Fit-PC 2

[simonen]

So, I saw this on gizmodo and was curious about what others would think about using this with SageTV. http://fit-pc2.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

I realize that you cannot put any cards in it, but if you use HD Homeruns and HD PVRs, you have no need for internal cards. The other thing is I doubt the graphics chip or processor could handle H.264, but if one was solely using the HD media extenders for playback, it wouldn't matter.

The biggest benefits I see is the small space profile it takes up and likely it sips energy ($395 for version with Windows XP)

What do you folks think?

[MitchSchaft]

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense if the HD200 is only $200.

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by simonen

So, I saw this on gizmodo and was curious about what others would think about using this with SageTV. http://fit-pc2.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

I realize that you cannot put any cards in it, but if you use HD Homeruns and HD PVRs, you have no need for internal cards. The other thing is I doubt the graphics chip or processor could handle H.264, but if one was solely using the HD media extenders for playback, it wouldn't matter.

The biggest benefits I see is the small space profile it takes up and likely it sips energy ($395 for version with Windows XP)

What do you folks think?

It would definitely work ok as a server (the Atom though will likely make it a tad sluggish occasionally on extender menus and when you're copying files to it, if my old 1.3ghz P3 server is any indication). Then again, you can use any old cheap PC as a server, cheaper than $395, or even a cheap netbook, so not sure what the advantage of this PC is for that purpose.

It seems more interesting as a Sage client to me, actually. They claim to be able to playback 1080p H.264 video, although I'm unclear on the video solution inside that allows this. But then, not really a big advantage over a Sage extender.

So net net to me it looks cool, but space savings for a server isn't a big deal (unless you live in Japan). I suppose the power savings might appeal to some as well.

[Skirge01]

Hmm... use this as a server and connect it to some NAS or unRAID?

[simonen]

I was just floating this out there. I could see using an external NAS or external USB drive for recordings. But solely as a server and not an extender.

[paulbeers]

From a client standpoint, the IGP is the GMA500 which is actually better than the GMA950 when it comes to video playback as it does have h.264 hardware decoding, but I still wouldn't use this platform as a full client. I would only go with the Nvidia Ion platform for a lower power client based on the Atom.

From a server standpoint, it is just hard to recommend an Atom based setup. Going with an AMD 4XXXe or the Intel 5XXX series processors is a much better choice especially if you want to do anything like comskip or transcoding. These processors really only use about another 30watts of power (yeah yeah I get that is about 6 times the power usage) and allow for a lot more expansion. Let's not forget that the processor/chipset are only a small piece of the overall system power usage. I would say the 9 hard drives and optical drive are using as much power (if not more) as my processor and motherboard and those are static items that no matter how much power my processor and motherboard use I would still need. So if my server currently is using around 170 watt/hour per my Killawatt, then switching to this as a server would really only bring my overal usage down to 120-130 watt/hour while reducing the speed of my extenders and negating the ability to use Comskip.

In the end it is just not worth it. And yes, I have used an Atom processor. In fact I am using my Asus EeePC 1000HA to post this message as we speak.