replacing Sky box, DVD/ BR with a mini PC/ XBMC etc

Yep, bought mine just before Panasonic withdrew plasma. A real shame, just goes to show that the best technology doesn't always win.
 
Yes and oled knocks the absurdly heavy power hungry plasma into the skip of history. Anyway back to making small PCs.
 
Re:

We can talk about OLED when it becomes a bit more affordable....

But yes ... back on topic would be best.
 
Teh way I would knock one out would be too (note I'm not a small format or htpc person so no real idea on quality)
But I would get a small ITX/miniATX board with HDMI or dual HDMI out) seem quite cheap at the moment.
Stick a Pentium 'haswell' chip on it or AMD depending on which setup comes in cheapest and quietest.
A bit of RAM
An SSD
Stick it in a cardboard box an off you go.
oh and a little PSU preferably from a 'block'

The onboard IGP of the Intel should do as good a job as any, big TV's and our old ones will probably be no better.


That's the main box sone, then just whatever DVB T2/S2 you can find, if you have room for one inside I would do that.


If the quality is needed and you're really picky then I would run Sharkies codec if you are running under Windows or tweak whatever the Linux counterpart is to you taste.

I would Powerline the board as I have just moved over from my 'n' wi-Fi and reliability and speed is just superior where I live.

Stick a mechanical drive NAS somewhere and move the click click and fans away from the TV.


--
That is at least where I would start looking, though there are some nice Atom cheap setups now.
 
Back
Top