What client to use for old hardware?

[emamid 0]

My question is basically this: what is the best Emby client and OS combination to use on old hardware? Specifically, I want to get it working on my nephew's netbook, an Acer Aspire One AOD-250, with a single-core 1.6Ghz Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM, Intel GMA950 with shared RAM for graphics.

 

Yes, I know, it's old and underpowered, but he's only five, and I don't want to just toss it as it works fine for web browsing and so forth.

 

I've tried Win7 Basic, Linux Mint with Xfce, turning into a Chromiumbook, and WinXP Pro, each time using the web client in a Chrome/Chromium browser. I still get lots of pausing, even at 360p, and that's via ethernet on the same LAN as the server, so I figure it's not a bandwidth issue. I was going to try getting the source for an older Theater or WMC client that will work with XP, and try that, in case an actual EXE will make more-efficient use of the system than the browser does, but first I wanted to ask here in case anyone has pointers. Also, I figure someone else might want to know this kind of thing.

 

So, any suggestions, other than "throw the thing away"?

 

I'm using the latest Emby on the server, and will be upgrading its hardware soon, if that makes a difference.

 

 

[CBers 6771]

Have you tried MBC?

 

It direct plays so no transcoding.

 

Is he remote from you though? Different home to your files?

 

If so, perhaps the internet link isn't good enough?

 

Just thinking out loud.

[emamid 0]

Have not tried MBC yet. Isn't that the same as the WMC edition? If not, it's not on the main page anymore. I'll dig through the wiki for it.

 

He's remote, yes. I have his netbook here to set it up (I'm the family tech guy, as I'm sure many of us here are  ) but will be returning it to him once I'm done.

[CBers 6771]

Yes, MBC runs within WMC.

 

There's a good guide here on how you set it up:

 

http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/4305-mbc-and-codecs-understanding-the-media-foundation/

[ebr 14925]

The lightest weight option would be to use the web client.  That may be your best bet.  If you are getting starts and stops using it then that is likely related to the server and not the client (not able to transcode fast enough).

 

WMC/MBC may be too taxing graphically but you should certainly try it.

[emamid 0]

Thanks, both of you. It sounds like I should put off fiddling with the netbook until I'm done rebuilding the server. Motherboard, CPU, and RAM are "out for delivery" according to NewEgg, yay. 

 

Interesting that the web client would be the lightest-weight, though, given that it has an extra layer between it and the hardware -- App->Browser->OS->GPU instead of App->OS->GPU -- and the web client is interpreted instead of compiled. But I guess my perceptions of browser performance are outdated.

Edited May 5, 2015 by emamid

[CBers 6771]

Have a play with transcode throttling enabled and disabled once you have the server built.

 

It might be better on/off depending on usage.

[xnappo 1593]

Try OpenElec and Emby for Kodi beta. It runs on a Pi, so should work here.

Edited May 5, 2015 by xnappo

[emamid 0]

Updating the server fixed the problem. Amazing what doubling the cores (Pentium E6500 -> Phenom II X4 965), doubling the RAM, and sharing less functionality on the box will do. Having unrelated problems with the new server (metadata stuff) and may ask about that on the appropriate forum if I can't fix it, but using the web client on the netbook works fine now. Thanks, everyone, for all the help.