OpenELEC: Why did I ever use XBMC on Windows?

Until you try to record something.

After being prompted by another thread last week I tried out the 1.99 Beta build. I haven't had much time to mess with it, but I haven't been able to get the audio working yet. I hope I can get it working and the real 2.0 release comes out soon, I've got about a month to finish this 'appliance' before the wife and kids take it over! If I can't get this working I'll have to go back to XBMCuntu, which did work, but definately boots slower, and doesn't run as quickly on my underpowered Fusion build.

No, I'm refering to actually recording television (which a lot of people still do on their HTPCs). To do this with XBMC requires a backend recording service and there are more options available for Windows (WMC being only one and probably the least used as a backend).

If you want PVR functionality, IMO it makes more sense to use XBMC for Windows unless you have a Windows server and run XBMC Linux for clients.

you realize u can turn of auto update for windows right ? Also i tink you got over excited. Give it sometime and you will go back to XMBC for windows.

Agree openelec is excellent. I also have a server that records and stores movies/tv. If you need your HTPC to do more than play video/audio then openelec is probably not for you.

If your geeky like me you want the PC-ishness of a HTPC and not an appliance.

A HTPC is indeed a PC, and I like windows and the full PC functionality it brings.

If I wanted an appliance I would just buy one, almost everything can stream movies or play a disc these days.

what happens in openelec when you click the under video settings to sync display refresh to playback source? (I'm assuming this exists in openelec as it does in xbmc)

How about HD audio. I would seem that this doesn't work from my brief look at heir webpage.

Not even DTS or AC3? That kills it.

I absolutely love openelec!

My HTPC is an Asrock ION 330HT, and I just wan it work. It does nothing more than being an HTPC, no file serving, no downloading, nothing, just pure HTPC. And for that, I think Openelec is unbeatable. You install and configure it, then you forget about. You can edit a bunch of things (like samba shares, the remote keymaps and a few other things) using their Configuration shared folder. There's also sFTP enabled, so that you can have access to the whole filesystem from another PC.

About HD audio, yeah, that's one thing missing. But to be fair, it's missing altogether in XBMC. It's only in their development branch (Frodo), so everybody running it is running experimental code. Of course, DTS and AC3 are supported, both bitstreaming and decoding, downmixing and so on. It's only missing Dolby True HD and DTS-MA. Since I watch movies in Spanish, that's unimportant to me.. as usually we only get DTS and AC3 audio, the last one being the most common.

As with HD audio, I believe PVR functions are also only in the development branch, so it's not really an optimal choice to use an XBMC build with PVR functions, as it's not even alpha software.

For me, my HTPC box just plays my Bluray rips (about ~400), my tv shows and my music (mp3 and Flac) through my AVR and providing a nice interface. I realize that, some people, after spending §300 or §400 for an HTPC they want it do a lot more thing, like being an advanced file server, a ripping machine and maybe even a gaming rig. Then, of course, openelec isn't for you. However, I just wanted a popcorn hour or WD TV like device with unlimited support and that just worked... and for that, my ION with openelec is just perfect.

For those who still are looking for an appliance feel but want some more advanced features or more control over the machine, there's also XBMCbuntu, where you have a full ubuntu system under the hood, but where the conventional desktop has been removed altogether and replaced with XBMC.

Anybody have satisfactory performance running OpenELEC off of an SD card or USB drive?

Have they fixed the audio issues with this?

I've tried running this setup before, my box (AMD A6 Fusion) but the audio was always screwed up for me. I would have to SSH into the box, create a special file to enable audio and then it would work fine mostly. And what I mean by mostly is that when I attempted to play music from a playlist or shuffle all, the first song would play fine and then the audio would give me an error on song change. However the next song would play fine.

I was so frustrated with all the audio issues in linux that I gave up. I have a receiver with 5.1, so if you say you could install it, had menu sounds and not have to tweak anything via SSH to get digital output working, then I should probably give it another go again...

Meh. I really don’t see the point of ditching a Win7 + XBMC install for openelec. The only advantage I see is that it takes up almost no space and installs quickly. My Win7 install and AMD E350 boots up in less than a minute.

And yeah, all I do is watch movie rips on my HTPC. No music, no internet content, no TV.

How does OpenElec handle a usb IR receiver? Does everything work correctly as it would in Win7? Will I be able to use my blu-ray drive for media playback with OpenElec?

I don't think many folks would recommend ditching a working setup for OpenELEC. However, if you are putting together a new box, and only need the basic XBMC features, you can save $$ by not needing windows.

That's the main reason to consider using it imo. Maybe the only reason based on how I personally use a HTPC.

Out of curiosity, what is a good small all-in-one that makes a good candidate for OpenElec? I have a huge library of HD movies and TV shows, and would like a couple of cheaper HTPC type boxes to deploy in other rooms of the home... as I'm getting pretty soured on Boxee.

I don't need HD audio output, but the machine does need to be able to play those tracks and output them as at least stereo to a connected TV.

I would start here.

Another option to avoid Windows cost is Ubuntu and XBMC or XBMCBuntu. That might give you a wider range of hardware to work with, or be an option if OpenElec doesn't work for you.

Newegg still has a free SSD offer with some of their small boxes. See the deals section at the top of this forum.

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately it does not look like much has improved since I looked into this a little over a year ago (and at the time was playing around with bootable XBMC Linux builds).

A lot of the 'all-in-one' solutions are either somewhat unavailable, or are kind of pricy for the hardware they include.

A year ago I ended up building a $600 HTPC with a mini i3 motherboard and just running Windows on it with XBMC Eden and am happy with that.... but still looking for something that will offer good performance in a relatively quiet all-in-one for $250 or less for other rooms of the house.

That $250 price point has been my target too for a bedroom unit to play stuff of the NAS. I'll be playing around with a Foxconn, with some implementation of XBMC. The box, with free SSD and memory cost $200. Will report back on my success.

As for as OpenELEC not coming far in a year, that may be true for the list of hardware but I believe the performance on that hardware has been improved quite a bit, but that perception is just from me 'following' and not 'doing'.