I'm currently using an Apple TV 2 as my XBMC device. But with a 1080p TV and stuttering on high bit rate content I'm ready to move on. But there are so many options and so many ways to go that I'm having trouble determining what will best meet my needs.
Requirements:
- Have no trouble with 15 Mbps H.264 with 1.5 Mbps DTS
- Run a nice skin smoothly. I don't need to run the most eye candle filled thing (though it wouldn't hurt), but I do like to show lots of pretty pictures and data. My current favorite is Metropolis.
- Easy to maintain. Way back I ran XBMC on a locked down custom Celeron 733 based platform. It was superb software, but upgrades and other maintenance were a fragile hassle. ATV2 is a bit better, but I want something more straightforward next time around. I'm fine with fairly complex initial setup.
- Remotely controllable. An IR universal remote would be ideal. A wireless Xbox 360 controller would be fine too.
- HDMI out
- Small
- Quiet
- Low power
- Cheap
Wants:
- Emulation. I want to run some old SNES and NES games. Higan/Bsnes would be nice, but that's probably out of spec for this. Zsnes, Snes9x, FCEUx would be great.
- The ability to connect a wireless Xbox 360 controller.
- Support for a couple of rhythm games. Stepmania (which requires USB input for some pads), and Synthesia (which requires USB midi keyboard support).
My leading contenders so far are
Pivos XIOS DS with linux: I'm think this handles all of the requirements just fine. I'm not 100% sure about fancier skins or high bit rate. Also, as I understand it going this route would put me behind a somewhat different release cycle than mainline XBMC. That's less than ideal, but since they're working with the project I hope they stay pretty close. All the wants are kind of up in the air. Higan is out due to processor requirements. Zsnes is out because it's x86 assembly. Snes9x and FCEUx seem workable. Stepmania runs fine on linux, but pad support on the distro could be sketchy. No idea what usb midi looks like under linux, but Synthesia supposedly runs find under wine.
Spare parts HTPC: I have spare parts for an Phenom X3 / X1950XT build. That should be plenty of processing for everything listed. It wouldn't be small, low power, or quiet though. Maybe underclocking could help with power/noise. Could run Windows (I have as many Win 7 licenses as I could ever use) or XBMCbuntu which ought to be simple to maintain.
Thought and suggestions?
Requirements:
- Have no trouble with 15 Mbps H.264 with 1.5 Mbps DTS
- Run a nice skin smoothly. I don't need to run the most eye candle filled thing (though it wouldn't hurt), but I do like to show lots of pretty pictures and data. My current favorite is Metropolis.
- Easy to maintain. Way back I ran XBMC on a locked down custom Celeron 733 based platform. It was superb software, but upgrades and other maintenance were a fragile hassle. ATV2 is a bit better, but I want something more straightforward next time around. I'm fine with fairly complex initial setup.
- Remotely controllable. An IR universal remote would be ideal. A wireless Xbox 360 controller would be fine too.
- HDMI out
- Small
- Quiet
- Low power
- Cheap
Wants:
- Emulation. I want to run some old SNES and NES games. Higan/Bsnes would be nice, but that's probably out of spec for this. Zsnes, Snes9x, FCEUx would be great.
- The ability to connect a wireless Xbox 360 controller.
- Support for a couple of rhythm games. Stepmania (which requires USB input for some pads), and Synthesia (which requires USB midi keyboard support).
My leading contenders so far are
Pivos XIOS DS with linux: I'm think this handles all of the requirements just fine. I'm not 100% sure about fancier skins or high bit rate. Also, as I understand it going this route would put me behind a somewhat different release cycle than mainline XBMC. That's less than ideal, but since they're working with the project I hope they stay pretty close. All the wants are kind of up in the air. Higan is out due to processor requirements. Zsnes is out because it's x86 assembly. Snes9x and FCEUx seem workable. Stepmania runs fine on linux, but pad support on the distro could be sketchy. No idea what usb midi looks like under linux, but Synthesia supposedly runs find under wine.
Spare parts HTPC: I have spare parts for an Phenom X3 / X1950XT build. That should be plenty of processing for everything listed. It wouldn't be small, low power, or quiet though. Maybe underclocking could help with power/noise. Could run Windows (I have as many Win 7 licenses as I could ever use) or XBMCbuntu which ought to be simple to maintain.
Thought and suggestions?