.  Also, the Plex development of a 3rd party app is also becoming robust, and will become even more useful when Plex releases a Linux version of their server software (unRAID + Plex Media Server would be a game-changing combination).

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I try to exclusively download x264.

 

My apple TV running XBMC was able to decode a XviD DVD rip no problem with no lag.  I think it is only the higher end content in XviD that tends to cause issues because it is software decoding.  Now days you should be able to find all HD content in x264...

 

My wife had one issue with an old Xvid Disney movie, and i think that one had poor encoding, the other movies in the same movie pack had no issue.  I just loaded up a converting program and converted that one file over to x264, bye bye problems.

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Nearly all my content is Xvid and MKV so it would have to support both or I would be dead.

It does.  I play standard def xvids and x264 MKVs all the time.  I've never heard of the high def xvid limitation, but those are pretty rare anyway.  The quality/size ratio disparity between xvid and x264 is so large for HD files that nobody bothers with xvid.  The only HD xvid in my collection is a 2500kbps 720p MKV, and it plays fine. 

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I just installed xbmc on my atv2 last night. It is pretty nice it has played everything so far but a 1080i tv movie had to buffer to the point it wasn't worth it. This was a torrent so I don't know how it was created and I am running it from an ext FireWire drive attached to the Mac mini. I have it connected using cat 6 cable. Over all it's pretty sweet. It definitely makes the atv2 more enjoyable.

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