Newbie build for PVR
#1
I've been fixated on XBMC ever since there was an xbox 360 update and netflix started running super super slow. I keep going back and forth about how to build my XBMC box.


Goals -


* Want to play 1080p content from file. The box would be gigabit ethernet connected to my network. I have a WD Mybook NAS.

* Want to stream Netflix and other streaming add-ons

* Want to record live 1080 over the air TV. I do not have cable so over the air is all I need.

* Will be running this into my receiver. Can anyone hear the difference between HDMI audio and a digital audio connection?

* Want this to be snappy, even if opening up a large media library (the x-box freaks out when it opens up a 5000 song music library on my main computer)

* Want it to be quite, fanless is preferable


Should I be focused on getting a PCI based PVR, or will a USB one work fine? Do any of the PVR's work on the android machines?

How fast of a CPU will I need. I was looking at some of the mini-ITX mother boards plus an AMD A-1 processor, or one of the Intel J2900 fanless combo boards. Then throw in a PCI PVR

Or would the lowest end celeron Intel NUC work if using a USB PVR?

I realize I could buy a higher end intel NUC or Gigabyte box or a more powerful mini itx intel i5 or AMD A6 build but am not sure if it is needed. I am wanting to go as cheap as possible.

Any advice or links to threads or websites would be great! I can't seem to find too much recent hardware recommendations for XBMC / PVR build
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#2
NUC, Chromebox, and FireTV seem to be the most popular. Will need a server pc for pvr on FireTV, not sure about Chromebox. For Netflix depends on OS used, they were working on Android for it, but don't know if it ever came out. Windows won't give you a remote experience unless the version in WMC is used (old). Chrome box can be dual booted to run it on Chrome, not sure what other streaming services offered on Chrome OS. I've been running FireTV for a few weeks now. With another pc serving up pvr with ServerWMC, and a Dlink DNS-343 streaming Blu-ray quality .mkv files. And I have to say it works quite well. There's a 20-30 second hang when selecting EPG:Time line in pvr but other than that I'm impressed. Oh yeah and I use hdhomerun Dual and Prime for my tuners.
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#3
Wow, lots of questions:

* Want to play 1080p content from file. The box would be gigabit ethernet connected to my network. I have a WD Mybook NAS.

Should not be a problem -- lots of boxes support this. 100Mb is good enough and many players do not have Gige

* Want to stream Netflix and other streaming add-ons

no problem with most recent hardware

* Want to record live 1080 over the air TV. I do not have cable so over the air is all I need.

the most popular PVR add-on supported in xbmc is MythTV. I use an HD homerun dual tuner to capture OTA programs and send them to MythTV on my LAN. MythTV runs on several OSes, but I use an ubuntu linux server to record shows, store my media, and backup my PCs. I use a Zotac mini PC (Intel Atom/Ion) running OpenElec as an HTPC. Windows laptops are also used. I have Gigabit LAN but it worked OK on 10/100.

* Will be running this into my receiver. Can anyone hear the difference between HDMI audio and a digital audio connection?

Depends on your receiver. Likely it only has one DAC for audio and the digital audio will get to the DAC via HDMI or spdif, so the sound will be the same.

* Want this to be snappy, even if opening up a large media library (the x-box freaks out when it opens up a 5000 song music library on my main computer)

This depends on several factors: How fast/busy is your NAS, your network, the XBMC box.

* Want it to be quite, fanless is preferable

Depends on your XBMC hardware. Small boxes use small or no fan. Full blown PCs use typically use cheap noisy fans, unless expensive quiet fans are specified. I use a mini-ITX PC for the server (located in the basement) which isolates fan and disk noise from the listening area. A mini PC or laptop in the listening room is quiet enough for me, but fanless is available. If you use a single PC for the PVR back end and the XBMC front end, it will need to be more powerful/hot and located in the listening room, so quiet fans are advised.

* Should I be focused on getting a PCI based PVR, or will a USB one work fine?

The PVR is software running on the backend hardware. I think you mean which tuner hardware. The HDHR tuner sends TV streams to the PVR via the LAN, PCI tuners work inside the PC, and outboard tuners with a USB 3.0 might be available, but I don't know. I use the HDHR because it can be easily shared over the LAN.

* Do any of the PVR's work on the android machines?

I doubt it. The android machines are designed to stream previously encoded content. PVR software needs to encode the content, index it, and store it.

* How fast of a CPU will I need. I was looking at some of the mini-ITX mother boards plus an AMD A-1 processor, or one of the Intel J2900 fanless combo boards. Then throw in a PCI PVR or would the lowest end celeron Intel NUC work if using a USB PVR? I realize I could buy a higher end intel NUC or Gigabyte box or a more powerful mini itx intel i5 or AMD A6 build but am not sure if it is needed. I am wanting to go as cheap as possible.

A single HTPC needs more power than a front end streaming box. Once you pick your PVR software add-on, check the hardware requirements for that software.

* Any advice or links to threads or websites would be great! I can't seem to find too much recent hardware recommendations for XBMC / PVR build

XBMC is not PVR software, however it has add-ons to allow it to replace the f[/color]ront-end player for selected PVR software. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=PVR

Hardware recommendations for XBMC are on the XBMC site http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Supported_hardware and hardware requirements for the PVR software will be on the PVR site.

MythTV hardware requirements are here: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hardware_Requirements.
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#4
(2014-09-25, 07:24)ajaxmike Wrote: * Want to record live 1080 over the air TV. I do not have cable so over the air is all I need.

the most popular PVR add-on supported in xbmc is MythTV. I use an HD homerun dual tuner to capture OTA programs and send them to MythTV on my LAN. MythTV runs on several OSes, but I use an ubuntu linux server to record shows, store my media, and backup my PCs. I use a Zotac mini PC (Intel Atom/Ion) running OpenElec as an HTPC. Windows laptops are also used. I have Gigabit LAN but it worked OK on 10/100.

If you use DVB kit then TV Headend is also increasingly popular - though it does have ATSC support the developers are mainly based in Europe where DVB is the standard. I run TV Headend on a couple of boxes and found it far simpler to set-up than a MythTV back-end.

Quote:* Will be running this into my receiver. Can anyone hear the difference between HDMI audio and a digital audio connection?

Depends on your receiver. Likely it only has one DAC for audio and the digital audio will get to the DAC via HDMI or spdif, so the sound will be the same.

For DTS/DD and PCM stereo probably not.

However you have to use HDMI connections to your amp if you want lossless Dolby True HD, DTS HD MA or PCM / FLAC etc. multichannel, or the high quality lossy AAC, DTS MA HR and Dolby Digital Plus multichannel. A Toslink/Coax SPDIF connection won't carry these formats - so you will be left with legacy DVD-quality DD, DTS and PCM stereo if you use a Toslink/Coax SPDIF connection. (This is an issue if you live in regions where your broadcast TV uses AAC multichannel audio - as you can't carry this as a bitstream so need multichannel PCM to carry it and deliver surround. This is the case for Freeview HD in the UK for instance)

If your receiver supports HDMI Audio AND you have content with high quality lossless multichannel audio then you'll really want to use HDMI Audio.
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