I just ordered a new Zotec Nvidia ION pc, has anyone had experience with windows based media centers that take advantage of the CUDA support? I was going to use XBMC because i pretty much grew up with the program dating back to the original xbox, but i recently found out that the linux version is the only version that will work and support CUDA. I was looking at Media portal and meedio, they both list hardware based video acceleration.

I have movie files in mkv, mp4 avi, mpg. I love the fact that xbmc will play any file format i throw at it. So i will not be using wmc at all. This is the thread i posted at xbmc (http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=54194). Right now, its looking like xbmc in linux may be a way to go.


The PC i went with was the Zotac with N330 (http://www.pugetsystems.com/store/item. ... otec%20ion) with a M350 case (http://www.mini-box.com/M350-universal- ... -enclosure)


I have been waiting for months for nvidia to get off their butt and release their reference pc, but watching movies on the ps3 has become unbearable. So im going the do it yourself route.

Sounds good, definitely give an update when you get the Zotac board up and running. I have XBMC on my HTPCs as well but prefer using Windows 7 Media Center (plays all my files, including my 1080p Blu Ray mkvs with hardware acceleration). Benefit of Linux is that it is free, so one less cost which is always a good thing. I think I like the MediaStream skin best out of all the skins (never really got on board with the new Aeon skin). I am pretty sure that XBMC does not utilize hardware acceleration for Windows (unless you use a 3rd party player like MPC) which is another reason why I have moved away from it on my Windows systems.

have any suggestions on a cheap IR usb reciver? I have a logitec harmony 880 to program, and spending $50 on a IR blaster seems a little expensive.

No sound via HDMI?

Check your BIOS settings, I hade some problems vith no sound via HDMI with another mobo.
And the solution was to enable that in BIOS
(Selecting HDMI as primary video output... it will include the sound as well)

So my report over the weekend.

Windows 7 RC

Fantastic OS, installed in about 15 minutes and is quite responsive. System had 2gb of ram and 512 dedicated to GPU. WMC on the other hand was a let down so far. After some great advise from dbone on WMC customization i installed mediabrowser. First thing is the wait time for movie information to first generate. Seemed to take longer then expected, libraries of 1400 files. Browsing movie directories seems cumbersome to navigate through at times and HDD has higher then expected access while browsing media files. Not too terribly bad, asking a lot out of the system, cover art and media fan art is turned on. Playback on the system is awesome! 1080p movies play without issue over 100mbit network, fast forward works well with minimal shutter.


Ubuntu 9.04 w/ XBMC


Ok ok i may be biased when i review xbmc, one because i love xbmc, another because i dislike Linux. Im not trying to start a OS war, it is my personal choice, i use linux on a daily basis at work, in a server environment, which it works great.

It took about 10 minutes to install ubuntu from usb drive and another 4 hours to get everything working lol. I used the following how-to: http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.ph ... nvidia+ion

Everything was spot on until i couldn't get audio over hdmi. Turns out the very very very last audio controller was muted, and apparently the chip number followed by -1 is the designation for the HDMI audio (should have known that apparently).

Im very impressed so far with xbmc and linux, it does boot quicker then windows 7, and it doesn't seem to choke when displaying cover art where wmc did have issues. Im waiting for my m350 case to get in so it can have its spot up on the tv stand, right now its enclosed in a huge ugly case i had laying around.

Will post back more results once i get a IR blaster and use my remote instead of a keyboard/mouse.

Im also seeing about getting this IR unit, http://www.compusa.com/applications/sea ... eviewStart


I like it because compusa is local for me, and nothing beats instant gratification. Any experiences?