NeutralAxis

XBMC, the media center program originally designed to run on the original Xbox video game system, has been running on an old Xbox of mine for the last year or so.  I find myself not using it as much as I’d like though because the machine’s a bit noisy and big to hide around the TV.  Other drawbacks are that it doesn’t allow for HD video, and downloading updates for it practically require a meeting in a dark alley and knowing the secret handshake.

A new article at Lifehacker.com has detailed how to install XBMC on a tiny, silent, Acer AspireRevo with HDMI output.  And given that its for a computer rather than a proprietary video game system, updates are readily available.  I gave it a try on my existing desktop computer with XBMC Live.

First I needed to download the 300+MB torrent containing the ISO I’d need to burn to a CD.  No problems there, but I was surprised to find that my computer wouldn’t boot from the CD.  I had to get into the BIOS to change that.  With the boot order changed to CD first, HD second, XBMC live started perfectly.

I was pleased with how well it ran on my 3 year old desktop, except for a little lag in mouse motion.  But then, XBMC isn’t really meant for mouse motion as much as keyboard or remote control.  Video had some interlacing showing, but changing the Video Interlacing option from “none” to “AutoSelect” fixed that.

The optional MediaStream skin looks fantastic, but I had a little bit of difficulty finding my away around some of its nooks and crannys for the various setup menus I knew should exist.

Ultimately, what this confirmed for me is that I do want to spring for the AspireRevo and give it a try.  The cheapest model contains the Nvidia Ion LE graphics chip and 1Gb RAM.  I need to decide if I want that one at $200 or the next step up at around $330 that ads more memory and the full Ion chip?  The Lifehacker article indicates that the cheaper model works adequately.  To be decided.