Login at Kodi Home

maddog808 · 2014-07-19, 21:00

This thread is hilarious. The title says "...if money is no issue". Why anyone would mention Rpi, ATV, or Android, is beyond me. That type of hardware belongs in the complete opposite thread, where money is the most important issue.

xbs08 · (This post was last modified: 2014-07-19, 22:06 by xbs08.)

OK so lets make it non hilarious... buy a Mac Pro!

Thread closed.

jammyb · (This post was last modified: 2014-07-19, 22:06 by jammyb.)

Money no object?

Mine would be a Ferrari with an inverter powering a current gen i5 NUC.

Cool

I don't see the point in an all singing all dancing box. I'm more into the screen!

**Dougie Fresh** · (This post was last modified: 2014-07-19, 22:17 by Dougie Fresh.)

Yes, it's like asking what's the best car. You can't answer without knowing something about who's driving the car, what their needs are, etc. One person might answer Audi S5 Cabriolet Quattro because they live where it's hot in summer and snowy in winter and they want to take the kids with the top down but another might say 11-passenger van because they have 9 kids and another wants a Ferrari maybe they live in California and have no kids.

So, it depends, pot full of money or not.

maddog808 · 2014-07-19, 22:29

What would you buy/build if money was no object? I'd get a small, fanless case, with an i5, 8gb RAM, 256gb SSD, Windows 7. Assuming all media is stored on a NAS. This is fun. It's like daydreaming about winning the lottery.

nickr · 2014-07-19, 23:24

Well current technology is cheap. H264 1080p with HD audio is easily playable perfectly on quite cheap hardware, so the only thing you can spend money on is smaller/quieter/lower power.

If money was no issue I'd be looking at a 4k TV and hardware to play into it (including finding a graphics card that can decode H265/HEVC). Then I suppose I'd have to find some material to play, but I'd be future proofed.

**voip-ninja** · 2014-07-20, 01:14

(2014-07-19, 20:19)popcornmix Wrote:
(2014-07-19, 20:11)voip-ninja Wrote: Sure play any VC1 BD rip on rasp pi and let us know how it goes. Dark Knight is a good one... VC1 + True-HD. Only boxes with good hardware support can do it.

I imagine if you played the AC3 stream (which is mandatory for a Blu-Ray that contains TrueHD) it will play fine.

I'm not arguing there aren't compromises with the Pi (e.g. HD audio passthrough), but it's not true to say it can't play raw Blu-Ray images.

So now you're talking compromises... I also don't think rasp pi can do hardware decoding of VC1 so now you need to transcode those rips to H264.

Arguing for a rasp pi in a "money is no object" thread is just kind of silly.

xbs08 · 2014-07-20, 01:33

Now it's getting hilarious.

**popcornmix** · 2014-07-20, 01:59

(2014-07-20, 01:14)voip-ninja Wrote: So now you're talking compromises... I also don't think rasp pi can do hardware decoding of VC1 so now you need to transcode those rips to H264.

The Pi can hardware decode Blu-Ray quality VC-1

Quote:Arguing for a rasp pi in a "money is no object" thread is just kind of silly.

I'm not suggesting a Pi is suitable for the original poster at all. I'm just correcting some comments that are not true.

Let me be clear. The Pi is not the best choice if money is no object.
It can play raw Blu-Rays though.

**Harro** · 2014-07-20, 02:27

If money was no object, someone else would be posting on here asking everyone for help on building the most expensive HTPC money could buy and I would be sitting on the beach drinking a margarita, wondering when my Home theater would be finished. Smile

Milhouse · 2014-07-20, 09:00

(2014-07-20, 01:14)voip-ninja Wrote: I also don't think rasp pi can do hardware decoding of VC1 so now you need to transcode those rips to H264.

Since you have posted what you think, believe or maybe even just imagine, I'll state what I know: the Pi can play BD quality VC-1 with TrueHD audio without a problem.

Someone mentioned the Dark Knight VC-1 - I have that, with TrueHD, and it plays fine on a Pi (admittedly, it extracts only the core audio from the HD stream). Another VC-1 example is Blade Runner Final Cut with all 5 audio streams including TrueHD - again, this plays perfectly on the Pi.

Sure, the Pi isn't the best or most capable player out there and at $35 shouldn't even have been mentioned in this thread, but since it was it's only fair to correct any factual inaccuracies that have been stated thus far.

two515ty · 2014-07-20, 10:11

OP, please provide more information. What kind of media are you playing? How is your media stored? Are you wanting to build from scratch, from a barebones kit, or prebuilt? Do you need wireless, or are you wired?

Here's what I would suggest: get a lightweight computer to use as a media player and store all your media on a NAS, if you haven't already.

I'd recommend the current i3 or i5 NUC as they will get the job done quickly and effectively. I don't think it will matter which one you get, but if money truly is no object, you might as well get the i5.

If you need windows, grab an SSD or mSATA SSD, depending on which SKU you buy (one SKU fits only an mSATA drive, while the other fits both an mSATA and a regular 2.5" SSD). 120/128 GB is a good size, although I only use a 30 GB SSD on my NUC and have plenty of space since it's only used as a HTPC. If you don't need Windows, just run OpenELEC from a 4 or 8 GB USB flash drive.

Get 4 GB of DDR3L (it must be 1.35 V or it won't work) in a 2 x 2 GB kit. If you want, get 8 GB, but you likely won't notice the difference.

If you need an IR remote, get something from the Logitech Harmony line.

If you don't have a NAS already, I'd recommend building a custom box running FreeNAS.

**Starstream** · 2014-07-20, 11:13

Quiet PC make and sell complete fanless PC's with Intel Core i3/i5 CPU's in HTPC and NUC form factors, these are quite expensive as a result. But if you want to spend money on a complete system then it's worth a look.

Milhouse · (This post was last modified: 2014-07-20, 11:37 by Milhouse.)

Why would anyone need a quiet PC when money is no issue? After all, the AV equipment will be housed in its own purpose built, sound proofed, air conditioned machine room! Possibly housed in an annex off of the east wing. Smile

Honestly, if I was so filthy rich that money is no issue I wouldn't waste my time building my own custom solution that I then need to support myself. Deary me, no, I'd buy a Kaleidescape system, which is one of those things where if you need to ask the price, you most probably can't afford it (the 3U 42TB Disc Vault is about £30K/$50K, with individual players starting at about £4K/$7K each).

**black_eagle** · 2014-07-20, 11:35

Tianhe-2 - processing speed of 30.65 petaflops, 12.4 petabytes of storage, 1.4 petabytes of memory. 32,000 Intel Ivy Bridge Xeon's and 48,000 Xeon Phi's for a total of 3,120,000 cores.

Of course it does suck quite a bit of juice to run all that. 24 Megawatts in fact !!!

Then I'd need a decent TV to watch XBMC on. The Titan Zeus fits the bill perfectly at 370 inches and $1.7 million