Video/Audio Server

Think I will order a

http://www.asrock.com/nettop/overview.asp?Model=ION 330HT

to bolt to the back of my telly.

It will replace an ageing and noisy XP Shuttle PC I use to watch BBC iPlayer; and it will act as a Squeezebox server.

I may find the optical out is quite good enough to dispense with the Squeezebox in the lounge.

I can remote desktop into the Ion from my laptop for control when the TV is off.

It's half the price of a Macmini, and offers a much more open system.

I may try J River.

Any comments?

 

Looks good! Only shame is the fan, I'd like to see a heatsink-case instead.

 

I have owned one of these for a year or two since they first came out. The processor is fine, the Ion chip is fine for HD video but the fan in the box is far too noisy to have on in a living room. It started off as slightly irritating and only rarely would I get up and turn the damn thing off but it got worse and was banished to another room to act as a server.

If you go for an Atom/Ion then you need a fanless motherboard (various flavours) but something like this:

http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=ZHofno9Kz03TkwXw&templete=2

in a suitable vertical case that lets the air rise through the heat sink. A smallish solid state memory "disk" would eliminate hard disk noise. The kit could probably be put together for a touch over the ASRock price but no where near a Mac Mini price.

 

I had noted the fan, but also looked at the quoted noise level which looks good.

May think again. My son could certainly help me assemble something fan-less.

A HushPC would be nice, but they are expensive.

Another factor many would not consider - the PC has to work with ambient temperatures well over 30C - but by the time it's hot enough to put the aircon on, the case fan noise is of no consequence!

Is this ASRock box as quiet as a laptop? What about an Acer Revo?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/236581

 

No CD drive so maybe it is no use to you, but how about an Asus EeeBox?

 

CD drive not essential.

Cost, noise, usability and survivability in the sub-tropics.

Another option would be to put a server next door, use the Squeezebox for audio streaming and a Netgear Push2Tv for Video.

http://www.netgear.com/ptv

Pity that box has no toslink.

There may be some compromise on video quality, but it compromised with iPlayer anyway.

I am open to other suggestions. I have not looked too closely, but I think the new Apple TV only works to iTunes and is an example of Apple "lock-in".

 

The eeeBox quote a noise figure of 26 db, the ASrock box quotes "below 26dB."

I have no Idea how loud that is!

 

I've used one of those for nearly a year and it's been faultless. The fan in mine is not noisy at all. The faint whir of the hard drive makes more noise than the fan. The noise level is about the same as a laptop, certainly no worse.

 

That's what I would have thought. I have just been trying to find a figure for my Samsung Q210 Laptop.

One option I have considered is using this laptop in "clamshell mode" and buying a 12" eeePc Netbook to use as a Laptop.

But the Q210 really does not like it when it gets too hot!

 

> I had noted the fan, but also looked at the quoted noise level which looks good.

What does it mean? SPL varies a lot around a PC, it falls off with distance, it often varies with load, etc... The quoted numbers usually means nothing as far as I can work out.

> Is this ASRock box as quiet as a laptop?

It is not as quiet as my laptop which does not make a noise. I have found other peoples laptops sitting on a desk often make more noise than a PC under it.

Some people are bothered by computer noise and some people are not. I have never been able to relax or study in a room with a running PC but Liucan for example is not bothered by the noise of the same machine that I would have to turn off.

> What about an Acer Revo?

There are a lot of Atom/Ion PCs like this but they only had one core when I was looking a couple of years ago but things are probably different today. One core is probably OK for a pure music/video server but not if you also want to use it as a general purpose computer. A two core Atom is fine for this at least when running Linux. Windows is more of a resource hog but I would expect it to be OK as well.