Wanting a Pre built HTPC - XBMC ready

gogamer · 2012-03-02 04:31

I'm a XBMC noob that doesn't have time to build my own. I'm looking at going pre built with either one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883113188

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883113194

I want it to:
-Play 1080P
-Bitstream HD Audio to AVR
-dedicated equipment room so size and noise is no matter
-Win 7
-Running Itunes for Whole House Audio
-No gaming
-$550 budget

Or is there another "XBMC ready out of the Box" . . . box i should consider?

bluray · 2012-03-02 05:16

gogamer Wrote:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883113194

This one should playback everything in your list with ease!

eskro · 2012-03-02 07:29

both will do

djonesax · 2012-03-03 20:51

gogamer Wrote:I'm a XBMC noob that doesn't have time to build my own. I'm looking at going pre built with either one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883113188

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883113194

I want it to:
-Play 1080P
-Bitstream HD Audio to AVR
-dedicated equipment room so size and noise is no matter
-Win 7
-Running Itunes for Whole House Audio
-No gaming
-$550 budget

Or is there another "XBMC ready out of the Box" . . . box i should consider?

I might be missing what your after here but did you consider an AppleTV2 with xbmc? $99. Then you could use any old computer for your itunes library. I have set up 4 of these so far and they work great.

bluray · 2012-03-03 22:54

djonesax Wrote:I might be missing what your after here but did you consider an AppleTV2 with xbmc? $99. Then you could use any old computer for your itunes library. I have set up 4 of these so far and they work great.

He clearly stated that he wants the options below, and can your AppleTV2 bitstreaming DTS-HD/TrueHD?:

-Play 1080P
-Bitstream HD Audio to AVR

gogamer · 2012-03-04 00:50

definitely need to pass HD audio. i've got a 7.2 setup and love to rock the house.

I suppose this is the direction to go then. Thanks bluray/eskro!

bluray · 2012-03-04 01:36

gogamer Wrote:definitely need to pass HD audio. i've got a 7.2 setup and love to rock the house.

I suppose this is the direction to go then. Thanks bluray/eskro!

Both PC's in your links will playback everything you throw at it. For your budget, I'll definitely go for A8-3820+HD6550D. You'll have more horse power and better GPU too!

djonesax · 2012-03-04 01:53

bluray Wrote:He clearly stated that he wants the options below, and can your AppleTV2 bitstreaming DTS-HD/TrueHD?:

-Play 1080P
-Bitstream HD Audio to AVR

oops. sorry, I play 1080p movies but it only outputs 720p. my bad, forgot

eskro · 2012-03-04 02:37

i'd go for this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883113188

no need for more then that, save yourself $60

nobody_here · 2012-03-04 05:01

djonesax Wrote:I might be missing what your after here but did you consider an AppleTV2 with xbmc? $99. Then you could use any old computer for your itunes library. I have set up 4 of these so far and they work great.

there are a lot of things the ATV2 won't do compared to the systems being recommended in this thread. been there done that. the XBMC GUI is slow and clunky on the ATV2 compared to these, file playback limitations (aside from the 720p scaling issue) are large. You have to make sure all your content is encoded to be compatible with the ATV2, which is terribly time consuming and unnecessary.

if you just spend another $100 you can get a Level 6 system that does everything and does it well

bluray Posting Freak Posts: 7,575 Joined: May 2011 Reputation: 139	2012-03-02 05:16 Post: #2 gogamer Wrote:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883113194 This one should playback everything in your list with ease! >Alienware X51- do it all HTPC >Simplify XBMC configurations >HOW-TO Bitstreaming using XBMC I refused to watch movie without bitstreaming HD audio!
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eskro Posting Freak Posts: 8,236 Joined: Nov 2010 Reputation: 156	2012-03-02 07:29 Post: #3 both will do My G7 HTPC // eSkRo's HTPC Guide // Poofy's HTPC Guide // unRAID Guide // SSD Optimization thx :)
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gogamer Junior Member Posts: 4 Joined: Apr 2011 Reputation: 0	2012-03-04 00:50 Post: #6 definitely need to pass HD audio. i've got a 7.2 setup and love to rock the house. I suppose this is the direction to go then. Thanks bluray/eskro!
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djonesax Member Posts: 69 Joined: Jan 2011 Reputation: 0	2012-03-04 01:53 Post: #8 bluray Wrote:He clearly stated that he wants the options below, and can your AppleTV2 bitstreaming DTS-HD/TrueHD?: -Play 1080P -Bitstream HD Audio to AVR oops. sorry, I play 1080p movies but it only outputs 720p. my bad, forgot
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eskro Posting Freak Posts: 8,236 Joined: Nov 2010 Reputation: 156	2012-03-04 02:37 Post: #9 i'd go for this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883113188 no need for more then that, save yourself $60 My G7 HTPC // eSkRo's HTPC Guide // Poofy's HTPC Guide // unRAID Guide // SSD Optimization thx :)
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