MD Question

[fearingsept]

Ok.. I know its been asked over and over again.. but I am always confused because it seems that hardware is always changing and sometimes the wiki (though is very helpful) is not always clear or easy to search.

I am looking to get a small form MD for christmass. I would like to find one that is supported out of the box with either 7.10 or 8.10 (haven't upgraded yet but eventually will).
I would like it to have digital surround sound support built in as well as HDMI.
What is out there and in use right now that is known working out of the box?

[totallymaxed]

Ok.. I know its been asked over and over again.. but I am always confused because it seems that hardware is always changing and sometimes the wiki (though is very helpful) is not always clear or easy to search.

I am looking to get a small form MD for christmass. I would like to find one that is supported out of the box with either 7.10 or 8.10 (haven't upgraded yet but eventually will).
I would like it to have digital surround sound support built in as well as HDMI.
What is out there and in use right now that is known working out of the box?

Hmmm... well as far as I know (correct me if this is not your experience) currently neither LinuxMCE-0710 or LinuxMCE-0810 'Beta' support Dolby Digital + DTS or even Stereo audio over HDMI 'out of the box' so to speak on any hardware. That is not to say that it can't be done (many of the patches/fixes exist...and many of these are have been submitted by us) its just not there yet and its not PnP.

On the other hand Dianemo & Cascade Smart Home both support these features on all the supported nVidia based hardware (see the thread referenced in the footer of this message for more info on what that hardware is) and the hardware and setup of HDMI Audio is just a matter of hooking up your chosen MD hardware to the LAN, letting it add iteself and then choosing Dolby Digital + DTS in the AVwizard - JOB DONE.

All the best


Andrew

[fearingsept]

Thank you for the suggestion.

Is there any known MD's that will work with LMCE 7.10 or 8.10 HDMI Video out of the box at least? If not then what is a good suggestion for a fairly common small, quiet MD? Like the eee pc from ASUS? I am looking for something that is about the size of a Wii or close to that.

[totallymaxed]

Thank you for the suggestion.

Is there any known MD's that will work with LinuxMCE 7.10 or 8.10 HDMI Video out of the box at least? If not then what is a good suggestion for a fairly common small, quiet MD? Like the eee pc from ASUS? I am looking for something that is about the size of a Wii or close to that.

Well I would suggest that you look at the Revo or one of the new ASUS's... the EB1501 too would be a good choice http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=JEaDVvtKZ9hHhda2

All of the above can do HDMI Audio...but need to be configured that way by LinuxMCE to achieve it.

Andrew

[phenigma]

Just as Andrew says.

I really like my Zotac ION 330, VGA, DVI, HDMI, Optical Digital.  I have not tried the HDMI video or Audio myself but others have here on the forums.  Netboots without a HD, quiet (the 330 DOES have a heatsink fan,  but its quieter than my PS3 at idle), low power consumption (~24Watts idle, ~26 Watts in 1080P decode with VDPAU).  I highly recommend it.

The Acer Aspire Revo is a really nice unit in a great VESA mountable form factor with a hard drive and ION graphics, the only reason I didn't go with the Revo was that it did not support the optical digital output I currently use for audio.

I highly recommend an ION based system for a Media Director for use with HD content in a small form factor.

J.

[fearingsept]

Hey... I was planning on getting a new MD for Christmas but it turns out I didn't have to.
My work was getting rid of some obsolete PC's and they had a whole stack of Dell GX280 Small form factor machines. I already had a GX270 at home that works pretty well but just not fast enough to play any high def video files. Well these are a lot newer.
I am able to have a 720P resolution from the on board Intel chip set VGA port and it will play 720p High def. movies which was impossible with the GX270. The unit only has 512 megs of ram but seems to work rather well.

Can't do 1080P but still it is a big improvement from what I was using. I picked up 2 of them.