I've been searching for a good home theater solution for a while now. I originally started down this road using Roku and Western Digital Live TV, progressed to Fire TV and ended up with an Android box. Eventually I ended up with a bunch of remotes on a desktop. I did spend some time with a Universal remote...but that's another story for another day.
Although each solution could do some things well, none really met all my requirements. The goal was:
1] Ability to play most major formats of video/music via network drive or USB.
2] Netflix at > 480p resolution. Same for Hulu and Amazon instant video.
3] Ability to install 3rd party apps [XBMC, games, etc.].
I looked closely at several PC solutions [zbox, Intel NUC, zbox, Raspberry Pi, etc.] and settled on the Acer Revo. Yeah it's not the smallest system of the bunch but it is small enough for my needs and I have the perfect space for it.
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Setup was easy and logical and the included mouse and keyboard work well. They're bare bones but do the job just fine with a single USB dongle. Moving to a backlit keyboard at a later time -- a must have in my opinion.
If you're smart you'll hit windows update soon after playing with the system. In my case I had 120+ updates to complete. Note: System will download these updates automatically. If you manually run windows update it will error...just leave the system alone for a few hours and reboot.
Next step was to hit Intel to get newer drivers for graphics and motherboard. Full stop there....Intel drivers won't install and indicate you have to get drivers directly from Acer. Bummer -- not a big worry because you're going to update to windows 8.1, right? Say yes....
Once you download the many updates you'll want to update to windows 8.1 and install Startisback [Google it -- you'll thank me later -- and yes, pay the guy the $3 in 30 days]. Yes, it'll take a few hours and you needed to have updated windows 8.0 1st [remember I mentioned that earlier]? When all is done THEN hit Intel and update all your drivers [otherwise the Windows 8.1 Netflix apps won't work...and yes, you'll want the windows 8.1 Netflix app -- not at all kidding. MUCH better layout than the web version].
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Good things:
1] Although system does have a fan it is very, very quiet. I can't hear it -- of course my ears always ring since the noodle incident...but that is another story.
2] Easy to open the case and add memory or an SSD.
3] Plays 1080p video [MKV, AVI, etc] with ~8% CPU utilization using XBMC. Not a gaming system but can do some older titles without too much strain.
4] It just works once you put the 4 hours into it to update all the things.
5] Reasonably small and looks quite nice and unobtrusive.
6] USB ports can run stand alone portable disk drives.
7] Quiet and cool.
Not so good things:
1] The spotlight for an LED on the front panel. Really? Even the old WD TV Live has an option to turn off the LED. Guess the handyman's secret weapon [duct tape] will solve this issue.
2] BIOS is pretty locked down. May not matter to some folks.
3] Very limited expansion options. I know this going in though...pretty much limited to SSD and memory.
4] Drivers are old for windows 8.
5] Non SSD storage. Not horrible and you do get more space...at the cost of overall speed. For now, I'll leave things alone until I figure out how hard it will be to transfer windows to a new SSD and keep the license in play. More on that later...if I ever go there. Probably will just get in the habit of putting the system to sleep when done rather than shut down.
Things that sort of suck:
1] The Acer remote app you can install on your cell/tablet. If you really MUST have it, make an exception for the app in Windows firewall. Really, it is not very good.
2] Some of the pre-installed things *cough* virus checker *cough*....find another solution even if it is Windows own application.
I've only had the unit a few days so reliability is unknown -- running a burn in application for about a week to really give the system a workout.
| Processor | 1.9 GHz core_i3 |
|---|---|
| RAM | 4 GB DDR3 |
| Hard Drive | 500 GB SATA |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Intel HD |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Wireless Type | 802.11n, 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 4 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
