Would Zonbu work as a MD?

[Hagen]

I was wondering if this smartish device would work well as a media director for Linux-MCE
(and if it has 120/230V input, not just 120V)
http://www.zonbu.com/home/index.htm

[kir]

Probably it can work as diskless M/D (if we can enable it to do network boot - this question on Zonbu forums still remains open). I am not sure about the performance of hardware though... seems it will be able to do UI1 and standard-definition movies (I see there MPEG2 acceleration said to be present, but it will depend on how it is actually implemented, so HD MPEG maybe not available).


Btw, any details on specs of it?

[1audio]

The MB in that box is too limited to really work. You can get the box without software here http://ewayco.com/ and the prices is cheap, but its not got the video processor or memory to support the needs of media.

[nite_man]

2Hagen: Agree with 1audio. It's $249 standalone. Maybe it'd be more reasonable spend $500 but got full-featured MD from Fiire (http://fiire.com/fiire-station.php). Or get one of eway's PC.

2audio1: Thanks for useful link!

[totallymaxed]

The MB in that box is too limited to really work. You can get the box without software here http://ewayco.com/ and the prices is cheap, but its not got the video processor or memory to support the needs of media.

Well I can confirm that we have EPIA C3/CLe266 motherboards working fine under lmce here that have exactly the same spec as  the boards on the ewayco site. I agree that UI2 will not be possible on these boards due to the Openchrome drivers not supporting all the modes required... but they play mpeg2 streams fine and DVD's. 720p looks ok too. All under UI1 of course.

[Hagen]

Thanks for the information guys.
I was thinking about the Zonbu mostly for music in the "non entertainment sections" of the house, with only a very small screen. Or a webpad remote.
For the other areas I am considering Fiire units.

[totallymaxed]

Thanks for the information guys.
I was thinking about the Zonbu mostly for music in the "non entertainment sections" of the house, with only a very small screen. Or a webpad remote.
For the other areas I am considering Fiire units.

For music playback I would say that 'on paper' they look to be fine as all the similar Via MB's we've tested have been ok. For good video performance you need to install the openchrome drivers... there are Kubuntu compatible binaries on the Via Arena site or you can build them from sources.