Intel Next Unit of Computing Kit, Black/Grey BOXDCCP847DYE

CUSTOMER REVIEW



This is really the small HTPC I've been waiting for. It's inexpensive, runs quietly, and yet runs XBMC in a spectacular fashion. I stream all of my local media from a Synology NAS so this simply acts as a media client using XBMC (running via OpenELEC)---which it does quite well.



All NUCs, even this Celeron 847 unit, support hardware decoding of H.264/VC1/MPEG2 video codecs and will bitstream HD Audio. As an example, during video playback the CPU cores never rise above 15% while streaming 1080p video with HD Audio to a Yamaha AVR. If I have the NUC decode the HD Audio and out multi-channel LPCM it can occasionally rise to 18%. I was worried about not getting the i3 NUC due to the faster processor (and faster GPU) but even the add-on Aeon Nox skin for XBMC runs very smoothly. For running a HTPC under Windows more horsepower may be desirable but this thing screams under OpenELEC.



Speaking of OpenELEC, without the overhead of Windows this unit runs XBMC just fine using a 2GB memory stick (Crucial 2GB Single DDR3 1333 MT/s (PC3-10600) CL9 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Notebook Memory Module CT25664BF1339) and a 8GB USB thumb drive (SanDisk Cruzer Fit SDCZ33-008G-B35 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive - Black) for the system.



OpenELEC is installed, and boots from, the USB thumb drive and I don't have (or need) a hard drive of any type although one could install OpenELEC (or Windows) on a mSATA SSD if desired. I also realized that I already had an identical stick of RAM so I installed both (4GB total) but it doesn't really have any advantage since the system reports >3GB of RAM available during HD streaming (and this is with the GPU assigned MAX MEMORY in BIOS). OpenELEC boots from the USB and resides in RAM but since the whole thing, including XBMC, is so small (<200MB) it really demonstrates how bloated many modern operating systems really are for a HTPC.



FWIW, I already had a HP Media Center IR receiver (HP Infrared Receiver for HP Media Center 5188-1667) and a Harmony 900 remote that both work automagically with OpenELEC. The key to setting up the Harmony is to select a device of "Media Center PC" ==> Microsoft ==> MCE-1039. This will map 99% of the buttons on the Harmony. I had to manually assign the skip button but the command was already in the Harmony database so it was a snap. Also, the Harmony will wake the unit and put it to sleep. Just make sure the XBMC power setting for "shutdown" is set to standby.



EDIT: I forgot to add---the NUC includes an external power supply but you must supply your own "mickey mouse" power cable for your own locality. I used a Belkin 6ft / 3 Prong Notebook Power Cord since I could get Amazon Prime shipping with the rest of my order but there are many choices on Amazon.



EDIT #2: I also hooked it up to a Kill-a-Watt device to check out the power consumption.



As baseline, the NUC had 4GB of RAM (2x2GB) installed with a 8GB thumb drive and an IR receiver installed in the rear USB ports. No mSATA drive was installed nor was a Wifi/Bluetooth module. OpenELEC was installed on the 8GB flash drive.



During playback of a 1080p MKV (H.264/DTS-HD) being streamed via a wired network the draw varied between 17.6W and 18.4W. In standby (S3) it draws a flat 1.0W. Lower power (S4/S5) standby are supported by the NUC but I am unable to use them with my remote to wake the device.