There were a couple of other threads started about the Acer and one about the ION platform in general, but the title of the Acer threads wasn't quite ideal or specific to running XBMC so I figured I'd start a new thread with the idea that this might become the "official" thread for the Acer AspireRevo running XBMC. There's also a very long thread about XBMC here, but it covers a variety of hardware which can run XBMC, including everything from classic XBox's (which can't decode high-bitstream 720P/1080P content), to AppleTV's (which are in a similar boat capability-wise), to pricey computers running XBMC.
There are many, like me, who have enjoyed the pleasures of XBMC running on a classic XBox. It offers great usability combined with a great price. What it has lacked is the ability to handle high-bitrate HD content. There's a lot of discussion lately about the latest crop of standalone low-cost streamers, including the Asus O!Play, brite-view CinemaTube, WDTV (and upcoming WDTV Live), Seagate Theater+, Egreat 34A, and Popcorn Hour units, etc. Users who have bought some of the lower-cost models are now finding that they have various issues, with lack of bitstream support for DTS-HD/Dolby TrueHD being a biggie. And in all cases, the UI leaves a lot to be desired.
So with all of that said, let's talk about the Acer AspireRevo. I haven't purchased one yet, but I'm about to pull the trigger. I'm most interested in the least expensive model currently available in the US. At only $200, it's above the price of the classic XBox, the Asus O!Play, and the likely price of the WDTV Live. But it's less expensive than the Popcorn Hour, and the mature, skinnable XBMC UI has a lot going for it.
Many have criticized the AspireRevo for only being a single-core processor with only 1GB of RAM. The CPU/graphics chipset combo does not do well with some streaming media like YouTube and Hulu. But the graphics chipset can handle high-bitrate 1080P content with minimal CPU load. There are people who are upgrading the RAM, but I haven't yet determined what, if any, benefit that offers for people using this as an XBMC machine (I suspect they're upgrading it more for desktop PC benefits). My opinion is that if it isn't *necessary* and doesn't add any real benefit for streaming media, improving the responsiveness of the XBMC UI, etc., then I'd prefer to do without it and keep the price down. In my case, I need to have multiple rooms in my house equipped, so the lower the price, the better.
The stock unit comes with Windows XP Home, a wired keyboard, and a mouse. There is an HDMI port, but no optical/coax audio out (I haven't determined if one of the mini-audio outputs can be configured as an audio coax out). I believe that it has a fan but is reported to be very quiet. It also has an SD slot. Lastly, it has a 160GB hard drive (which is useful in arguing its "value" as compared to some of the low-cost streamers, but is probably of little value for those of us who only need to use this as a streaming client). It does not come with an infrared sensor, so you'll need to add a separate USB infrared sensor for that, which is a shame since it will add some kludginess to the otherwise small unit.
To run XBMC at its best, from what I've read, you will not want to run the Windows version of XBMC, but rather the Linux or XBMC Live version, the latter of which can be installed on a USB stick or SD card.
I am still trying to confirm whether this can bitstream Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD, but from what I've read so far, I believe that if there is an issue with that, that it is with the current version of XBMC (i.e., a software issue, and not a hardware issue).
Here are a few links to get interested folks started:
http://www.xbmc.org
If you're not already familiar with XBMC, you'll want to take a look at this site and the forums within it.
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53888
This is a "How-To" thread discussing installing XBMC on the AspireRevo. Note that the poster discusses upgrading the RAM, but doesn't explain why that's necessary. He also uses an external USB DVD-ROM drive to install XBMC, but that "shouldn't" be necessary. If I end up getting one of these, I'll replace this link with step-by-step directions in this thread for installing XBMC on this device.
So let's get the discussion and Q&A going! Anyone with an AspireRevo (or an ION device of another sort) with XBMC, please jump in with what you love or hate about this platform.
Instructions for using XBMC for Windows (XP) in conjunction with Media Player Classic - Home Cinema:
Note: When adding sources (or if you're an XBMC "old timer" and you already have a sources.xml file), you'll need to map your drives as letters under Windows XP and refer to them by letter/path in your sources.xml file, as opposed to using SMB sharing. This is necessary because of how external player support and/or MPC-HC works.
1) Go into your BIOS settings. Change the GPU memory allocation to 256MB (Optional: If you upgrade your box to 1.5GB or more, you can up this to 512MB).
2) Optional: Uninstall unnecessary apps on XP.
3) Update XP to get the latest updates.
4) *** Update: Ignore this step for now. Many have had problems after upgrading to the latest drivers. I'm leaving the details here as a placeholder and for anyone wishing to experiment. ***
Update your NVIDIA drivers. Note: this may or may not be necessary, and as of 12/6/2009, the latest graphics drivers will break the NVIDIA high-def audio, so you don't want those. Version 195.55 is known to work, and you can get that here . Here are the versions of all NVIDIA-related drivers that I'm currently running successfully:
Code:
5) Install Media Center Edition Remote / Keyboard drivers. You can find a link to them here .
6) Install XBMC Camelot Beta 1 for Windows from the official site .
7) Install (MPC-HC) Media Player Classic - Home Cinema .
8) You will need to make changes to your playercorefactory.xml file (located under C:\\Program Files\\XBMC\\System) so that it will launch MPC-HC for high-def movie file formats (e.g., .ts, .m2ts, .mkv). Make a backup copy of this file, and replace the contents of playercorefactory.xml with the following (Note: Leave out the MountAndPlay section if you don't want to use MPC-HC for playing standard-def DVD .ISO files and the MountAndPlayBlu section if you don't need the ability to play back Blu-ray .ISO files):
Code:
If you *do* want to play .ISO files through MPC-HC, you'll need to first download and install SlySoft's Virtual CloneDrive .
Then, create a directory named C:\\XBMC_Extras. For standard-def DVD .ISO file compatibility, create a .bat file named MountAndPlay.bat within this directory. Cut and paste the following code into this file:
Code:
For Blu-ray .ISO compatibility, create a .bat file named MountAndPlayBlu.bat and cut/paste the following code into this file:
Code:
9) Configure your audio. If you have a 5.1 A/V receiver that you're connecting the Revo to via HDMI, within XBMC, under System / Settings / System / Audio Hardware, set things as follows:
Audio Output: Digital
- Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver:
- DTS Capable receiver:
Audio output device: NVIDIA High Definition Audio
Downmix multichannel audio to stereo:
Or, if you are connecting the Revo to an LCD/plasma TV over HDMI, set them as follows:
Audio Output: Digital
- Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver:
- DTS Capable receiver:
Audio output device: NVIDIA High Definition Audio
Downmix multichannel audio to stereo:
Note: These settings will only apply to audio for movies you playback through XBMC. Movies that gets played back through MPC-HC will require setting the audio settings appropriately through MPC-HC (to do: add instructions for that).
10) Create a text file named advancedsettings.xml and put it in your C:\\Documents and Settings\\[YourUserNameHere]\\Application Data\\XBMC\\userdata directory. Put the following in this file (this will allow XBMC to be given focus back after exiting out of MPC-HC):
Code:
11) Enable wake-on-USB support (so you can put it in/out of Standby mode with your remote control):
a) Run regedit.
b) Create a new key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\ named "usb" (sans quotes)
c) Under that, create the following two variables, both of type DWORD (the default values of all zeroes is what you want):
- USBBIOSHACKS
- USBBIOSx
d) Reboot.
There are many, like me, who have enjoyed the pleasures of XBMC running on a classic XBox. It offers great usability combined with a great price. What it has lacked is the ability to handle high-bitrate HD content. There's a lot of discussion lately about the latest crop of standalone low-cost streamers, including the Asus O!Play, brite-view CinemaTube, WDTV (and upcoming WDTV Live), Seagate Theater+, Egreat 34A, and Popcorn Hour units, etc. Users who have bought some of the lower-cost models are now finding that they have various issues, with lack of bitstream support for DTS-HD/Dolby TrueHD being a biggie. And in all cases, the UI leaves a lot to be desired.
So with all of that said, let's talk about the Acer AspireRevo. I haven't purchased one yet, but I'm about to pull the trigger. I'm most interested in the least expensive model currently available in the US. At only $200, it's above the price of the classic XBox, the Asus O!Play, and the likely price of the WDTV Live. But it's less expensive than the Popcorn Hour, and the mature, skinnable XBMC UI has a lot going for it.
Many have criticized the AspireRevo for only being a single-core processor with only 1GB of RAM. The CPU/graphics chipset combo does not do well with some streaming media like YouTube and Hulu. But the graphics chipset can handle high-bitrate 1080P content with minimal CPU load. There are people who are upgrading the RAM, but I haven't yet determined what, if any, benefit that offers for people using this as an XBMC machine (I suspect they're upgrading it more for desktop PC benefits). My opinion is that if it isn't *necessary* and doesn't add any real benefit for streaming media, improving the responsiveness of the XBMC UI, etc., then I'd prefer to do without it and keep the price down. In my case, I need to have multiple rooms in my house equipped, so the lower the price, the better.
The stock unit comes with Windows XP Home, a wired keyboard, and a mouse. There is an HDMI port, but no optical/coax audio out (I haven't determined if one of the mini-audio outputs can be configured as an audio coax out). I believe that it has a fan but is reported to be very quiet. It also has an SD slot. Lastly, it has a 160GB hard drive (which is useful in arguing its "value" as compared to some of the low-cost streamers, but is probably of little value for those of us who only need to use this as a streaming client). It does not come with an infrared sensor, so you'll need to add a separate USB infrared sensor for that, which is a shame since it will add some kludginess to the otherwise small unit.
To run XBMC at its best, from what I've read, you will not want to run the Windows version of XBMC, but rather the Linux or XBMC Live version, the latter of which can be installed on a USB stick or SD card.
I am still trying to confirm whether this can bitstream Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD, but from what I've read so far, I believe that if there is an issue with that, that it is with the current version of XBMC (i.e., a software issue, and not a hardware issue).
Here are a few links to get interested folks started:
http://www.xbmc.org
If you're not already familiar with XBMC, you'll want to take a look at this site and the forums within it.
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53888
This is a "How-To" thread discussing installing XBMC on the AspireRevo. Note that the poster discusses upgrading the RAM, but doesn't explain why that's necessary. He also uses an external USB DVD-ROM drive to install XBMC, but that "shouldn't" be necessary. If I end up getting one of these, I'll replace this link with step-by-step directions in this thread for installing XBMC on this device.
So let's get the discussion and Q&A going! Anyone with an AspireRevo (or an ION device of another sort) with XBMC, please jump in with what you love or hate about this platform.
Instructions for using XBMC for Windows (XP) in conjunction with Media Player Classic - Home Cinema:
Note: When adding sources (or if you're an XBMC "old timer" and you already have a sources.xml file), you'll need to map your drives as letters under Windows XP and refer to them by letter/path in your sources.xml file, as opposed to using SMB sharing. This is necessary because of how external player support and/or MPC-HC works.
1) Go into your BIOS settings. Change the GPU memory allocation to 256MB (Optional: If you upgrade your box to 1.5GB or more, you can up this to 512MB).
2) Optional: Uninstall unnecessary apps on XP.
3) Update XP to get the latest updates.
4) *** Update: Ignore this step for now. Many have had problems after upgrading to the latest drivers. I'm leaving the details here as a placeholder and for anyone wishing to experiment. ***
Update your NVIDIA drivers. Note: this may or may not be necessary, and as of 12/6/2009, the latest graphics drivers will break the NVIDIA high-def audio, so you don't want those. Version 195.55 is known to work, and you can get that here . Here are the versions of all NVIDIA-related drivers that I'm currently running successfully:
Code:
Code:
- Display adapters / NVIDIA ION LE
- Driver version: 6.14.11.9107, dated: 9/27/2009
* Note: this is known by NVIDIA as v195.55.
- IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers / NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller
- Driver version: 11.1.0.30, dated: 6/30/2009
- Network adapters / NVIDIA nForce 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
- Driver version: 73.1.0.0, dated: 7/1/2009
- NVIDIA Network Bus Enumerator
- Same driver information as previous
- Sound, video and game controllers: NVIDIA High Definition Audio
- Driver version: 1.0.0.59, dated: 8/21/2009
6) Install XBMC Camelot Beta 1 for Windows from the official site .
7) Install (MPC-HC) Media Player Classic - Home Cinema .
8) You will need to make changes to your playercorefactory.xml file (located under C:\\Program Files\\XBMC\\System) so that it will launch MPC-HC for high-def movie file formats (e.g., .ts, .m2ts, .mkv). Make a backup copy of this file, and replace the contents of playercorefactory.xml with the following (Note: Leave out the MountAndPlay section if you don't want to use MPC-HC for playing standard-def DVD .ISO files and the MountAndPlayBlu section if you don't need the ability to play back Blu-ray .ISO files):
Code:
Code:
C:\\Program Files\\MPC HomeCinema\\mpc-hc.exe
/fullscreen /close "{1}"
true
false
none
C:\\XBMC_Extras\\MountAndPlay.bat
true
true
none
C:\\XBMC_Extras\\MountAndPlayBlu.bat
true
true
none
Then, create a directory named C:\\XBMC_Extras. For standard-def DVD .ISO file compatibility, create a .bat file named MountAndPlay.bat within this directory. Cut and paste the following code into this file:
Code:
Code:
"C:\\Program Files\\Elaborate Bytes\\VirtualCloneDrive\\VCDMount.exe" /d=0 %1
"C:\\Program Files\\MPC HomeCinema\\mpc-hc.exe" E: /fullscreen /play /close
"C:\\Program Files\\Elaborate Bytes\\VirtualCloneDrive\\VCDMount.exe" /d=0 /u
Code:
Code:
"C:\\Program Files\\Elaborate Bytes\\VirtualCloneDrive\\VCDMount.exe" /d=0 %1
ping -n 2 127.0.0.1 > NUL
"C:\\Program Files\\MPC HomeCinema\\mpc-hc.exe" "e:\\BDMV\\index.bdmv" /fullscreen /play /close
"C:\\Program Files\\Elaborate Bytes\\VirtualCloneDrive\\VCDMount.exe" /d=0 /u
Audio Output: Digital
- Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver:
- DTS Capable receiver:
Audio output device: NVIDIA High Definition Audio
Downmix multichannel audio to stereo:
Or, if you are connecting the Revo to an LCD/plasma TV over HDMI, set them as follows:
Audio Output: Digital
- Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver:
- DTS Capable receiver:
Audio output device: NVIDIA High Definition Audio
Downmix multichannel audio to stereo:
Note: These settings will only apply to audio for movies you playback through XBMC. Movies that gets played back through MPC-HC will require setting the audio settings appropriately through MPC-HC (to do: add instructions for that).
10) Create a text file named advancedsettings.xml and put it in your C:\\Documents and Settings\\[YourUserNameHere]\\Application Data\\XBMC\\userdata directory. Put the following in this file (this will allow XBMC to be given focus back after exiting out of MPC-HC):
Code:
Code:
true
a) Run regedit.
b) Create a new key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\ named "usb" (sans quotes)
c) Under that, create the following two variables, both of type DWORD (the default values of all zeroes is what you want):
- USBBIOSHACKS
- USBBIOSx
d) Reboot.