Guys. Your views on this , "Intel Compute Stick STCK1A32WFC - Windows 8.1 Bing"

[michael]

Hi Guys,

Guys. Your views on this , "Intel Compute Stick STCK1A32WFC - Windows 8.1 Bing"

1. Can it play 1080P video smoothly? personal experiences?
2. Can it be kept on 24/7 ? May be for torrent downloading?
3. How good is it as per the WiFi capability?
4. Does it detects 1TB or more HDD?




Thanks.
michael

 

[Devon68]

Yeah I saw this on the LTT Chanel yesterday but was kind of disappointed that they did not show it in action.

 

[st2000]

 

[FordGT90Concept]

1. Can it play 1080P video smoothly?

I highly doubt it. If the Surface 2 RT can't decode a 1080p stream smoothly, I don't see how that could with a substantially weaker GPU. The same goes with Roku Ooya. I'm not speaking from experience but strong suspicion.

Edit: ST2000 video shows Kodi at 5 minutes in. It did surprisingly well by the looks of it. Don't know if the video he played was 1080p though.

2. Can it be kept on 24/7 ? May be for torrent downloading?
3. How good is it as per the WiFi capability?
4. Does it detects 1TB or more HDD?

2. Should on both accounts.
3. Don't know. Edit: video at 12:30 talks about it having poor range.
4. Should.

 

[Mussels]

Hi Guys,

Guys. Your views on this , "Intel Compute Stick STCK1A32WFC - Windows 8.1 Bing"

1. Can it play 1080P video smoothly? personal experiences?
2. Can it be kept on 24/7 ? May be for torrent downloading?
3. How good is it as per the WiFi capability?
4. Does it detects 1TB or more HDD?


View attachment 66829

Thanks.
michael

1. with hardware decoding it can, with CPU not a chance.
2. yes, but the weak CPU might cause issues for heavy use. a few torrents/low amount of connections should be fine.
3. built in wifi is recognised as fairly poor, especially since its stuck behind a monitor/HDTV.
4. Its windows so yes, but clearly you'd want one with external power.

 

[Bill_Bright]

The same goes with Roku.

What? Are you really suggesting, without any experience, Roku cannot stream 1080p smoothly? Bing Google easily shows otherwise.

 

[Mussels]

What? Are you really suggesting, without any experience, Roku cannot stream 1080p smoothly? Bing Google easily shows otherwise.

rokus can stream, but no local file playback capability. doesnt suit his other needs for torrent client/USB Storage either.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

What? Are you really suggesting, without any experience, Roku cannot stream 1080p smoothly? Bing Google easily shows otherwise.

My bad, it was an Ooya not a Roku. Ooya's hardware was inadequate. I never tried a Roku.

 

[Mussels]

I tried it extensively and it's constantly buffering with Kodi and MediaPortal TV Server backend (MPEG2-TS 1080p). It could be because the wifi signal isn't strong enough but I doubt it.

they're designed for low bitrate online streaming, such as youtube. its why i never got one.

 

[Bill_Bright]

My bad, it was an Ooya not a Roku. Ooya's hardware was inadequate. I never tried a Roku.

Ah! Thanks for clarifying. I have Roku and it streams at full 1080P with no problem (helps to have a good cable connection).

The big problem is much of the content (from Netflix, for example) is not in 1080P. But that's not Roku's fault.

 

[erocker]

I'm sure it could stream at 1080p. My $35 dollar Amazon Fire Stick can do it. Anyways, this information on it is pretty easy to find: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html

 

[newtekie1]

There is a better version here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883400001

Same thing as the Intel stick, but has two USB ports. One is a microUSB, but it comes with a cable to adapt it into a normal usb port. It also supports MHL, so if you plug it into a monitor/TV's MHL port you don't need an external power supply, it draws power direct from the HDMI MHL port.

 

[AhokZYashA]

if its using the newest atom bay trail Z37x5 processor,
10-bit 1080p is pretty playable, except the higher bitrate video

im using my Z3775 atom tablet, to play 1080p content, and play some browser flash games (kancolle)
it did surprisingly well, no hiccups, no lags whatsoever

 

[michael]

There is a better version here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883400001

Same thing as the Intel stick, but has two USB ports. One is a microUSB, but it comes with a cable to adapt it into a normal usb port. It also supports MHL, so if you plug it into a monitor/TV's MHL port you don't need an external power supply, it draws power direct from the HDMI MHL port.

Thats very interesting fact about MHL port which I didn't know..

here is the video which I just got it, says all the story .....;does not play 10GB blueray file.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

My 1080p ATSC MPEG2-TS recordings weigh in at about 6 GB/hour. Full feature film (1.5 hours) would be about 10 GB.

 

[newtekie1]

Thats very interesting fact about MHL port which I didn't know..

here is the video which I just got it, says all the story .....;does not play 10GB blueray file.

Do you have hardware acceleration enabled in VLC? It is disabled by default, meaning the CPU is doing all the work, the CPU is no way powerful enough to decode high bitrate video. The GPU however is, but it won't be used unless you enable hardware acceleration.

 

[ShiBDiB]

Would this be worthwhile for a desktop replacement for someone like a not highly computer savvy set of parents who word process/web browse. His old desktop kicked the bucket and I really don't want to build him a new one.

 

[newtekie1]

Would this be worthwhile for a desktop replacement for someone like a not highly computer savvy set of parents who word process/web browse. His old desktop kicked the bucket and I really don't want to build him a new one.

I don't think so, there are too many down sides. No audio jack so you can't connect normal PC speakers. Only 1(or maybe 2 if you go with the iview) USB ports. 32GB is kind of small. I think there are some better alternatives that are a little more expensive, but are definitely better.

Something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883218038

Throw in the RAM of your choice, the 2.5" drive of your choice, and an OS and it is a much better option for not a lot more.

 

[theonedub]

I would even suggest one of the LIVA mini PCs over this if you're still trying to maintain a budget, but need an extra USB, audio out, etc but still don't want to have to buy RAM, SSD, and whatnot.

 

[AhokZYashA]

ill try playing some 40GB blueray rip, and see if its lagging

edit :
my 40GB bluray rip is 8-bit encoding, so its no problem at all
when i played my 15GB 10-bit 1080p video, the sound and the video clip doesnt synchronize

 

[st2000]

I don't think so, there are too many down sides. No audio jack so you can't connect normal PC speakers. Only 1(or maybe 2 if you go with the iview) USB ports. 32GB is kind of small. I think there are some better alternatives that are a little more expensive, but are definitely better.

you have hdmi - audio, all depends on TV you use.
for ex. mine TV got both jack(headphones) and optical.
as for usb ports - you can easily use usb-hub(for ex. flashcard+microsoft reciever for mouse&keyboard work fine)
32GB - I'd say 15-20GB will be in use(rest is system), problem is not size but speed - about 50MB/s
As for alternatives - sure, they are better but bigger.
As for general use - any 1080p throw in to standard app - videos, you'll be fine with any bitrate
Also for better flash compatibility with atom cpu I advice to use metro-ie(faster, more tabs with no lags)
2 GB of ram are enough for browsing/wathing movies and even light gaming
I wrote about my expirience with z3740 - thinking it's same with 3735f

 

[newtekie1]

you have hdmi - audio, all depends on TV you use.

He asked specifically about a desktop replacement. Most desktops use standard speakers and don't have a monitor/TV with built in speakers.

as for usb ports - you can easily use usb-hub(for ex. flashcard+microsoft reciever for mouse&keyboard work fine)

Again, he is talking about replacing a desktop with this. Sure, you can plug in a USB Hub, but it has to be a powered hub, because the non-powered hubs have problems with these sticks. The one I had would not work with my 4-Port non-powered hub. It worked if I just had one device plugged into the hub, but when I plugged in my USB Flash drive the hub just disconnected and nothing connected to it worked. Plus, the port is USB 2.0, so any storage connected to it will be slow.

32GB - I'd say 15-20GB will be in use(rest is system), problem is not size but speed - about 50MB/s

Just Windows 8.1 with Office is 15GB. Considering the actual usable size of the 32GB eMMC drive is less than 30GB(29.8GB I believe) that only leave 14.8GB of space for all other files and programs. That isn't enough space for someones primary computer or a desktop replacement, IMO. The speed of the eMMC drive isn't as bad as the raw read/write speed makes it seem. The machine is actually pretty snappy because the eMMC drive has no latency like an SSD. And sure, you can put a MicroSD card in it, but he said the person isn't computer savvy. Most people that aren't computer savvy don't know how to use any drive other than C. They install everything to C, and they download everything to the default download directory on C. Plus you do have speed issues with MicroSD, a lot are sub-10MB/s write and sub-20MB/s reads, but they do at least have low latencies usually.

 

[st2000]

@newtekie1 is absolutely right but i thought that for op, not for @ShiBDiB - my bad.
for full pc replacement better go with smthg bigger than intel stick.

 

[Jstn7477]

I have an Onda V820W tablet (Z3735F, 2GB RAM) and it's pretty nice and can even play older games like Half Life 2 and Far Cry. HOWEVER, the tablet has to thermal throttle after about a minute or two of "heavy" usage, and it REALLY slows down. Just about any stick or box Intel Z3735F PC has insufficient cooling to stay running at maximum performance, unfortunately.

 

[Mussels]

I have an Onda V820W tablet (Z3735F, 2GB RAM) and it's pretty nice and can even play older games like Half Life 2 and Far Cry. HOWEVER, the tablet has to thermal throttle after about a minute or two of "heavy" usage, and it REALLY slows down. Just about any stick or box Intel Z3735F PC has insufficient cooling to stay running at maximum performance, unfortunately.

the intel sticks have a fan to avoid that.