What About the ASUS EEE Box?

[jasoninva]

I searched and didn't find much discussion on this forum about the EEE Box. Hopefully I didn't overlook it. Anyway, I've been waiting for this to come out and was hoping to use it to replace my current htpc. I am relocating the server software to a more powerful machine and was thinking of using this as an extender. I know Sage has the hd extender, but I have all of our photos tagged in Photoshop Pro and like having a full PC in my living room. Anyone have any concerns about using this device? I read that it might not be fast enough to display full HD.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/08/a...yours-for-350/

[fyodor]

It seems pretty underpowered to me. I've heard that people have had good experiences with the Dell Optiplex ultra-small form factor computers from the Dell Outlet.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by jasoninva

I searched and didn't find much discussion on this forum about the EEE Box. Hopefully I didn't overlook it. Anyway, I've been waiting for this to come out and was hoping to use it to replace my current htpc. I am relocating the server software to a more powerful machine and was thinking of using this as an extender. I know Sage has the hd extender, but I have all of our photos tagged in Photoshop Pro and like having a full PC in my living room. Anyone have any concerns about using this device? I read that it might not be fast enough to display full HD.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/08/a...yours-for-350/

No it will not be able to handle HD. The atom processor is no where near as powerful as even a Pentium M. Most of the chipset pairs I have seen with the Atom processor use an intel 945 chipset or a sis chipset so the integrated video that pairs with those are no where near powerful enough to handle HD. Could you pull off SD, sure, but 350 bucks for something that a $100 Hauppauge MediaMVP can do seems like a waste. It also will not have HDCP support so even if it was powerful enough, it couldn't pull off Blu-Ray.

The only onboard video worth building an HTPC around (or extender) is the 780G chipset at this time.

[traker1001]

I use the ACER ASPIRE X1200 sff pc, It has HDMI audio and video out and works wonderfully with HD. Infact I put a BluRay drive in it and the picture and sound is outstanding.

Bestbuy and Circuitcity sell them for $450.

[jasoninva]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

No it will not be able to handle HD. The atom processor is no where near as powerful as even a Pentium M. Most of the chipset pairs I have seen with the Atom processor use an intel 945 chipset or a sis chipset so the integrated video that pairs with those are no where near powerful enough to handle HD. Could you pull off SD, sure, but 350 bucks for something that a $100 Hauppauge MediaMVP can do seems like a waste. It also will not have HDCP support so even if it was powerful enough, it couldn't pull off Blu-Ray.

The only onboard video worth building an HTPC around (or extender) is the 780G chipset at this time.

I guess you're right. Check out this clip - 720p worked well, but 1080p had problems.

http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/...deo-Spotlight/

[traker1001]

A few notes about that,
In the review he is using WMP to play the 1080p. WMP is a memory hog, Has troubles playing 1080p in beefier systems.
Also, That system only has 1gb of ram, I want to see it upgraded to more ram.

XP can be stripped down to be alot faster, This also might contribute towards the capabilities of using it as a hd extender.

And, I wonder if overclocking is an option?

With that said, The only reason I wouldn't select it as an extender is that I enjoy my surround sound, And I don't see any way of using it for that.

[autoboy]

All the reviews for the EEE box are stupid and use WMV files for the "HD" tests. That doesn't tell anyone anything because nobody uses that file format for anything anymore.

The EEE box has the 945 chipset which DOES have acceleration and Intel Clear Video deinterlacing for mpeg2 video so it may be capable of playing HD video from a OTA or QAM source but nobody has had the intelligence to test that. It will likely be pretty underpowered for most video but we really don't know. They all just say that it won't do Blu-Ray or 1080p. Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out now does it.

I've been interested to find out if it can, but I've kinda decided that people would be better off with other small form factor systems like the Apple Mini, some of the Acer models, or even an inexpensive laptop with the 780G and HDMI output if you are looking for small systems. You might even find some used laptops with busted screens for really cheap.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by autoboy

The EEE box has the 945 chipset which DOES have acceleration and Intel Clear Video deinterlacing for mpeg2 video so it may be capable of playing HD video from a OTA or QAM source but nobody has had the intelligence to test that. It will likely be pretty underpowered for most video but we really don't know. They all just say that it won't do Blu-Ray or 1080p. Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out now does it.

Umm...I can tell you from experience that the 950 graphics chip is border line at 1080i MPEG2 with anything less than a Core2duo. My Laptop with an E5600? can do it, but my wife's with a Celeron 430 can not. Both have the same chipset and both processors run at almost the same speed, but hers can not pull it off reliably. The celeron 430 is much faster in benchmarks than the Atom processor.

Besides why would anyone want to build a full client out of this? For 200 you can get the HD-100 and be assured it can handle OTA in any resolution. The only main reason at this point why I would even go with a full client would be for Blu-Ray playback and the Intel 950 graphics chip does not have HDCP so that is out EVEN if it was powerful enough.

[autoboy]

I am thinking of getting a couple Asus Eee PC 1000 netbooks. One for me and one for the wife as portable media players / internet machines. I am interested if these little machines can handle a 1080i mpeg2 clip from a HDHR or R5000.

* merged *

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by autoboy

I am thinking of getting a couple Asus Eee PC 1000 netbooks. One for me and one for the wife as portable media players / internet machines. I am interested if these little machines can handle a 1080i mpeg2 clip from a HDHR or R5000.

It uses the GMA950 video chipset that all other EEE boxes use. My laptop can do it, but that's with a Core2Duo 1.83ghz processor. It would be border line at best.....It does have 802.11n for wireless so that is a step in the right direction (wireless n is a necessity to get fluid HD over wireless although it could still be a bit of a crapshoot).

Give it a try (you would probably be the first), just don't hold your breath....

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

It uses the GMA950 video chipset that all other EEE boxes use. My laptop can do it, but that's with a Core2Duo 1.83ghz processor. It would be border line at best.....It does have 802.11n for wireless so that is a step in the right direction (wireless n is a necessity to get fluid HD over wireless although it could still be a bit of a crapshoot).

Give it a try (you would probably be the first), just don't hold your breath....

Agreed. The chipset has virtually no hardware support for de-interlacing. I think 720p might work, but you have no prayer for 1080i.

[autoboy]

I am not concerned about network performance. The shows would likely be transferred to the hard drive for travel. Nobody has tried this yet? I'm not really willing to try a $550 experiment and I don't want to have to transcode every show I want to watch on it.

[autoboy]

Eee PC can handle a R5000 HBO recording at 1080i. This was confirmed by Mike Chin at SPCR here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums...ic.php?t=50021

I sent Mike a file and he says it plays just fine on his EEE Box, though there was not much discussion about the CPU load. It was a short file so your results may vary...

[dgeezer]

My EEE Box arrived UPS yesterday. I actually got it to replace my aging, incredibly noisy desktop. All it really needs to do is run quickbooks, firefox and the occasional spreadsheet and word processor. However, as soon as I got it rhooked up I had to try some video on it. I installed PowerDVD and it seems to be able to playback any of my HD QAM recordings from the HDHomeRun in windows media player to my 1440x900 lcd monitor. I didn't check if these were 1080i or 720p.

I haven't installed the SageTV client yet but I will try soon. I'm still migrating other stuff from the desktop. This box really might be a viable client. If it had an e-sata port it could be a great <20 watt server.

[ukmgranger]

Hi all,
Does anyone have any thoughts on using the eeebox from Asus as a client machine.

It is cheap, and looks like it should be powerful enough to do the job!?!

Look here

I think that it could also potentially replace my rapidly dating server too (providing that I moved all of my drives into external bays.

Thoughts on this would be great.

* merged *

[brewston]

I would doubt its powerful enough to do HD. If you are absolutely, positively sure you're only going to want to do SD only then maybe.. the HD100 is still cheaper though. If you are after an even cheaper option for a client, scour ebay for laptop with broken screens and hook one of those up (Pulling the screen off is pretty easy, then you just need to hide the laptop somewhere)

Tim

[ukmgranger]

Originally Posted by brewston

I would doubt its powerful enough to do HD. If you are absolutely, positively sure you're only going to want to do SD only then maybe.. the HD100 is still cheaper though. If you are after an even cheaper option for a client, scour ebay for laptop with broken screens and hook one of those up (Pulling the screen off is pretty easy, then you just need to hide the laptop somewhere)

Tim

I just found a forum on the eeebox here discussing its HD capabilities (or not).

It seems that it would just about do sd but you don't really have much chance using it for D content.

Chame as it would have made a really good little client - that also works as a PC.

[Djc208]

Due to the low end chipsets and integrated graphics the little Atom just isn't going to do much for anything other than SD. However I would expect to see that change in the next 6-months to a year or so as newer chipsets hit for these that offer better video acceleration.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Djc208

Due to the low end chipsets and integrated graphics the little Atom just isn't going to do much for anything other than SD. However I would expect to see that change in the next 6-months to a year or so as newer chipsets hit for these that offer better video acceleration.

My Asus eeePC 1000HA is due to arrive today or tomorrow (hopefully as I am out of town next week). It has the Atom processor running basically the same chipset. I believe it even has an overclock feature (that bumps the atom to 1.8ghz) although I am sure that won't help a whole lot. I won't take the time to hook it to a monitor, but I will see if it can handle playback of 720P and 1080i MPEG2 and 1080i h.264 (I am sure it won't do the latter, but I will try it anyway). The rez on its screen is 1024 x 600. I really think we need to wait until they pair the atom process (dual core maybe) with the Intel x45 vid chip. Just imho.

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

My Asus eeePC 1000HA is due to arrive today or tomorrow (hopefully as I am out of town next week). It has the Atom processor running basically the same chipset. I believe it even has an overclock feature (that bumps the atom to 1.8ghz) although I am sure that won't help a whole lot. I won't take the time to hook it to a monitor, but I will see if it can handle playback of 720P and 1080i MPEG2 and 1080i h.264 (I am sure it won't do the latter, but I will try it anyway). The rez on its screen is 1024 x 600. I really think we need to wait until they pair the atom process (dual core maybe) with the Intel x45 vid chip. Just imho.

This really isn't the direction Intel is taking with Atom. It's not meant to compete with their normal line of chipsets and CPU's - that's why they went with the 945.