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Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

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Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#121

Post by codfrantic »

Washuu wrote: post #40
jsmeaton wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been thinking about a raspberry pi for this purpose but I'd prefer something already packaged up (even if it was a pi underneath).

Once the case, wireless adapter, and a few other items are added in to make the Raspberry Pi 2 function as a nice HTPC it comes out to about $100. The same cost for much less hardware.

I only used a Pi (1B) (20$) 4GB SD Card (5$?) case (6$) and hdmi cable (0.5$) My TV has HDMI CEC built in which means my tv remote works with the OSMC / Kodi / etc install. This gets me to a total of 31.5$ for my full HD supporting mediacenter :) (the case is even optional since it sits on the back of my TV, out of sight)

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#122

Post by _lce0 »

skMed wrote: post #57
avinassh wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raspberry Pi is not really good as a media player. It struggles for high quality high bit rate 1080p videos and it is limited with USB 2 and does not have gigabit ethernet.

I use an older Pi with Raspbmc (osmc) and I can stream 1080P movies just fine. The key is to 1.) Avoid streaming off a slow disk e.g. NAS, 2.) Ensure you have the necessary bandwidth to stream (no slow wifi), and 3.) Pass DTS audio to your receiver for decoding so your PI isn't doing double duty for audio/video.

Initially, I tried this setup..

    disk [usb]-> router  raspB+
but it wasn't good for streaming videos over the network. The router was the problem.

so when we upgraded to rasp2, I tried this setup..

    disk [usb]-> raspB+  router  rasp2
..and it's been working like that, flawless, for almost a year so far.

The raspB+ shares the media collection over upnp, so we can consume it from pretty much everywhere on the house, and the rasp2 consumes using upnp so when can control it remotely.

With a combination of these apps, you can do pretty much everything remotely from your phone..

- upnp: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.droidupnp

- torrents: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.sugr.gearshi...

- run stuff: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.littlebyteso...

Now I just need a good radio support .. any ideas?

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#123

Post by ywy9876 »

hyperpallium wrote: post #68

More specs at anandtech http://www.anandtech.com/show/9797/asus-launches-the-chromeb... Its Mali T764 GPU seems more powerful than an xbox360: the T760 has 326 GFLOPS; xbox360 xenos GPU has about 240 GFLOPS. Not sure what difference the 4 in 764 makes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_(GPU) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenos_(graphics_chip) These PC sticks have been around for years... I wonder if the killer a…

Molt be

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#124

Post by mkohlmyr »

netcan wrote: post #95

Lowering prices and adding form factors is great, but for me, I kind of wish they the chrome project had started immediately after rather than before the smartphone revolution. I think they got locked into "The Web is Enough." Smartphones reminded us that apps matter too. Chrombooks sell well, apparently, but I rarely see them in the world. I just think it's past time for a new desktop OS. Windows is not a great opti…

What "app" are you saying matters that couldn't be built as a chrome app? It's just a different platform. It could be argued it's a better platform than most operating systems and more similar to the smartphone app model than not.

I still have faith in chrome os as an idea. I really believe most personal machines will be front-ends only. There is no reason I should need more computing power than it takes to display things on my screen.

I look forward to the day I have a passive box running git and ssh and I can run a terminal and editor in a browser tab wherever whenever I need to from a usb stick. In fact I don't know why that stick couldn't also be my phone.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#125

Post by joakleaf »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #105
rplnt wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet TVs still ship with crappy and slow interfaces for some reason.

I'd rather see less features, but more polished and faster interfaces. You'll be plugging your devices anyway. It's like car stereos - just let me plug AUX cable and we are square for next 10 years.

The flatscreen producers would probably prefer you came back every 2 years to buy a new TV with updates to their OS, instead of just every 10 years.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#127

Post by Roritharr »

The pricing is ridiculous. In Germany it costs 120€. I really don't get why Google is constantly making their products so unaffordable here. That makes it slightly more expensive than the Intel Compute Stick with Win 8.1 which goes for 110€

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#128

Post by T-A »

Sanddancer wrote: post #33
jsmeaton wrote: post #22

What I'm after is something that can run Kodi (xbmc) which links to a NAS for its media. Running Netflix is a nice to have. What devices are out there that I can use for this purpose? At the moment I have a fairly heavy htpc running Windows, but I have more tvs that I would like to use for similar purposes. Edit: Bonus if it can do 4k video, but 1080p minimum is a must.

There are a bunch of atom-based devices for a hundred dollars or so. One of the ones that looks tempting for me is the Kangaroo -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883722... -- $15 more than the chromebit, and you get twice the storage space, two usb ports, one of which is usb 3, and an all in all more interesting device.

If [1] is true (and I have no particular reason to believe otherwise) you can get an 8" tablet with Cherry Trail SoC, expansion ports, acceptable screen resolution and HDMI out for $0.11 less than a Chromebit.

[1] http://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_252625.html

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#129

Post by privacy101 »

jsmeaton wrote: post #22

What I'm after is something that can run Kodi (xbmc) which links to a NAS for its media. Running Netflix is a nice to have. What devices are out there that I can use for this purpose? At the moment I have a fairly heavy htpc running Windows, but I have more tvs that I would like to use for similar purposes. Edit: Bonus if it can do 4k video, but 1080p minimum is a must.

I use a RaspberryPi that runs Raspbian and mount my file server's UPnP media directory using djmount. Then start videos on my TV using the OMX Remote app from Android devices (OMX Remote plays videos using the omxplayer app on the RPi). I had to increase the gpu memory on the RaspberryPI so that all my videos would play and once in a while kill omxplayer processes but other then that it works fine. And you go this route, you could still install Kodi if you need the plugins.

Re: Google and ASUS Launch the $85 Chromebit, a Chrome OS Desktop on an HDMI Stick

#130

Post by morganvachon »

jsmeaton wrote: post #35
peterhadlaw wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raspberry PI has pretty much what you're looking for. I one set up exactly for this purpose.

I've been thinking about a raspberry pi for this purpose but I'd prefer something already packaged up (even if it was a pi underneath).

If I'm not mistaken, one or more of the previous generation Roku devices uses the same SoC as the Raspberry Pi.

We have a Roku 1 and a Roku 3, and they are both great for the price. The $50 Roku 1 is attached to an old but "too good to throw away" Sony Trinitron CRT, and the Roku 3 is on our bedroom TV, a 27" Vizio LCD. They both stream via WiFi with no issues (480p on the 1, 1080p on the 3).

I did have a couple of RasPis running OSMC before we went with the Roku devices, and apart from issues with the initial setup, the Pis worked great. The Roku does offer a greater selection of services so there's a lot more 3rd party streaming content available there, and the official Plex app on Roku makes it easier to stream from our media server than the Pi, but if you know what you're doing you can enable uPnP on OSMC and local streaming mostly works fine. You can also run emulators on the Pi on top of OSMC, which is great for nostalgic gaming. The Roku 3 has a limited selection of games and a Wiimote-like remote, but no support for emulation that I'm aware of.

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