Help me creating my first HTPC
#1
Hi there,

Since i recently bought my first nas (Synology 1511+, 3x 4TB WD RED) I thought, why not copy all the dvd's i own it and stream them. This will save me quite some physical space as i don't need al those covers.

But how am i gonna do this? I was thinking about a RPi, but it seems to be a bit underpowered and i'm not searching for a (extreme) budget device. I'm also willing to build it together myself.

I need a device with wifi possibility's (a USB receiver is alright) and that can decode 1080p mkv's with a bitrate of ~20Mbps. Possibly with a Blu-ray or at least a dvd reader. I guess a 16GB mSATA sad would do it for the disk space.

Any idea's? Or can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!
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#2
Not much info ATM but AMD Kabini Mobo or Intel Bay Trail-D Mobo looks promising once the driver issues get sorted . As for wifi I prefer Ethernet Lan as 20GB mkv over my home network is not great at times but I'm sure someone can help you there .

There are some nice itx htpc case to pick from depending on your needs . If you have a hdd and ram about the house then this is a cheap option or you could just get a nuc
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#3
How is that recent i3 nuc from Intel? It seems a bit to much for simple 1080p streaming and does not have a wireless card included.

The problem with custom builds is my height limit of 92mm
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#4
I don't own a nuc but there are loads of threads covering them , I think they are still overpriced but that's just my opinion .I see your height limit won't really work with any custom build , that a tight space to try keep a pc cool unless it's well ventilated .
This thread is long but should answer all your question on the nuc http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=176718 , some will even tell you that for your needs you want need the i3 but its your money to spend . Good luck and I hope you find your solution
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#5
(2014-04-20, 23:57)smiba Wrote: How is that recent i3 nuc from Intel? It seems a bit to much for simple 1080p streaming and does not have a wireless card included.

The i3 NUC is much more powerful than is required for 1080p streaming. You can add a Wireless card for a very small amount of money, though make sure you chose one that has decent driver support if you are running Linux/OpenElec rather than Windows.

Other platforms to look at are the Acer Revo RL80 (the Celeron 1007U is fine for 1080i and 1080p - though as it is Ivy Bridge there is the 24p bug) and the Gigabyte Brix (the Celeron 2955U is fine for 1080p and 1080i under OpenElec - you don't need i3-levels of power, and as it is Haswell there are no 24p issues)

If you are looking at streaming high-quality 1080p from a local server, then wired ethernet (or good quality power line adaptors) are preferable to Wifi.
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#6
My wifi is about 2 meters away, and my phone plays the movies smooth (Well, only my current phone.. The older ones can't keep up with the bitrate). Also i'm the only one populating the 5Ghz band Smile

Are you sure the Gigabyte Brix will hold up when running 1080p 21Mbit H264 movies? Are the Celerons really powerfull enough?
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#7
How about if you just get a Media player such as Roku, Apple TV, WD TV Live or Fire TV and stream all files from the NAS?

I do agree, if you really want xbmc, fire tv and an apple tv v2 are the only options. Hence I will probably go with the FTV.
AFTV (non-rooted + Kodi)
WD My Book Live NAS
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#8
(2014-04-23, 06:46)shabuboy Wrote: How about if you just get a Media player such as Roku, Apple TV, WD TV Live or Fire TV and stream all files from the NAS?

I do agree, if you really want xbmc, fire tv and an apple tv v2 are the only options. Hence I will probably go with the FTV.

You need to know what you're talking about before you respond to threads like this. Second thread in a row too. HTPC's are meant to do exactly what you just said. Stream files from a NAS. Only difference is an HTPC has the power of x86 platform.

Go with a BayTrail NUC OP if you can. That's a VERY cheap option. There is another thread on here with other cheap options shipped from china complete with OS (probably pirated but well, it works right?). They're all from aliexpress. The Prices, even with the 20 dollar shipping or so come out pretty nice and the devices are all eXTREMELY small.
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#9
geee, take it easy will you Mr know it all!

Most people get an HTPC to do a lot more than just play files. It ends up being their torrent client, NAS, etc etc.

My point being, these days, there are more options than just HTPC and are more affordable options. Of course, it all comes down to $$$ and requirements and what the user wants.

And yes, you do not have to come across with such attitude. I agree, I might be wrong, but educate me instead of offending me.

Final comments, there is nothing wrong with HTPC, but if you ask me, that was the 2000s way of go.
AFTV (non-rooted + Kodi)
WD My Book Live NAS
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#10
(2014-04-24, 02:18)shabuboy Wrote: geee, take it easy will you Mr know it all!

Most people get an HTPC to do a lot more than just play files. It ends up being their torrent client, NAS, etc etc.

My point being, these days, there are more options than just HTPC and are more affordable options. Of course, it all comes down to $$$ and requirements and what the user wants.

And yes, you do not have to come across with such attitude. I agree, I might be wrong, but educate me instead of offending me.

Final comments, there is nothing wrong with HTPC, but if you ask me, that was the 2000s way of go.

So much rubbish in your final comment.
I have used most of the players you suggested and it comes nothing close to a well built HTPC.

Good news is with htpcs these days, they don't have to as big as an AV receiver. Intel NUC can do all and much more than any of the players you suggested
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#11
(2014-04-20, 14:27)smiba Wrote: Hi there,

Since i recently bought my first nas (Synology 1511+, 3x 4TB WD RED) I thought, why not copy all the dvd's i own it and stream them. This will save me quite some physical space as i don't need al those covers.

But how am i gonna do this? I was thinking about a RPi, but it seems to be a bit underpowered and i'm not searching for a (extreme) budget device. I'm also willing to build it together myself.

I need a device with wifi possibility's (a USB receiver is alright) and that can decode 1080p mkv's with a bitrate of ~20Mbps. Possibly with a Blu-ray or at least a dvd reader. I guess a 16GB mSATA sad would do it for the disk space.

Any idea's? Or can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

With the Synology as your NAS, you can somewhat easily install packages for sabnzbd, sickbeard, torrents, etc and let the unit itself handle download/unpack/repair of just about all media. with that task out of the way what you really need is 'just' a frontend.

Intel NUC's are prebuilt and only need some components to get it going(disk, wlan if required for your build, ram). Its a very popular system and you will get ALOT of support for it from members here. If you go with an obscure(chinese clones) or locked down device(aTV, FireTV) youll constantly be playing the cat/mouse game for jailbreak or root just to get it going.

The NUC wiki(http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Intel_NUC) is your friend to help you decide with SKU to go with depending on your playback requirements. do you need hi10 at high bitrates? Infrared control for harmony remotes? full frame packed 3D? will you be gaming on the same unit like emulators(dolphin/n64/etc)...these are all questions that will dictate how much compute power youll need.

My setup is a i5 NUC (Haswell) and my media is mostly, if not all, 1080p h264(re-encodes and full bluray dumps), h265(hevc), 3D MVC dumps. I use mpc-hc+madvr(lanczos 3 taps+AR) as renderer. The unit plays everything without a hiccup over a 2x2 802.11ac link(866mbps).

YMMV
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#12
How about the i3-4010U NUC? Is it good enough with just a 30Gb ssd?
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#13
You don't need the i3. Unless you have stuff that needs to be played in software that the Celeron can't handle.

(2014-04-21, 14:06)smiba Wrote: Are you sure the Gigabyte Brix will hold up when running 1080p 21Mbit H264 movies? Are the Celerons really powerfull enough?
Sure they are, since the GPU is doing the heavy lifting. The only constraint weak CPUs impose is you don't want heavy skins unless you can live with a bit of a sluggish GUI.

But decoding-wise, a modern Intel CPU with integrated GPU can decode 1080p h.264 just fine. I can't find the full specs Intel Quick Sync supports, but that's what most of its integrated GPUs have nowadays, it's comparable to AMD's or nVidia's hardware acceleration.
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#14
(2014-04-21, 14:06)smiba Wrote: Are you sure the Gigabyte Brix will hold up when running 1080p 21Mbit H264 movies? Are the Celerons really powerfull enough?

The CPU has nothing really to do with video decoding performance. The Celeron GPU is fine for decoding Blu-ray content - which can got a lot higher than 21Mbs. My Celeron 1007U and 2955Us are both fine playing Blu-ray lossless rips and they go a lot higher than 21Mbs. (I have some stuff I've mastered myself that averages around 35Mbs)

In terms of H264 decoding the Celeron 1xxx and 2xxx GPUs are pretty much identical in performance to the i3/i5/i7. Where they differ is in the GPU capabilities for scaling etc.
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