$50 Extender Replacement PC Possibility

[mikejaner]

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/e...nd-htpc#/story

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by mikejaner

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/e...nd-htpc#/story

Meh.. no ethernet. Intel gpu.

[Wayneb]

I like how they claim it is 100 times more efficient than a standard desktop PC. what do they consider a standard desktop PC? I have some power hog computers but they are special purpose multi processor Workstations. High end gaming rigs can use a lot of juice but they are not a standard PC either, the last computer I bought my mom pulls about 10 watts in normal use.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Wayneb

I like how they claim it is 100 times more efficient than a standard desktop PC. what do they consider a standard desktop PC? I have some power hog computers but they are special purpose multi processor Workstations. High end gaming rigs can use a lot of juice but they are not a standard PC either, the last computer I bought my mom pulls about 10 watts in normal use.

You mean they used dubious claims on a crowdfunding campaign?

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by Wayneb

I like how they claim it is 100 times more efficient than a standard desktop PC. what do they consider a standard desktop PC? I have some power hog computers but they are special purpose multi processor Workstations. High end gaming rigs can use a lot of juice but they are not a standard PC either, the last computer I bought my mom pulls about 10 watts in normal use.

Yeah, I ignored all the marketing stuff. It's being compared to desktops with many times the CPU power, and capacity. For what I would need it for, at $50, also maybe a +$10 USB3 gig Ethernet too, it will work just fine.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Meh.. no ethernet. Intel gpu.

would Ethernet via USB to cat5 cable work?

[will]

Just call it a gut feeling but I don't think this crowd funding campaign will be successful.

There is nothing that inspires confidence in that they can do what they claim.

• It will be a $70 computer - but they haven't even built a prototype yet, evident by the lack of non-computerized pictures
• Sourcing components from a global supply chain is hard - if they are just outsourcing the entire thing to one Chinese manufacture then there is a higher chance this computer will be junk
• 100x more efficient - show me real benchmarks (which means build a prototype)
• No intro video - they should have made a video to talk about their passion
• No people or names to humanize the company. I never heard of Enigma so you need to put a face to the company. Apple can get away using the term "The Apple Team" because they are a global brand; Enigma isn't

My best guess is that this company is a couple of kids (16 to 20 years old) who think it would be cool to a build and sell a computer. When things get tough (which happens to all businesses) will they push through or will they just fold and move on to something else?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

would Ethernet via USB to cat5 cable work?

Sure, it will work. But that isn't $50 then. Also need a USB IR sensor for control.

[stuckless]

About as ridiculous as using a $35 raspberry pi for an extender...

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by stuckless

About as ridiculous as using a $35 raspberry pi for an extender...

I was hoping that was a possibility also. For a little over $50 you can have a Pi 2, Case, MPEG2 License, and a DIY IR reciever. If a stripped down Linux OS can run Kodi, why couldn't it run a SageTV miniclient well?

All this hardware in the Sub $100 range is what people will be looking to use, since it's in the impulse buy range. I personally own two Winbook tablets which cost me $60 each at microcenter, and they run SageTVClient perfectly, once tweaked with the right codecs. Add an IR reciever, and Network cable to them, and they replace my HD300s.

I'm not trying to argue against you guys, you certainly know more about software than I do (not sarcastic). I have tested a lot over the months so I see the potential in today's Atoms, and $35 computers. I am just hoping this is the era of really cheap extenders. SageTV is not only the best PVR/DVR system, but it's the best at working with extenders also. I predict this will make people flock once it's freely available in compiled form as Open Source, and a few of these types of extenders become supported.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mikejaner

I was hoping that was a possibility also. For a little over $50 you can have a Pi 2, Case, MPEG2 License, and a DIY IR reciever. If a stripped down Linux OS can run Kodi, why couldn't it run a SageTV miniclient well?

All this hardware in the Sub $100 range is what people will be looking to use, since it's in the impulse buy range. I personally own two Winbook tablets which cost me $60 each at microcenter, and they run SageTVClient perfectly, once tweaked with the right codecs. Add an IR reciever, and Network cable to them, and they replace my HD300s.

I'm not trying to argue against you guys, you certainly know more about software than I do (not sarcastic). I have tested a lot over the months so I see the potential in today's Atoms, and $35 computers. I am just hoping this is the era of really cheap extenders. SageTV is not only the best PVR/DVR system, but it's the best at working with extenders also. I predict this will make people flock once it's freely available in compiled form as Open Source, and a few of these types of extenders become supported.

My "ridiculous" comment was almost a question I have no idea if running the PI would work or not. Now, if the PI has enough resources to run Java, then there is hope that the work that I'm doing over here, woud benefit a placeshifter on the PI.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Meh.. no ethernet. Intel gpu.

While I share everyone's lack of faith in the campaign itself, I think the GPU doubting is a bit hasty. My Intel NUC (4th gen) is pulling HTPC duties just fine with its HD5000 GPU. It handles uncompressed Blu-ray and 3D pretty handily. You can hear the fan in a very quiet room when it--rarely--spins up to full speed, but it does the job.

Also, they do say it has an IR receiver. But, I don't think anyone will be gaming on a device with these specs.

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

While I share everyone's lack of faith in the campaign itself, I think the GPU doubting is a bit hasty. My Intel NUC (4th gen) is pulling HTPC duties just fine with its HD5000 GPU. It handles uncompressed Blu-ray and 3D pretty handily. You can hear the fan in a very quiet room when it--rarely--spins up to full speed, but it does the job.

Also, they do say it has an IR receiver. But, I don't think anyone will be gaming on a device with these specs.

I agree, I have 4000 GPUs, and they work fine.

[tvmaster2]

for $120 on eBay, it's hard to beat a HD200

[metapath]

This looks promising as an extender replacement. Comes with Windows 10 and wifi, so just install the Windows Sage Client. Unfortunately, no wired Ethernet but you could plug in a USB Ethernet adapter; same with IR if only Win10 supported IR (it's coming).

Still, promising. I have one on order and will report back if I get it working.
http://venturebeat.com/2015/10/26/ka...0-portable-pc/

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

While I share everyone's lack of faith in the campaign itself, I think the GPU doubting is a bit hasty. My Intel NUC (4th gen) is pulling HTPC duties just fine with its HD5000 GPU.

Maybe it was just Kodi, but the video processing (Deinterlacing/scaling) was pretty abysmal on my i7 3770s (HD4000 graphics). I haven't tried my Chromebox I replaced it with.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by metapath

This looks promising as an extender replacement. Comes with Windows 10 and wifi, so just install the Windows Sage Client. Unfortunately, no wired Ethernet but you could plug in a USB Ethernet adapter; same with IR if only Win10 supported IR (it's coming).

Still, promising. I have one on order and will report back if I get it working.
http://venturebeat.com/2015/10/26/ka...0-portable-pc/

Since I've been working on the Android port for an extender... I can say the 2 primary areas that I see as bottlenecks are UI performance and network performance. I suspect the graphics cards on those things are decent enough... but on WIFI, I see the Android client struggle a bit on video playback sending 720p .ts files to it (3.5gigs/per hr) (hardware decoding is also a factor, but so far, my test media is all h264 encoded and Android has hardware decoding support for that).. When I use software decoding, the video is sluggish.

I think getting a client to work on this would be easy, since it's Window, and the existing SageClient and/or placeshifter would probably just work.

[metapath]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I think getting a client to work on this would be easy, since it's Window, and the existing SageClient and/or placeshifter would probably just work.

I'm running Sage v9, so I assume I'll have to install the v7 client and upgrade the JAR file just like I did for the Server. I'll have to look for that thread again...

I don't have a Client license as I run with HD200 and HD300 extenders, but that's all moot now? Even if the client exe still wants a license, it should work for the 2 week grace period, right?

Looking forward to trying this!

[mikejaner]

Well, it turns out this box only met 2% of it's funding goal, so bye bye to it.

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Maybe it was just Kodi, but the video processing (Deinterlacing/scaling) was pretty abysmal on my i7 3770s (HD4000 graphics). I haven't tried my Chromebox I replaced it with.

You're right it really pisses off the Intel GPU's. These days, I just send the interlaced video to my TV, and let the scaler in the TV do it. It looks really good when you do that.