Topic: New Intel HDMI stick quad-core Atom Bay Trail 2GB Ram USB and microSD (Read 22816 times)

Hilton · « **on:** January 12, 2015, 11:46:24 pm »

Interesting opportunity for cheap MC20 and Id HDMI zones on every TV in your house.

MC20 on a stick. Windoz 8.1 or Linux Ubuntu available

Revealed at CES 2015, the $149 Intel Compute Stick is a Windows 8.1 computer in the slim body of an HDMI 1.4a dongle media streamer, like the Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV Stick. A quad-core Atom Bay Trail processor powers the Stick, accompanied by 2GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage. A micro SD slot allows you to expand the meager storage, a USB 2.0 port provides a slot for peripherals, and while a micro USB port supplies the power, Intel aims to fully power the stick through the HDMI connection in the future. Connectivity is provided through 802.11bgn WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0, and Intel will also include an HDMI extender.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/196912-intel-compute-stick-transforms-any-hdmi-screen-into-a-desktop-computer

jmone · « **Reply #1 on:** January 13, 2015, 04:38:41 am »

I had the same thoughts ....

JimH · « **Reply #2 on:** January 13, 2015, 05:20:07 am »

Nice.

The RAM and disk are both big enough.

Information on Intel site

jmone · « **Reply #3 on:** January 13, 2015, 03:05:20 pm »

It could be a good MC on a stick option and you can get both a Windows and a US$89 Unix flavour is even cheaper. It should have the same sort of performance as the current ID in general but looks like it is Fanless so that will please a lot of users.

Downside is due to the size there is stuff not built in, like LAN, IR, and Analogue Out Audio. All of which could be added via the USB port (but you then defeat the purpose of such a small stick as you could even end up with bits hanging off it and even a USB Hub if you need 2 or more devices). I was keen that this could be a replacement for the Original ID but without an Analogue Out it may not be the best answer. That said, I'll buy one to play with!

newsposter · « **Reply #4 on:** January 13, 2015, 05:48:28 pm »

There are other compute 'stick' solutions that has Pi-like i/o shields including some high-res audio shields.

Also don't discount the possibility of using current-gen USB audio sticks along side (on top of?) these new compute sticks.

With MC/Linux, the possibilities for a MC 'stick' are almost endless.

mwillems · « **Reply #5 on:** January 13, 2015, 07:12:40 pm »

Quote from: newsposter on January 13, 2015, 05:48:28 pm

There are other compute 'stick' solutions that has Pi-like i/o shields including some high-res audio shields.

Also don't discount the possibility of using current-gen USB audio sticks along side (on top of?) these new compute sticks.

With MC/Linux, the possibilities for a MC 'stick' are almost endless.

Although most of the current gen sticks and SoC's are ARM which rules out MC for now. This intel stick would actually run MC as it is.

Although I have got android running on one of my SoC's, which at least opens up Gizmo

Hilton · « **Reply #6 on:** January 13, 2015, 09:50:11 pm »

You could of course just plug it into the back of your AVR and use the HDMI audio directly into your AVR and route the video and audio to your display or room of choice.
Dragon Fly USB DACS and the like should also work.

jmone · « **Reply #7 on:** January 17, 2015, 04:43:02 pm »

FYI - I just purchased the MEEGOPAD which is the "same" stick (well same spec, from the same mfr in China apparently). Will see how it goes when (if) it arrives.

Hilton · « **Reply #8 on:** January 18, 2015, 02:42:55 am »

Look forward to the report!

Peter_T · « **Reply #9 on:** January 21, 2015, 10:24:47 am »

Quote from: Hiltonk on January 13, 2015, 09:50:11 pm

You could of course just plug it into the back of your AVR and use the HDMI audio directly into your AVR and route the video and audio to your display or room of choice.
Dragon Fly USB DACS and the like should also work.

Oh that would be great.

jmone · « **Reply #10 on:** January 22, 2015, 03:45:48 pm »

Quote from: jmone on January 17, 2015, 04:43:02 pm

FYI - I just purchased the MEEGOPAD which is the "same" stick (well same spec, from the same mfr in China apparently). Will see how it goes when (if) it arrives.

Got a notice that it has shipped from China so should have it in a week or two. I plan to run up Win 10 on it + MC and do the usual tests. Let me know if there is anything specific you want to see.

JimH · « **Reply #11 on:** January 23, 2015, 10:20:51 am »

More details found here:
http://linuxgizmos.com/intel-hdmi-stick-runs-linux-or-windows-on-quad-core-bay-trail/

Some may be speculation.

Link to the Quanta product mentioned.

Hilton · « **Reply #12 on:** January 26, 2015, 04:34:34 am »

Here's another interesting candidate with the same new processor.
Interesting that Windows 8.1 with Bing is now FREE to OEMs... HINT HINT...

For those that want an Apple TV type device configured with JRiver MC20 from the factory.

You could launch an Id with windows for the windows crowd and Id with Linux in a Apple TV form factor. That sounds like a great way to push the Id.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/new-product/digital-home/3595240/minix-neo-z64-sub-100-pc-uk-release-date-price-specs/

jmone · « **Reply #13 on:** January 27, 2015, 04:33:32 pm »

Given it only has 2GB of RAM I take it there is no benefit of installing 64-Bit Windows? I plan to drop Windows 10 Preview on it when it arrives (should have it this week).
Thanks
Nathan

Hendrik · « **Reply #14 on:** January 27, 2015, 04:44:16 pm »

There is no reason not to use 64-bit, it doesn't really use more RAM, and you can use every bit of the CPUs performance this way.

jmone · « **Reply #15 on:** January 27, 2015, 05:11:55 pm »

Thanks 64-Bit it is

Arindelle · « **Reply #16 on:** January 28, 2015, 09:40:57 am »

Thought I'd post this (they just went out of stock)

109 USD includes Win8.1 - can handle 2 OS (or maybe Android is the 2nd one?)

http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box/pp_128507.html

amazing that this is out in Asia before Intel launches it themselves!

Question -- Could this be used via ethernet directly plugged into a renderer (like an Oppo or a Linn DS) which would convert the renderer to a dedicated MC client and avoiding DLNA issues? Or an AV receiver for that matter?

Hendrik · « **Reply #17 on:** January 28, 2015, 09:55:50 am »

It doesn't have an ethernet connection, so how would you get that in there? :d
Also, not to get confused, but these asian meegopad sticks are not Intels own product, so there may be differences in build quality, or even minor differences in spec.

Sounds like an interesting thing for a bedroom TV or something like that, where WiFi would be enough to get some media streaming going.

Arindelle · « **Reply #18 on:** January 28, 2015, 09:58:15 am »

Quote from: Hendrik on January 28, 2015, 09:55:50 am

It doesn't have an ethernet connection, so how would you get that in there? :d

oops .... WIFI

JimH · « **Reply #19 on:** January 28, 2015, 10:06:43 am »

I think Wi-Fi is also considered Ethernet.

Arindelle · « **Reply #20 on:** January 28, 2015, 10:10:18 am »

well it does have wifi .. too bad its only 2gb in Ram and no hard wiring though. Sure is small.

Hendrik · « **Reply #21 on:** January 28, 2015, 10:11:53 am »

From a technical standpoint, Ethernet is the category of wired network standards we use today, those typically with the RJ45 connectors. WiFi is not Ethernet, nor are some old'er competing wired standards. Average Joe isn't going to use the word Ethernet, so I won't let it be muddled up!

Could always run a USB Ethernet adapter if you don't trust your WiFi enough though.

I do agree that a variant with 4GB of RAM would be super, that would give it quite a bit more flexibility.

JimH · « **Reply #22 on:** January 28, 2015, 08:05:55 pm »

Wi-Fi isn't Ethernet, but it uses the Ethernet protocol.

Wired networks are commonly called Ethernet now, but the protocol isn't limited to Ethernet.

Like the Web is not the Internet.

jmone · « **Reply #23 on:** January 29, 2015, 01:11:18 am »

Right you 3 - knock it off or a one week Ban for being Off Topic / dribbling on

Just arrived and unboxed!

All looks OK except for the PS with the typical dodgy Country Adapter that keeps popping off (that is going into the bin).

The mouse is only in the Pic to give you an idea of the size.

It booted quickly into Windows Bing but it is a "demo" version that can not be activated. It is also setup for Chinese Lang/Location etc (as with IE etc) so it is about to be replaced with a fresh install of Windows 10 Tech Preview V9926.

jmone · « **Reply #24 on:** January 29, 2015, 06:39:09 am »

Finally got W10 installed ... but a PITA. I tried to do a 64-Bit install from the SD card but no luck getting it to be recognised as a boot option. So for now I pushed a 32-Bit install over the top. The good news is that W10 had no issues with drivers etc and in a quick play (it is late here), MC could play Audio and Video (Blu-ray) as a library server client over the Wireless Network.

General GUI performance is sluggish at present but it seems to be doing stuff post the W10 install so I'll leave it on and see how it is tomorrow.

jmone · « **Reply #25 on:** January 29, 2015, 02:08:30 pm »

Here is the initial Performance Results as is:

=== Running Benchmarks (please do not interrupt) ===

Running 'Math' benchmark...
Single-threaded integer math... 15.204 seconds
Single-threaded floating point math... 8.027 seconds
Multi-threaded integer math... 8.549 seconds
Multi-threaded mixed math... 4.019 seconds
Score: 531

Running 'Image' benchmark...
Image creation / destruction... 1.724 seconds
Flood filling... 1.363 seconds
Direct copying... 2.389 seconds
Small renders... 8.590 seconds
Bilinear rendering... 4.967 seconds
Bicubic rendering... 3.553 seconds
Score: 974

Running 'Database' benchmark...
Create database... 1.795 seconds
Populate database... 8.618 seconds
Save database... 3.047 seconds
Reload database... 0.251 seconds
Search database... 5.540 seconds
Sort database... 4.976 seconds
Group database... 3.361 seconds
Score: 779

JRMark (version 20.0.62): 761

jmone · « **Reply #26 on:** January 29, 2015, 05:05:09 pm »

The only playback issue I'm struggling with is 1920x1080@50 or 60i (24p and 60p is fine) video (looks like dropping frames / slow mo video = av sync issues). I've tried:
- Updating to the latest Intel HD graphics drivers
- Upping the GPU memory to max in the BIOS
- Even an old trick of deleting the IntelQuickSyncDecoder.dll in the LAV Folder (to force DXVA2)

CPU utilisation looks fine and compared with the NUC 2820 (which can play these videos), the only difference I can see in the GPU spec is that the 2820 has a Max Freq of 756 MHz instead of the 646 MHz for the Atom Z3735F)

Any ideas worth trying?

Thanks
Nathan

jmone · « **Reply #27 on:** January 29, 2015, 05:07:50 pm »

...also let me know if there is anything you want tested and then I'll do a write up

jmone · « **Reply #28 on:** January 29, 2015, 05:15:54 pm »

I found some tech discussion regarding this chip and de-interlacing issues at https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/topic/538779 if that makes any sense!

Hilton · « **Reply #29 on:** January 29, 2015, 05:43:03 pm »

Quote from: jmone on January 29, 2015, 05:15:54 pm

I found some tech discussion regarding this chip and de-interlacing issues at https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/topic/538779 if that makes any sense!

Looks like some driver optimisation is required by intel.

JimH · « **Reply #30 on:** January 29, 2015, 06:10:39 pm »

Quote from: jmone on January 29, 2015, 05:07:50 pm

...also let me know if there is anything you want tested and then I'll do a write up

Does it receive any communications from extra-terrestrials?

jmone · « **Reply #31 on:** January 29, 2015, 09:50:47 pm »

Nope -

...and I still can not manage to install Win 10 64-Bit on this thing:
- You don't see the SD Card Slot in the BIOS as a boot device (Found a post on this)
- Used a cheap USB hub to connect my Wireless KB/Mouse & a then USB Drives / BD Drives etc
- The BIOS sees these as UEFI devices but while it is reading info from them, it keeps booting into Windows not off the install pack, and I've tried:
- ISO --> DVD on two different BD drives
- ISO --> Bootable USB using rufus set to UEFI, UEFI & BIOS etc
- Suffed about with the secure boot options but ....

....any ideas?

mwillems · « **Reply #32 on:** January 30, 2015, 07:04:04 am »

Quote from: jmone on January 29, 2015, 09:50:47 pm

Nope -

...and I still can not manage to install Win 10 64-Bit on this thing:
- You don't see the SD Card Slot in the BIOS as a boot device (Found a post on this)
- Used a cheap USB hub to connect my Wireless KB/Mouse & a then USB Drives / BD Drives etc
- The BIOS sees these as UEFI devices but while it is reading info from them, it keeps booting into Windows not off the install pack, and I've tried:
  - ISO --> DVD on two different BD drives
  - ISO --> Bootable USB using rufus set to UEFI, UEFI & BIOS etc
  - Suffed about with the secure boot options but ....

....any ideas?

A DVD may not work as windows optical media have problems with UEFI booting (or at least they did in windows 8 ), so a usb drive may be the only practical way to do it. You may need to entirely disable secure boot (hopefully you can, not all devices permit disabling secure boot).

In the UEFI firmware menu have you tried using the boot override options? Usually on the last screen there's an option to choose your "next boot" by just picking a device. If those don't work you've got problems.

jmone · « **Reply #33 on:** January 30, 2015, 05:21:41 pm »

FYI - post a Review here

Hilton · « **Reply #34 on:** February 06, 2015, 06:10:22 am »

Nathan I did some more research into these and they don't support 64bit OS in the BIOS, it only supports booting in 32bit mode UEFI.

jmone · « **Reply #35 on:** February 07, 2015, 11:32:16 pm »

Thanks for the confirmation, I figured that was the case (or I had simply lost my mind, but I then did a Win10 fresh 64-Bit install on my HTPC without a hitch!)

JimH · « **Reply #36 on:** February 25, 2015, 01:47:57 pm »

We received an evaluation copy of the Intel Compute Stick today. It looks pretty good. It's running Windows 8.1 with Bing. It feels like an ordinary computer when in use. Not slow.

I put MC on it and tried a bunch of media files. Everything worked. I played audio to a couple of machines using Media Network. I played a Blu-ray rip from a machine across the network. No problems.

I didn't try Red October HQ, but will.

jmone · « **Reply #37 on:** February 25, 2015, 01:54:53 pm »

Sounds good, do you mind checking the make/model of the WiFi Module (interested to see if it has an Intel one Vs what was in the clone)
Thanks
Nathan

JimH · « **Reply #38 on:** February 25, 2015, 02:20:51 pm »

It says:
Realtek RTL 8723BS Wireless Lan 802.11n SDIO Network Adapter

jmone · « **Reply #39 on:** February 25, 2015, 02:56:38 pm »

Thanks - and unfortunate... as it is the same as the clone (I was hoping for an Intel Module). From what I found:

Quote

There is a playback issue as the WiFi adapter maxs out at 40Mbps, so I can not play my high bitrate 1080/50 or 60i BD material without stuttering and audio sync issues. This is a deal breaker for me.
- WiFi: According to a review by anandtech of other devices using the Realtek RTL8723BS chipset, it is a "single spatial stream 802.11n part, with no 5GHz support and only 20MHz channel width. That means that we're dealing with a theoretical maximum speed of 72Mbps. In real world use, it's quite a bit less, as you can see.... 40Mbps". My own testing would confirm this.

mojave · « **Reply #40 on:** February 25, 2015, 03:12:17 pm »

I would love to take one of these to the Central Iowa Spring HT Crawl on March 28. If you have one ready by then, let me know and I'll buy one.

Will there be an Id version on Windows 8.1? If not, how does the Linux version compare regarding video playback?

jmone · « **Reply #41 on:** February 25, 2015, 03:34:22 pm »

Quote from: JimH on February 25, 2015, 01:47:57 pm

We received an evaluation copy of the Intel Compute Stick today. It looks pretty good. It's running Windows 8.1 with Bing.

..also if it end up coming with Win8.1 for free I'd recommend you offer a Win build option as well as the planned Linux one.

It really is an intriguing almost MC SOC form factor at an unbelievable price point!

JimH · « **Reply #42 on:** February 25, 2015, 04:18:43 pm »

ROHQ doesn't work.

jmone · « **Reply #43 on:** February 25, 2015, 04:41:41 pm »

Yeah ... But thats ok considering the target market.

JimH · « **Reply #44 on:** February 25, 2015, 04:51:23 pm »

I agree.

kiwi · « **Reply #45 on:** March 03, 2015, 01:26:52 am »

I'd definitely say that I'm interested in the windows stick Id version with 4gb.

Hendrik · « **Reply #46 on:** April 22, 2015, 10:38:00 am »

AnandTech did a review on the Intel stick:
http://anandtech.com/show/9167/intel-compute-stick-review

Unfortunately they confirmed what I feared - absolutely horrible WiFi performance, which makes it much less interesting for me.
And the GPU isn't fast enough to deinterlace 1080i60 content.

jmone · « **Reply #47 on:** April 24, 2015, 08:55:34 pm »

It's a shame but is in line with the Clone I tested. Wifi is terrible and so the the inability to play 1080/60 or 50i material reliably. I was hoping the genuine Intel stick would be different but it appears to be the same and confirms what JimH saw with he pre-production sample as well. My stick is pretty much in the draw not being used and the compromises are to great to be used for HTPC Video duties. Looks like the NUC are still the best price/performance Win based soln.

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Author Topic: New Intel HDMI stick quad-core Atom Bay Trail 2GB Ram USB and microSD (Read 22816 times)