Yet Another HTPC-advice Thread!

[TheSeeker]

My opinion of not recommending an Rpi for Kodi is not what you and Regha are discussing. My points were a bit different,(shared in previous post) and yes that might change with Rpi 3, coz it does have a pretty decent hardware. Will update when I have my Rpi 3. However @Seeker, when it comes to installing OpenELEC on Rpi, its actually pretty easy, and it does not require any CLI modification as such, and no guides needed as well. Unless ofcourse if one does not know how to create a openELEC image via SD Card. Plus getting wifi dongle work with Rpi 1,2 might require some headace (which is where Rpi 3 wins). If you are on LAN with Rpi then getting openELEC running is strightforward.

I however will still recommend HTPC with a decent GPU for compatibility sake, future proofing and utmost smooth and seamless performance ....
I have a meek C2D 6300@3Ghz with 2GB RAM and GT440 and there is NOTHING I cannot play (including 3D BD ISO (not in kodi ofcourse)) except H.265 encoded videos

buy an RPi (or orange/banana whatever pi) i will for the fun, but the bold part is also very much what am looking forward to in addition to freedom/flexibility offered by an htPC.

 

[venkatcr]

except H.265 encoded videos

If I am not wrong, the new version of VLC plays H.265 as does my PowerDVD version 15.xx

Cheers

 

[sam9s]

@sam9s - Now a HTPC makes sense. Unless one can get the same thing with a Pi + OpenELEC.

I use a HTPC, but its plain jane vanilla with explorer and PotPlayer. Perhaps I should use Kodi as front end and madVR as player. You've certainly tempted me.

PS: Anyway to export options and import them in Kodi? If that's possible perhaps you can share your config file for us simple folks to import?

You CAN get he same feel with Rpi +OpenELEC as well. I am also running openELEC after all, but my point is/was.... with such heavy customization with so many plugins and all, Rpi made the entire experience a bit choppy and not forget slow. I didnt like that at all. It plays the video fine, (atleast <15mbps files), but for me navigation, seamless operation is also important. Plus ISO and heavy duty files were also a problem. Not to forget Bitstreaming, utmost important. If you will let Rpi decode then it becomes even more slow.

Things might be different with Rpi3 (except bit streaming ofcourse, which still isnt there) but rest of things might have improved a lot. I have to see. Will report when I have Rpi 3 and tested openELEC on it.

Yes you can import/export congif file, but most of the configuration is dependent on the movies you have in your library, which ofcourse will be different in your case. Its not that difficult, time-consuming YES DEFINITELY, but not difficult, you need couple of serious settings and you will have Kodi as per your eye pleasing experience ...

 

[sam9s]

If I am not wrong, the new version of VLC plays H.265 as does my PowerDVD version 15.xx

Cheers

Your hardware should also support along with the app.

 

[dpdcp]

Yes another sam9s HTPC advice post ..... ....

I am into HTPC and server builds for like ages, and have tried all sorts of applications, OS, both windows linux mac... x86, ARM .... you name it, and in all practicality, in all scenarios, for a dedicated HTPC, nothing comes close to Kodi AKA XBMC. This is the software front I am talking about. For the hardware, running Kodi is NOT resource hog, even for BD ISOs and 3D as well ....except if you go in to 4K and/or go for any sort of video transcoding/resampling, which is not needed unless you want to stream your video media on the move over 3G or something.

Lets discuess the hardware for a budget of 25K, below is what I would suggest

GA-H81M-S2PH Motherboard 3500
Intel 3 GHz LGA 1150 G-3220 Dual Core4300
Zotac GT630 4000
wd green 1TB 4000
Corsair*DDR3*4*GB(1*x*4GB) 1650
PSU Corsair VS450 2500
SSD 32 GB for OS sandisk 2500
===================TOTAL--> 22450

This will play every format thrown, including BD ISO and 3D as well (not 3D BD ISO support as of now with kodi.. sorry, but there are ways to use external player to do the job with kodi running as front end). Also with this GPU you will have full DTSMA and TrueHD bit streaming.

Coming to media server, what kinda of media server are you planning to run, need to be more specific, what is your objective. We can have one windows machine that will run your Kodi and can act as a 24x7 running media server as well. But, in that case we would have windows running as the underlying OS. The advantage is you can have your torrent running at the background and other applications as well. BUT trust me this approch sooner or later might slow down the system.

Recommended approach, at least for dedicated HTPC is to have it running as an OS, very much like OpenELEC (kodi based on linux). Will be much faster in the long run and also gives a more media player like feel than a PC. (I am using openELEC for ages now.

Disadvantages of openELEC is that you can not have any media server OS/app running at the background. Torrents you can still run as we have a transmission plugin for Kodi that should serve your purpose, but point is you would be limited to run third party apps from within Kodi.

What else do you need ................ Youtube ?? can be run from within Kodi, Music as well can be run from within kodi. Gaming you can not do ... unless you opt for Windows based Kodi, in that case you just quit Kodi and come back to desktop and start what ever game you like. (but that is not how I perceive an HTPC)

What else are your requirements ....... list on and we shall see how to build a solution

Dear sam9s,
I am considering ur suggestion on hardware, but which is we should use to get best results. And which one ur using.

 

[regeHA]

1. Raspberry Pi as of now does not support DTSMA, TrueHD passthrough. (and I presume same goes with rpi 3 as well)

Not to forget Bitstreaming, utmost important. If you will let Rpi decode then it becomes even more slow.

Things might be different with Rpi3 (except bit streaming ofcourse, which still isnt there)

Been reading up on it and it seems its not a h/w limitation, but a s/w limitation.

Maybe to do with licensing issues that will add to the cost... so they simply decided to not implement it and keep the costs low.

Maybe if enough people ask for it, they might implement it. But even if it does HD Audio, not sure about Atmos and DTS X.

 

[sam9s]

^^ Bitstreaming is not on Rpi DEV team cards for anytime soon. I know as I had a direct one to one conversation with on of them ....

 

[sam9s]

Dear sam9s,
I am considering ur suggestion on hardware, but which is we should use to get best results. And which one ur using.

need to be more specific than "best result" buddy ... The above configuration will play all files encoded with any encoder, except H.265. including BDISOs and all. The kodi navigation will be as smooth as it can be.

Coming to what I am using. well I am using a very modest HTPC as I did mention somewhere in the previous posts.

C2D 6300@3Ghz
2GB 800 Mhz RAM
GT440 (GT630 is same as 440)
ASUS P5B Delux Motherboard (retired now ...lol)
Silverstone horizontal cabinet


Here below is my HTPC thread started way back in 2011.

http://www.hifivision.com/home-theater-pc-htpc-media-pc/18571-sam9s-htpc-project-powered-xbmc.html

Nothing changed except that I ditched windows based xbmc in favour of latest openELEC based on Kodi .... added an SSD 32 GB scandisk. Also the skin that is there. I no longer use that.

 

[gcr]

+1 to sam,
I was in the dilemma. when purchased projector which to opt: media player, bluray player or. I was about to purchase minix(http://www.hifivision.com/media-streaming-players/57636-minix-neo-kdlinks.html) but then tried kodi on R Pi 2. wow, the feel of it on big screen, and the ease of use.(subtitles, control via mobile, occasional youtube,...). only problem with rpi is the H265.

 

[sam9s]

Plex transcodes everything.

somehow I missed this post. PLEX does not transcode everything, it only transcode what ever media you tell plex to transcode and that too at different bitrates you can choose from ..... or you can run the media at its original bitrate. PLEX is another game all together and probably need another thread to discuess ... ....

 

[ranjeetrain]

What media player is it ?

Ranjeet sir, by 'media player' do you mean something like xtreamer? i have a HiMedia HD900B which am currently using, but now want the flexibility of a PC.

Hi, I was talking about HDVision RT1186 media player that I wrote about here.

This is an insanely feature packed one-box player. Most flexible and more feature-rich than any I have come across at any price point (including some twice the price). Though I purchased mine in China, a friend of mine told me he saw this brand being sold in Lajpat Rai Market.

First thing to ponder while making a decision on this is - what is your quest. A PC is ultimate in flexibility. You can choose everything to your liking, and you can tweak almost every aspect. It's geeky in nature. A lot of fun for those who are into it.

A media player is for elegance and simplicity, ease of use. Anyone who watches TV can operate a remote, and in turn can operate a media player.

Should it be an HTPC or a media player, is a very easy decision to make, because USP of both the breeds is very different.

 

[TheSeeker]

Hi, I was talking about HDVision RT1186 media player that I wrote about here

i have the same player. i mean, just label/maker is different, specs being the same. i agree its a very good device. working very well till now (purchased in 2011). :cheers:

First thing to ponder while making a decision on this is - what is your quest. A PC is ultimate in flexibility. You can choose everything to your liking, and you can tweak almost every aspect. It's geeky in nature. A lot of fun for those who are into it.

yes, this is my quest now.

 

[sam9s]

double post)

 

[regeHA]

somehow I missed this post. PLEX does not transcode everything, it only transcode what ever media you tell plex to transcode and that too at different bitrates you can choose from ..... or you can run the media at its original bitrate. PLEX is another game all together and probably need another thread to discuess ... ....

For me it did. At least the Blu-ray rips without encoding. It either stuttered or began to transcode and downsample media.

I'm talking non-encoded Blu-ray rips i.e. 40 mbps or h.264 encodes at 20 mbps.

Local network, no b/w issues. Simple Windows share streamed without issues, but Plex could not handle bitrates beyond a certain point.

To my knowledge Plex is the same as BubbleUPnP Server i.e. something that converts/transcodes on the fly to formats that are more widely/easily playable.

My experience has been it needs to downsample as it could not handle very high bitrates. It did fine upto 8 and 10 mbps, but beyond that and at "original" setting it would stutter.

 

[sam9s]

^^ Then something else is wrong bro ..... My plex plays 20mbps 1080p bitrate files just fine without any transcoding. However I will say that for some reason plex does need a decent CPU to transmit.(since it works on client-server model) Like for example I tried running plex on E350n based PC and it could not handle high bitrate files (transcode or no transcode),(E350N handled same files with XBMC perfectly) the moment I shifted to my i7 (Plex running on a VM, ESXi project) all went smooth.(both original and transcode) However if you do transcode, then definitely you need a beefy CPU for PLEX to run smoothly. I watch few casual TV series on the movie over 3G with android plex app with a 10 mbps@1080p video transcoded to 1.5mbps@720 and its plays absolutely smoothly ...... ofcourse you have to have a decent upload for this to be a success as well....

 

[TheSeeker]

gentlemen, would these components be fine for the HTPC (with prices)?

Kingston HyperX LoVo DDR3 1600 Mhz 8GB - 2250/-

Corsair VX 450W SMPS - 1700/-

Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 14 | Xigmatek 120mm - 400/-

prices are excluding shipping-cost. these components were being used by a member of another forum in his HTPC, but he's now moving to RPi2 and hence selling these off.

also, which of these will be better - GA-H81M-S2PH v/s Asus PH81M-CS?!

 

[sam9s]

whay do you want to gor for used hardware ... anyway RAM used price for 8GB is high. HyerX you can get 8GB new for 25-2600 if I am not wrong. SMPS I would never go for a used one. Too much risk and SMPS is very very imp. FAN is OK

Coming to mobo both mobos are exactly same, but gigabyte has 2 legacy PCI slots, that might come in handy, I dont know depends on you. else choose any one, both same.

EDIT ::: Errrr I dont see HDMI in ASUS mobo, how you planning to assemble an HTPC without HDMI, thats one major aspect we need. Specially if in future you wanna purchase HTiB or AVR............ Go with Gigabyte.

 

[dpdcp]

need to be more specific than "best result" buddy ... The above configuration will play all files encoded with any encoder, except H.265. including BDISOs and all. The kodi navigation will be as smooth as it can be.

Coming to what I am using. well I am using a very modest HTPC as I did mention somewhere in the previous posts.

C2D 6300@3Ghz
2GB 800 Mhz RAM
GT440 (GT630 is same as 440)
ASUS P5B Delux Motherboard (retired now ...lol)
Silverstone horizontal cabinet


Here below is my HTPC thread started way back in 2011.

http://www.hifivision.com/home-theater-pc-htpc-media-pc/18571-sam9s-htpc-project-powered-xbmc.html

Nothing changed except that I ditched windows based xbmc in favour of latest openELEC based on Kodi .... added an SSD 32 GB scandisk. Also the skin that is there. I no longer use that.

Sorry autospell has changed my question completely!! My question was which operating system we should consider or we can consider openElec based kodi. Is there any pq, sq diff will there in considering different operating systems.

 

[sam9s]

No PQ/SQ difference between openELEC or windows based Kodi. If you are planning to usr your PC for other activities as well, apart from playing movies on it. Go with windows based Kodi. If its a dedicated HTPC, nothing can beat openELEC. BTW openELEC is much faster and less resource hungry than windows based (which is kinda obvious)

 

[sud98]

. HyerX you can get 8GB new for 25-2600 if I am not wrong.

Are you sure? I see it as nearly 100 USD in most sites. India prices would be higher.