Codec Support
You may use a wide array of codec types with the Revo 3610, especially if a lot of your content is in HD format. So, be sure to load them onto the Revo so you can enhance your viewing pleasure. A good one is through Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP). I’ve used this over the years and supports a wide range of codecs. I played QuickTime, MKV, MPEG2-TS, WMV HD, H.264 and they all played very well.
Currently, I do not intend to use Windows Media Player as Boxee or XBMC will be my media center of choice. But WMC does work quite well on the Revo 3610. Performance is peppy and clean.
Conclusions
I experienced excellent playback of Internet and Lan content due to my cable connection with 7.5 mb down and a wired 100 mb home network connected to a Windows Home Server. So, overall, I’ve had very impressive performance with the Revo 3610.
The Revo is connected to a 40′” HDTV via HDMI at 1080P. By mid-December I plan to turn off the cable TV subscription and rely solely on an HDTV antenna and Internet content for our TV viewing pleasures. I may even look into a Hauppauge USB PVR to test out some over the air HDTV recording and make up for any shortcomings we may find on Hulu, Fancast or Clicker.
I would suggest removing all the bloatware from the Revo i.e. Windows Office 7 trial, Nero 9 and all the other useless items as it will free up some much needed ram. Be careful not to remove the Acer Hot Key program, as it runs the media keys on the wireless keyboard. 
Though I did leave the Acer Updater and Backup programs installed…just in case.
Overall, I’m very, very impressed with this little Revo 3610. It has performed better than expected! For it’s small size, silence, and low cost of $330 USD- you can’t go wrong to make the Revo 3610 your HTPC of choice!
Want a file type tested or discuss something not mentioned in my review? Then post a request in the comment section and I’ll see what I can do.
VIDEO DEMOS!!! Be sure to check out the Revo 3610 in ACTION 12/2/09
Update: Acer Revo Video Demos-Boxee Beta and Flash RC
I’ve made three more videos since last December”s link listed above that highlights the Acer Revo using Boxee Beta with Flash. Check my latest Blog Post link for the details and link to my YouTube Channel
Video Demos – Boxee Beta on Acer Revo Video Review 5/12/10
Links:
Acer Revo 3610
Flash 10.1 Beta
Nvidia ION Chipset and Graphics Drivers
Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP)
Boxee
XBMC
MPC-HC Media Player
Vemo HD
Adobe HD Gallery Huge files!
Hulu HD
Similar Posts:
- Flash 10.1 Beta on Acer Revo 3610 testing Results
- Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta Released for Atom Ion
- New Acer Revo 3610 HTPC
- Acer Revo 3610 Atom ION-Video Demo
- Acer Revo 3610 Unboxed
Only tried boxee.. I didn’t see the newest nVidia update. I chose the ion card with a desktop. I’ll check again…
okay, found it and update both. youtube video looks fine in browser, but choppy in boxee (not the latest boxee release, but the previous one.. does that matter?)
Kaz,
Yeah, it could. The current boxee build is 11487 and had a ton of bug fixes. I’ll tell you though, I’ve found that some TV shows play better than others on boxee. It varies from episode to episode depending upon the encryption they used.
Lastly, boxee has not had a build release since the flash RC releases. I’ve asked the dev’s if they have anything coming in a future boxee build that may address this. We’ll see,…
I got an Acer Revo back when they first came out and I love it. Like you said, it seems to play back anything with total ease, and no noise or heat.
My only complaint about your site is that I didn’t see a date on the article – did I miss it. Given the fast changing technology word, it is crazy to not have a date, clearly displayed, on a review of a technology product.
Tom,
Welcome, glad you like the site.
All posts have a date on my blog. The date is at the top of the post on the main page of the blog with each posting. Once in the post itself, the date disappears. Most WP themes are this way. Good idea to have it on the post itself though…I’ll look into it. Thanks.
Have configured a couple of these and performance improved markedly after the included McAfee Internet Security trial was removed. Some lighter free antivirus like Avira allows the system to perform reasonably, but on any Atom based machines I seriously consider running without any antivirus software at all to save performance.
There seems to be a bug or something on this page or some fonts are not installed on my PC. Somehow not everything is displayed correctly. Any ideas?
Keyboard,
Works for me on FFox & IE on 5 different PC’s. Must be your system.
MKK,
Yup, I have this laid out on my set up post. Most any low resource AV works fine and does not impede the Revo. I’ve tested several and found the MS Security Essentials to work the best at not lagging the Revo.
They are great little boxen, are they not, Paul?
We got a single-core 3600 a year back, and it works just fine on our 720p TV. Got a couple of the 3610s a month back, cheap.
The trick that worked for us was to try Sabayon Linux (amongst many others) – cannot recall which revision it was, sorry – but it had the ability to launch XBMC from the main menu for Media Stuff, and then revert back to Sabayon for surfing etc. Not ideal, but it worked.
So I tampered with Ubuntu 9?? until the interface was what we wanted for TV and we could do enough of the XBMC stuff without using XBMC.
The Ubuntu Netbook version worked fine on the big screen – and the Ion/Atom environment worked fine.
It’s a similar problem, visually – the tiny netbook screen can be as hard to read as a distant TV – but it has big icons and so forth just like a Meeja Center.
Would not willingly use Win again, am too lazy to do the weekly repairs to its defences and forever fiddle with the b***** Registry.
Big Ben,
Glad to hear your revo works with Linux with XBMC.
I don’t talk or troubleshoot either on this blog or forum.
Weekly repairs to use Windows? Fiddle with the registry? Huh? Dude, I don’t know anyone that has to do that….
Besides, Windows environment works more smoothly for media than ANY other OS.
I’m about to pull the trigger on a AR3610-U2002, but I need some info about the Ion chipset: Is the Ion chipset in the U2002 (250G hdd version) the HD 1? I’ve been reading some not so nice things about the HD 11 Ion. As soon as I get a reply, (assuming U2202 is HD 1) I’m going to buy. Thanks in advance!
I’ve never heard of anything called “HD1″ or “HD11.” There’s a lot of hype out there on these boxes, so beware what you bank on.
The Revo 3610 is the dual core 330 atom with the ION Chip & CHipset. It’s all there is, there’s nothing else
The older 1600 single core (no longer made for almost 2 yrs) had XP and had the ION LE, which was limited to DirectX9 or less due to licensing issues that XP had. Direct X is mostly for video games and has nothing to do with HD playback. That’s the only Ion LE vs. Ion I’ve ever heard about and it has nothing to do with video playback.