I know that a few of you 3610 Ion users are not getting fluid playback of Flash or DX in a browser or in Boxee even with the updates and all. It is typically a high CPU usage that causes it. I’m stumped. I really am. As I’ve had great, smooth playback with my unit since day one. Though, it seems to be random that a few are having a poor experience. And the symptoms are very similar to 1600 ION LE users and this just should not happen on the 3610 with its dual core CPU. So, here is a listing of my exact set up. It should be mostly complete.
My Personal Revo 3610 Set Up that works well
Revo Specs & Setup:
- Revo 3610 Ion 330 2 gb ram With Windows-7 64 bit preinstalled.
- Connected via Cat-5 wire via a 100 mb network. (wifi sucks
) Wifi uses a lot of CPU and may hinder playback. Especially Revo 1600 users with the single core and ION LE chip. - Windows Aero is still activated and SHOULD stay on! Turning it off will cause GPU acceleration to stop working and video will lag horribly
- Turn off UAC This should be the first thing you do for annoyance factor alone
- Uninstalled all Bloatware to free up ram after boot.
- Kept Acer Keyboard and back up programs
- Configure Acer Backup not to run or prompt at start up
- Can run MSCONFIG to toggle off anything else you want to at start up. Be careful!!!
- Currently, ram after boot is 1.1 gb!
- Updates- ALL MSOFT updates except Windows Live junk
- Uninstalled factory Flash 10.0.22
- Installed-
- DX 11 update for DX 11
- Installed Flash 10.1 1p Beta RC-2 RC-7 Final Release add-in & activeX (see download link below) For ALL windows platforms 32 & 64 bit systems.
- Silverlight 3 4 via the MSOFT update center
- Installed Nvidia 195.62 197 WHQL 257.15 Beta 258.96 WHQL
- Installed Nvidia Chipset 15.51 (see mega zip pack below)
- Installed MPC-HC 64 for DX and MKV,MOV, WMV (HD) movies outside of Boxee
- Installed FireFox
- Installed Move Networks Player For Boxee use No longer needed.
- Installed the Nvidia HDMI audio update (cant remember version 8/2009)
- No other codec packs or other junk installed.
- Did not touch video card memory settings in Bios. Left it stock
- Installed Microsoft Security Essentials
- Boxee Beta-every version that has been available
- Factory sleep and screen saver options-changed to 1 hr delay.
- This is strictly a HTPC for Boxee and to surf the net on a 40″ 1080P HDTV. No other software or programs or anything is installed!!!!
- Connections and settings
- Directly to the HDTV via a 6ft HDMI cable with the audio.
- Have Revo set to 720P 60 Hz
- I feel that with Hulu and other streamed shows streamed in about 480P resolution anyway, the picture clarity is better at 720P rather than magnifying it further at 1080p and reducing picture clarity. When I do want true 1080P playback using the Revo, I change it back. The TV auto detects the feed. Video playback with the Revo set to 1080P is the same and fluid as 720P is.
- Video playback
- Flash-Smooth as can be in Hulu Desktop and IE. In Boxee there can be juuuuust a hair of a stutter every once in a while. Heck, this varies depending on each Boxee Beta build.
- DX/HD MKV Full 1080p file-Flawless in MPC-HC 64! Boxee does not yet support HD playback with DX, so it is way laggy. Soon to be updated. Boxee supports GPU acceleration only with HD 720p & 1080P files that are H.264 .mp4 file containers! Any other file container (mkv, mov, wmv etc) in 720P or 1080p may/will lag if played in Boxee.
- Move Networks- Flawless and fluid in IE 8. Pretty good in Boxee, but this is due to Boxee and not the Revo. Again, can vary depending on the current build of boxee All Network TV sites have gone to Flash and Move Networks is no longer being used by any major show sites. No longer needed.
- Netflix- Flawless via IE. Flawless via Boxee. I watch this DAILY! I’m addicted….
Files to Download:
- Many users have had smoother playback with the older Flash 1p Beta version vs. the 2p version. It’s no longer available, but I made a Mega Zip Pack below.
- Beta 3 is now available and I am testing it now with good results so far…. More later.
- Flash RC is out now. I’m using RC-2 RC-7 as it is far better than RC-4 when using Boxee Beta
- Flash Beta 10.1 Final Release Add-in & ActiveX . Get the latest at www.adobe.com. IE needs the Active X and FFox uses the Add-in. Use the actual browser to download each.
- If you want older versions of flash, see my : Flash Archive Download Zip Page
- Nvidia Drivers- 195.62 197.57 257.15 258.96 WHQL and included Chipset 15.51. For ALL windows platforms 32 & 64 bit systems.
- DirectX Update DX 9 & 10-Here Just do it! (Win-7 users get DX 11 with Windows Update)
- Silverlight- Via Windows Update There was just another update too!
- Install–FireFox 3.6.8 or Higher – Here
- Install–Move Networks Plug-in – Here (need this for IE or FFox or Boxee Beta to show NBC, ABC and Fox TV shows) All Network TV sites have gone to Flash and Move Networks is no longer being used by any major show sites. No longer needed.
- Media Player Classic HV 64 – Here
- Microsoft Security Essentials AV – Here
- Boxee Beta – Optional, but I’m biased
Here
Test Video Files
- Test File MKV 1080P 24 fps- Here
- Should play flawlessly in MPC-HC 64 or WMP!
- Boxee will be laggy until the DX acceleration is enabled in future builds.
- There are a few scenes in it that have some slight distortion, but that’s due to the quality of those shots not the Revo. The point here is that the file is full 1080P @ 24 fps and to test fluidity of playback.
- Test File H264 .MP4 hd720p 30fps – HERE
- Revision3 HD Nation Episode #30 (direct download from their server)
- This will play flawlessly in MPC and Boxee at under 15% CPU
- Mentions my Revo blog at about the 19-20 minute mark. Shameless plug…
- Test File WMV hd720p & HD1080p – HERE
- Microsoft WMV HD Content Showcase
- You may have to log in with your Hotmail account to see the links to the files.
- I seem to recall this plays well on MPC-HC 64. May pixelate at the start.
- Boxee is laggy.
- Test File YouTube Flash hd720p & HD1080p – HERE
- Youtube: YOKID37 Channel
- This user has nice 1080p HD Flash files. Typically, movie trailers.
- Due to streaming over Internet, bandwidth will affect smoothness. May have to pause and fully buffer before playing back video on FFox or IE or Boxee. Youtube’s bandwith sucks.
- Use Boxee Bookmarklet for FFox to que files to your Boxee Que.
- You can toggle the HD version in boxee once it starts, but it looks like it’s only the 720p option.
UPDATED-Installed Programs, Free/Available Ram info
People have been asking for a complete list of the programs I have installed after removing the bloatware on my Revo 3610. Plus, how much Free/Available ram do I have left. Well, here goes:
Installed Programs:
- Revo 3610 Installed Programs
You’ll notice I have an MCE TV and WHS Connector program. That’s just for my usage, so most will not need them . I left out all the MS updates. That’s pretty straight forward as you should install all security, drivers etc. I left out all the Windows Live crap.I have a total of 37 programs installed. I could stand to kill off the Acer Screen saver and the Nero 9, but I’m not in a hurry to do so.
TaskManager:
- Revo 3610 Taskmanger
This is after boot and the machine has had a few minutes to settle down. Now, don’t freak out when you see Free 149 as that’s not all that is available after boot. With Win-7 combines and lists memory differently than XP.
- Total is the amount of RAM installed on your computer, listed in megabytes (-the 256mb ram for the video card).
- Cached refers to the amount of physical memory used recently for system resources.
- Available is the total of standby and free memory from the Resource Monitor. Set aside for instant use by programs, drivers, etc. (this is what you want to look at!!)
- Free is the amount of memory that is currently unused or doesn’t contain useful information (unlike cached files, which do contain useful information).
So Revo has the following:
- Total 1791 mb or 1.79 gb total ram after the video card takes it’s 256 mb
- Cached 1000 mb or 1 gb
- Available (+free) 1134 mb or 1.1 gb
- Free 149 mb or ….149 mb.
As you can see, I have 1.134 gb of ram remaining after boot to run all my programs and processes. Not bad.
If you want a better breakdown of the total-cached-Avail-free, click the Resource Monitor button and mouse over the same words in the Memory section. You’ll get balloons with the a little bit more info on what each means.
Acer Revo Video Demos:
I’ve made three more videos since last November that highlight the Acer Revo using Boxee Beta with Flash. Check my latest Blog Post link for the details and link to my YouTube Channel
http://www.pauljroberts.com/boxee-beta-on-acer-revo-video-review
First of All: Paul: You Rock. Thanks so much for documenting your journey here. I owe my decision to buy this little box to you!
My question (to Paul, but happy to hear from the whole gang):
Can someone explain to me why my 1080p playback in MC is SILKY SMOOTH PERFECTION while my playback in XBMC and VLC is stutter-iffic garbage?
I believe the theoretical answer seems to be about some players leveraging the ION chipset and others leaving the load on the poor little CPU(s). My curiosity is whether my XBMC and VLC problems are fixable via driver updates or if these problems are simply a result of XBMC and VLC not yet knowing how to offload the playback to the GPU.
Thanks for any insights gang!
Darren,
I can’t comment on splitting and driving two monitors unless you use some sort of KVM switch, which I’ve never done or looked into before.
You must be in the UK or something as our Revos don’t come with 4gb and 500gb setups.
Alan,
Follow the DX link I have in this post. It says DX 9, but it’s for all of them.
XBMC issue solved! Turns out that as of about one week ago, there is a DXVA renderer as part of XBMC’s nightly build. Translation: Silky Smooth full frame-rate hotness on my XBMC videos. Sorry for the now-obsolete question!
Paul, this is one of the best reviews and guides I’ve seen in a while. I’m just about to pull the trigger on getting a 3610, but can you let me know what (if any) remote control you use with your setup? I’ve been all over the net and can’t really find a good answer on what you need to add to the 3610 to get an IR remote to work. Can you give me any guidance?
Mike B,
Sorry, I overlooked your comment. Thanks for the props on the review!
XBMC, Boxee and VLC do (did) not support DX acceleration for true 1080P HD files such as MKV. XBMC seems to have found a solution only recently and was not aware that it’s actually up and functioning. I don’t use it any longer myself, so I don’t follow their developments.
This upgrade is coming to Boxee too. Since XBMC is the “foundation” code for Boxee, they’ve been working on implementing this for some time. But it may not work on XP as that OS does not support it….technically.
Dave Evans,
Thanks for the props on my review! Glad it was able to help sort things out. Hope to do an updated review on a few topics shortly. Stay tuned.
A remote for the 3610? Well, that would depend upon what you’re trying to control on it: WMC, Boxee or XBMC or what?
If it’s WMC then any WMC ready remote will do.
If it’s Boxee, well I’d hit the boxee forums to sort out all the bells and whistles for the various remotes that suit those needs.
As for me? I’ve not gone there yet. Why? I don’t use WMC on my Revo, I use Boxee. Since I’m doing private beta testing, I find it easier to use the wireless keyboard and mouse. I’m not a fan of remotes for the PC or Boxee chores. I’m old school that way I guess. Maybe someday.
I am a mac user coming over to windows to use the revo 3610–would you be able to give me the step by step process for removing “bloatware” or point me to a link with the best way to uninstall “crapware”—thank-you
Jean,
Welcome to the “dark side.” LOL.
Well, Windows won’t bite when it comes to removing the bloatware. Simply click the Control Panel…then Uninstall Programs…and then highlight each one and click Uninstall. Rinse…reboot when told…..repeat until done.
BTW NEWEGG has the 3610-u922 In Stock and ready to ship at $329.99 ! Get ‘em while you can, boys!!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103235
Thanks to Richard for the hook up!
Paul
thank you for the nice review and sittings about for the Revo 3610, its an amazing device i came from work and i found mine in the mail about 4 hours ago and yes im a boxee fan but its not working for me the TV shows i think the ones over hulu i believe , the only show it works perfect is how i meet you mother the others well play but half the screen is black and i fallowed your steps exactly and still no change.. as u see its 2:45 am its driving me crazy. i don’t know where im going wrong but help from u will me nice
thank you
M,
There are a few issues with Boxee and Hulu right now that I must review with you.
1-Hulu does not work most of the time now as NBC / Hulu have done many things to block the video. So, it may not always work.
2-You need to install the Flash Beta, DirectX needs updated and is the most common cause for what you are seeing.
3-Certain builds of Boxee are known to show a Half Screen on any video playback. But this was corrected with the latest build.
So, what version of boxee are you running? 9.20.XXXXX
Paul, thanks for the help about removing bloatware–I’ve heard though, that after uninstalling these apps that fragments of files are left behind mucking up the works—do you use anything to remove all such files—such as CCleaner perhaps?
Jean,
I would not let that idea of “fragments” mucking up things. I’m a believer that is all over stated hog wash myself.
I’ve no issues with my Revo and I did the normal procedure and used Windows Uninstallation tool to remove everything. I don’t mess with those “tools” to remove fragments or registry values. Same for those “optimizer” programs. Every Time I’ve used either of them, my Windows installation typically becomes unstable and I have to do a reinstall. I’ve also fixed many PC’s (I’ve charged for it too) to reinstall the OS or fix badly damaged PC’s as a result of using those programs.
Honestly, don’t bother. The bloatware is nothing bad anyway. It’s all windows Office, some Acer crap and misc little stuff.
So I’ve taken the plunge and purchased the Acer Revo 3610. Also threw in a KWorld USB TV Tuner (UB435-Q). Still testing things out (haven’t installed Boxee yet — I’ve been playing with it for about an hour a night after work), but I must say that using the 3610 for PVR duties works great so far. I timeshifted Survivor on CBS last night, and it couldn’t have been smoother, and used on average 25% of the CPU. Not too shabby!
I know that the real test comes when I try to record a program on WMC in the background while playing back HD video from Boxee in the foreground, so will keep you posted…
Bobby Van,
Yeah I really, really want to try the Kworld unit. I was leaning to the HomeRun HD, but I need it for OTA. So, I think I’m gonna get it too this week.
Thanks for posting your results thus far! Yes, testing a recording via the Kworld & WMC and playing Boxee Flash, or Flash in IE or Hulu Desktop will be the best stress test for the Revo. An HD video in Boxee is supported as long as it is H.264 mp4. That will hit the CPU for about 15% alone. So, that should be fine. Now Hulu played with Boxee is about 30-40%, so add in the 25% of the Kworld and it should be just fine at a total of 75%. Please, keep us posted with the details.
I have a Boxee & Revo post coming soon with video and I will do the same once I do the Kworld upgrade.
I want to stream HD to my 61″ Samsung HDTV. Purchased the Revo 3610 and it looked aweful. Windows Media Center look bad too. I tried my sons Xbox360 and it looks much better. Called Netflix and they said they do not stream HD to computers only gaming consoles. They said Silverlight does not allow them to stream to pc’s. What up? All I want to do is use my Netflix account and WMC to stream HD to my panel. Would I be better off with a PS3 or do you suggest I try another Revo 3610??
thanks
Mike,
You have a couple of things to sort out:
First, netflix does not stream true HD to PC’s, which you found out. But Netflix does play just fine on PC’s via Internet Explorer with Silverlight. I use Netflix daily. Sure, it’s not HD 720p or 1080P format or quality, but it’s damn good! I’m not a videophile to the point where this is unacceptable and I find Netflix to be as good as a DVD rip or better. Everyone has different opinions on “quality.” Also, playing Neflix via WMC seems to be more grainy than with IE 8 x86 (non-64 bit IE) or even Boxee. I don’t use WMC on my Revo as I just don’t like it and it’s laggy.
Second, the TV video quality. Many Older, and not so old HDTV’s interpret the HDMI signal from PC’s strangely. You first need to open the Revo’s Nvidia video control panel and set the Revo to 720P or 1080P ( prefer 720P as it’s a better size and Internet content is not in true HD anyway and 1080 only magnifies the imperfections). Next, open your TV’s control panel and tinker with the settings for the connection you are using. Some have separate settings for each video input plug on the back. You want to avoid OVERSCAN and try Normal or Cinema or something. I have a friend where his PC desktop and video plays perfectly, but his desktop icons are fuzzy. There are rare cases where no mix of settings fixes things. It’s simply the TV or the audio receiver you are running the PC through. Most brand new TV’s seem to have this worked out.
Hope this helps you out a bit.
Hey I just received my 3610 and am in the process of uninstalling the bloatware, but I am not sure what I do and dont need. Do you think u can list the programs that u uninstalled or at least list the ones that u kept? Thanks.
Gordo,
Well, I certainly don’t remember what all I uninstalled by name..lol. But I can tell you that I kept all the Acer backup, Acer manager, autokey and anything Acer.
I deleted the Acer Media library, Windows Office demo, …o God… I can’t remember what I killed. I’ll have to look at the program list and note what is still installed. That will be easier. Stay tuned… I’ll post Friday.
Paul,
Thanks for all the work you have done. It def’ly helped me out in my set up of the Revo 3610.
However, I do seem to be having a problem. My audio playback snap/crackles/pops/stutters, or whatever one would call it. It doesn’t matter what program is running (whether it be video playback on netflix/internet or music through Zune or another audio player). I’ve set it up via HDMI and even using the front jack for audio and it still happens.
To the best of my ability I’ve followed your set up and removed the bloatware.
Is this a sign of a hardware issue or do I just need to update something? I’m rather ignorant on the computer so do forgive me.
Seth,
Thanks for the props on the blog!
Popping sounds via HDMI or the front jack playing all types of media? Hmmmm, not sure exactly.
That’s odd as it’s happening via multiple media types, both the HDMI and the other audio output that are powered by two different drivers.
Did it work ok before you did all the mods or was it always like this?
I guess my first suggestion would be to roll back the HDMI driver and see what happens and even re-update to the newest one if needed.
Or is this box connected via WiFi for all audio sources? If so, a poor wifi connection could be the issue. Test a file on the machine if this is the case.
Hey folks. I followed pretty much everything here (except I still have the Acer Arcade installed) and I am seeing about 300mb of memory available. The MSFT A/V is eating up quite a bit of memory so I am thinking of uninstalling it. I plan to use the Revo 3610 as a PVR (using an ATI 600 it chews the CPU though). Nonetheless, any recommendation how to capture more memory.
Thank you!
Andrew,
Acer ARcade should come off if you don’t plan to use it. If you really deleted all the junkware, and I mean all; you should end up with 1.1 gb free upon boot.
The MS AV is not that big of a ram hog. The other point is that it uses less cpu than most. So, that’s why I chose it.
There is not really anything else you can do to free up ram other than turn off boot up items in the MSCONFIG settings. Which I left out of my set up due to some may really mess things up.
I’d suggest you go through the installed programs and double check. In the mean time, I’ll see if I can’t whip up a list of “leave in” programs and get a screenie of my Taskmanager to prove it.
As for the PVR, I’ve not gotten one yet, but mentioned it in a post as well as a few commenters liked it. Look into the Kworld TV Tuner. Works with WMC and some say it is CPU friendly to the Revo’s.
http://www.pauljroberts.com/kworld-atsc-300u-plus-tv-hd-usb-tuner-on-acer-revo-3610
UPDATE:
I added my list of installed programs and a breakdown of my Taskmanger and Ram to the very bottom of the post. I included pictures too! Oh my! ;-0
Thanks for posting the additional information! I dumped Arcade and one other program and that took me over the 1gb mark.
Thanks again for the time you’ve taken to post all of this information and to reply to our comments. Much appreciated!
Andrew,
No problem adding the info to the post. I should have done it to begin with.
Ok, good to hear that the additional program removal helped out too. You can use the Run feature in the start menu then type in msconfig. Then you can go to the start up tab and uncheck anything you don’t want to start at boot. Be careful if you’ve never messed with this. If you don’t know what it does, then don’t uncheck it. You may jack your system and it won’t boot!
I turn off the Adobe Reader and the Acer Backup Managers and such, which keeps a few more services from starting and eating some ram up. Every bit helps!
PVR details. Another user here is using the HomeRunHD. It captures cable content and records and feeds it to the revo via your network. So it does the encoding! And the Windows MCE sees it in the PVR/DVR set up too. But it does not do OTA channels, which is a bummer.
Hi Paul,
Just as an update, I’ve now got my Revo 3610 running with WMC and Boxee, and two USB HDTV tuners (the KWorld USB and a Pinnacle).
CPU usage has not ever been an issue for me, even if I’m recording two OTA HDTV programs while watching a third on Boxee… I am considering upgrading my RAM however (I’ve got 2GB now), as my usage approaches 80-90% when maxing out my system that way.
I did disable Aero on my system also, and have noticed a very significant speed increase. Boxee loads much faster now, and the overall Win7 environment is much, much snappier.
If only Boxee could index and playback .WTV files (would be even better if it could be used for live OTA TV!). I love the interface, and find WMC to be just way too sluggish…..
Cheers.
i got mine yesterday. just found this as i was looking for some help. i had 2 issues yesterday.
1. cannot remote into w7 home. i want to be able to control this box from my laptop while still being able to watch tv.
answer was here http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/t/79427.aspx?PageIndex=1
im not suggesting you do this by any means. just throwing it out there.
2. my 3610 is in the main room hooked up to tv. router is in office. its the normal fios actiontec one(Actiontec MI424WR) wireless G. the 3610 has wireless N. the 3610 is crawling connected to wireless. when i do a speed test at speakeasy i get somewhere between .5-4. when i do the same test with my dell mini sitting right next to it i get 10+. do i need to run out and get a wireless N router? or messed with hcannels and stuff on the router but that didnt improve speed.
3. random advice for you iphone users. go check out logitech touch mouse.
Bobby Van,
I’m supprised CPU has not been an issue with two recording tuners AND boxee, but the Kworld seems to use less CPU and may help that.
With two tuners rolling, I could see the need for more ram. Remember, even installing 4gb, the revo will recognize only 3.75 gb including the 256 allocated to the vid card. Still, that’s 1.5 more gb for the PC to utilize.
I’ve found no need to disable Aero myself for the way I use the machine, though that may help depending one what you are running. WMC is a touch slow for my liking, let alone the gaps in it’s config without a ton of add ins to make it more usefull.
Boxee and .WTV files? Hmmm, I’ll mention it to the dev team I work with @ boxee and see. Maybe we should submit a suggestion too.
BC,
1. I think you cannot use full remote desktop on Home…only Pro. Though, if you find a hack or something, go for it.
2. Wifi has three issues. First, it is a cpu hog on the revo. Second, wifi is only as good as the connection. The more walls, distance, interference, and signal strength affect this. Adding a N router will give you a bigger pipe, but does not normally fix a slow and/or poor quality connection. Third, the wifi card on the revo has no antenna and will have crappy reception. I’ve not found anyone that can get wifi to work worth a darn unless you live in an open room house.
If possible, you may need to go wired as that will rock, but is not possible for many situations. Or add a wifi bridge between your router and the revo to shore up the reception and give it less distance to deal with. But then the wifi will suck down CPU and ram.
One question.
If I want the Revo left on 24/7 to act as a Home Server as well is there any specific config that you would advise to minimise the power consumption and still be available to share files and to go back to full power to playback video etc.
D
David Farrell,
You can run the revo as a server 24/7, that’s not a problem. The problem is putting it to sleep and waking it up for video share usage.
-If you run the Windows-7 OS, you’d have to see if the wake up feature can be triggered by trying to open a shared folder or something. I’ve never tried this or know if that is available on Win-7. I just tried to open a shared folder on my Revo from my network pc, of course it asked me for a user/password but it would not work as the machine is sleeping. So, you’d have to sort that out.
-I run Windows Home Server on a homebuilt machine. You could install that on the Revo and leave it running 24/7 or there is a plug in for it called Lights Out where you can set it to sleep for specified times of day. You can also configure it to wake if it senses a networked PC is trying to access folders.
Paul,
I bought a Revo 3610 and set it up with your mega zip pack and in accordance with your instructions. Thank you for sharing. My Revo 3610 is attached via HDMI cable to a 52 inch Samsung DLP. After outputting audio through the HDMI cable, I decided to output audio through the headphone jack to external stereo speakers. I am using the Revo’s wireless card to connect to the internet. I am very pleased with the performance. I streamed a movie from Netflix and the CPU usage was at 20%. I next streamed content from Hulu and CPU usage averaged 20%. Also, I am using an external Hauppauge WIN TV HVR-1950 which works perfectly with Windows Media Center. The remote control that comes with the WIN TV HVR also controls Windows Media Center. Bottom line, I am very pleased with the Revo 3610 and it has fully exceeded my expectations.
Ryan Patrick,
EXCELLENT! Glad to hear things went well with your new Revo!
Thanks for sharing your setup and results.
Are you running Flash 10.1 3p beta yet?
How about the new Nvidia drivers? 196.21 or 196.34?
I am very curious to know if these are better than the drivers and flash in your “mega” pack.
Thanks,
Brian
Brian,
Yes, I’ve been running the 3P Beta for the past week and the matching 196.21 Nvidia. I’ve seen that HULU in IE or in Hulu Desktop uses 10% less CPU. Hulu used to hit the CPU at 25-28% and now with 3p it’s down to 16%19%. Same for other sites as well. Each flash player from each web site will be different depending upon their design.
Overall, I’ve seen good results with 3p. No huge CPU usage like 2p. Playback quality seems the same or maaaaaybe a touch cleaner. Also, I’ve not lost the HDMI sound on my Revo after waking from sleep since the Nvidia update. Hmmm, that’s odd. Bottom line, I’ve seen no other improvements of 3p on the Revo vs. 1p other than lower CPU usage. Which is a good thing!
Anyway, I’m this close to recommending the update to fellow Revo 3610 users. I just wanted to give it some more seat time over the weekend before I made a new post. Users of the Revo 1600 may not see much of anything but lower CPU, which may let them run hulu or any flash web site at full screen with less skipping….maybe. Overall, the 3p reduced CPU on the Atom/Ion machines and the updates to the Nvidia driver simply fixed some bugs with other video cards and game playback.
Hi Paul,
Thanks so much for the work you’ve done here. It has save a lot of time for folks trying to get going with the Revo. I started a quest to get this working primarily to feed my wife’s MLB fix for this season, after getting very frustrated with Time Warner’s handling of MLB Extra Innings and their insistence on blocking Tivos from recording the content. I figured MLB.TV would be better and via Boxee is should pass the “wife test” on ease of use.
Out of the box, I was not very impressed with the Revo, but its gotten better with all the tuning steps you recommended. I am trying to understand what I should expect from this, as everyone’s idea of “good” is different. I am not a videophile and although I love good HD, I can live with television grade SD content as well. We’ve been watching a lot of content through our Tivo from Netflix and have never been disappointed with it.
So I have the Revo 3610 now for a few days and I think I’ve done most of the things you suggested… purging bloatware, upgrading Flash and Nvidia, etc. I have it attached by wire to a gigabit switch, which is in turing going through and Airport Extreme router to a cable modem… connected to Time Warner Road Runner Turbo (~18mbps down, ~0.500mbps up).
Here is what I’ve experienced last night when doing some testing:
- Within Boxee, going into Netflix it seems to take a very long time to paint the cover art… like a minute or so when I jump into a section. Playing a video is tolerable, but I’m getting quite a bit of pixilation beyond what I’d expect.
- I tried Hulu desktop, Boxee, and Clicker and playback of content is again tolerable, but there is pixilation which degrades it to less than SD quality. Its kind of odd, because at times its really sharp, and at other times its not. And when you have an abruptly changing seen, it is kind of jerky and not smooth.
- You haven’t discussed MLB.TV, so I assume you’ve not tried it. Same thing with that… video is not smooth…. quite a bit worse than Hulu and Boxee actually. I think some of that is on MLB.TV’s end as they admit they’ve not turned all the good stuff on and won’t until regular season starts, which is a bit frustrating since the whole point of this was that service (and to eventually be able to pull the cable plug).
I’m just looking for “what to expect” and also how to best isolate where the problem is if I’m not getting the same level of quality that you are getting. I’m actually willing to switch anything in the system to try and get this to work. This stuff is SO close to being the greatest thing since sliced bread, but just not quite there yet.
Not sure if you’ve tried it, but I’m now working on trying to get my Harmony One remote to control everything… some work has been done on that to potentially even control the mouse.
On a closing note, I admit I’m jealous of your job! I used to do a lot of drag racing in younger years and now am a project manager, but not in something as cool as that! The one area of content that will likely keep my cable connection going is being able to watch NHRA on ESPN2. I wish ESPN would get a good internet driven service.
Mike Collins,
Glad my blog was able to help you get up and running!
Two things we need to distinguish:
1-Boxee
2-Network Speed
First the Boxee:
Boxee is beta and has it’s own set of bugs. So, what you get in boxee may be different that what you get using IExporer.
I’ve found no difference in playback quality in Boxee for Hulu (flash based content) and Netflix. Also, functions and such of Boxee are somewhat finiky right now. I’ve got no issues with Netflix thumbs posting quickly in Boxee.
As you mentioned that quality is different for different people. It’s very subjective. And Netflix will be in HD via the Tivo but is not in HD on PC’s (that’s NF’s decision to do that).
Network Speed:
Netflix is Silverlight and will start out grainy for about 20 seconds then go clear (in Boxee or IE). Now, the issue with Silverlight is that it’s quality (graininess) is based entirely on the pipe the data is going through. If it’s under 3 mbps, Silverlight will throttle back the quality of the picture to keep the playback smooth. With RR turbo, you should not have an issue to the house. Maybe you have a network issue inside the house that is choking back the bandwidth? You may need to do some testing. At least open Taskmanager and see how much bandwidth you are using. The fact that you are getting grainy playback that comes and goes and slow loading thumbs in Boxee makes me wonder if you have a bottleneck????
I don’t have RR turbo but rather the std 7.5 mb set up. Turbo is based on demand…maybe it is throttling back too far and giving you only 2.0 mbps? That will make NetFlix get grainy! Also, that airport router? Man, I’ve heard nothing but trouble with bandwidth issues with those things. Do some checking to make sure you’re getting all the bandwidth you should be to the machine.
MBL? Don’t use it. So no input.
But I think you have a bottleneck in your network. Start with that Apple product you have in the middle. I bet it’s you whole problem.
Thanks Paul,
I was thinking the same thing as you and hit Best Buy and picked up a Netgear WNDR3700 tonight and am swapping it for the Airport Extreme (actually, mine is a Time Capsule). One thing I had been reading about was that QOS can help with this kind and the Apple box doesn’t do QOS. This router is top of the charts for speed, so hopefully it will alleviate any problems with potential network issues. I work from home and have had some VoIP issues sometimes and its baffled me since I’ve literally got what should be a plenty fast pipe. I consistently get about 15-20Mbps down and just under 500K up. Coming out of the cable modem I go straight into the router (now the Netgear), and then into a Dell 24 port gigabit switch. The Revo is direct connected to the switch. No long runs of Cat6 or anything… close enough for patch cords to do the connections.
I’ll test it some more tonight and see what I get. You’ve given me an idea on what to expect.
On the quality thing, not all Tivo playback of NF is HD… so I’m basing my comparisons on SD content. In fact, I’m using the movie My Cousin Vinny and Groundhog Day for comparison and I think they are both SD.
So do you get much pixelation in playback for Hulu, Boxee, etc.?
Mike
Mike Collins,
I really feel you are not getting a “consistent” 3.0+ mbps bandwidth. That’s the only reason Netflix/Silverlight would change the quality on the fly. You can run up to 300 ft of cat 6 before needing a booster, so it’s not that. Since you’ve already started the conversion to the new router, I’ll wait to hear your outcome before suggesting anything else.
Now, playing older movies like those will have a grainier appearance anyway, even if they were being pushed in HD stream. I’ve watched many of that era and they are perfectly clear after a 10-15 second start up & buffer of Silverlight. As with most video streams in SD, dark backgrounds show the distortion a little (I call it oil on water effect), but there is no pixelation at all.
The simplest way to describe Hulu in a Boxee vs. IE or FFox scenario is this. They look identical to me. That is making them both full screen on a 720P or 1080p setting on the Revo pushed via HDMI to a full 1080P HDTV LCD. Now, with that said, I have no pixelation at all. There is the typical dark background swirl or as I call it “oil on water” effect, but that’s only on very dark backgrounds (same as silverlight above). But no pixelation, stutter, skips, burps, or hickups.
To compare both Hulu and NF in all players: both play and look identical for me in either— Boxee, IE, FFox, Hulu Desktop or NetFlix in a browser on the Revo 3610.
I did two things last night… replaced the router and also disabled Aero. I think the router had an affect.. not sure about Aero. I am getting better results… probably not there yet, but starting to think about it being a possibility to ditch cable at some point in the near future.
Hule Desktop Player is looking sweet now. I watched a few movies and television shows and they looked very good. There are a few breaks now and again, but nothing bad. Also had good results via Clicker.com. I’m trying to remember if I tried Netflix or not… I think I did and it was fine. Within Boxee I was getting better results, and I think the problems I was having were really the content or something. For example, I watched an Engadget show that was on the RSS list and it was excellent. It looked HD to me and had no problems at all. I then watched an episode of House though Boxee from the Television show list, and it was to be blunt… horrible. It seemed like it was running at a horribly low framerate and just stuttered along.
I am running at 720P by the way, and the Windows 7 desktop now looks very nice from the couch. I fiddled with the programming of my Harmony One remote last night and actually got functional enough that I was able to navigate the desktop and launch all this stuff and use it with just the Harmony One. I used the instructions found here – http://forums.logitech.com/t5/Harmony-Remotes-Programming/Expanded-control-for-Windows-Media-Center-now-available-in-our/td-p/374844 . I basically setup a whole page of softkeys to do the mouse – left, right, up, down, click, and right click. With that, you can pretty much tackle anything as long as any urls you need are in bookmarks.
Now to MLB.TV. I am a little baffled by this and have yet to find someone with a good baseline experience to compare to. I think the router helped, as before MLB.TV was telling me via their bandwidth check that I was only getting 3-6mbps (I have 15-20mbps), and now its showing (5-11mbps) by their test. Before it wouldn’t give me a decent quality at all… very pixelated (it scales quality based on bandwidth I think). Now, however, when I watch something the video quality is excellent HD, but it goes for about 3 seconds then stops for 3… then repeats over and over. I’ll keep working with them to determine if there is something wrong. Its all done in Flash and their “required specs” are below the Revo; and they claim you need 3mbps from their test to get good HD.
I think we are getting there. Hulu Desktop is quite impressive and if that works, then everything else should be able to work. I dropped the idea with my wife last night that I’m thinking of ditching Cable and going OTA. Between the Tivo (OTA, Amazon, Netflix) and the Revo, we should be able to get more than enough content to watch if we are patient.
Thanks again for all the help.
Looking for some feedback. After loading the Mega Zip Pack I still don’t see smooth playback in NetFlix, Boxee, and Live TV. I’m including a couple of snapshots of my installs/versions and wonder if maybe I don’t have something quite right. I see about 1.2gb RAM available.
Let me state that I am not using the onboard wireless as I disabled the adapter. However, I have connected my 3610 to a wireless router. This same router has an Xbox connected to it and it plays NetFlix just fine. The Revo and Xbox aren’t running at the same time.
In regards to Live TV I am using a Kworld UB435 Tuner and when I view my QAM channels I see stuttering. Something else of note is the channels appear in Letterbox format but if I don’t use the Tuner the channels are 16×9 without the black top/bottom bars. Any tweaks here are appreciated.
The last few things I want to mention is that when my Revo arrived the screw holding the box together didn’t have a warranty seal over it (anyone else see something similar – maybe the US model doesn’t have one). Finally, I was not able to burn recovery DVD’s due to a 0×207 error. I contacted Acer Support (800-816-2237) and they are sending the recovery DVD’s at no charge. I was told my recovery partition is messed up somehow (known issue) so that’s why they sent the DVD’s. I thought this could help out others that are having the same error.
http://img30.yfrog.com/i/installed1.jpg/
http://img693.yfrog.com/i/installed2.jpg/
Thanks in advance for the feedback/suggestions.
Andrew,
Well, that’s a lot of info there.
Even though you used my mega zip pack, make sure you’ve run all MS updates too including Silverlight, DirectX etc.
The screw on the bottom? There is no sticker on the USA models.
Connecting the Revo to a wireless router does not matter as long as you are not using that router as a bridge to connect wirelessly to ANOTHER router. Then that wifi connection can be the cause for a low bandwidth issue and cause stuttering.
I’ve heard that some are having issues with stuttering of video on the 3610 with IE or FFox and in boxee no matter what. Boxee I can sometimes see, but to have it with IE and FFox makes me wonder. This could, could be due to your internet connection speed. You need at least 3.0 mbps to get good Hulu (or any flash site) and NetFlix (silverlight) playback. If less than that, Flash will stutter and Silverlight will get grainy to maintain smooth playback.
The TV tuner, well who knows really. They do add another load to the puny CPU on the revo, so some say they work well and others say they don’t. I’m in the middle of getting one and testing it myself.
You did not mention what type of TV you have it connected to and the cable type?
To do list:
Verify your ISP connection speed and make sure you’re getting that speed TO THE REVO. Very important.
Install all the updates on Windows 7
Make sure you are connected to a wired connection
Undo the TV tuner and do your testing of Hulu and netflix with IE 8 (IE -8 x86 version only!! IE -64 bit does not play Flash Beta!)
Boxee is a separate issue altogether, so lets nail the flash and netflix issues in IE first.
If connected to HDTV, use an HDMI cable and set the Revo Nvidia controls to 720P or 1080P (720P is better for web viewing and little less CPU for the Revo)
Hi Paul,
I know others have said this before, but thank you for everything you’ve done. I’ve spent weeks reviewing pre-built and build-it-yourself HTPC options, looked for reviews of flash 10.1, hulu, WMC, and live TV options and playback quality, and you’ve done an amazing job putting it all together!
I’m about ready to take the plunge, but I’m just curious if you or anyone else replaced the 160GB harddrive with a larger drive, and if so, is there any easy to use Acer ‘Recovery’ system available to transfer the operating system to the new drive? I don’t have a separate NAS, and because I intend to also use this system as a DVR, would like the additional storage.
Also, do you know of any difference between the 3610 U9022 and the 3610 U9012? (or is it just the color: black vs. blue). Thanks again!
Dan M,
Thank you for the complements.. I really appreciate it!
The revo has an OS image backup on a separate partition on the drive. It also has a backup manager to burn the DVD’s to make a factory disc set. So, you’d have to connect a DVD burner via USB and make the disk set. Then open the unit and replace the drive. Then start the reinstall. I’m sure there are other ways that may be easier/harder, but you still need a DVD burner connected to get the factory reinstall diskset.
Actually, I was one of the first to post the differences between the U9012 and the newer U9022. The only difference is that the U9022 now has the VESA mount. The color and everything else is identical to the U9012. Buy whichever you can get your hands on first.
Must say after a week of setting up and tweaking my new 3610 I remain disappointed with performance and video quality. Followed the instructions here regarding downloads, settings, etc. Tried on a 720p and 1080p set up (both Pannys). 17 meg pipe, so speed not an issue. Everything in IE is jumpy and grainy, pixelated, etc. Same deal with Hulu and other sites. A bit of buyer’s remorse right now, but suppose I will keep trying to make the investment of time and money worthwhile…Any suggestions are appreciated. I’ve seen the various comments about “overscan”, but that is not an obvious option on either of the TVs I’ve tried.
Thanks
Steve,
I”ve seen several people get a revo 3610 or 1600 and have all sorts of issues with choppy video and poor playback. Not sure if there is a driver or hardware issues as it seems the ION GPU is not being triggered to do the video acceleration or something. It’s really hard for me to sort things out from afar, especially since 6 of revo 3610′s I’ve set up and have not had such problems. All I can suggest is the usual: update all drivers and install Flash Beta, remove bloatware to free up ram and connect via HDMI to an HDTV.
Then there are TV resolution issues. Overscan, or how the TV or audio receiver interprets the signal from the Revo, which can cause issues too. From there I suggest the usual: set the NVidia HDMI out to 720P or 1080P or 1080I out and connect to the TV. After that, work through the TV resolution settings to get the best visual. Problem is every TV is different. Even brand new ones. Hell, I have a friend that has an HP media smart with HDMI out connected to an HD DPI TV and it was all whacked out. It took a mixture of trial and error PC settings and TV settings to get a good normal picture. Nothing I would have normally set it to either, which was strange.
Test and tweak the output video settings of the revo and the TV to see what is best. If it all fails, return the Revo for another one and try again.
Paul – thanks for the response. I have done everything you mentioned above and in your posts. Still no luck. How does one know if the GPU is being triggered or not?
Hi Paul, Thank you for all the helpful information you have provided it’s been a big help. Your latest comments prompted me to ask for your help. I think my Revo 3610 is running good using your guide (~15%-20% CPU playing 1080p) however I’m having an issue playing 720p or 1080p videos on my Sony 52” XBR9 unless I have the application set to full screen. For example, if I watch a 1080p youtube video without going into full screen the picture my TV will keep turning on and off. The TV acts like the input port is being changed and sometimes for a split second I see an “unsupported input” warning pop up. If I pause the video and go into full screen the video and sound are flawless. Is this an issue you have seen before? If you could point me in the right trouble shooting direction, that would be awesome.
Things I’ve tried;
Older drivers/new beta drivers
Different browsers IE, Firefox, Chrome
Different PC resolution/refresh rate (720p/1080i/p) (60, 50, 24Hrz..etc)
Changed ever TV setting I could find
Different HDMI cable and TV port
Fresh Win 7 64bit install
Connected Revo to Sony 32” 720p and the Revo plays 720p and 1080p in any mode with no issues.
Thanks