My HTPC Build - Have Questions:

[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

Thanks a bunch!

I finally got xbmc playing all my ripped BD ISO in 1080p TrueHD & DTS-HD MA.

Xbmc is sick!

I cannot believe it is free. So now I just need DVDFab to rip all my BD ISO and XBMC To do the rest.

 

[panteragstk]

If anyone is making an XBMC exclusive machine there is no better way than OpenElec. I don't use it, but tested it on my foxconn mini PC and it was fantastic.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

If anyone is making an XBMC exclusive machine there is no better way than OpenElec. I don't use it, but tested it on my foxconn mini PC and it was fantastic.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk

that's exactly what I am saying

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Only issue I see is TV show ISO file of full disc. There is no disc menu to select episodes. You have to make educated guess. So for that I would just mount my ISO via Virtualclone drive and playback via PDVD.

But movies and single episode TV shows work great.

 

[itschris]

Only issue I see is TV show ISO file of full disc. There is no disc menu to select episodes. You have to make educated guess. So for that I would just mount my ISO via Virtualclone drive and playback via PDVD.

But movies and single episode TV shows work great.

theres gotta be away to correct that. I mean that's a common thing. I have dozens of series and would definitely want that feature. Perhaps the PLEX plugin would fix that. PLEX manages tv shows perfect.. What are yo running your XMBC setup on now?

Im looking at these mini systems that BORED is recommending but after you add memory, storage etc I'm wondering if I'm not just better off building a windows machine that has additional capabilities.

 

[itschris]

Just found these cases:

Amazon.com: Wesena, e5-Evo-B (Black) - 100% Aluminum, Ultra low profile HTPC chassis: Computers & Accessories

So I'm thinking an i3 Windows 7 machine. It appears that the i3 can bitstream all the codecs to my avr. Not sure which one to get...I don't understand all the Sandybridge and other stuff and there's a ton of different mb's to choose from. I'm thinking just a small drive for windows and I'll hook up a NAS through the network . Install xmbc and then control it with the xmbc remote app on a dedicated ipad.

i also need to rethink my internet source. It comes into my family room. It plugs into the modem which is connected to my wireless router. All my equipment at the tv is hardwired to that router. The thing is, it's a bit crowded back there. I want to have my NAS or storage computer in my office where it is now, but it's wireless. I want to run a cat6 to that room. Should I be using a switch somewhere or have additional hardware like that in place somewhere?

 

[panteragstk]

Any of the newer i3 chips can do pretty much everything A/V wise. I've got a first gen and it works perfectly. Video processing could be better, but mine is old.

If you go the Windows 7 route things will work well. It's almost easier to set up since you are choosing an Intel chip. OpenElec is great, but if you want other PC capabilities then it's pretty limited. I personally use full W7 machines with the HTPC software running on it. That way I can do other stuff with it if I want to.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

theres gotta be away to correct that. I mean that's a common thing. I have dozens of series and would definitely want that feature. Perhaps the PLEX plugin would fix that. PLEX manages tv shows perfect.. What are yo running your XMBC setup on now?

Im looking at these mini systems that BORED is recommending but after you add memory, storage etc I'm wondering if I'm not just better off building a windows machine that has additional capabilities.

Just XBMC on Windows 7. Nothing else. All ISO files on NAS in different room.

I don’t think there is a solution to the full disc tv show with multiple episodes. I think a lot of people just rip each episode separately.
So each episode is like a single movie.

 

[itschris]

Just XBMC on Windows 7. Nothing else. All ISO files on NAS in different room.

I don’t think there is a solution to the full disc tv show with multiple episodes. I think a lot of people just rip each episode separately.
So each episode is like a single movie.

Why do you rip ISO? Is it easier?

 

[Grador]

Just easier to deal with file wise. You end up with a single iso file instead of a folder for every movie.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I have all my tv shows as a single file for each episode. XBMC does great job of scrabbing and season organizing.
However hadling menus in ISO files is not great. My old netgear used to handle these OK (it usually was painfully slow) , but typically I don't care about these

As for to compare prices of my builds vs full core i3 - if you add up costs one will quickly see vast difference in price
Good luck building fully silent i3/windows based htpc for $170 total

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Why do you rip ISO? Is it easier?

ISO is the default output format on DVDFAB. It is made to be mounted on a Virtual drive. Then you get full disc menus like a real actual disc.

 

[itschris]

I have all my tv shows as a single file for each episode. XBMC does great job of scrabbing and season organizing.
However hadling menus in ISO files is not great. My old netgear used to handle these OK (it usually was painfully slow) , but typically I don't care about these

As for to compare prices of my builds vs full core i3 - if you add up costs one will quickly see vast difference in price
Good luck building fully silent i3/windows based htpc for $170 total

I totally get your point, but I'm fine just building a Windows machine that I can do other things with. I've been reading and reading nonstop for the past couple of days. It seems a lot of people like using PLEX as the media manager and XMBC as the front end. Is that what you were suggesting earlier? Do you see a downside to that?

Couple more questions... For now, think I'm going to keep my media on my computer in my office. I'm going to run a CAT5e cable to the room and get it off of wireless. I have a NETGEAR WNDR4500 wireless router by the incoming cable by my TV. I have a few components already hardwired into it like my Apple TV... etc. Is that router good enough? Do I need a switch of some sort? I think I'm just about out of ports.

So when I build this new HTPC, I'm either going to build it wlth this case: Amazon.com: Wesena, e5-Evo-B (Black) - 100% Aluminum, Ultra low profile HTPC chassis: Computers & Accessories
and put the storage drives in the PC in my office and do some sort of RAID setup. But am I just better off using a bigger case and just have the drives in the actual machine that's hooked up to to system? Either system will have a SSD for the boot drive.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I totally get your point, but I'm fine just building a Windows machine that I can do other things with. I've been reading and reading nonstop for the past couple of days. It seems a lot of people like using PLEX as the media manager and XMBC as the front end. Is that what you were suggesting earlier? Do you see a downside to that?

Couple more questions... For now, think I'm going to keep my media on my computer in my office. I'm going to run a CAT5e cable to the room and get it off of wireless. I have a NETGEAR WNDR4500 wireless router by the incoming cable by my TV. I have a few components already hardwired into it like my Apple TV... etc. Is that router good enough? Do I need a switch of some sort? I think I'm just about out of ports.

So when I build this new HTPC, I'm either going to build it wlth this case: Amazon.com: Wesena, e5-Evo-B (Black) - 100% Aluminum, Ultra low profile HTPC chassis: Computers & Accessories
and put the storage drives in the PC in my office and do some sort of RAID setup. But am I just better off using a bigger case and just have the drives in the actual machine that's hooked up to to system? Either system will have a SSD for the boot drive.

Again, Chris - I'm not the most expert on running XBMC frontend with Plex backend, but I do know that there is a way to do what with Plex Plugin for xbmc

Don't worry about router performance. Your router is more than capable - NETGEAR WNDR4500 N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router Reviewed - Performance- Routing, Storage, Wireless Performance Overview - SmallNetBuilder and you don't much to stream HD video&audio - really steady 100mbs is sufficient. If you don't have sufficient ports get a a simple 8 port gig switch from D-link like this one: D-Link DGS-1008G Gigabit Desktop Switch - Retail - Newegg.com



My goals are to have silent front end client and not to worry about the noise the backend "server" makes or not, but it is possible to make all-in-one silent system, just takes a bit more thinking and planning. I would recommend to go the first way - aka silent & low power client and big powerful server in a different room

 

[itschris]

Again, Chris - I'm not the most expert on running XBMC frontend with Plex backend, but I do know that there is a way to do what with Plex Plugin for xbmc

Don't worry about router performance. Your router is more than capable - NETGEAR WNDR4500 N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router Reviewed - Performance- Routing, Storage, Wireless Performance Overview - SmallNetBuilder and you don't much to stream HD video&audio - really steady 100mbs is sufficient. If you don't have sufficient ports get a a simple 8 port gig switch from D-link like this one: D-Link DGS-1008G Gigabit Desktop Switch - Retail - Newegg.com



My goals are to have silent front end client and not to worry about the noise the backend "server" makes or not, but it is possible to make all-in-one silent system, just takes a bit more thinking and planning. I would recommend to go the first way - aka silent & low power client and big powerful server in a different room

So really as long as I have my other computer hardwired into that switch you listed (is CAT5e okay?) my HTPC in my cabinet by my TV should just be able to pull everything off the shared drive... correct? There's no performance penalties that would impact what I'm doing I guess. At some point then, I'll just buy a couple or so more drives and throw them into my office computer and turn that into a RAID setup. Then, at some point after that, I guess I can just build a whole new dedicated computer. When you guys talk about NAS, is it something really specific that makes it a NAS or would what I'm doing be considered a NAS as well? I know there are NAS boxes you can buy, but is that more of generic term that just speaks to have a network based storage be it a special box or just another computer?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

So really as long as I have my other computer hardwired into that switch you listed (is CAT5e okay?) my HTPC in my cabinet by my TV should just be able to pull everything off the shared drive... correct? There's no performance penalties that would impact what I'm doing I guess. At some point then, I'll just buy a couple or so more drives and throw them into my office computer and turn that into a RAID setup. Then, at some point after that, I guess I can just build a whole new dedicated computer. When you guys talk about NAS, is it something really specific that makes it a NAS or would what I'm doing be considered a NAS as well? I know there are NAS boxes you can buy, but is that more of generic term that just speaks to have a network based storage be it a special box or just another computer?

Yes.

NAS is more of generic term for any storage shared over the network and a simple windows shares are included.

That said a dedicated nas box can have some additional features like ok/fail drive indicators, hot-plug drives, status alerts etc....

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Since I am also new to XBMC, I would like to know why you would use Plex + XBMC?

I use just XBMC by itself and I love the heck out of it. Just love it.

The only plug-in I use is Watchdog, which automatically updates the XBMC library when you add/delete files.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Since I am also new to XBMC, I would like to know why you would use Plex + XBMC?

I use just XBMC by itself and I love the heck out of it. Just love it.

The only plug-in I use is Watchdog, which automatically updates the XBMC library when you add/delete files.

I would only use XBMC + Plex (plugin) only and only if I had existing large Plex library and it would a large hassle to convert everything at once

I don't remember the names, but I also used plugins for better scapping - I'll find the names - they made a big different especially with movie/tv artwork

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I don't remember the names, but I also used plugins for better scapping - I'll find the names - they made a big different especially with movie/tv artwork

I would appreciate it.

I sure love XBMC.

That Micca media player is now in the closet.

 

[itschris]

The PLEX library will break out tv show episodes from one large file. However, I don't really see the hassle of just letting XMBC do everything over.

I've been doing tons of research. I think a NAS box has a future in my system, but I'm just going to install two big drives in my HTPC. I'll throw a couple of the USB externals onto the network by plugging them into the router for backups. I'm not at 4tb's yet especially if I don't include my music. I think I'll leave my music on my existing PC and use PLEX since my wife likes it a lot. I'll just use the new box for video.

This is al subject to change of course, but makes sense at the moment.