ASUS Chromebox

[no_spam_for_me]

http://promos.asus.com/us/chrome-os/chromebox/

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2488411/computer-hardware/asus-chromebox-review-a-simple-inexpensive-and-unobtrusive-desktop.html

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/desktops/390988/asus-chromebox-m031u

[SpicySaturdayBoy]

Run Windows on Chromebox

A nice video that shows how to install Windows on Chromebox from Lon Seidman youtube channel. This is also a good alternative for Windows base TV box hack from cheap and powerful Chromebox hardware but only some problem about audio output from HDMI.

http://youtu.be/cc03TOtFlrY

He also reviews Acer Chromebox CXI-2GKM (Celeron 2957u Haswell, RAM 2 GB, Storage 16 GB) that he said $150 with keyboard and mouse from Amazon. This is very powerful hardware with Octane score 11,987 (Compare to Meegopad T01 score 4,739)

http://youtu.be/J13l27ZAVzo

[SpicySaturdayBoy]

Intel Celeron 3205U & 3755U

Intel just launched 2 new Celeron CPU 3205U & 3755U and price listed as $107. I think these two CPU will be inside most 2015 Chromebox. Both CPU should be integrated with new Intel technology and support 4k 60hz also H.265.

http://ark.intel.com/products/family/43521/Intel-Celeron-Processor#@Mobile

[Finless]

Only thing knowing ASUS... is you will pay a premium!

I have built my own PC's for years and bounced between Abit and Asus. Now that Abit is gone, I use Asus but their boards are a premium price!

I think they will do well because the USA market knows them over say Pipo... But if Pipo or others get off their ass and work to become better known, ASUS will have a hard time getting a premium price.

My .000002 cents....

Bob

[noggin]

Judging by my experience so far - Kodi on the Haswell Chromebox in OpenElec blows Kodi on the Pipo X7 in Windows 8.1 out of the water, particularly if you want to watch Live / Recorded TV.

The Pipo X7 is a neat solution, and the Windows implementation is very slick and reactive. For streaming stuff like Netflix it's great. As a small little Windows box for web browsing, MS Office etc. it's brilliant.

However if the box can't cope with broadcast 720p and 1080i, or full quality Blu-rays, then it's a non-starter for many of us as a Kodi box. If it can't do HD Audio it also has a mark against it compared to the Haswell Celeron based boxes.

My Chromebox with OpenElec (and the latest VAAPI de-interlacing builds with the GPU hang fix) plays everything I throw at it. (Apart from H265 and high bitrate 1080i 4:2:2 H264)

[Finless]

Judging by my experience so far - Kodi on the Haswell Chromebox in OpenElec blows Kodi on the Pipo X7 in Windows 8.1 out of the water, particularly if you want to watch Live / Recorded TV.

The Pipo X7 is a neat solution, and the Windows implementation is very slick and reactive. For streaming stuff like Netflix it's great. As a small little Windows box for web browsing, MS Office etc. it's brilliant.

However if the box can't cope with broadcast 720p and 1080i, or full quality Blu-rays, then it's a non-starter for many of us as a Kodi box. If it can't do HD Audio it also has a mark against it compared to the Haswell Celeron based boxes.

My Chromebox with OpenElec (and the latest VAAPI de-interlacing builds with the GPU hang fix) plays everything I throw at it. (Apart from H265 and high bitrate 1080i 4:2:2 H264)

I still say your issues are codec related. Find a way to get a better decoding codec in Windows and allow Kodi to use it... you will go well beyond what Linux or Android can do because they do not have that kind of control...


Mark my word on this date... whatever issues your seeing on Windows OS can be solved VS waiting forever for some closed source Android box maker to fix it! This is what we all have been living with for 4 years since I started this place...

A "game change" I forsee is going to happen....

Bob

[SpicySaturdayBoy]

Judging by my experience so far - Kodi on the Haswell Chromebox in OpenElec blows Kodi on the Pipo X7 in Windows 8.1 out of the water, particularly if you want to watch Live / Recorded TV.

The Pipo X7 is a neat solution, and the Windows implementation is very slick and reactive. For streaming stuff like Netflix it's great. As a small little Windows box for web browsing, MS Office etc. it's brilliant.

However if the box can't cope with broadcast 720p and 1080i, or full quality Blu-rays, then it's a non-starter for many of us as a Kodi box. If it can't do HD Audio it also has a mark against it compared to the Haswell Celeron based boxes.

My Chromebox with OpenElec (and the latest VAAPI de-interlacing builds with the GPU hang fix) plays everything I throw at it. (Apart from H265 and high bitrate 1080i 4:2:2 H264)

It could be as Finless mention. I just put video link from Lon Seidman's review about Brix N2807. Before he got problem from video playback that used almost CPU power then someone told him about Codec and Intel Quicksync Video setting. As he showed on video reviews CPU usage drop down to about 50%. Then you can try his way to see if it will work for you.

Lon Seidman Youtube Channel.

http://youtu.be/4-mumjDW3_Y

[noggin]

Yep - that's for MKV wrappers where you don't have native Windows support, and need to then select what decoders (aka codecs) are used by the stream splitter for each video format (H264/AVC, MPEG2, VC-1, H265/HEVC etc.)

I've installed HPC-MC, with LAV Filter and ensured that the LAV Video decoder has hardware acceleration enabled, rather than the ffmpeg-based software decoding.

Kodi is indicating dvxa2 decoding as well, so that is using hardware rather than software video decoding.

When I replay 720/50p stuff in MPC-HC, and Kodi, I'm getting hardware acceleration (i.e. it is using the Quicksync decoding on-board the GPU (*)) but it quickly starts skipping frames.

It's just not able to do 50fps content without overheating the CPU cores it appears (I'm taking an educate guess that this is the GPU/VPU heating up and spreading to the cores.)

24/25fps stuff plays OK. (Presumably because the GPU/VPU has half the work to do?)

(*) Annoyingly Intel use QuickSync as a description of both accelerated video decoding AND encoding. But they often use "QuickSync support" as a description of just the encoding. So you can see CPUs listed that don't support Quickync, but that means they don't support QuickSync Encoding, but they do support Decoding... (The 2955U vs 2957U is a case in point)

I'll try the CCCP codec pack - but having used it in the past before switching to the LAV stuff that MPC-HC comes with I am not convinced it will make much difference, as I'm already using GPU/VPU hardware acceleration.

[noggin]

Just to add I switched from DXVA to Quicksync decoding in LAV Video decoder playing with MPC on my Pipo X7 and it started at 28C to Tj Max and within less than 5 minutes it was getting to 5C to Tj Max and frame dropping like crazy on my DVB 720/50p recordings.

The CPU was being throttle with Quicksync decoding just as it was DXVA. (Which are two different ways of accessing the same decoding hardware in the VPU I believe)

This is stuff that the Pi can do without even needing overclocking, and the Chromebox eats for breakfast (although the Chromebox has a fan...)