Multiple Boxee setup & hardware questions

[LTParis]

So I think I am convinced I am going with a full blown Boxee setup at home. While not perfect (and no software is) I have been more impressed with the ease of use of Boxee than any of the other HTPC front end solutions I have found.

So now on to the questions.

Multiple Boxees. My plan is to have all my desktops (3) plus two dedicated TV Boxees. Do you need a "central" Boxee Box? I did notice that Boxee runs a web server at 8800 but I wasn't sure if that was for any type of data sharing between boxes or if the Boxee boxes "home in" on a central server.

Dedicated TV Boxees. I have been reading up on all the ION boxes, and other boxes out there and can't quite make a decision on what my TV Boxees should be. For instance is the Revo 1600 230 chip powerful enough to push 1080p? I have seen many more write ups for the 3610 330 but if the 1600 is good enough then the sub $200 price is nice. As much as I would love to wait for the Boxee box I don't think I want to wait too much longer.

[judgeschambers]

WElcome to Boxee!

Here are your answers:

1- No central boxee is needed. No need to use the web server at all. All the machines run their own install of boxee. You can even set all of them up with the same exact user name and password and most apps and settings will remain constant. Each boxee machine can be set up to access network shares. If you have different shares on each machine, that will work, but be complicated to initially set up. Optimally, You should put all your shared files in a central location or on one PC and then all boxee machines can grab them there. I run a home server as my central file storage, but not needed...just makes storage and mulitple boxee shares simpler to manage.

2-I am a BIG proponant of the Revo 3610. I would Highly recomend staying away from the 1600. Why? It plays 1080P right?
Well, it does. But there are many, many issues with it that have prevented many users from really haveing a favorable experence. The CPU is too slow to multitask is the biggie. Boxee and other programs use a fair amount of CPU and so does Windows. Thus leaving little room for error. Next, it has the ION LE chip which has Direct X limitations. Next, Ram is too little. Now, 1600 users will probably flame me, but it is what it is.

I have HIGH expectations of my HTPC. experience, but did not want a $700 unit at each TV. I wanted Boxee Beta, IE to surf the internet and check email, IM, etc and do it all from any HDTV in my home. With the 3610, I can watch Netflix in Boxee in one corner and surf the net with IE-8 at the same time! With those expectations, the Revo 1600 is just too under powered and limited to meet those expectations. You can buy the 3610, plug it in, update the drivers, remove the crapware, install boxee and be watching TV. With no need to open it up for more ram or bios tweaks. Really!

Sure, there is the Zotac 330 (still needs a $130 Win-7 cd), Asrock 330 (still needs a win-7 cd) or the the REvo 3610 with Win-7 installed and ready to roll.

Check my sig for my many blog posts and reviews on the Revo 3610, setup configs and file zip packs.
For final set up and boxee config, hit the First STop link in my sig for all the Windows Updates I've posted there to get most any maching rolling with Boxee Beta.

[LTParis]

1- Do you know what apps or features are not synced? I know some personal ones are not like aspect ratio and some things are like the queue.

2- I am lucky where my job will get us $10 copies of any MS Software as a perk (they cover the rest of the cost, it's legit), so I can get new W7 copies on the very cheap. You can't argue against the price and the Revo is very competitve. I wonder if anyone (I have not searched yet) has done a MSI Wind? With a 2GB chip Amazon can get it for $205 (no optical). I'll have to research more.

3- New question. File server. I was thinking about doing a "cheap" solution. Are 5400 PRM drives enough to push streaming video to multiple sources or do I need to step up to 7200?

[msk.tokkig]

Do you mind telling me which software you removed from your revo 3610? I just bought one, uninstalled all the obvious but am not sure if I should remove some of the acer programs. Also, which drivers should I update? I got the basics - silverlight, flash 10.1 beta, etc. Or just point me to a link, all the links I find basically say "remove bloatware" and that's it. I've already ran ccleaner and have avast! installed, as well as spybot s&d. Am I missing anything else?

fake edit: win7 is awesome. I really like the picture view while playing music in windows media center, it'd be awesome if boxee had something like that. also, picasa as the default picture viewer is beautiful, you should check it out.

edit 2: ^^ The MSI Wind lacks HDMI and SPDIF and eSATA