My HTPC Build - Have Questions:

[itschris]

I don't think BD HD movies would stream very great via wireless.

Do you guys do wireless streaming of your BD movies files?

Mine is wired Ethernet connection.

I rip my BDs to my wired NAS using DVDFab, which is a lot cheaper than AnyDVD.

I also have a Micca media player that can play pretty much any kind of files, including ISO, but the ISO needs to be just the main movie, not the full disc.

Amazon.com: Micca EP350 G2 1080p Network Digital Media Player with 7.1 HD-Audio, Fast LAN, 3.5" SATA Bay (Realtek 1185): Electronics

It does Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA and 1080p HDMI.

So you don't need a HTPC. Just a NAS or external HDD WIRED to the network or directly to the Micca.

This seems pretty neat. I might give this a try. The only downside is that it yet another "system" to use which complicates things for my wife. She uses PLEX just fine, but it just isn't quite doing it for critical movie watching.

Can you tell me exactly how you have this setup? What drive, how it's hooked up to your system?


BTW - I've made the decision that I can get most of my Christmas presents that I want from your house. I may come over and steal your speakers. I think I may also steal your media drives or at least borrow them and give them back to you as an xmas gift. I'm so sick of copying blu-rays.

 

[panteragstk]

While that little Micca box is cool, I would just get a small form factor PC and install Plex. Works very well for just about everything I've thrown at it.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

This seems pretty neat. I might give this a try. The only downside is that it yet another "system" to use which complicates things for my wife. She uses PLEX just fine, but it just isn't quite doing it for critical movie watching.

Can you tell me exactly how you have this setup? What drive, how it's hooked up to your system?


BTW - I've made the decision that I can get most of my Christmas presents that I want from your house. I may come over and steal your speakers. I think I may also steal your media drives or at least borrow them and give them back to you as an xmas gift. I'm so sick of copying blu-rays.

I use DVDFab to rip BDs about twice a week.

Okay, yeah, this Micca media player is mainly for technical guys like us, not most women.

But this is how I have mine set up.

My NAS (30TB) is wired via Ethernet to my router (via switch). The Micca is wired via Ethernet to my router (via a different switch). So the NAS is in one room. The Micca is in another room on the opposite side of the house. The Micca is hooked up to the AVR via HDMI. I set for 1080p and HD audio (TrueHD & DTS-HD MA).

So you just turn on the Micca, go to the Network place on the screen, select the movie (ISO, MKV, etc.) and it plays back 1080p and full TrueHD & DTS-HD MA.

At first the Micca didn't recognize my NAS. But then I figured it out. I had to turn off all security protection on the NAS. Or something like that. It was months ago. :d

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

While that little Micca box is cool, I would just get a small form factor PC and install Plex. Works very well for just about everything I've thrown at it.

I think Chris wants Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, which Plex cannot do.

Plex cannot play ISO files either. The Micca plays just about every single file.

For guys like me who uses DVDFab to rip BDs to ISO files, the Plex won't work. At least not for me.

 

[panteragstk]

I think Chris wants Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, which Plex cannot do.

Plex cannot play ISO files either. The Micca plays just about every single file.

For guys like me who uses DVDFab to rip BDs to ISO files, the Plex won't work. At least not for me.

Plex plays HD audio with the Plex HT client software. Not sure about ISO files though. I'm speaking of HTPC's only.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Plex plays HD audio with the Plex HT client software. Not sure about ISO files though. I'm speaking of HTPC's only.

xbmc 12 (or higher) does both including BD iso

I have tried solution similar to Micca mentioned above (netgear neotv550) but in the end I decided vs using it for the benefits of xmbc scrapping, skins, plugins and integration, but as I have mentioned codecs and containers support on netgear is excellent

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

xbmc 12 (or higher) does both including BD iso

I have tried solution similar to Micca mentioned above (netgear neotv550) but in the end I decided vs using it for the benefits of xmbc scrapping, skins, plugins and integration, but as I have mentioned codecs and containers support on netgear is excellent

I've never played with XBMC or even looked it up. I may do some searching if I am enamored after you tell me more about it.

So is that like a software you install on your HTPC and it plays your BD ISO files with full TrueHD and DTS-HD MA?

 

[prerich]

Wow no one has mentioned JRiver yet?!!!!! It will solve most of your problems - only thing, it cost $50. XBMC is free, but I think JRiver is better on the audio end, XBMC has a better interface.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Wow no one has mentioned JRiver yet?!!!!! It will solve most of your problems - only thing, it cost $50. XBMC is free, but I think JRiver is better on the audio end, XBMC has a better interface.

Not sure how Jriver is "better" with audio, but we need to keep in mind that Jriver only works (now) on windows/mac - If we eliminate mac, windows will require significantly more resources to run fast enough...

OpenElec w/xmbc is light on hardware as close to hardware media client as you could possibly get on "regular" pc box

Also not sure if Jriver as scrapper as good as xmbc has

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I will give XBMC a try.

It seems like a great media player software for those who already have a PC/HTPC.

 

[itschris]

So bottom line for me, I guess I'm really back to an htpc hooked to my avr. I'm also guessing I should drop PLEX and go with xmbc. I'm assuming I can control my system with my iPad via an xmbc remote app. Right?

That should do everything I want correct? Can you guys give some basic hardware recommendations? I don't need anything crazy. Hi-def movie codecs are a must.

 

[Grador]

So bottom line for me, I guess I'm really back to an htpc hooked to my avr. I'm also guessing I should drop PLEX and go with xmbc. I'm assuming I can control my system with my iPad via an xmbc remote app. Right?

That should do everything I want correct? Can you guys give some basic hardware recommendations? I don't need anything crazy. Hi-def movie codecs are a must.

Take a look at the app here: Official XBMC Remote/iOS - XBMC

An i3 should be fine, but the video card will need a touch of research. Certain cards will not bitstream the HD audio codecs, with all the options available it's best to just look around and when you see something you find "interesting" do a quick search to see if it'll work.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

So bottom line for me, I guess I'm really back to an htpc hooked to my avr. I'm also guessing I should drop PLEX and go with xmbc. I'm assuming I can control my system with my iPad via an xmbc remote app. Right?

That should do everything I want correct? Can you guys give some basic hardware recommendations? I don't need anything crazy. Hi-def movie codecs are a must.

1) Try xbmc w/ plex first - see if you like it. Start slowly move the library to native xmbc
2) yes, there are xbmc apps for ios and android
3) I gave my suggestion for hardware box above - it will support full 1080p video for sure and almost 100% will pass-thru hd-audio. (why almost - like grador said - these could be finicky sometimes depends on the video card)

4) you don't need a $100 cpu, like i3 just to play video nowdays

 

[itschris]

Do you mean run xmbc and PLEX parallel to see which one works best for me or are you saying that the two can interact somehow?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I didn't have a lot of time yesterday, but XBMC was frustrating for me. I couldn't even add movies to the library.

Will try again today if have more time.

 

[panteragstk]

So bottom line for me, I guess I'm really back to an htpc hooked to my avr. I'm also guessing I should drop PLEX and go with xmbc. I'm assuming I can control my system with my iPad via an xmbc remote app. Right?

That should do everything I want correct? Can you guys give some basic hardware recommendations? I don't need anything crazy. Hi-def movie codecs are a must.

Do you use plex on multiple devices or just one? If just one then XBMC is more flexible. If you use plex on multiple devices you can get most of the functionality from XBMC with Plex

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Do you mean run xmbc and PLEX parallel to see which one works best for me or are you saying that the two can interact somehow?

I meant only openelec/xbmc but with PlexPlugin - dont know much about the plug-in, but i assume it does not integrate the plex media fully into the xmbc library
My assumption is one would need to explicitly open the plex "app" on the xbmc to get to plex content, but i could be wrong

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I didn't have a lot of time yesterday, but XBMC was frustrating for me. I couldn't even add movies to the library.

Will try again today if have more time.

Setting up XBMC sources for the first time is a bit annoying, but I am sure you'd get the hang of it
Then adding new file source separate content for movies and a separate source for tv shows if you have them
After adding new source run library update. There are plugins you could add to automate the library scans

 

[itschris]

I meant only openelec/xbmc but with PlexPlugin - dont know much about the plug-in, but i assume it does not integrate the plex media fully into the xmbc library
My assumption is one would need to explicitly open the plex "app" on the xbmc to get to plex content, but i could be wrong

Why wouldn't I just run XMBC by itself? Aren't they both same kind of thing? So you're saying build a machine, don't run Windows, but install OpenElec as the operating system, then install XMBC?

Sorry for the all the questions and clarification needed. I'm a financial analyst. This would be like me talking about derivatives and polynomial regression patterns to you guys.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Why wouldn't I just run XMBC by itself? Aren't they both same kind of thing? So you're saying build a machine, don't run Windows, but install OpenElec as the operating system, then install XMBC?

Sorry for the all the questions and clarification needed. I'm a financial analyst. This would be like me talking about derivatives and polynomial regression patterns to you guys.

OpenElec is a ready system which includes and fully optimized for xbmc. As soon as you start htpc with loaded OpenElec, you get xbmc as a front-end

I work in financial company, but financial stuff bores me to death