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Justyn93 · 2013-01-18, 00:23

I plan to run xbmc on either osx or win7.
I want to be able to:
1.Use my htpc as a server (attach multiple external & internal hds as needed)
2.play movies and music
3.have zero lag
4.have 1080p
5.have 5.1 sound
6.Be abe to stream from other computers/devices
I'd prefer it to have( but isn't necessary):
1.HDMI
2. 3D

I use osx daily but I am familiar with windows.

my budget is about 200$ I'm thinking either buy a older mac mini on ebay or buy a pentium D tower from ebay and use that. Do these ideas sound good? I would be okay with building one if I knew what i would all need for it to work flawlessly(ie. no stutter or lag while moving through menus.

any help is very much appreciated.

cosmicr · 2013-01-18, 00:37

$200 is a stretch for all of those requirements. If budget is a big issue though, I'd suggest like you said an older computer but upgrade the graphics card to a gt 610 or similar that will support 1080p. But then lag might be the killer there.

Justyn93 · 2013-01-18, 00:40

If I go down to 720p, and use atv2 do you think i could make a server that i can use like 4 external hdds on for under 200?

Justyn93 · 2013-01-18, 02:18

I think I might go with apple TV2 or maybe 1 with crystal HD, but i'm not sure.
1.Would apple tv have lag issues at all?
2.Would at2 or at1(crystal hd) be better?
3.If i have 1080p files can they go down to 720p? and how so?

rip_king · 2013-01-18, 03:18

Apple TV 2 in my experience is pretty much unusable (XBMC) for streaming video from your desktop or NAS. It does work well for XBMC add-ons, but for whatever reason I always get a ton of stuttering, even on 720p video. I know it's not the wireless signal or anything in my house cause my newly built HTPC handles the same videos with ease.

ATV2 is good, however, with Plex. I've very rarely ran into an issue where the ATV2 can't play a video or stutters during playback, but again, that will only be 720p. From what I've read, the ATV1 with crystal HD is better. Also, the ATV2 is exorbitantly priced right now (I saw them at $175 last week on ebay), so I don't think they're really worth it knowing the limitations and that it can only do 720p.

Plex on ATV2 I believe will transcode your files from 1080p into a 720p format streamable on the ATV2.

ffxr · 2013-01-18, 04:50

Do a bit of googling/reading up on HP Proliant Micro servers and xbmc. Should get and disk less one and decent gfx card for somewhere close to ur budget.

Vertigo · (This post was last modified: 2013-01-18, 09:30 by Vertigo.)

To stay within your budget, I would suggest using 2 devices: just about any crappy old x86 box to act as "server", that you can put somewhere out of sight and plug in as many disks as your case allows, and something like a raspberry Pi to run XBMC frontend and play your music and movies on your tv. In theory you might be able to use a Pi as file server too, but its disk and network IO are quite poor, so I wouldnt recommend that.

Will this offer "zero lag"? If you mean no GUI lag ever, then clearly, no. I doubt anything in your budget will, especially while being compact and silent. But it will offer completely smooth, stutter free playpack of all your media, I am assuming you meant that. See my sig for more info and caveats of the Pi

nickr · 2013-01-18, 20:41

What vertigo said re server -any old whitebox stacked with drives, ubuntu server. But consider a pivos client.

**Dougie Fresh** · 2013-01-18, 22:02

+1 on the server suggestion. My first home server was a Dell GX260 tower off-lease. It served me well (pun intended) for a couple of years until I needed more space.

Justyn93 · 2013-01-19, 00:26

Thanks for your guys advice I think I'm going to look into Rpi more. Can i play any kind of files on rpi with the licenses? I wanna rip dvd/blurays and I mostly have .AVI, MKV, and MP4(in that order).

nickr · 2013-01-19, 00:38

Containers are not particularly relevant. Its the codecs that matter.

Vertigo · 2013-01-19, 02:23

(2013-01-19, 00:26)Justyn93 Wrote: Thanks for your guys advice I think I'm going to look into Rpi more. Can i play any kind of files on rpi with the licenses? I wanna rip dvd/blurays and I mostly have .AVI, MKV, and MP4(in that order).

video is not the problem. DTS/AC3 Audio might be, depends what tracks you are ripping and what audio hardware you have. See my sig for details.

Justyn93 · (This post was last modified: 2013-01-19, 04:58 by Justyn93.)

My receiver says DTS on it if that matters and I will be running HDMI from too my Panasonic 60ut50 then it will come out and go to my receiver via optical audio.

ANNIHILATOR001 · 2013-01-19, 04:21

When you look at the video cards, just make sure it can pass the HD audio format through the HDMI port. It doesn't take a very powerful video card to run XBMC. For example I use a ATI HD5400 ($40) for my HTPC, works perfect. But it passes all the audio formats you need.

nickr · (This post was last modified: 2013-01-19, 07:44 by nickr.)

(2013-01-19, 03:46)Justyn93 Wrote: My receiver says DTS on it if that matters and I will be running HDMI from too my Panasonic 60ut50 then it will come out and go to my receiver via optical audio.

It is highly unlikely that this will work to pass digital audio to your receiver. The TV is likely to pass through only stereo LPCM. Is there a reason you aren't going the usual route of

HTPC-hdmi->AMPLIFIER-hdmi->TV
?