Yet Another HTPC-advice Thread!

Arbit said:
What about android based media players like Himedia Q5 which come with Kodi installed? This one sells for 14k on Amazon under the brand name Cubetek. It does 7.1 HD MA passthrough and 4k with USB 3.0 ports. Its successor Himedia Q5 Pro is due in April.
Click to expand...

Yes I must say I have to agree that segment also has become quite lucrative, however Android on media players is still not as mature as say phones. I am not sure how many know but Android on media player is different Android version called Android TV than a simple port of Android available on phones. In that regard Android TV is still limited in many ways, how ever the future looks really promising. Same goes with Kodi port on media players, its not as effective as say dedicated hardware running Kodi. Initial ports were all crap and marketing gimmicks, but in the last one year or so, things have improved a lot.

I dont have a current-gen media player, so cannot provide a hands-on experience on how good/bad is Kodi ported on it, BUT with all the reviews and videos and discussions I had on blogs and forums regarding the same. I would say the minix neo x8-h plus and nVidia Shield have really done a good job porting Kodi on to their media players. nVidia Shield is really gaining grave reviews for their product. Their will be limitations I am sure, specially on the bit streaming front, but over these are worthy media playes of the current gen.

Price is also a factor, with these current gen media players selling in India for as high as 15-20K. YOu can get a decent NUC for the same and use it the way you want to, unless ofcourse Android eco system is what you really need in a media player for the obvious reasons .....:)
 
sam9s said:
If you are going for GTX 750 series video card yes I would suggest to go with atleast 500W PSU
Click to expand...

regeHA said:
Go with at least 550W, better still 650W. Especially with a HTPC one adds more HDDs as time goes on as the movie collection increases.

For the GPU a lot depends on what you intend to use it for. If its only watching videos then even GT series will be great, get anything with HDMI that bitstreams HD audio.

If you plan to upscale video either to 1080P or 4K i.e. push more pixels then a GTX becomes necessary.

If you plan to use anything like SVP, madVR, NVIDIA DSR, etc. then a GTX card, otherwise for full HD and even 4K video with HDMI and audio passthrough , GT series offer excellent value at a budget.

I've a GTX 970 and a GT 730 and if I'm not doing any video conversion or upscaling then the PQ is the same with both cards. The GT costs like 1/4th or 1/5th of the GTX.
Click to expand...

okay now i've 'booked' this motherboard for myself - Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H

it is used, yes, but in near-excellent condition. has a little more than 2 yrs of warranty left. i'll pick it up this Tuesday, for 4.5k. hope this will be fine?

regarding GPU, am in talks with a guy for Zotac GTX 750TI, which was bought by him in Oct. 2015. however, could any of you pls tell why would one need upscaling (sorry for being thick-headed)?. one reason i could think of is for upscaling DVD and youtube videos (480p). if this can be done, then yes, i would definitely want a GTX card. moreover, if i were to buy say a new GT card, like GT 730, it would cost me around almost the same as this used Zotac GTX 750TI. in that case, wouldn't it make sense to go for the 750TI instead? so:

a) GTX 750TI should be fine, and for the motherboard i mentioned?

b) if yes, then the Zotac variant would do, or should i look for an MSI or Asus one?

c) and what price should i tell him? thats because he hasn't yet decided the price for it, and has asked me to make an offer.

P.S. - if anybody reading this thread and wanting to build an HTPC, is looking for a motherboard, then a friend of mine is selling only once used (for testing a processor) Gigabyte GA-H81M-S2PH motherboard with around 2 yrs of warranty left, which i had mentioned a few posts earlier, for 3.95k. if anyone is interested, please PM me

*Venkat saar, if you deem this post-script part of my post as against any forum-rule, then pls snip it*
 
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You good to go with GTX750Ti with this Mobo but please make sure you utilize it for the price you are buying it for, else a GT630 will do good as well. You dont need upscaling if you really think it makes any difference, personal experience it didnt, atleast for high bitrate 480p file to 1080. May be 4K will be different, but I wont bet my money on it.

If the price of used 750Ti is coming same as GT730, by all means go for it .. :)
Go with Zotac, next Asus and then last is MSI.
 
sam9s said:
You good to go with GTX750Ti with this Mobo but please make sure you utilize it for the price you are buying it for, else a GT630 will do good as well. You dont need upscaling if you really think it makes any difference, personal experience it didnt, atleast for high bitrate 480p file to 1080. May be 4K will be different, but I wont bet my money on it.

If the price of used 750Ti is coming same as GT730, by all means go for it .. :)
Go with Zotac, next Asus and then last is MSI.
Click to expand...

so have written to him (for zotac) :)
 
I would agree with your argument about NUC, however the picture is not very clear with several threads reporting DTS-HD not supported on machines loaded with Windows as OS.

https://communities.intel.com/thread/76842?tstart=0

https://communities.intel.com/thread/77858?tstart=0

I am not well versed in this area, so look forward to your advice about building a decent machine with DTS-HD capabilities.

sam9s said:
Yes I must say I have to agree that segment also has become quite lucrative, however Android on media players is still not as mature as say phones. I am not sure how many know but Android on media player is different Android version called Android TV than a simple port of Android available on phones. In that regard Android TV is still limited in many ways, how ever the future looks really promising. Same goes with Kodi port on media players, its not as effective as say dedicated hardware running Kodi. Initial ports were all crap and marketing gimmicks, but in the last one year or so, things have improved a lot.

I dont have a current-gen media player, so cannot provide a hands-on experience on how good/bad is Kodi ported on it, BUT with all the reviews and videos and discussions I had on blogs and forums regarding the same. I would say the minix neo x8-h plus and nVidia Shield have really done a good job porting Kodi on to their media players. nVidia Shield is really gaining grave reviews for their product. Their will be limitations I am sure, specially on the bit streaming front, but over these are worthy media playes of the current gen.

Price is also a factor, with these current gen media players selling in India for as high as 15-20K. YOu can get a decent NUC for the same and use it the way you want to, unless ofcourse Android eco system is what you really need in a media player for the obvious reasons .....:)
Click to expand...
 
Arbit said:
I would agree with your argument about NUC, however the picture is not very clear with several threads reporting DTS-HD not supported on machines loaded with Windows as OS.

https://communities.intel.com/thread/76842?tstart=0

https://communities.intel.com/thread/77858?tstart=0

I am not well versed in this area, so look forward to your advice about building a decent machine with DTS-HD capabilities.
Click to expand...

I have been using Intel NUC (2820) with Windows 7,8,10 and DTS-HD-MA and Dolby True-HD work flawlessly with new Intel drivers.
 
regeHA said:
Hopefully the Pi version will be slimmed down.

But Android is not without its benefits, especially considering the app ecosystem.

Converting the Pi into a router/repeater took some doing, even with guides. With Android getting it into Wi-Fi hotspot mode is inbuilt. Before that it was with an app and easily done too.

The Pi wins because of its huge ecosystem and user base. Getting Android into the mix only furthers this for the Pi community. Pretty much any functionality becomes a possibility with installing an app.

Coming to the h/w requirements, yes that's always true. But with the right h/w like an NVIDIA Shield Android TV also is an excellent media player. And its a lot more open than Apple TV, not to mention powerful in terms of h/w.

The advantage with Android TV is everybody gets a media player starting for as little as $30. I saw the MXQ and it costs $30 and it does everything right out of the box. A lot more flexible and easier than Apple TV, Roku, and even Kodi, and you just cannot argue with the price.
Click to expand...

It's hard to argue against advantages Android brings to the table. Android is like the proverbial Swiss-army-knife. There is hardly anything it can't do.

Simple Router/Repeater kind of functionality is a walk in the park for a mature OS like Android. There are much simpler OSs that can provide full Router/AP/Hotspot/Repeater with much less resources. I had purchased a cute little Wifi device a few years ago in China which had firmware in Chinese language with no support for other languages. Sick of dealing with the language I ultimately flashed it with OpenWRT. The entire OS with some useful add-ons was under 3.5 MB and gosh I am so glad I did. My objective was to get an English firmware but I ended up getting more functionality than the device originally came with. I was amazed to see just how much of functionality they had packed in less than 3.5 MB worth of OS, which included a terminal server for remote administration.

My point is with a full-fledged OS like Android the possibilities are endless. However, strictly in my very personal opinion, end-users shouldn't be made to work too much to get something to work. That's where my preference for specialized hardware/software comes in.

With hardware as cheap as $30-35, and Free and Open source software available for everything, things are really getting interesting. Today we are spoilt for choices. It's a good thing.
 
ok so now i have the GPU too (Zotac GTX 750ti). thanks @sam9s & @regeHA. now onto case. which would you recommend? and horizontal will be good or vertical, esp. with regards to airflow?
 
TheSeeker said:
ok so now i have the GPU too (Zotac GTX 750ti). thanks @sam9s & @regeHA. now onto case. which would you recommend? and horizontal will be good or vertical, esp. with regards to airflow?
Click to expand...

Start watching a few YouTube reviews, that will give you a good idea of what to look for.

For aesthetics Silverstone is a good starting point, for performance on a budget Cooler Master is my go to choice, and Antec is a good choice between price, aesthetics, and performance.

A good point to consider is whether the PC will only be for playback or storage as well. This will help you decide on the number of hard drive bays and connectivity ports (go with maximum number of SATA 3). If you plan to use an external NAS, then the PC can be a small build.

PS: I personally use a Cooler Master mid tower CM series. It gave me the best options for upgradeability and airflow.
 
regeHA said:
Start watching a few YouTube reviews, that will give you a good idea of what to look for.

For aesthetics Silverstone is a good starting point, for performance on a budget Cooler Master is my go to choice, and Antec is a good choice between price, aesthetics, and performance.

A good point to consider is whether the PC will only be for playback or storage as well. This will help you decide on the number of hard drive bays and connectivity ports (go with maximum number of SATA 3). If you plan to use an external NAS, then the PC can be a small build.

PS: I personally use a Cooler Master mid tower CM series. It gave me the best options for upgradeability and airflow.
Click to expand...

thanks. i checked a few review-articles y'day as also some silverstone cabinets. looked good. my main PC's cabinet is also a CM one - HAF X. will look for one from that mfr as well. the HTPC will be used to store content too, to a fairly large extent. for a start i plan to have the 120GB SSD (for OS, softwares) and a 2TB HDD (for storage).

if its not too much to ask, could you or/and others with HTPCs here please share 1-2 pics of how you all've placed your cabinets whenever you've time? the space beside and beneath my TV is already eaten up by a rack and 2 floorstanders. :confused:
 
TheSeeker said:
ok so now i have the GPU too (Zotac GTX 750ti). thanks @sam9s & @regeHA. now onto case. which would you recommend? and horizontal will be good or vertical, esp. with regards to airflow?
Click to expand...

Vertical/Horizontal does not make any difference, its up to your choice and space requirements. Verticle case will take less space horizontally and Horizontal case will take less space vertically ... :) Functionality wise no difference.

Silverstone are good but really expensive, availability is also a concern. Antec now are much more easily available than it was few years back, however this is vertically case I am talking about. Horizontal will still be a bit difficult to find, not to forget expensive.

Few examples below ..

Buy Online PC Cases (Cabinet) | PC Cases (Cabinet) Price in India | PC Cases (Cabinet) Online Pirce
 
sam9s said:
Vertical/Horizontal does not make any difference, its up to your choice and space requirements. Verticle case will take less space horizontally and Horizontal case will take less space vertically ... :) Functionality wise no difference.

Silverstone are good but really expensive, availability is also a concern. Antec now are much more easily available than it was few years back, however this is vertically case I am talking about. Horizontal will still be a bit difficult to find, not to forget expensive.

Few examples below ..

Buy Online PC Cases (Cabinet) | PC Cases (Cabinet) Price in India | PC Cases (Cabinet) Online Pirce
Click to expand...

had begun my search from primeabgb itself earlier y'day. :)
the silverstone horizontal one is available and fortunately not so costly. :)

Buy Online | Silverstone Milo USB3.0 Computer Case SST-ML03B | Price in India

but don't know if will able to accommodate the GPU (GTX 750ti).
 
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