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    Second life for my EXOPC and WeTab tablets

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    Plantje


    Posts : 41
    Join date : 2012-12-31

    Second life for my EXOPC and WeTab tablets Empty Second life for my EXOPC and WeTab tablets

    Post by Plantje Mon Jun 16, 2014 9:34 am

    Today I started playing around with my EXOPC somewhat more. I have a central mediacenter and in the attic I have made an office for working from home. For my (almost) three year old daughter I have a second TV there with the EXOPC connected to it. Recently I installed the K-Lite codec pack on my EXOPC hoping it would enable Windows Media Center to make use of the Broadcom Crystal HD. But it doesn't do that. And using the MPHC mediaplayer (that is delivered with the codec pack it didn't work too well either. Had an error message and the display quality was poor. And some recordings just stayed black, only the sound was played.

    Next to that I wanted to make use of DVB Logic in order to view live television on the EXOPC. For some reason the EXOPC and WeTab don't support the app.

    Now today I installed XBMC and I must say: it's a breeze! I have live TV working, Recorded TV plays almost without issues (the Broadcom Crystal HD is being used), DVD's play (al beit on SD and the Broadcom Crystal HD is not used). And this is all in one interface!

    I think XBMC will still need the K-Lite codec pack in order to support the Broadcom Crystal HD. And the files that remained a black screen with MPHC still remain black with XBMC. I think there is just something wrong with those files.
    And in the list of recorded TV one can only see the file name. So it is not as easy to order as with the Windows Media Center interface.

    I really love this! It is working perfectly! Now perhaps I do need to add one or two more tuners! My WeTab is in the bathroom (so the future looks bright for watching tv from the bath tub) and the EXOPC is in the attic. So if I connect a controller my daughter can play games on this tablet as well. And since all of them are using the same account everything is being synchronized as well. Great this!
    Dreamcat
    Dreamcat
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    Post by Dreamcat Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:21 pm

    Sounds like you're getting some extended use out of those old girls!  Mine just sits there as a digital photo frame these days.  Thanks for the update!
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    nebular


    Posts : 6
    Join date : 2013-10-13

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    Post by nebular Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:54 am

    In windows I've found the best support for the Broadcom is with Gom Player. It has full support and will accelerate anything the card supports.

    The K-Lite codec pack won't do anything for Broadcom Support as that needs to be built into the player. XBMC has that built in, so it should be able to use it. Run XBMC in a window with the system tray indicator for the broadcom running to see if it's suing it. If it's not, xbmc has a good community for support on that

    DVDs will always be in SD because DVD is an SD format. You want HD you need to go with Bluray. However you can upconvert. Remember though you'll never have an actual resolution higher than 720p, the hdmi out only clones the display. 1080p out on the hdmi is only upconverting, you don't get the extra pixels.

    I still use my exo daily. I just wish there was an easy solution for battery replacement. My soldering skills are poor.
    Dreamcat
    Dreamcat
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    Post by Dreamcat Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:34 pm

    I'll try out Gom Player.  Didn't realize it worked with the Broadcom.  Thanks!
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    nebular


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    Post by nebular Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:49 pm

    Gom Player seems to be the only player outside of XBMC that supports the Broadcom. VLC says it does, but I could never get it to work.

    I just tried out DVD playback and found that it wouldn't use the Broadcom, but I think that's just not a format the card supports. The Atom had no problem with it though, CPU never went over 30% with DVD.

    Really I still love this tablet, runs great with windows 8 (and Win8 is tolerable with a touch screen). Isn't sluggish, only wish I had a bit better battery life on Video.

    Right now only the Surface Pro is really making me consider getting something else, but I don't have that kind of cash right now.
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    Plantje


    Posts : 41
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    Post by Plantje Sun Sep 21, 2014 5:04 am

    Hmmm.... I didn't notice there were more replies on this topic. Good to see I am not the only one still using my EXOPC!

    There is one thing though that still bugs me somewhat: if I start my EXOPC I see it starts Windows 8, then the screen turns grey/black. It is obvious that it is not off. The only thing that I can do then is push and hold the power button and turn off the EXOPC that way. Then switch it on again and it does start to the login screen. This happens all the time. And it happens only on my EXOPC; not on the WeTab. Can this be something in the BIOS?

    I have installed GOM player as well, but so far I don't see it using the Broadcom Crystal HD. Perhaps a reboot will do the trick. Edit: no...still no BCHD support.

    By the way: the people from XBMC have removed Broadcom Crystal HD support as of the Kodi release. http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=203672

    The battery of my EXOPC has died at some point and if you get a complete battery pack from an old WeTab for example or buy a Chinese nock off it is pretty easy to replace. You just should not open the battery pack itself.

    I never knew DVD is SD! You seem to know quite a lot about these formats. I am still puzzled by the reason why Microsoft is not supporting .wtv files out of the box in Windows 8.1 in the video app.
    Dreamcat
    Dreamcat
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    Post by Dreamcat Fri Oct 10, 2014 4:19 pm

    Plantje wrote:There is one thing though that still bugs me somewhat: if I start my EXOPC I see it starts Windows 8, then the screen turns grey/black. It is obvious that it is not off. The only thing that I can do then is push and hold the power button and turn off the EXOPC that way. Then switch it on again and it does start to the login screen. This happens all the time. And it happens only on my EXOPC; not on the WeTab. Can this be something in the BIOS?

    Every EXOPC that I have used with windows 8 or 8.1 has this same issue.
    I've tried multiple "fixes", from changing quick start up settings in the bios, to disabling certain Windows services, etc.  
    The only sort of solution I have found is just never shutting it down.  Ha!
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    Plantje


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    Post by Plantje Sat Oct 11, 2014 1:53 am

    It comforting to know that I am not the only one experiencing this issue. I think my WeTab doesn't have this issue.
    Dreamcat
    Dreamcat
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    Post by Dreamcat Mon Oct 13, 2014 11:50 am

    Plantje, try this: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6320-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-8-a.html

    It may or may not fix the double start up.  Did for me on one EXOPC, but not on another EXOPC.
    Good luck!
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    Plantje


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    Post by Plantje Fri Oct 17, 2014 3:36 pm

    Thanks man! This did seem to work for my EXOPC! I'm including this in my installation documentation!

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