Hi all

Just wondering if anyone has an Xstreamer Ultra and is using it as a Media Director?

If so can you post your thoughts about the unit here?

I have done a search in the forum but cant see any posts about it.

I am interested to know:
1) Does it PXE boot ok (ie without any config changes) or is the NIC unrecognised like the Shuttle XS35GT - http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/ShuttleXS35GT
2) How do 1080p MKV Movies play? Do you notice any dropped frames/stuttering?
3) What is the fan noise like when:
    a) Playing 1080p movies
    b) navigating through the menu (ie jumping from one orbiter screen to another)
4) Does anyone have a DTS-HDMA capable receiver - if so can you get DTS-HDMA to passthrough the HDMI lead from the Xstreamer Ultra to the receiver? On a sidenote, can LinuxMCE do the DTS-HDMA passthrough? I know that XBMC cant currently do this but they are working on it.

Xstreamer Ultra website - http://www.xtreamer.net/Ultra/

Cheers

Ste

Just saw an advert for a Viewsonic ViewPad 10 http://www.viewsonic.com/products/vpad10.htm. It has the Intel Pine Trail N455 CPU.

Unfortunately it doesn't have an Ethernet port, but it does have WiFi and Bluetooth, so I guess you could use this as a mobile orbiter - move between rooms and use the Follow Me function to continue watching the media from the 1st room.

Does anyone know if MeeGo will work on this? and the PADOrbiter2 that Thom has been working on http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=11513.0

Olivier:

Is this fact sheet http://newsroom.intel.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/1976-11-4490/Oak_Trail_Atom_Processor_Factsheet.pdf comparing the new Oak Trail with the older Pine Trail or an older Atom Processor?

If it is an older Atom Processor, then do you know the differences between Oak Trail and Pine Trail

Also, after reading this http://mobile-device.biz/content/item.php?item=29991 should we wait for Cedar Trail as it offers better power savings?

I see Zotac have now released the ZBOX HD-ID40. I am wondering what the real difference is between this and the HD-ID11.

From the Zotac website I can see:

HD-ID11:
CPU - Intel® Atom™ D510 (dual-core) (1.66 GHz)
FSB - 667MHZ
Memory Slots - 1 x 200-pin DDR2-800 SODIMM

HD-ID40:    
CPU - Intel® Atom® D525 (dual-core, 1.8 GHz)
FSB - 800MHZ
Memory Slots - 2 x 200-pin DDR2-800 SODIMM (capacity up to 4GB)
Cooling - Passive (without fan)

I would like one of these as a Media Director, and am looking for anyone's opion (ie is the HD-ID40 much better for playing 1080p movies on?)

According to the Zotac website: “ZOTAC® listens to feedback from our users. As a result, the ZBOX HD-ID40 series follows the same award-winning formula as our previous mini-PCs but delivers new features that have been requested such as a faster CPU, improved WiFi and thermal performance, and more memory slots,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC® International.

My question on that statement: Does the faster CPU and thermal performance make a big difference when playing 1080p movies on these Zotac ZBOXs? Does anyone have both the ID-11 and ID-40 that they can compare playback with?

Reference:
HD-ID11 - http://pden.zotac.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&product_id=240&category_id=118&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1
HD-ID40 - http://pden.zotac.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&product_id=287&category_id=118&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1
Zotac Website - http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=531%3Azotacr-introduces-new-zbox-hd-id40-series&catid=1&Itemid=268

You can get a Zotac Zbox HD-ID11 ION2 for £189.95 from http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=46384&tid=frooct

You just need to add memory to it.

Dont worry about the hard drive as you dont need one for a Media Director.

This device has the NVIDIA ION chipset and will be able to play 1080p movies ok (if VDPAU is enabled).

Hi

I have my media stored on a NAS (old computer running FreeNAS with a single hard drive).

I use Rsync to keep a seperate copy on another box with a single hard drive (see http://freenas.org/documentation:setup_and_user_guide:rsync)

I dont bother with RAID, because I would rather use the money that a RAID controller would cost in running two seperate boxes (and if you have two sites - ie your house and your parents house, you could create a vpn between the two and use rsync between them to keep the files up-to-date - just be weary of the size of your media being transferred across the Internet!)

I also occasionaly manually copy the files from the main NAS (FreeNAS) to an external hard drive which I then keep in a safe place off site - you can never have too many backups! 

I also use P.I.N.G (http://ping.windowsdream.com) to create an image of the core (although with my media being on a NAS, I am happy with just re-installing and letting the core re-import the media).

hope that helps you

Ste

I have done a search for photo frames on the wiki and in the forum.

The only results found are:
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=70.0
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8811.0

Are network digital photo frames easily detected by the core when connected via ethernet to the core's LAN, and photos on the core/nas sent to them to be displayed in the same way that the photos are displayed as a screensaver on the core or a media director?

Does anyone recommend a particular network digital photo frame.

The above links talk about:
Ceiva - http://www.ceiva.com/home/hp/index.jsp
iGala - http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/digital-photo-frames/b425/

I have also seen these
D-Link - http://www.dlink.com/dsm-210
PhotoVU - http://www.photovu.com/digital-frames/overview.php
Kodak
i-mate Momento

Following on from the post below for having an Atom 330 as a core. What do people think of the Zotac ION Mag Nettop (MAG HD-ND01) as a hybrid if it will only be used for a small network (ie two other Media Directors)?

It has a dual core Atom (330) processor and 2GB RAM.

If you have a NAS and a USB or Network Tuner (like the HD HomeRun), then could the Zotac Mag be used for a hybrid?

It has a Gigabit NIC and Wifi (802.11n) . Has anyone been able to make the Wifi act as Eth0 (for connecting to the Internet) and the NIC as Eth1 (for the LinuxMCE network)? Or would a USB NIC be needed (to have two NICs)?

For those interested in power, the power results on http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/MAG_ION_Nettop/5.html show the unit uses:
Standby - 0.5w
Idle - 24.6w
Movie - 27.8w
Load - 35.7w

Regards

Ste

Here are the details for my Hauppauge HVR-1300:

sudo lspci -vn

00:00.0 0600: 8086:2570 (rev 02)
        Subsystem: 8086:2570   
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
        Capabilities: [e4] Vendor Specific Information <?>   
        Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel                 
        Kernel modules: intel-agp                           

00:02.0 0300: 8086:2572 (rev 02)
        Subsystem: 8086:485a   
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
        Memory at feb80000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
        I/O ports at ec00                               
        Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 1           
        Kernel modules: intelfb                                 

00:1d.0 0c03: 8086:24d2 (rev 02)
        Subsystem: 8086:485a   
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        I/O ports at c800 [size=32]                       
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd                     
        Kernel modules: uhci-hcd                           

00:1d.1 0c03: 8086:24d4 (rev 02)
        Subsystem: 8086:485a   
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
        I/O ports at cc00 [size=32]                       
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd                     
        Kernel modules: uhci-hcd                           

00:1d.2 0c03: 8086:24d7 (rev 02)
        Subsystem: 8086:485a   
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
        I/O ports at d000 [size=32]                       
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd                     
        Kernel modules: uhci-hcd                           

00:1d.3 0c03: 8086:24de (rev 02)
        Subsystem: 8086:485a   
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        I/O ports at d400 [size=32]                       
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd                     
        Kernel modules: uhci-hcd                           

00:1d.7 0c03: 8086:24dd (rev 02) (prog-if 20)
        Subsystem: 8086:485a                 
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
        Memory at feb7fc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2         
        Capabilities: [58] Debug port: BAR=1 offset=00a0       
        Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd                         
        Kernel modules: ehci-hcd                               

00:1e.0 0604: 8086:244e (rev c2)
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
        I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff                         
        Memory behind bridge: f8900000-fe9fffff                     
        Kernel modules: shpchp                                       

00:1f.0 0601: 8086:24d0 (rev 02)
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
        Kernel modules: intel-rng, iTCO_wdt       

00:1f.1 0101: 8086:24db (rev 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
        Subsystem: 8086:485a                                   
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18     
        I/O ports at 01f0                               
        I/O ports at 03f4                               
        I/O ports at 0170                               
        I/O ports at 0374                               
        I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]                             
        Memory at 40000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
        Kernel driver in use: ata_piix                         
        Kernel modules: ata_piix                               

00:1f.2 0101: 8086:24d1 (rev 02) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
        Subsystem: 8086:485a                                             
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18       
        I/O ports at e800                                         
        I/O ports at e400                                         
        I/O ports at e000                                         
        I/O ports at dc00                                         
        I/O ports at d800 [size=16]                                       
        Kernel driver in use: ata_piix                                   
        Kernel modules: ata_piix                                         

00:1f.3 0c05: 8086:24d3 (rev 02)
        Subsystem: 8086:485a   
        Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 3
        I/O ports at c400 [size=32]
        Kernel modules: i2c-i801   

00:1f.5 0401: 8086:24d5 (rev 02)
        Subsystem: 8086:0210   
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Memory at feb7f800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
        Memory at feb7f400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2           
        Kernel driver in use: Intel ICH                         
        Kernel modules: snd-intel8x0                           

01:00.0 0400: 14f1:8800 (rev 05)
        Subsystem: 0070:9600   
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 21
        Memory at fb000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
        Capabilities: [44] Vital Product Data <?>               
        Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2           
        Kernel driver in use: cx8800                           
        Kernel modules: cx8800                                 

01:00.1 0480: 14f1:8811 (rev 05)
        Subsystem: 0070:9600
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
        Memory at fc000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
        Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2
        Kernel modules: cx88-alsa

01:00.2 0480: 14f1:8802 (rev 05)
        Subsystem: 0070:9600
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 21
        Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
        Capabilities: [4c] Power Management version 2
        Kernel driver in use: cx88-mpeg driver manager
        Kernel modules: cx8802

01:02.0 0200: 10ec:8139 (rev 10)
        Subsystem: 3030:5032
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 17
        I/O ports at b800 [size=256]
        Memory at fe9ffc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
        Kernel driver in use: 8139too
        Kernel modules: 8139cp, 8139too

01:08.0 0200: 8086:1050 (rev 01)
        Subsystem: 8086:304a
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 20
        Memory at fe9fe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        I/O ports at bc00 [size=64]
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
        Kernel driver in use: e100
        Kernel modules: e100, eepro100

sudo v4l2-ctl -n
ioctl: VIDIOC_ENUMINPUT
        Input   : 0
        Name    : Television
        Type    : 0x00000001
        Audioset: 0x00000000
        Tuner   : 0x00000000
        Standard: 0x0000000000727FF7 ( PAL NTSC SECAM )
        Status  : 0

        Input   : 1
        Name    : Composite1
        Type    : 0x00000002
        Audioset: 0x00000000
        Tuner   : 0x00000000
        Standard: 0x0000000000727FF7 ( PAL NTSC SECAM )
        Status  : 0

        Input   : 2
        Name    : S-Video
        Type    : 0x00000002
        Audioset: 0x00000000
        Tuner   : 0x00000000
        Standard: 0x0000000000727FF7 ( PAL NTSC SECAM )
        Status  : 0

Regards

Ste 
 
 

I have a hauppauge hvr-1300.

I will post the results as soon as I can.

I tried to get the analogue RCA/phono input to work with Myth TV and couldn't, so I'm glad to see its not just me and/or the HVR-1300 card. 

Cheers Andrew (and thanks for the quick reply).

I was just reading this review http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/MAG_ION_Nettop.

How do you find the heat that comes out of the top of the unit when playing HD 1080p movies? Does the fan work ok in there?

Have you noticed any other things with Zotac motherboards (and specifically for the Mag Ion Nettop), or is a higher I/O the only problem.

Do Dianemo & Cascade sell these units and if so for how much?

I am thinking of getting one for myself before the end of the year (before the UK VAT increase on 1st Jan).

Thanks again

Ste

Hi

I just saw the Zotac MAG ION Nettop on http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=58 and wondered if anyone has one of these.

The picture of it looks great, and it looks so good sitting behind the TV/Monitor on the VESA mountings.

It has the same chipset as the Zotac ION-ITX motherboards, so it should work just as well as them.

It mentions having the Dual Core Atom N330 processor, but doesnt mention about a fan.

Ste

Can this be used as a hybrid core?

I am thinking of purchasing this bundle (Zotac ION-ITX-A Wi-Fi / M350 Mini-ITX Case / RAM Offer Bundle), and am just wondering about the need for 2 NICs?

I suppose I could purchase a USB NIC.

I know this has Wi-Fi and 1 NIC, but I want to use 2 NICs and not Wireless.

I just found this post when searching for streaming TV.

I am wondering if LinuxMCE would be able to use/plans for it to use the TV streaming from Internet?

If so will there be a wiki page for supported types (eg Miro - http://www.getmiro.com)

Does anyone know of any of Linux supported PC Sattelite TV programs? There seems to be many for Windows but I can't find any for Linux (apart from Miro).

I don't have any DVB capture cards and i am wondering if LinuxMCE will support Sattellite TV to PC within it's user Interface

Hi All

I am just starting out setting up LinuxMCE on an old box (I intend to use it as a hybrid).

It is connected to a TV using DVI from the AGP graphics card to the DVI port on the TV.

I only have two PCI slots on the motheboard of this old computer (Dell Precision Workstation 650) - one is for the 2nd Network Card and the other I intend to use for my CCTV capture card (4 BNC connectors for my analogue cameras). So I am in need of a USB capture device.

I have seen an advert for the EASY CAP usb capture device (http://www.amazon.com/EasyCap-Capture-Adapter-Editor-Software/dp/B001BWU8US), and am wondering if anyone else has had experience with it in LinuxMCE (can't find anything in this forum, but when I googled EASY CAP LINUX I have found some people have had some success - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=662531)

If you do not think this device would work easily enough, can you recommend anything else?

I am not that fussed about having the TV tuner, I just need the composite connections (RCA - Yellow, Red, White - all though I could feed the audio channels into the soundcard with an RCA to 3.5mm cable - which I already have). I have a Virgin Media cable box (Samsung SMT 2110C) which only has two scart outputs (marked TV and VCR). I already have a scart to composite cable. I understand that to have LinuxMCE change the channels on the Virgin Media Box i need a IR blaster (USB UIRT), which I would also need to buy.

If there are USB TV tuners (DVB-T) which have the composite imput connectors, can you recommend any which will work easily with linuxmce (and don't cost to much). I already have an S-Video to composite cable if that helps (TV tuner with S-Video input).

If there are no USB TV tuner cards with composite or S-Video input, then I suppose I should remove my 2nd network card and buy a USB network card.
* Do these work ok with LinuxMCE?
* Is it best to use them on the LAN/Internal side and let the motherboard one be the WAN/External

Thanks in advance

Ste