[Tuberomix]

Hi everybody,

So I am planning on expanding my XBMC infrastructure. Currently I have a G-Box MX2 running XBMC on the MX Linux firmware and a Nexus 7 2013 which can run XBMC Gotham and be connected to an HDTV via a Slimport HDMI adapter. So now I am looking to buy a new device which will both serve as a HTPC and a Server which will stream and transcode media to the other XBMC devices.

What I currently plan on buying is an Intel NUC i5 Haswell, with a Crucial 120GB SSD drive and 4GBx2 RAM. To that I plan to connect a 4TB USB 3.0 external hard drive and install some Linux distro (probably XBMCbuntu) on it. The NUC would be on pretty much all the time and run XBMC on the front while having all the server related software running behind in the background. The NUC would be directly connected to the router via ethernet, but the other XBMC devices would rely on a Wi-Fi Wireless N internet connection.

What I want this device to do:
-Run XBMC, and able to play all sorts of videos all the way up to uncompressed high-bitrate 1080P video, directly from the 4TB USB 3.0 external hard drive connected to it.
-Stream and transcode the same content to the other XBMC devices using Plex Media Server (with the other XBMC devices running PleXBMC). The transcoding is necessary because in some cases the other XBMC devices may have problem smoothly playing the content (for example I know the G-Box MX2 has trouble smoothly playing high-bitrate video), or the Wi-Fi may not be fast enough in some cases.
-Share the 4TB USB 3.0 external hard drive connected to it with the other computers in the home, so that files can be saved and accessed on it from any computer in the home (basically like a NAS). Preferably with speeds of at least 50MB/s.
-Download (and seed) torrents and use software such as Sickbeard.
-Play and record Live TV (although that's a different topic, and I know I will also have to purchase a tuner.).
-Control XBMC using a Logitech Harmony 525 remote I have laying around.

So my question is - can all this be achieved using one powerful Intel NUC i5 Haswell box with 8GB RAM (or 16GB RAM, if really necessary). I want to be able to do all these tasks with this one device, often several of the tasks should be achievable all at once, so will this hardware work well for that?
Also, if the answer to the above question is a BIG yes, is it possible to cut back in price and get lesser hardware (say an i3 Haswell NUC instead or just 4GB RAM) and still be able to do all that?

Thanks ahead for all answers and help!

EDIT: I should mention that I don't really care that much about redundancy. Losing my media would be annoying, but nothing irreplaceable. And since I also intend on using the "NAS function" for backup, if the 4TB USB 3.0 external hard drive fails I would still have the original files on the PCs (unless they both fail at the exact same time which, unless it's a house fire, is highly unlikely).

[Tuberomix]

Hi, bumping now because I am really wanna know what you guys think about this idea. I want to know if what I am planning to buy is really capable of doing what I want it to do well, and I'm sure people here who have more experience can answer that. Any replies would be appreciated, thanks!

[brock_gonad]

The NUC has more than enough power to do what you're talking about, but that doesn't make it a good idea.

Conventional wisdom is that external hard drives make poor NAS's. Many don't have proper hard drive spin down / sleep cycles, which would end up putting far more wear and tear on your hard drive than necessary.

You'd be far better to grab even a 2-bay D-Link (less than $100 these days), which would handle all of your sharing, torrenting, sickbeard, etc - while functioning as a proper NAS should. If you have budget, get a nicer / faster NAS and do that.

Then get your NUC going for playback.

Combining XBMC and NAS into one box is not best practice.

[macmus]

currently i have same setup as you do + virtual box running ubuntu for owncloud and apache page.
All works smootly.

The only issue i had was is noise when CPU gets high usage. But i tweaked voltage and apps to use less resources as possible + hidden nuc behide TV set.

I'm completely satisfied right now

Instead of external drive try model H and put HDD inside.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DCM9...=B00DCM91W

that way you reduce required elements. NUC can parfectly play role of NAS.

[Tuberomix]

Hi, thanks for the replies!

The problem with getting a dedicated NAS is that most of them cannot run Plex Media Server, since they aren't powerful enough for transcoding (can only do regular streaming). The NASs that can handle transcoding are very expensive and over my budget. Plus I really do prefer everything to be in one box, as long as it can work well.

Conventional wisdom is that external hard drives make poor NAS's. Many don't have proper hard drive spin down / sleep cycles, which would end up putting far more wear and tear on your hard drive than necessary.

So from my understanding this is the primary reason why my planned setup is not a good idea, because this way the drive is more likely to have problems/die earlier.

Instead of external drive try model H and put HDD inside.

So that sounded like a good solution to that problem until I realized that the drives small enough to fit inside the NUC H also have smaller capacities. I couldn't find an HDD that has over 2TB capacity and can fit inside the NUC H, although I may have searched wrong.

Now I thought of another solution, which is to buy a full-size 4TB HDD (even one designed for NASs, such as the WD Red), and put it inside an external hard drive USB 3.0 enclosure/dock, then plug that into the NUC. Thus I will have an "external" hard drive that should have "proper hard drive spin down / sleep cycles" (since it is designed for network-storage). Is this a good idea that will work well?

[jammyb]

Would it work? Yes, it would.

But is it wise? Erm, no.

Rather than totally limit yourself to an unupgradeable position.

Pick a case, slot in a mobo, processor and ram, 4TB drive and an SSD for OS drive.

You've got the same thing and it's all In one box!

No docks, leads, external cases, multiple power sockets.

One box that's future proofed and customisable. And helluva lot more satisfying than a NUCs SSD and ram!

[turbolx5oh]

That i5 is WAY more than you need for TV video production. I have an i3 NUC with 8gb of memory. Running a 40mbit per second 1080p high def video, the CPU on mine was about 5% busy and 781mb of my 8gb of memory was being used. You can get the same video performance from the $139 2820 NUC (if you can find one) with a 16gb SSD and 1gb of memory.

[Tuberomix]

That i5 is WAY more than you need for TV video production. I have an i3 NUC with 8gb of memory. Running a 40mbit per second 1080p high def video, the CPU on mine was about 5% busy and 781mb of my 8gb of memory was being used. You can get the same video performance from the $139 2820 NUC (if you can find one) with a 16gb SSD and 1gb of memory.

The thing is that in addition to playing video content (including high-bitrate 1080P) locally, I also want to stream and transcode that video content to multiple devices using Plex Media Server. Transcoding from what I heard is something that takes up quite a bit of processing power. The 2820 NUC model will probably be too weak for the task, though the i3 might work well enough.

[shabuboy]

I used to have a similar setup using a Zbox Nano e450 (Cost was $350-$400), NAS, xbmc, torrent client, media player, file server.

however, after I got a REAL NAS ($130, WD's MBL 2TB), it became my main unit, now it is my backup server, media server, moved all media files to it, torrent client, remote access, etc.

Currently looking into replacing my htpc with either Fire TV or WD TV Live. Both cost around $100.

my $.02 after my experience, keep them separate. It is probably cheaper, easier to upgrade/replace.

[two515ty]

What I currently plan on buying is an Intel NUC i5 Haswell, with a Crucial 120GB SSD drive and 4GBx2 RAM. To that I plan to connect a 4TB USB 3.0 external hard drive and install some Linux distro (probably XBMCbuntu) on it. The NUC would be on pretty much all the time and run XBMC on the front while having all the server related software running behind in the background. The NUC would be directly connected to the router via ethernet, but the other XBMC devices would rely on a Wi-Fi Wireless N internet connection.

What I want this device to do:
-Run XBMC, and able to play all sorts of videos all the way up to uncompressed high-bitrate 1080P video, directly from the 4TB USB 3.0 external hard drive connected to it.
-Stream and transcode the same content to the other XBMC devices using Plex Media Server (with the other XBMC devices running PleXBMC). The transcoding is necessary because in some cases the other XBMC devices may have problem smoothly playing the content (for example I know the G-Box MX2 has trouble smoothly playing high-bitrate video), or the Wi-Fi may not be fast enough in some cases.
-Share the 4TB USB 3.0 external hard drive connected to it with the other computers in the home, so that files can be saved and accessed on it from any computer in the home (basically like a NAS). Preferably with speeds of at least 50MB/s.
-Download (and seed) torrents and use software such as Sickbeard.
-Play and record Live TV (although that's a different topic, and I know I will also have to purchase a tuner.).
-Control XBMC using a Logitech Harmony 525 remote I have laying around.

I'd say this is kind of a bass ackwards mentality lol. Don't spend $500 setting up an i5 NUC just to use it as a server. For $500, you can build a powerful enough server and have money left over for extra storage or for another media player device.

I currently have a server built around an ECS NM-70 I2 with 8GB of RAM running FreeNAS. I'll admit I haven't tried the transcoding much (because I use a 2820 NUC with XBMC instead of transcoding), but it may work well if your media is just a container change.

https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/7...leron-847/

Even if you build an i3 server, you should still be able to save on the cost of an NUC setup. Sure you can use the NUC as a server, but I'd say that it's not an efficient setup IMO.

[Tuberomix]

Thanks again for all the replies!
So the way I see it, I have three options:

Firstly I could buy a brand NAS and another HTPC/media player (such as a cheap NUC), but the downside with this setup is that I want a NAS that can do transcoding, and the NASs that can transcode well are quite expensive and over my budget.

Another option is instead building my own NAS/Server. The way it seems to me is that branded NASs seem quite overpriced because by building my own server setup I can build something that (with the right software) can do pretty much what a brand NAS can do, with better hardware specs and a better price. So I don't understand why I'd really want to buy a brand NAS (I'm sure NASs have their advantages, such as working well with RAID and all that, but I don't think those advantages are really relevant to me - since as I mentioned redundancy is not what I care about with this build and I assume that just one good drive should be fast enough for my usage).

The third option is a custom-built HTPC+NAS/Server box; basically pretty much what jammyb suggested to do. I like this option since it's pretty close to what I originally wanted to do. I do actually prefer it if everything could be in one box that works.

[two515ty]

The third option is a custom-built HTPC+NAS/Server box; basically pretty much what jammyb suggested to do. I like this option since it's pretty close to what I originally wanted to do. I do actually prefer it if everything could be in one box that works.

Normally, I feel that a NAS and HTPC should be separate devices. However, since you only intend on sharing one 4 TB drive (or even if you decide to add a second one in the future) and don't care about redundancy, I think this would be the best option. Build yourself a small computer with a good Intel processor (probably an i3 for best value) and use it as a HTPC/NAS. As far as software, it's probably possible to set it all up in Windows. I'm not sure how well Windows works for sharing drives (my few experiences with it were long ago with XP), but I'd highly recommend you also use a separate disk (preferably a small SSD) for the OS and keep your media drive dedicated to media.