View Full Version : ASUS Eee Box as XBMC hardware platform?
troutbum
2008-08-15, 19:03
anyone using it? Looks like a great solution if you don't want 1080p. Online reviews seems to agree it will play 720p just fine.
$350, small enough to mount to the back of a display, wireless...GMA 950 with opengl 1.4 support...my only question is the atom 1.6 GHz processor up to 720p?
Originally I thought they were offering a linux 160 GB HD combo but can't seem to find it anywhere.
for $350 I would love for this to work.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220002
It's a lovely little thing but I wouldn't recommend an Atom for 720p. It can play 720p in most cases I think but it will definitely be struggling.
troutbum
2008-08-15, 19:15
It sounds a little lean to me too, but engadget has a review with video of it running 720p. not sure of the bit rate, and it is running in windows...but a guy can dream.
engadget review (http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/15/asus-eee-box-b202-detailed-and-tested-on-video/)
my parents have been on my case to build them a media center for their RV, might just give this a shot
rodalpho
2008-08-15, 20:06
That's under windows, probably with GPU offloading or corecodec.
althekiller
2008-08-15, 20:33
That's under windows, probably with GPU offloading or corecodec.
Doubtful, the gma950 only has mpeg2 acceleration and corecodec will only benefit on a multicore cpu.
bond007taz
2008-08-18, 06:49
I am creating my eeeBox right now. I just got XBMC loaded and I just shot some 720p video and it played just fine. The thing is that my eeeBox is a little bit modified. I put 2 gig of RAM and a 64gig OCZ Core SSD in it. This thing is fast, at least it feels fast. I am not having any issues playing my .ISO and .AVI collection. From what I understand the ATOM processor uses some sort of hyperthreading, wheras a processor like the C7 is litterally a single core - at least that is how i understand it. When I look at the procs in system monitor, it shows 2 :grin:
rodalpho
2008-08-18, 07:39
Yeah, that's hyperthreading. It really handles 720p h.264 encoded video? That's pretty sweet!
bond007taz
2008-08-18, 07:56
Yeah, that's hyperthreading. It really handles 720p h.264 encoded video? That's pretty sweet!
i dont have much 720p content. My video camera does 720p and the video clip that I created with it played just fine.
Recently posted on engadget. Plays 720p but battles with 1080p. Still even it only handles 720p it would look great under your HDTV!
Would be interested to know if anyone is looking into getting this for XBMC
One BIG problem though. No spdif = No DD 5.1 sound.
Biggest deal breaker for me.
Apparently the lineout has spdif similar to laptop headphone setups. So it does have optical out.
are you sure ? if that is great news. Would be nice to have on my Asus EEE 901.
yeah. A few sites mention it. Same thing with my laptop. Didn't realise it had optical out until I plugged an optical jack in there ;)
If the price is right when they launch here in sweden i´ll get one and replace my XBOX.
I dont game on it any longer anyway so.
Xbmc works great on my EEE 901. I dont need more then 720p at the moment so its all good :D
Are you getting 720p on the 901?
WinterMuteAu
2008-08-18, 14:57
Hmm.. I was wondering about these a few weeks back when they were released, but wanted to wait for someone to try it with XBMC. 720 hey ? interesting...
Gamester17
2008-08-18, 15:26
my only question is the atom 1.6 GHz processor up to 720p?http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=35179I pretty sure that will not be able to play any 720p H.264 videos at all as XBMC will not be able to off-load any video decoding to the GPU so the CPU will that the full load of that, see:
http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f22/intel-atom-230-1-6ghz-4w-tdp-does-superpi-1m-92-766-seconds-44465/The Atom 230 (1.6Ghz) is as fast/slow in SuperPi as:
- Pentium 4 Wilmetta @ 2125Mhz
- Pentium 3 @ 1517Mhz
- Athlon Tbird @ 1616Mhz
- Pentium M 745 @ 1804Mhz
- Pentium 4 Nortwood @ 2.4Ghz
- Duron 600@1069Mhz
The SuperPi 32M result is even worse, as it's not even able to match Pentium 3 1Ghz CPU ( http://hwbot.org/listResults.do?cpuModelId=1381&applicationId=7&filterUser=true&filterBlocked=true&limit=100 )
"Without hardware decode assist for any of the HD video codecs the Eee Box’s Atom processor is left to do all decoding on its own, and unfortunately it’s not fast enough to decode any high bitrate HD video. In our testing we found that the 1.6GHz Atom was fast enough to decode a 4.5Mbps 720p H.264 stream at around 90% CPU utilization; anything more complex and we started seeing dropped frames. 1080p HD movies are completely out of the question. The CPU is fast enough to play 720p XviD/DivX however."
anandtech.com
Are you getting 720p on the 901?
x264 720p seems to work ok on my 901.
x264 720p seems to work ok on my 901.
What's the bitrate?
bond007taz
2008-08-18, 23:03
"Without hardware decode assist for any of the HD video codecs the Eee Box’s Atom processor is left to do all decoding on its own, and unfortunately it’s not fast enough to decode any high bitrate HD video. In our testing we found that the 1.6GHz Atom was fast enough to decode a 4.5Mbps 720p H.264 stream at around 90% CPU utilization; anything more complex and we started seeing dropped frames. 1080p HD movies are completely out of the question. The CPU is fast enough to play 720p XviD/DivX however."
anandtech.com
I lll have to play to see if this is true - it didnt seem laggy when I played the 720 content but that is why i put in a SSD and some memory, faster access between hard drive and RAM.
as for audio, i didnt know it has special line out jack, i was gonna get a USB 5.1 audio and see how that worked.
My main reason for using the eeebox is reduce the number of moving parts that is one of the reasons i put in the SSD. I only play network items and nothing is stored locally.
bond007taz
2008-08-20, 06:17
I lll have to play to see if this is true - it didnt seem laggy when I played the 720 content but that is why i put in a SSD and some memory, faster access between hard drive and RAM.
as for audio, i didnt know it has special line out jack, i was gonna get a USB 5.1 audio and see how that worked.
My main reason for using the eeebox is reduce the number of moving parts that is one of the reasons i put in the SSD. I only play network items and nothing is stored locally.
plays 720 h264 files just fine, it doesnt like 1080 though - it will play but not well
troutbum
2008-08-20, 06:34
when I played the 720 content but that is why i put in a SSD and some memory, faster access between hard drive and RAM.
correct me if I am wrong, but the extra ram and SSD drive are not really the bottleneck it is going to be the CPU...upgrading them will not make a significant difference in CPU throughput
Saying it works on 720p is one thing but it in the end bitrate is going to be more telling than 720p...when mine arrives and I get some time I will post results @ various bitrates. might be a week or two so if someone else has one, it would be interesting to step up the bit rates until playback faltered....
freddyflinty
2008-10-01, 17:47
...when mine arrives and I get some time I will post results @ various bitrates. might be a week or two so if someone else has one, it would be interesting to step up the bit rates until playback faltered....
Hi troutbum, curious if you had a chance to do some testing yet? Despite a bunch of searching the forum I can't seem to find a conclusive answer as to whether the latest ATOM chips can decode the common 720p mkv videos out there...
Steve_McQueen
2008-10-08, 09:44
I'm also looking for a definitive answer on this. Considering buying this and running it with aeon or aeon lite, playing 720p h.264 mkv's. Any idea on how that setup would work?
ADDED: Would upgrading to a 330 dual core atom change anything?.
McQ
lepreshawn
2008-10-22, 00:56
In this Anandtech review, there is mention that the chipset on Eee box does not support hardware H.264/MPEG-2/VC1 decode acceleration, while Poulsbo (the mobile Atom chipset) does it.
http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3321&p=4
Does that mean that an EEE PC 900 would perform better than the EEE Box?
In this Anandtech review, there is mention that the chipset on Eee box does not support hardware H.264/MPEG-2/VC1 decode acceleration, while Poulsbo (the mobile Atom chipset) does it.
http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3321&p=4
Does that mean that an EEE PC 900 would perform better than the EEE Box?
Unless the specific decoding chipset was supported by Linux, in particular FFMPEG, it won't matter.
Ive bought a EEE-box now, and sadly it struggles with the common 720p.mkv files.. I get arund 15-20 fps while playing back movies, and almost 100% cpu usage. Idle with the mediastream skin CPU usage is around 60%.
Does anyone have any bright ideas on what I can do to fix the lag? Ill fiddle with this a bit more, but unless its solved fast its back to mediaportal. CoreAVC is waaay better then ffmpeg, and since I can't choose what codec to use in XBMC, then I have no other choice..
I have a more then capable HTPC right now btw, but its way to loud.. So its been moved out of my bedroom, and it degraded to a fileserver for now :P This EEE-box is so silent I can bareley hear it when everything else is off.. If it would only work with 720p files :(
I found only one sollution.. CoreAVC. I get an average of 60%(some peaks above 80% tho) CPU usage with a normal scene 720p .mkv tv rip. With XBMC I had CPU usage at almost 100% and dropped frames like no tomorrow.
So its back to MP.. I guess if XBMC gives me the ability to change codecs before MP2 is released, then I might come back.
XBMC is awesome, but with that new slow HTPC, mp is the way for me.
Hope this was informative for those of you wondering about using this PC for XBMC..
bobrooney_78
2008-10-26, 11:15
Since i always read in the XBMC for MAC forums that the Apple TV can handle 720p content very good, i am a little bit surprised that the EEEbox is slower than the Apple TV it seems...
HexusOdy
2008-10-26, 13:28
I can catergorically state that the EEE box won't play back MKV files with any kind of watchable framerate through XBMC. It can't handle it purely using CPU.
Plays fine through MP using CoreAVC but not through XBMC.
Steve_McQueen
2008-10-28, 17:46
I found only one sollution.. CoreAVC. I get an average of 60%(some peaks above 80% tho) CPU usage with a normal scene 720p .mkv tv rip. With XBMC I had CPU usage at almost 100% and dropped frames like no tomorrow.
So its back to MP.. I guess if XBMC gives me the ability to change codecs before MP2 is released, then I might come back.
XBMC is awesome, but with that new slow HTPC, mp is the way for me.
Hope this was informative for those of you wondering about using this PC for XBMC..
Informative, just not conclusive. ;)
So Media portal works smoothly with 720p mkv on this then?
I can catergorically state that the EEE box won't play back MKV files with any kind of watchable framerate through XBMC. It can't handle it purely using CPU.
Plays fine through MP using CoreAVC but not through XBMC.
We are talking 720p x.264 mkv here?
Anyone know if this is something xbmc will improve in the near future?
McQ
HexusOdy
2008-10-28, 18:16
Yep, x.264 MKV. Just can't handle it on CPU only.
60% cpu usage with 720p files makes this very ok with mediaportal. Its not optimal tho, IE opening TV-series I have to wait for like 5 secs for it to load. If I'd known it was going to be this slow I probably would have doubled the price and built a new 100% passivly cooled HTPC.
Maybe I'm just spoiled from using a high-end HTPC earlier. It does the job for me for now anyways, its small, silent, fast enough and it plays 720p files.
60% cpu usage with 720p files makes this very ok with mediaportal. Its not optimal tho, IE opening TV-series I have to wait for like 5 secs for it to load. If I'd known it was going to be this slow I probably would have doubled the price and built a new 100% passivly cooled HTPC.
Maybe I'm just spoiled from using a high-end HTPC earlier. It does the job for me for now anyways, its small, silent, fast enough and it plays 720p files.
Note: we're not using nor discussing mediaportal here. If this hardware works great on that other software terrific, but it's not what folks here are interested in. <shrug>
baldrick
2008-11-01, 01:21
Unfortunately I can confirm that 720p mkv is no good with EEE Box and XBMC, the CPU is running almost 100%
im looking at getting on of these. has anyone tried overclocking to 1.75 (from 1.6) and 2GIG? Would also installing tinyxp help get towards playing 720p content?
TinyXP ain't Linux nor would it improve playback speeds since even on the Windows port the CPU is being used to do the decoding and there's no GPU acceleration. I do not know if an overclock could be done but 1.75 isn't much of an overclock and is unlikely to help much.
Steve_McQueen
2008-12-02, 16:28
Shipping now with celeron 220. Good or bad?
http://www.slashgear.com/asus-celeron-220-eee-box-nettop-coming-to-spur-sales-0224825/
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7595&Itemid=1
McQ
Shipping now with celeron 220. Good or bad?
http://www.slashgear.com/asus-celeron-220-eee-box-nettop-coming-to-spur-sales-0224825/
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7595&Itemid=1
McQ
The new Eee Box will be based on a Celeron 220 processor running at 1.2GHz
No, no, no. If it's bigger brothers fail, how do you expect this cheaper, slower version to be any better?
eriksmith200
2008-12-03, 12:51
No, no, no. If it's bigger brothers fail, how do you expect this cheaper, slower version to be any better?
actually, according to Tom's hardware the Celeron is faster:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Intel-Atom-Efficient,1981-13.html
but I wouldn't bet on it being able to handle 720p with xbmc (but would be nice if someone tried)
eriksmith200
2008-12-03, 13:28
Please also see this thread on reference video material: http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=41475
Steve_McQueen
2008-12-03, 14:25
actually, according to Tom's hardware the Celeron is faster:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Intel-Atom-Efficient,1981-13.html
but I wouldn't bet on it being able to handle 720p with xbmc (but would be nice if someone tried)
That was what I read, and why I was unsure. ???
McQ
NEUR0M4NCER
2008-12-03, 16:23
How about this (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/12/03/eee_box_to_get_hdmi/) one then? HDMI through ATI Radeon HD 3400.
Steve_McQueen
2008-12-03, 16:56
How about this (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/12/03/eee_box_to_get_hdmi/) one then? HDMI through ATI Radeon HD 3400.
How's that GPU support coming along again?:sad:
If only...
McQ
NEUR0M4NCER
2008-12-03, 17:06
... yeah. That's what I thought. Wrong place to ask, but out of frustration: Is there really no way of using Linux GPU drivers when XBMC is running on TOP of Linux??
blackphoenix
2009-02-18, 20:31
Ok, I have to ask as I'm considering an EEE Box for my xbmc machine.
I don't play on playing any HD h264, 480p DVD rips to H264 at most.
But I do want to be able to playback MPEG2 HDTV from a MythTV box.
I've read that the EEE Box can, but often struggles, with 720p H264, but has anyone tried it with OTA MPEG2 720p or 1080i playback?
I would suggest staying tuned. GPU acceleration on NVIDIA hardware is being worked on and moving along VERY well - look for threads referencing VDPAU. I can tell you that on my system with that branch compiled my CPU usage plummeted from say 60-70% down to 10% or so. If you can combine a low end CPU with a decent NVIDIA video card you may be able to pull this off now or at least sometime soon. I've got it working on my box and would test my dual core Celeron if I hadn't already put it to use elsewhere - from what I have seen it would have worked GREAT. MPEG is being accelerated too it seems as is H.264, VC-1 is only working on select hardware - a hardware limitation.
The new EEE Box B208 would be the perfect XBMC machine.
Atom330 + ATI Radeon HD 4350 series with 256 MB DDR2 memory
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=2894&l1=24&l2=165&l3=0&l4=0
And it comes with a nice remote
The new EEE Box B208 would be the perfect XBMC machine.
Atom330 + ATI Radeon HD 4350 series with 256 MB DDR2 memory
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=2894&l1=24&l2=165&l3=0&l4=0
And it comes with a nice remote
ATI chipset = no GPU-offload :no:
yeah, that sucks. But we could use the new external player feature for mkv's
yeah, that sucks. But we could use the new external player feature for mkv's
Huh, how does that help? There's no GPU offloading for ATI on Linux at all! This isn't an XBMC failing it's an ATI failing.
Huh, how does that help? There's no GPU offloading for ATI on Linux at all! This isn't an XBMC failing it's an ATI failing.
I'm guessing he is assuming using Windows.
xnappo
GameAction
2009-09-06, 00:03
so assuming all things now, eeebox with atom 270 and intel 945 can only be a replacement for an xbox...
i don't need/care about 1080p nor 720p but x264 coded for xbox looks also great... i need one for some testing