Acer Revo single core N230 R1600

[imagn]

I just wanted to post incase anyone was thinking about getting one of these. I decided to take the plunge and see if this would be a decent client, i am stressing client here as i have done no other testing of it and do not plan to set it up as a server.

First impressions, i was actually completely amazed at how responsive the single core processor was. I did not feel at all like it was a sluggish computer, and the one i got is running XP. It uninstalled all the crapware and installed all the software to get up an running as a GBPVR client pretty quickly.

Some have mentioned on the internet to upgrade ram and change video settings in bios. I found that one gig and the auto settings that were already set in the bios have worked fine for me so no need for that second gig. (now i am not saying there would be no benefit to the second gig, but for my needs as a strickly GBPVR client playing mostly mpeg2 video it does not seem necessary)

My testing:
I am in the US, and record TV through clear QAM using .ts, I record mostly HDTV locals and some other SD channels. I also have a fair collection of DVD's encoded in H.264. The codecs i am using for playback are mpeg2 = cyberlink pdvd (i installed the SAF pack and have both 8 and 9 and they perform the same for this) AC3 sound i use FFdshow, i had some issues when using the mpc hc sound codec, so stuck with FFDshow and its working great. I am using MPC-HC h.264 codec for all my H.264 encodings. I havent had time to extensively test yet, as i havent got many new recodings on the server, but in the limited ones, a mixture of HD and SD, all have play as they should, no stuttering, and the pic looks great, i even think it looks better than my onboard ati client.

My experience has been pretty good overall, i am using a MCE remote and found a way to install the drivers on XP home and its working fine. I have not been able to get the HDMI audio working, i tried on both my TV's and this may be due to drivers, but at the moment i HDMI video and audio coming out of the headphone jack, which is a minor annoyance but can live with it for now.

My H.264 video plays fine no issues there, and gbpvr overall is responsive.

So far my experience is great and will continue to post after tesinting it further next week.

Thats it for now folks check back next week. Feel free to post questions i might be able to help answer them

[imagn]

Just wanted to post a further update

Using the revo as a client has been really good. Both SD and HD recording, and live tv have played flawlessly. I have watched a couple of h.264 files and have had no issues. After about a week or so of testing and using i can say i am satisfied, and am a little sad i built my first client as this has been really easy to set up and use. I was not this lucky when setting up my client with onboard ATI HD3300.

Things i have notices, it does have a fan, but its quiet, although on first start up it starts at full speed and can be allittle loud, but dies down within a couple of seconds, then its inaudible, unless you are right over it. Its extreemly quick to put into sleep and shut down, and its also pretty quick to boot up cold.

For the $200 its well worth it!!

[TimC]

Thanks for the review.

[adrianeaton]

This sounds like a good alternative to a popcorn hour box to me. Are there any downsides you have found?

How long does it take to go into windows standby and wake up again?
How do you control gbpvr, does it come with a remote?
What type of HD recordings have you tried? Does it play 1080P for instance? I guess it might depend on codecs used etc..

Thanks,
Adrian.

[imagn]

This sounds like a good alternative to a popcorn hour box to me. Are there any downsides you have found?

How long does it take to go into windows standby and wake up again?
How do you control gbpvr, does it come with a remote?
What type of HD recordings have you tried? Does it play 1080P for instance? I guess it might depend on codecs used etc..

Thanks,
Adrian.

I was using a A100 and decided to give this ago. Its been fairly easy to use. I have not tested any 1080P and am not sure it can handle for 1080P, I think you would be better off with the duel core version.

It only take a few seconds to go in and out of Standby. I am using an MCE remote, you have to find the drivers and install them for XP home, but it works like it should.

I am currently using it for play back of ATSC (US digital SD/HD - Mpeg2 with AC3 sound) IT works well for this and have no issue. I also play back h264 encoded movies and have not had any problems here either.

The box is only successful when using hardware acceleration (DXVA) and thus anything not encoded to use DXVA will not play well on this machine. I haven't come across anything that hasn't played on this machine yet (aside from HULU - which is well documented.)

Minor annoyances - Still have npot been able to get HDMI audio working, and i havent been able to use the remote to wake up the machine. On the remote wakeup i'll be honest and say i havent really investigated this one too much so maybe it can be done. Also occasionally the might be a video that stutters for a second or 2 but it only has happened twice since i have had it and it corrected itself within seconds.

Aside from that everything else works well and its been.
I like the ease of use with the box and that it is windows based as i use it for other internet playback. I will say for straight playback i think the popcorn hour is probably more powerful, but this box has suited my needs exactly, so i am happy with it.

[adrianeaton]

Thanks for that, sounds good.

[KS4UA]

Data Point -

I've had my Acer Revo R1600 for a couple of weeks now.

It's a "stock" unit (single core, 1GB RAM, 160GB HD, Win XP Home).

I bumped the memory up to 1.5GB, using an extra 512MB SODIMM I had leftover from a laptop upgrade. Went into the BIOS and setup 256MB for the Video Buffer.

Partitioned the HD into two parts and loaded Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit, as a test. Have an ATI HD Wonder 650 USB Combo tuner on it. It works with Win 7 Media Center and with GBPVR native mode, just fine.


Didn't have time to get GBPVR installed as a client-server...contecting to my trusty Dual-core Pentium D GBPVR server... until today.

So far, it's working fine. In order to watch live TV, I had to open the Windows Firewall on the GBPVR server (added a new rule and named it GBPVRRecordingService...allowing all protocols on all ports). Otherwise, the install on the Revo was a "standard" Windows 7 GBPVR install (which I won't go into here...but if you have done it before, you know what to watch out for).

One slight problem...when watching some of the ATSC TV channels live, the client will start just fine, then just stop and goes right back to the Guide menu after a few seconds. I assume that's a data-rate under-run or something? Never happens on any of the analog channels or certain other ATSC channels. Kind of weird, but I will experiment and see if I figure out what's happening.