Acer Revo RL70 w/XBMC12, WMC or Boxee = Quite Impressive 1080p & HD Audio Streaming for ~$300

Just set-up my new Acer RL70 with XBMC 12 (nightly build with new audio engine embedded) & I'm quite impressed for a $300 pre-built HTPC. I'm starting this thread here in the media streamers section as I feel this nettop may be a viable alternative to users with or considering Boxee Box, PCH, Dune, etc.

Even though the RL70 only comes with 2GB of memory, I'm having no issues streaming 1:1 BD rips in full 1080p and with both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. Will be adding another 2GB to make the unit run a little snappier. What impressed me about the RL70 was how easy it was to set-up. Installed all Windows 7 updates, then installed the latest nightly build of XBMC. Added my movies share (SMB) and the gorgeous MQ3 skin. Went into XBMC setting and checked the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD 'capable' options, then tested a bunch of BD rips. Smooth video and hd audio playback! No tricky configuring, no worrying about codec packs to install, etc.

I had the Acer Revo 3600 in 2010, but ended up selling it due to its sub-par performance (at least for me). The RL70 blows it away however. There is a wireless keyboard and mouse included, and surprisingly even a WMC remote (similar to Boxee's, but nicer).

Teardown pics and some interesting discussion in this UK thread.

Also, using WMC for live OTA HDTV via networked HDHomeRun tuner. So, for the price, this appears to be a winner for what you get and can do with it.

Check out the Acer RL70 thread over at XBMC forum.

Update 8/19: HD audio also works via WMC (w/Shark codec packs) and via Boxee for Windows.
Edited by Brajesh - 8/19/12 at 10:00am

Got it at bhphotovideo.com. Two things of note though: the RAM should be upgraded to 4GB. An extra 2GB stick cost me just $13 shipped from Amazon. And, for now, when I use VLC to play videos I'm getting playback issues with high bitrate material, so need to figure out how to make that work. The same videos via XBMC are perfect. Maybe I'll try Media Player Classic.

No, seems to only work with WMC.
Well, I'm finding a few videos XBMC is having trouble with. One's an Eagles concert HD DVD rip. It's 1080p, VC1, 29.970fps, with DTS-MA audio. Audio plays fine, but video won't display. But, by in large, most videos are playing well.

Looking at the Radeon 6320 card specs, the RL70 may support Blu-ray 3D as well. What would be a good program to try... PowerDVD 12 Ultra?

Thanks BTW for your suggestions, but this one was just about as straightforward as I could get.

I believe this is the memory I got.

Having used this nettop for a little over a month now, I'm still happy with it. With XBMC, you need to make sure DXVA is enabled for smooth video playback. It's under 'render method' and 'hardware acceleration' in video settings. I started with Aeon MQ3 skin, but found the UI a little sluggish, so switched to Nox, which works better for me via XBMC nightly. For WMC, I followed the stickied thread in the HTPC section and installed the 32- & 64-bit Shark codec packs w/the suggested settings. I'm getting good video playback and hd audio via Windows Media Player as well.

Haven't tried 3D BD-ISO's yet via something like PowerDVD, but from what I've read (in the XBMC hardware forum if I recall correctly), it doesn't work well.

Except they're not convenient as media players. It still feels like a PC. I leave mine on all the time, but find myself toggling between the full keyboard/mouse to a Lenovo mini-keyboard to my Harmony remote. Also, XBMC still seems to have trouble with certain 1080i and 1080p files, namely 60fps ones, whereas PCH, Mede8er, etc. play them with ease. But, HTPC's like this are hard to beat as all-in-one boxes.

You can install it prior.

Another plus with this nettop is if you install Boxee for Windows, you'll get hd audio w/o any dropouts via Boxee. Maybe Boxee should go with AMD instead of Intel for its next set-top box.

Steve, for scraping your movie/TV library, see this. Re: videos, I believe the reason yours don't play is because XBMC doesn't natively support Blu-ray ISO's I don't think, only DVD ISO's. You need an external player set-up for it, like PowerDVD. I'd ask in the XBMC forums. Almost all my files are MKV, with some TS/M2TS, MOV, MP4, etc.

Yes, adding 2GB RAM for 4GB total helps noticeably. MQ3 worked pretty well for me, but where it was a little sluggish was while viewing my movie jukebox. I have over 1,300 titles, so I'm guessing the large library was the issue. I plan to still try MQ4 when it's out, but for now settled on Aeon Nox.