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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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 Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 2:26 pm Post subject: Considering this for a home theater build... your thoughts? |
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Several pics (scroll down):
http://item.gmarket.co.kr/DetailView/Item.asp?goodscode=210114856&GoodsSale=Y&jaehuid=200002673
Prices/more specs:
http://www.enuri.com/search/Searchlist.jsp?searchkind=&nosearchkeyword=&es=&c=&ismodelno=false&hyphen_2=false&keyword=amd+vision
Chip info:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-brazos-platform-tested-e350-apu-review/2
What do you think of this? I read the CPU will play HD Netflix at 60% utilization, and crunch blu-ray at far less than that. It's small, cool, quiet, and has HDMI out with good home theater audio capability. I have to add a HDD, OS, and Ram.
I have access to an OS at no extra cost, and 2gb of Ram I already own, so I'd just have to purchase a notebook-sized HDD, basically. |
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nick70100
Joined: 09 Sep 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:37 pm Post subject: Re: Considering this for a home theater build... your though |
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Only 2 things that really stick out at me...
1. No front side USB ports on the case. This would annoy me, but if you don't plan on connecting any usb devices then don't worry about it.
2. It has fans, so it won't be silent. You mentioned that it's quiet, but I'm wondering how you know this? Have you seen one of these in person? I have a fanless Zotac Ion board, connect an SSD instead of a hard disk and it doesn't make any sound whatsoever. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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| I read somewhere that it is near silent. Does the ion setup do netflix? Open tocany suggestions. |
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archmagos
Joined: 14 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:50 pm Post subject: Re: Considering this for a home theater build... your though |
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| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| I have access to an OS at no extra cost ... |
I wouldn't consider anything else apart from XBMC for actually doing the work of playing your movies  Can be run as part of a stand-alone embedded OS (live cd) or on top of windows or linux. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:25 am Post subject: |
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| I ended up purchasing a used HP media PC from Yongsan for 230,000. It's got a 5200 Wolfdale in it, HDMI, apparently legal Office 2007, and older but useable Geforce 9300 graphics in it, and came with a legal HP version of Vista. And it's quiet enough. Not a bad deal, overall. Seems to do everything just fine, and not having troubles with some of the .mkv encodes I've tried. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:13 pm Post subject: Re: Considering this for a home theater build... your though |
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| archmagos wrote: |
| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| I have access to an OS at no extra cost ... |
I wouldn't consider anything else apart from XBMC for actually doing the work of playing your movies Can be run as part of a stand-alone embedded OS (live cd) or on top of windows or linux. |
Wow, that's very nice! Thanks! |
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archmagos
Joined: 14 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:47 pm Post subject: Re: Considering this for a home theater build... your though |
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| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| archmagos wrote: |
| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| I have access to an OS at no extra cost ... |
I wouldn't consider anything else apart from XBMC for actually doing the work of playing your movies Can be run as part of a stand-alone embedded OS (live cd) or on top of windows or linux. |
Wow, that's very nice! Thanks! |
You're welcome - there's a heap of plugins out there to extend XBMC's functionality and (you can also try Boxee which has a few different plugins (although I think it is not as easy to customise). |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| I ended up purchasing a used HP media PC from Yongsan for 230,000. It's got a 5200 Wolfdale in it, HDMI, apparently legal Office 2007, and older but useable Geforce 9300 graphics in it, and came with a legal HP version of Vista. And it's quiet enough. Not a bad deal, overall. Seems to do everything just fine, and not having troubles with some of the .mkv encodes I've tried. |
I think it's best to just get a fully-fledged PC under the TV. More options. More power............. As long as it's fairly quiet and not too greedy for power. Which yours won't be going by the specs.......
but I might advise considering swapping the power supply for something more sophisticated. I doubt the PSU that HP put in there is as good as an 80+ certified PSU. If you're going to run the thing for long periods of time then consider this. |
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singerdude
Joined: 18 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 4:31 am Post subject: Re: Considering this for a home theater build... your though |
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| archmagos wrote: |
| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| archmagos wrote: |
| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| I have access to an OS at no extra cost ... |
I wouldn't consider anything else apart from XBMC for actually doing the work of playing your movies Can be run as part of a stand-alone embedded OS (live cd) or on top of windows or linux. |
Wow, that's very nice! Thanks! |
You're welcome - there's a heap of plugins out there to extend XBMC's functionality and (you can also try Boxee which has a few different plugins (although I think it is not as easy to customise). |
I definitely second XBMC. Unless you need DVR functions, XBMC is the way to go. You can also install Event Ghost so it boots directly to XBMC. I use RSS feeds to download my tv shows and XBMC automatically recognizes them and scrapes all of the info for each show. It looks beautifully organized without much effort. Simply the best IMO. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:09 am Post subject: |
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| eamo wrote: |
but I might advise considering swapping the power supply for something more sophisticated. I doubt the PSU that HP put in there is as good as an 80+ certified PSU. If you're going to run the thing for long periods of time then consider this. |
I think it'll be OK.
Here are the actual specs. Not sure what you mean by an 80+ CPU? You mean 80+watts of actual power? It's a 160 watt supply.
Specifically, it's the HP Pavilion Slimline s3719kr with Vista. Oddly, I seem to like Vista better than Windows 7 for a movie PC because Vista boots a lot faster.
http://www.ebuzz.co.kr/content/buzz_view.html?uid=79936
I'm just tickled pink with this thing. The only bummer is that my home TV is a 50" and really too big for streaming Netflix from so far away (in the evenings, when my cheap SK connection is being used by everyone in the area). It looks fine on a smaller monitor. My 32" at the office looks better because it keeps the image smaller. Blowing downloaded SD video to 50" really brings out the artifacts and such. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:32 am Post subject: |
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80+ power supplies are high efficiency. They are graded in bronze, silver, gold and even platinum now I hear......in order of their efficiency. It means they output 80% or more of the power they consume. Thereby saving you electricity.
Of course, to be efficient like that they need to be made with good quality parts. So a buyer can be fairly assured that an 80+ power supply is a good quality one. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 3:56 pm Post subject: |
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Good stuff to know.
I imagine those kinds of power supplies are a bit pricey. I wonder how much one could "save" over time verses the cost of buying compared to a cheaper power supply? I don't run my machine a lot at the moment. I suppose one would have to run the computer year-round for a while to see a benefit? I kind of think energy-saving builds are cool, though. |
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archmagos
Joined: 14 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
Good stuff to know.
I imagine those kinds of power supplies are a bit pricey. I wonder how much one could "save" over time verses the cost of buying compared to a cheaper power supply? I don't run my machine a lot at the moment. I suppose one would have to run the computer year-round for a while to see a benefit? I kind of think energy-saving builds are cool, though. |
You may want to consider heat too ... if a PSU has (for example) 70% efficiency under an average load, then a lot of energy if being lost as heat - thus requiring the fan to run faster (and louder) to keep things cool - definitely important for something that is running all the time |
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