The HTPC Thread - Dont buy an HTPC - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The HTPC Thread - Dont buy an HTPC

Knyteguy: Jul 6, 2005; YES to love
NO to shirts; Toilet Rascal

Smoking deal that I can't get in on because I'm on a budget. Let me live vicariously through you:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291619994225
MSI GeForce GTX 950 2GD5 OC 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5

Newegg page with better specs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127919&cm_re=MSI_GeForce_GTX_950_DirectX_2GD5-_-14-127-919-_-Product

$119 usually $169.

They're selling crazy fast (some people are buying 5 of them).

HDCP 2.2 HDMI 2.0 (2.0a I believe has been driver updated in), HEVC encoding/decoding support (only the 950 and 960 can do this IIRC). Good for anyone looking to add 4K support to their HTPC.

# ? Feb 25, 2016 05:40

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# ? May 26, 2024 19:05

Matt Zerella: Oct 7, 2002; Norris'es are back baby. It's good again. Awoouu (fox Howl)

Knyteguy posted:

Smoking deal that I can't get in on because I'm on a budget. Let me live vicariously through you:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291619994225
MSI GeForce GTX 950 2GD5 OC 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5

Newegg page with better specs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127919&cm_re=MSI_GeForce_GTX_950_DirectX_2GD5-_-14-127-919-_-Product

$119 usually $169.

They're selling crazy fast (some people are buying 5 of them).

HDCP 2.2 HDMI 2.0 (2.0a I believe has been driver updated in), HEVC encoding/decoding support (only the 950 and 960 can do this IIRC). Good for anyone looking to add 4K support to their HTPC.

Perfect. Now I can sell off my giant 4gig 750 and fit more drives in my case!

# ? Feb 25, 2016 05:58

Knyteguy: Jul 6, 2005; YES to love
NO to shirts; Toilet Rascal

LmaoTheKid posted:

Perfect. Now I can sell off my giant 4gig 750 and fit more drives in my case!

:jealous:

# ? Feb 25, 2016 06:31

KinkyJohn: Sep 19, 2002

If I have a seedbox server, can I have plex automatically download whatever gets dropped into a specific seedbox folder?

I've been using my htpc just like a pc and would like to automate some processes and get rid of having to run windows at all.

KinkyJohn fucked around with this message at 08:22 on Feb 25, 2016

# ? Feb 25, 2016 08:20

Knyteguy: Jul 6, 2005; YES to love
NO to shirts; Toilet Rascal

KinkyJohn posted:

If I have a seedbox server, can I have plex automatically download whatever gets dropped into a specific seedbox folder?

I've been using my htpc just like a pc and would like to automate some processes and get rid of having to run windows at all.

I think there's BitTorrent Sync or something. Maybe some others have info on that.

What I did was setup all of the below, and now I can just rss subscribe to something, and it will show up in my Plex shortly after (depending on download time).

Cygwin/Windows:
https://www.reddit.com/r/seedboxes/comments/2t2r8r/windows_how_to_automate_downloads_from_seedbox/

I think this deletes from your local drive if you delete from your seedbox though. You could probably modify the script to get rid of this behavior.

For Linux just use the script in the reddit above and add it to crontab.

If you're using ruTorrent on your seedbox you can use some regex matching to label and move to appropriate directories. This is useful to automate download management so Plex can pick it up correctly without you having to move the files manually after. Here's how I setup mine:

code:

movies exclude:
/(s)(\d).*(e)(\d)*/i
movies filter:
/()/i
tv filter:
/(s)(\d).*(e)(\d)*/i

I'm sure the Regex could be improved upon, but it's worked for me well enough.

These filters will automatically put tv episodes in a certain directory (ones with S*E* or S**E** or S***E*** I think or other similar within the title), and movies (everything else) into another, and label them correctly.

Then use Autotools to create a symbolic link when downloads are finished, so that you won't mirror unfinished downloads with the script above.

Here's how my script above looked with the above ruTorrent configuration, downloading to my external f:\ in the f:\finished\tv and f:\finished\movies directories, monitoring the /downloads/finished/ directory that my finished files are in.

code:

remote_dir=/downloads/finished/
local_dir="/cygdrive/f/"

You can use Autotools to experiment with the label in the symbolic link creation, and have multiple bash scripts to monitor specific directories instead of just one. Right now music will go into movies or whatever. It's easy enough for me to manage because I don't use my seedbox for much of anything besides what I have setup above, so I'll just move manually if needed.

I'd recommend testing with this before doing it on your actual library directory. It took me a few tries to get it right. Auto unpack may be needed.

Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Feb 25, 2016

# ? Feb 25, 2016 16:33

KinkyJohn: Sep 19, 2002

Wow that's a great response, I really appreciate it. I'll definitely try the things you're suggesting, looks pretty awesome

# ? Feb 25, 2016 16:46

GokieKS: Dec 15, 2012; Mostly Harmless.

Knyteguy posted:

Smoking deal that I can't get in on because I'm on a budget.

Mine is a really edge case, but I wish these had 4GB of VRAM. I use a 750 Ti in my Hackintosh workstation, which drives 3 monitors (one 3840 x 2160 and two 1920 x 1200), and Adobe Photoshop will crash when GPU acceleration is enabled and I work on a large file. I'd love to replace it with a small sized 4GB 950.

# ? Feb 26, 2016 02:04

Super-NintendoUser: Jan 16, 2004; COWABUNGERDER COMPADRES; Soiled Meat

Thermopyle posted:

Really? I don't know that I've found that to be the case. In my experience it just depends on the skin you use in Kodi.

To do this, you use Emby with Kodi. Emby works like Plex basically but where it comes into its own if you prefer Kodi is that its Kodi plugin takes over library management so that Kodi always reflects the state of your Emby library.

Then, if you want to do mobile device streaming or pinning, you use the mobile Emby app. When you use Kodi on your TV the watched and progress state of your media is in-sync with Emby.

I really can't overstress how excellent and seamless the intergration with Kodi is. As far as Kodi goes the experience is basically just the same as if you're not use Emby...except your watched state stays in sync with your mobile clients (or if you use the Emby app on Roku/smart-tv/whatever-device). Plus, managing your metadata is far easier with Emby then it is with Kodi.

edit: I also wanted to add for the people who complain about always having to twiddle with Kodi...you bring that on yourself. You have to twiddle with Kodi because you twiddle with Kodi. If you set it up and stop messing with it you never have to configure it again. I mean, I have a Kodi installation upstairs that went 2 years without me messing with its configuration.

Hey, just to bring this up again, do I need Kodi at all? Can't I just use emby? All I want to do is play back files that I have on my NAS in a nice interface.

# ? Mar 2, 2016 16:41

Thermopyle: Jul 1, 2003; ...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. �Bertrand Russell

You can use the Emby client. I don't think it's as nice as Kodi though. just try it

# ? Mar 2, 2016 17:50

Ixian: Oct 9, 2001; Many machines on Ix....new machines; Pillbug

Depends on the client device - Emby Android is pretty decent. Kodi has more options but it's a perfectly good "just play and watch" interface that looks good.

# ? Mar 3, 2016 01:18

LethalGeek: Nov 4, 2009

I'm the last person still rocking with a happy wmc it seems these days. Thought of this thread when I finally replaced the PSU from the original e350 (right?) setup with a 19v laptop power unit. Holy moly I never knew how loud that really was, should have spent the money when I upgraded the whole thing

# ? Apr 25, 2016 04:40

CroatianAlzheimers: Jun 15, 2009; I can't remember why I'm mad at you...

I need some audio advice.

I'm replacing a terrible Panasonic home theater system with a budget HTPC I'm assembling from components I have lying around. I have no idea what I'm doing with the audio, though. Thanks to the current theater system, I have a 5.1 speaker system already installed in my living room which I'll be using. I want good movie sound and I plan on listening to music with the system as well. Do I need a receiver? Do I want a receiver? How do I even get sound from the HTPC to these speakers?

# ? Apr 25, 2016 19:49

Ixian: Oct 9, 2001; Many machines on Ix....new machines; Pillbug

CroatianAlzheimers posted:

I need some audio advice.

I'm replacing a terrible Panasonic home theater system with a budget HTPC I'm assembling from components I have lying around. I have no idea what I'm doing with the audio, though. Thanks to the current theater system, I have a 5.1 speaker system already installed in my living room which I'll be using. I want good movie sound and I plan on listening to music with the system as well. Do I need a receiver? Do I want a receiver? How do I even get sound from the HTPC to these speakers?

Years ago there was a 5.1 amp on a PCI card that you could put in your HTPC for an "all in one" solution but that fell by the wayside. Basically you want, and perhaps even need, an external amp/reciever. Take your HDMI out from your HTPC and connect to input of receiver. Connect HDMI output of receiver to TV.

If you want to future proof get one with HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2 support for 4k (if they have them they will be listed prominently in the feature notes). I like Marantz, myself, but Pioneer, Sony, and Yamaha make decent off the shelf ones.

Like anything else you can go crazy-all in/down the rabbit hole on this topic, so if you just want something simple, stick with that from the outset. Do some basic research, search Amazon reviews, etc.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 20:54

CroatianAlzheimers: Jun 15, 2009; I can't remember why I'm mad at you...

Ixian posted:

Years ago there was a 5.1 amp on a PCI card that you could put in your HTPC for an "all in one" solution but that fell by the wayside. Basically you want, and perhaps even need, an external amp/reciever. Take your HDMI out from your HTPC and connect to input of receiver. Connect HDMI output of receiver to TV.

If you want to future proof get one with HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2 support for 4k (if they have them they will be listed prominently in the feature notes). I like Marantz, myself, but Pioneer, Sony, and Yamaha make decent off the shelf ones.

Like anything else you can go crazy-all in/down the rabbit hole on this topic, so if you just want something simple, stick with that from the outset. Do some basic research, search Amazon reviews, etc.

Right on. I've heard "get a receiver" from a few other sources today, so now I'm looking at basic, off-the-shelf units by Yamaha and Sony.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 20:56

Ixian: Oct 9, 2001; Many machines on Ix....new machines; Pillbug

Ixian posted:

Years ago there was a 5.1 amp on a PCI card that you could put in your HTPC for an "all in one" solution but that fell by the wayside. Basically you want, and perhaps even need, an external amp/reciever. Take your HDMI out from your HTPC and connect to input of receiver. Connect HDMI output of receiver to TV.

If you want to future proof get one with HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2 support for 4k (if they have them they will be listed prominently in the feature notes). I like Marantz, myself, but Pioneer, Sony, and Yamaha make decent off the shelf ones.

Like anything else you can go crazy-all in/down the rabbit hole on this topic, so if you just want something simple, stick with that from the outset. Do some basic research, search Amazon reviews, etc.

Edit: You could just get by with an amp especially if the HTPC is your only source but you'll probably find those are more expensive and you'll have less options. A receiver (that does input switching, and these days most offer wireless radio/airplay/etc) is a good choice.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 20:57

CroatianAlzheimers: Jun 15, 2009; I can't remember why I'm mad at you...

Ixian posted:

Edit: You could just get by with an amp especially if the HTPC is your only source but you'll probably find those are more expensive and you'll have less options. A receiver (that does input switching, and these days most offer wireless radio/airplay/etc) is a good choice.

This one right here is on the top of my list - Yamaha RX-V379

# ? Apr 25, 2016 21:03

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Inexpensive name brand receivers are all gonna be pretty similar. That one will work fine.

Also check out denon refurbs from accessories4less or frys sales

# ? Apr 25, 2016 21:17

Matt Zerella: Oct 7, 2002; Norris'es are back baby. It's good again. Awoouu (fox Howl)

Don Lapre posted:

Inexpensive name brand receivers are all gonna be pretty similar. That one will work fine.

Also check out denon refurbs from accessories4less or frys sales

This is IMO the way to go. I got a Denon S910 for a good price on A4L and I love it. My 950 passes through all audio over HDMI just fine.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 21:22

Ixian: Oct 9, 2001; Many machines on Ix....new machines; Pillbug

Denon is good if you can get one a little cheaper.

The Marantz 1506 (new model) is the one I use, both because it sounds great and has all the features I want and because it is low-profile - most of these off the shelf name brand receivers are pretty large, but it isn't. However it is more expensive because of this.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 21:23

Knyteguy: Jul 6, 2005; YES to love
NO to shirts; Toilet Rascal

Best Buy heavily discounts their open box receivers. I got my ~$350 Marantz NR1403 receiver for $95 since it was discontinued display model.

Banana plug compatible receivers are pretty nice if you can find a receiver with them in their budget.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 21:23

Matt Zerella: Oct 7, 2002; Norris'es are back baby. It's good again. Awoouu (fox Howl)

Ixian posted:

Denon is good if you can get one a little cheaper.

The Marantz 1506 (new model) is the one I use, both because it sounds great and has all the features I want and because it is low-profile - most of these off the shelf name brand receivers are pretty large, but it isn't. However it is more expensive because of this.

Marantz and Denon are the same company and yeah, like you said, its the more "high end" line.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 21:24

Medullah: Aug 14, 2003; FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

Knyteguy posted:

Best Buy heavily discounts their open box receivers. I got my ~$350 Marantz NR1403 receiver for $95 since it was discontinued display model.

Banana plug compatible receivers are pretty nice if you can find a receiver with them in their budget.

Speaking as a former Best Buy employee, make sure you're getting a good price on an open box display unit. Remember it's been powered on for a year straight.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 21:32

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

The receivers are rarely hooked up here.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 21:56

CroatianAlzheimers: Jun 15, 2009; I can't remember why I'm mad at you...

Holy poo poo. Thanks for the heads up on Accessories4less. Gonna do my shopping there.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 22:18

G-Prime: Apr 30, 2003; Baby, when it's love,
if it's not rough it isn't fun.

CroatianAlzheimers posted:

Holy poo poo. Thanks for the heads up on Accessories4less. Gonna do my shopping there.

Seriously, that's a great place to buy. I bought a refurbed Denon X2000 from them a couple years ago. Only flaw with it is that one of the HDMI ports failed on it maybe 2 or 3 months ago. Beyond that, it's been perfect. And it was cheap as hell.

# ? Apr 26, 2016 01:21

CroatianAlzheimers: Jun 15, 2009; I can't remember why I'm mad at you...

G-Prime posted:

Seriously, that's a great place to buy. I bought a refurbed Denon X2000 from them a couple years ago. Only flaw with it is that one of the HDMI ports failed on it maybe 2 or 3 months ago. Beyond that, it's been perfect. And it was cheap as hell.

Between A4L and Amazon, I'm getting some great prices on what I need to put this together. It helps that I already had an old mobo, memory, processor, video card, and assorted bits laying around.

# ? Apr 26, 2016 01:35

Ixian: Oct 9, 2001; Many machines on Ix....new machines; Pillbug

CroatianAlzheimers posted:

Between A4L and Amazon, I'm getting some great prices on what I need to put this together. It helps that I already had an old mobo, memory, processor, video card, and assorted bits laying around.

A starter HTPC built with spare parts is a time-tested way to get it done but if your experience is like mine (it's been a few years) you'll probably end up wanting something simpler. You can get a Shield TV now for $199 (or $249 with remote, technically you don't need the remote if you have a universal IR one - and I assume you do if you are building a HTPC - but the Shield remote is a nice one).

Run SPMC (fork of Kodi for Android TV) on it because it has much better support for passthrough audio like you'll need with a receiver.

It's silent, small, uses very little power - all things you won't be able to say about a Frankenbox HTPC - and for media/Kodi/etc. is just as fast and works just as well as any PC. And it is pretty much plug and play as far as setup goes. Something to think about if you are already buying gear.

Amazon FireTV is a decent choice for the same reasons, you get Prime Video with it but it has a few hoops to jump through to get Kodi working - nothing onerous, just something to consider. And it's cheaper than the Shield. I prefer the Shield but they are both good (I have two Shields and a FireTV in my house, I ditched HTPCs a while ago.).

# ? Apr 26, 2016 13:56

Super-NintendoUser: Jan 16, 2004; COWABUNGERDER COMPADRES; Soiled Meat

Ixian posted:

A starter HTPC built with spare parts is a time-tested way to get it done but if your experience is like mine (it's been a few years) you'll probably end up wanting something simpler. You can get a Shield TV now for $199 (or $249 with remote, technically you don't need the remote if you have a universal IR one - and I assume you do if you are building a HTPC - but the Shield remote is a nice one).

Run SPMC (fork of Kodi for Android TV) on it because it has much better support for passthrough audio like you'll need with a receiver.

It's silent, small, uses very little power - all things you won't be able to say about a Frankenbox HTPC - and for media/Kodi/etc. is just as fast and works just as well as any PC. And it is pretty much plug and play as far as setup goes. Something to think about if you are already buying gear.

Amazon FireTV is a decent choice for the same reasons, you get Prime Video with it but it has a few hoops to jump through to get Kodi working - nothing onerous, just something to consider. And it's cheaper than the Shield. I prefer the Shield but they are both good (I have two Shields and a FireTV in my house, I ditched HTPCs a while ago.).

You can't get Prime Video on an Android TV, right?

# ? Apr 26, 2016 19:15

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

What's the recommended case for HTPCs these days, and where do you buy this stuff? This seems to be the cheapest mini-ITX case on Amazon but it's like a whole square foot and I don't need or want something nearly that large.

I can grab a USB 3.0 hub as well so I guess one port is alright. Otherwise I was planning on grabbing an external 65w power supply. Here's the whole part list that I'm planning:

65w AC Adapter for a Dell Inspiron
Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX case
Seagate ST4000DM000 4TB HDD
Vision Tek Red 2x4GB DDR3 RAM
Win 10 Home
Patriot 60gb 2.5 inch SSD
AMD Athlon 5350 (2.05Ghz
ASRock Motherboard AM1H-ITX

Because :canada:

this is like a $550 build, but I'm reluctant to save the $150 (and like $25 on the SSD I guess) by ditching Windows and futzing around with OpenELEC until the end of time.

# ? Apr 26, 2016 23:10

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

The silverstone ML05 is tits

pair it with a 300w SFX power supply.

# ? Apr 26, 2016 23:11

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Don Lapre posted:

The silverstone ML05 is tits

pair it with a 300w SFX power supply.

Can I hack the 3.5" drive into there somehow?

# ? Apr 26, 2016 23:13

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

tuyop posted:

Can I hack the 3.5" drive into there somehow?

It has a bracket sitting over the motherboard that holds a 3.5" drive, a 120mm fan, or a slot loading optical drive

# ? Apr 27, 2016 03:10

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Don Lapre posted:

It has a bracket sitting over the motherboard that holds a 3.5" drive, a 120mm fan, or a slot loading optical drive

I read the spec page and it says that it holds 3 3.5" drives OR 5 2.5" drives, so I assume it'll fit 1x3.5" and 1x2.5". It's only $70 and fits into our layout really well, and I love the LED dimming feature so I'll get it. Good recommendation.

Ed: Actually, I was looking at the ML03 instead of the 05. The 05 looks fine as well, since the 03 is like nearly 3x as much.

Opinions on fans? The PSU is through an adaptor so I thought I read that I don't need a fan, but HDDs and CPUs get pretty hot on their own.

tuyop fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Apr 27, 2016

# ? Apr 27, 2016 03:20

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

The ml05 holds 1 3.5" and 4 2.5"

I ran 300w fsp/silverstone sfx cpu and the stock intel fan on a pentium dual core and never had heat issues. Ran WMC and xbmc with no issues. The ML05 uses an SFX psu, dunno what you mean by an adapter
http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Technology-Factor-BRONZE-ST30SF/dp/B00FA4KP8S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461729300&sr=8-1&keywords=300+sfx

edit: ohh i see, your motherboard uses an external adapter? I wouldn't worry about heat at all. Anything using an external adapter isn't gonna make much anyway.

# ? Apr 27, 2016 04:54

Glass of Milk: Dec 22, 2004; to forgive is divine

I'm still running an old WMC box with a CableCard in it, and I've been following the replacement tech for a while:

http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/04/obama-supports-cable-box-competition-and-surprise-cable-lobby-is-angry/

If this ruling stands, then someone like Roku/Amazon/Apple can come out with a single box that can do DVR, local TV and also stream through Netflix, Plex, etc. And that would be rad.

# ? Apr 27, 2016 21:07

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

A tivo does that

# ? Apr 27, 2016 21:43

Super-NintendoUser: Jan 16, 2004; COWABUNGERDER COMPADRES; Soiled Meat

Glass of Milk posted:

I'm still running an old WMC box with a CableCard in it, and I've been following the replacement tech for a while:

http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/04/obama-supports-cable-box-competition-and-surprise-cable-lobby-is-angry/

If this ruling stands, then someone like Roku/Amazon/Apple can come out with a single box that can do DVR, local TV and also stream through Netflix, Plex, etc. And that would be rad.

Except Roku just came out against the FCC allowing companies to make their own STB. Likely because of pressure from Comcast, since Comcast has prevented a ton of Roku apps from authenticating for Comcast subscribers. Roku is likely kissing their butts.

# ? Apr 28, 2016 16:00

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

I've been using an HDHomeRun for awhile and while I have their DVR software, I've found I barely ever use it since most of what I watch is live sports, anyway. Now I just use Channels on my Apple TV 4 which has a decent enough interface for just watching a thing.

# ? Apr 28, 2016 16:37

Glass of Milk: Dec 22, 2004; to forgive is divine

Don Lapre posted:

A tivo does that

Sure, but you still need a cablecard and to pay them some number of dollars per month.

SIR FAT JONY IVES posted:

Except Roku just came out against the FCC allowing companies to make their own STB. Likely because of pressure from Comcast, since Comcast has prevented a ton of Roku apps from authenticating for Comcast subscribers. Roku is likely kissing their butts.

It's kind of a weird move from them- the FCC seems like it's going to make this happen. I wouldn't be surprised if Roku is simultaneously developing something while protesting the thing.

# ? Apr 28, 2016 23:22

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# ? May 26, 2024 19:05

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Glass of Milk posted:

Sure, but you still need a cablecard and to pay them some number of dollars per month.

It's kind of a weird move from them- the FCC seems like it's going to make this happen. I wouldn't be surprised if Roku is simultaneously developing something while protesting the thing.

I just use local TV. My roamio ota was $299 with lifetime sub.

# ? Apr 29, 2016 00:55

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The HTPC Thread - Dont buy an HTPC

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