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Your desktop may consume so much power that a separate low-power HTPC pays for itself. Ours breaks even in 18 months, and we probably could have done better with a headless NAS box and an RPi (but then there'd be no Exodus for my LINUX DISTROS) so meh.
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Jan 26, 2017 07:29
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tuyop posted:Your desktop may consume so much power that a separate low-power HTPC pays for itself. Ours breaks even in 18 months, and we probably could have done better with a headless NAS box and an RPi (but then there'd be no Exodus for my LINUX DISTROS) so meh. What are power costs like in your locale though? Here in Scandinavia there is absolutely no economic incentive to save power when buying a PC, since the cost of more efficient parts is not earned back in power savings until 10 years later or so.
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Jan 26, 2017 15:37
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tuyop posted:Your desktop may consume so much power that a separate low-power HTPC pays for itself. Ours breaks even in 18 months, and we probably could have done better with a headless NAS box and an RPi (but then there'd be no Exodus for my LINUX DISTROS) so meh. Please show your work.
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Jan 26, 2017 15:47
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Is there any problem with just hooking my desktop to a tv with HDMI, and just using wireless keyboard and mouse to run it? I figure the main problem I would experience is that it might be annoying to pass the controls around, and you would need a platform to put them on, probably one which would fit on your lap. Any suggestions on what I should get to do this? General advice on whether this is an okay idea, and on what I should put my keyboard and mouse on would be cool (not that you guys have any obligation to do so). I'll probably ask the keyboard and mouse threads in serious hardware for what specific devices to get if I go through with this.
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Jan 26, 2017 16:15
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I just use one of those lap table/cushion things for laptops. It's a bit oversized, but it's stable enough to even use a mouse for games that require it (over a trackpad which I would use if I was just couch surfing the web).
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Jan 26, 2017 16:19
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TheScott2K posted:Please show your work. A Pi3 pulls between 1 and 5 watts in normal use, closer to 1.5ish idling at the Kodi main screen with the WiFi enabled. A bit more while playing video, but most HTPCs are sitting idle most of the day. Let's call it 2 watts average throughout a given day. My desktop pulls around 80 watts at idle and doesn't really change when playing video. It's not the most power efficient computer in the world, but it's firmly below 100 watts while doing HTPC things so it's not terrible either. A Pi3 with power supply and SD card is $45-70 depending on where you're sourcing parts and if you buy a kit versus putting it together yourself. Let's call it $50 for the sake of simple numbers. My "rate to compare" that doesn't include all the distribution related charges, taxes, etc. on electricity is 5.3 cents per kWh. If you just take my bill and divide it by usage I'm at 11.9 cents per kWh. If we go with the low number that's 943 kWh to payoff, for the high number it's 422 kWh. The difference between the two is 78 watts, so 78 watt hours per hour. That's one kWh every 12.8 hours, meaning either 225 or 503 days to payoff depending on which number you're working from. If your PC comparison is a more efficient build optimized for HTPC use the math of course will be different, but somewhere in the 1-2 year range to payoff something as cheap as a Pi3 in a 24/7 use seems entirely reasonable. It's a lot harder to justify PC upgrades themselves based on power usage anymore since the power consumption of similar performance class hardware hasn't changed all that much, but when comparing a PC versus a cheap appliance box it still works. edit: For the record I started this post agreeing with you and intending to show the math on why it didn't work, but the math had different plans. wolrah fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Jan 26, 2017 |
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Jan 26, 2017 17:13
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Your post said "seperate, low-power HTPC." Didn't really interpret that as meaning the RPi you mentioned later in the post. In that case, you should also account for the cost of the NAS.
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Jan 26, 2017 17:39
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tuyop posted:Your desktop may consume so much power that a separate low-power HTPC pays for itself. Ours breaks even in 18 months, and we probably could have done better with a headless NAS box and an RPi (but then there'd be no Exodus for my LINUX DISTROS) so meh. I'm not really worried about power usage. I want to build a new desktop anyway and would rather spend money on than than building an HTPC. The power savings on getting a KabyLake and 1080 are gonna pay for itself in air conditioning alone. Right now I have an AMD FX 9590 watercooled and overclocked to 5.0ghz and 2 R9-290x, watercooled and overclocked to hell and back. It'll use every bit of my 1000W power supply when pushed. It's pretty much the complete opposite of what you would expect when you hear HTPC. Also not spending that money on an HTPC will allow me to start working on putting together a disk shelf and some actual servers in a rack instead of this hodge podge bullshit of Workstations and cracked out PC's running random VM's strewn about the house stuffed under beds and in closets and poo poo. I've already got a few raspberry-Pi's used for various things like Kodi, Plex, a PBX, random projects and tinkering... I've got a Steam Link that I've only used to stream a single game on so far. I only got it because $20 so why the gently caress not? I'm gonna get an Nvidia Shield for streaming 4k movies that have Dolby Atmos because ARC won't pass that bitstream yet. (HDMI 2.1 was just announced and it will support eARC) I guess I don't really NEED a proper HTPC at this point, seeing as how Blurays So the next question is, what do you do with an HTPC that you don't need to stream movies or play music? Make your theater double as a recording studio and make some beats? thechosenone posted:Is there any problem with just hooking my desktop to a tv with HDMI, and just using wireless keyboard and mouse to run it? I figure the main problem I would experience is that it might be annoying to pass the controls around, and you would need a platform to put them on, probably one which would fit on your lap. Any suggestions on what I should get to do this? How do you feel about trackpads or keyboard clits?  http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/itemdetails/0B47189/460/60AC6A0372B14F5BA7B12F1FF88E33C7  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZOPVSKW  https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Wireless-Media-Keyboard-N9Z-00001/dp/B00IICMUWS/  https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Touchpad-Internet-Connected/dp/B014EUQOGK/
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Jan 26, 2017 18:18
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The nubs seem unpleasant to use. The track pads seem alright though.
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Jan 26, 2017 19:17
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:
I have this one. It works really great, it's compact, battery life is good. The trackpad works like a touchscreen in that you can two finger drag scroll and just tap it to click (or use the button, or the helpful yellow leftclick button in the upper left). I think I got it for closer to $20 but it's still a good deal.
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Jan 26, 2017 19:26
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wolrah posted:24/7 use Wait, you people don't turn your HTPC off when you're done watching for the day? Well, then my objection falls flat, of course the payoff would be faster in that case. But really, if you want reduce your electricity bill, why wouldn't you just go hit that switch before you go to bed, rather than invest even a modest amount like $45 on new equipment? Just saying, my NUC boots into libreElec faster than my TV turns on. All I have to do is bend over and hit the power switch before I hit the couch, and before I leave use the Shutdown button in Kore. Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 10:25 on Jan 27, 2017 |
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Jan 27, 2017 10:02
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:All I have to do is [perform a physical action]
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Jan 27, 2017 10:12
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:Wait, you people don't turn your HTPC off when you're done watching for the day? I use LibreELEC and it goes to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity and I can wake it up with the remote.
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Jan 27, 2017 12:55
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Booting a PC is something you do after a power outage, like setting your microwave clock.
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Jan 27, 2017 16:05
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My HTPC is also a Plex server for my family and friends and none of us want to shell out $150 for a lifetime license plus the cloud storage for all those terabytes of sweet home movies and photo libraries, so it stays on. It's better than the desktop staying on, which is what we had before.
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Jan 27, 2017 16:11
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:Wait, you people don't turn your HTPC off when you're done watching for the day? Initially like some of the other people who've responded my HTPC was also my file server and OTA tuner. It needed to be on to automatically download new content when it's released, to record anything it gets locally, and to allow me to access the files from my desktop without having to go to the living room and turn something on. These days I have a dedicated file server and HDHomerun network tuners so it basically comes down to I want my HTPC to behave like any other piece of equipment. I press the right button on my remote and it shows up on my screen. So far I haven't found a reliable way to make my HTPCs power on or even wake from sleep by remote control. Kodi will happily power off or go to sleep by remote, but not back on. The remote receiver I use (Microsoft WMC remote) supports wake from sleep and that worked on my old Celeron HTPC, but it wakes for every signal it receives rather than a specific power. I'm willing to deal with power consumption for convenience sake, but I still try to minimize it.
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Jan 27, 2017 19:01
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So my googling is not working, because I can't seem to figure out what to do. I want to get a Harmony remote that has IR on it, and also has RF that works with the Harmony Hub. I already have the small remote and a hub, but I just want to get the remote itself. I don't care of it's used, refurbished or whatever. I just want a remote but I can't figure out which ones support what I have.
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Jan 27, 2017 21:33
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None of the hub remotes have ir as far as I know. The ir is handed by ir on the hub itself and there are two or blaster outputs.
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Jan 28, 2017 01:10
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Don Lapre posted:None of the hub remotes have ir as far as I know. The ir is handed by ir on the hub itself and there are two or blaster outputs. That won't do it. I have all my av gear in a cabinet in my basement but I have a few IR items around the house to control as well.
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Jan 28, 2017 02:39
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Jerk McJerkface posted:That won't do it. I have all my av gear in a cabinet in my basement but I have a few IR items around the house to control as well. You can get HDMI ir bridges and then use a blaster to shoot that poo poo all into the room.
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Jan 28, 2017 04:51
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Don Lapre posted:None of the hub remotes have ir as far as I know. The ir is handed by ir on the hub itself and there are two or blaster outputs. The Harmony Elite remote does. However IR usage is wonky; you can either configure it to use the hub, blasters (per port) or hub + blasters, or the IR emitter on the remote itself. What you can't do is all 3 together. You can however configure it on a per-device basis, so for example if you have some devices that the hub can see, hidden in a cabinet, whatever, you can have those controlled by the hub and/or blasters, and if you have another that has better LOS to the remote itself you can configure it to use that instead. Basically, look for the remote that comes with the Elite hub setup. I don't know if they are sold separately.
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Jan 28, 2017 06:20
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Don Lapre posted:You can get HDMI ir bridges and then use a blaster to shoot that poo poo all into the room. That's an option but it requires me to run more wires back up from the hub in my basement. I'd rather just spend some cash in a better remote. vvvv I'll check out the elite. Thanks!
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Jan 28, 2017 14:01
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Jerk McJerkface posted:That's an option but it requires me to run more wires back up from the hub in my basement. I'd rather just spend some cash in a better remote. The Elite is expensive, which you probably already know. However having used it for about a year now I also think it is their best remote, and I've been using Harmony's for years. I like it better than the smaller, non-touchscreen remote that comes with the other Hub combo they sell. It comes with a charging dock as well - if you find one used make sure it has it as I think you need it, I don't think it charges over its USB port, which is also inconvenient to use (to be fair, with the Hub setup, you don't really need USB for updates other than firmware since the former go over the air to it from the Hub).
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Jan 28, 2017 15:47
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I had no idea my elite had ir on the remote lol
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Jan 28, 2017 16:12
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Don Lapre posted:I had no idea my elite had ir on the remote lol Don't feel dumb, it's not obvious and disabled by default. As I pointed out above you have to actually go in to the settings for each activity and choose to enable it on a device-specific basis. And if you do that, you'll disable hub/blaster support for that device. So it's a pretty specific use case, but I imagine people who need it find it useful. If you have a device or devices where pointing the hub/blasters isn't all that convenient but pointing the remote at them is for example. However if you have the remote docked then using, say, the phone app won't work because the signal won't reach the device if it isn't pointed at it. I only use it (it's how I found out about it) when I want to program a new FLIRC command for my Shield and I can't be assed to A) find a random remote to create an IR code with/run through setup or B) figure out how to get the FLIRC when plugged in to my PC to be LOS to my hub. I just set the remote temporarily to IR to program it, much easier. That is a corner-case I know.
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Jan 28, 2017 18:53
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HdHomeRun got approval for protected channels. Looks like I may finally get to upgrade my home PC and stop using Media Center if I want to watch HBO.
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Jan 29, 2017 01:04
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Medullah posted:HdHomeRun got approval for protected channels. Looks like I may finally get to upgrade my home PC and stop using Media Center if I want to watch HBO. Too bad it'll still be stuck in their trash XBox One app and not in the OneGuide where it actually integrates well on the system level.
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Jan 29, 2017 02:31
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Medullah posted:HdHomeRun got approval for protected channels. Looks like I may finally get to upgrade my home PC and stop using Media Center if I want to watch HBO. No you won't, not when you realize it's only in their lovely app and has a host of limitations (some not their fault, but there all the same). Cablecard is dead, it just doesn't know it yet.
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Jan 29, 2017 04:23
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Ixian posted:No you won't, not when you realize it's only in their lovely app and has a host of limitations (some not their fault, but there all the same). Really sucks. HDHomeRun was such a great solution for me, having literally 1 cable outlet in the living room. Now I can watch from wherever. Though realistically I don't watch TV often, and it's usually in my living room so I guess I could conceivably just throw in the towel and go back to a cablebox.
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Jan 29, 2017 04:30
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Their app is seriously bad. Even the deinterlacer is bad. Literally the only thing this company does is tune TV, and their app's 1080i playback looks bad.
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Jan 29, 2017 04:34
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The CableCard saga is a great simultaneous example of both bad regulation and why deregulation is bad for consumers, too. Hell, almost anything to do with media companies and carriers involved seems to prove them both.
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Jan 29, 2017 17:16
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You don't really need it anymore unless you have a significant other who just has to have that one particular obscure channel that no one streams. Sling TV has gotten to be...decent and while it has issues they are really no worse, and in some cases better, than whatever bullshit you have to put up with when it comes to CableCard. Also cheaper, by a lot. Combine it with a decent OTA solution like Live Channels or (I guess, I haven't seen reviews yet) Sling's upcoming Android TV box that has an OTA tuner and you are good to go. Then add on HBO Go, Showtime Anytime, or whatever and you are set. Personally, I've seen a major change in the last couple years with my wife, who has come to love obscure costume dramas on Netflix and barely watches anything other than live news or sports on "regular" TV anymore which OTA handles fine. Even then she'll watch BBC America news via their app more often than not because American network news has turned in to a useless cesspool of endlessly looped twitter drama. I think the biggest obstacle to true cord-cutting is viewing habits - if you want to get the same thing you can get with a cable/sat. subscription, only "over the internet" or otherwise via some magical means you are in for disappointment. It will end up costing nearly the same and introduce lovely buffering and other playback issues.
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Jan 29, 2017 20:00
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necrobobsledder posted:The CableCard saga is a great simultaneous example of both bad regulation and why deregulation is bad for consumers, too. Hell, almost anything to do with media companies and carriers involved seems to prove them both. If the FCC during a certain Administration that seems a lot less bad in retrospect this week had actually pushed back against CableLabs' basically making it impossible for end users to buy PC CableCard tuners, Windows Media Center might have actually had a shot. Instead, you had people ebaying each other the one ATI tuner that only came with OEM PCs until Ceton put their thing out way later and MS killing WMC like two weeks before everyone and their mother figured out that OTA TV is still a thing and is actually pretty good. loving tragedy, that.
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Jan 30, 2017 00:05
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TheScott2K posted:If the FCC during a certain Administration that seems a lot less bad in retrospect this week had actually pushed back against CableLabs' basically making it impossible for end users to buy PC CableCard tuners, Windows Media Center might have actually had a shot. Instead, you had people ebaying each other the one ATI tuner that only came with OEM PCs until Ceton put their thing out way later and MS killing WMC like two weeks before everyone and their mother figured out that OTA TV is still a thing and is actually pretty good. I don't think it ever had a shot. Even with better OEM support from the start. The only reason the cards took off at all (and are still available from most franchises) is because the Cable cartel itself discovered that using the cards - in their own set top boxes - was cheaper to both have manufactured and to support. That's right - the overwhelming majority of CableCards made were (and are) consumed by the very set top boxes they were intended to replace. There was no way the industry was going to allow a software company like Microsoft to come in and insert themselves in between their customers and themselves. And Microsoft bent over backwards to play by the rules. Apple, et all never had a shot at all (and still don't). That, and the patchwork of regulations and settings (some providers still don't set copy-protect flags on content, others do it haphazardly, and it all depends on the individual local franchise to impliment, not at a national level) would still have doomed it. Even today, depending on what cable franchise you have to deal with, you can end up with a working CableCard solution that has more restrictions than the exact same content on said franchises set top box - which is also using a CableCard! So, the market is evolving around them. In the US, National broadcast TV is turning in to a joke. Cable-only channels are a cesspool of 24 hour infomercials and bland content. The good channels that stand out with good content are finding more direct routes through streaming to consumers. And aggregates like Netflix, while producing (mostly) excellent original content of their own are also licensing tons of interesting content from around the world. US franchise cable may yet draw breath for a number of years but the mold has already formed around them.
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Jan 30, 2017 01:07
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Ixian posted:The only reason the cards took off at all (and are still available from most franchises) is because the Cable cartel itself discovered that using the cards - in their own set top boxes - was cheaper to both have manufactured and to support. What are you talking about? The cable companies were forced to do that by the integration ban, which went in to effect in 2007 (two years later than it was supposed to because delays were granted). The cable industry actively fought against every part of CableCard.
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Jan 30, 2017 02:11
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wolrah posted:What are you talking about? The cable companies were forced to do that by the integration ban, which went in to effect in 2007 (two years later than it was supposed to because delays were granted). I know. Then they took a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach - while continuing to make it a PITA for consumers to use themselves. Even today it's not obvious how to get one; generally you have to call until you find someone who knows what you are talking about, and it sometimes still requires an on-site service visit. It's gotten better over the years and some franchises handle it better than others but it never got to be anything more than a niche product at best. I'd wager that most CableCard setups these days are for Tivos (that people purchased directly).
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Jan 30, 2017 14:48
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I still use my hauppauge cablecard dual tuner, because my OTA channels have been so weak. Really though, Netflix is basically replacing everything I normally watch, and the only sports team I watch just moved away, do there's not much point in keeping even the basic channels I have now.
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Jan 31, 2017 09:37
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TheScott2K posted:Booting a PC is something you do after a power outage, like setting your microwave clock. That's a fair opinion to have, I'm just pointing out that people who care about power consumption have easier and cheaper fixes available than spending $$ on new equipment. If you don't care about power consumption, my comment wasn't aimed at you.
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Feb 1, 2017 16:23
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Anyone have experience with the Shield TV? I'm looking to ditch the old PC I've been using as a HTPC in favor of a NAS and something that can stream 4k like the Shield. I've not used it or anything like it though, so I'm not sure if the $100 upgrade for the pro's larger harddrive and SD card access is worth it or pointless with the NAS. Any advice?
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Feb 3, 2017 10:20
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TTBF posted:Anyone have experience with the Shield TV? I'm looking to ditch the old PC I've been using as a HTPC in favor of a NAS and something that can stream 4k like the Shield. I've not used it or anything like it though, so I'm not sure if the $100 upgrade for the pro's larger harddrive and SD card access is worth it or pointless with the NAS. Any advice? The ShieldTV is great! I would not spend the extra on the hard drive version however. If you ever need more than the internal 16GB (only 12GB is usable), then you can just attach an external hard drive via the USB3 port and "adopt" it as internal storage. This is exactly what I did with mine. (I have a bunch of emulator ROMs that filled up the internal storage). It runs Kodi great, or Plex. As a bonus, its also the only streaming box on the market that can also act as a Plex Server. You can mount a NAS/file share and Kodi or Plex will see it as a local mount point.
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Feb 3, 2017 15:17
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