My HTPC Build - Have Questions:

[Cos]

Situation:
- I have over 200 DVD Movies
- I have about 50 Blu Ray Movies
- Want to be able to have a nice presentation (Menu System) to be able to watch them

Proposed System Build:

I have my build listed below, would appreciate your input on the build. I am not looking for an uber powerful machine, I already have that with my desktop. I decided on AMD for this build due to the impressive integrated CPU/GPU combo with the A10. I had some extra parts to help me with the build.

Additional Notes:
• Went with the slightly bigger Fortress case for the extra drive bay
• Not much choice on the Blu Ray Drive as it has to be slot loaded slim
• Stayed with Windows 7 as I see no need to make things more complicated with 8
• Not sure if Plex is the best Media Service, so open to suggestions;

My HT PC BUILD
Motherboard & CPU& Memory ($209.98)
• ASUS F2A85-V Pro FM2 ATX AMD Motherboard
• AMD A10 6800K Black Edition 4.1GHz Quad-Core Socket
• Corsair A70 CPU Cooler ($0.00) Spare parts
• G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB ($74.99)
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-8GBXM - Newegg.com

Case & Power Supply - Hard Drive – Blu-Ray Drive – Keyboard
• SilverStone Fortress Series ($160.00) SilverStone Fortress Series FT03B Black Aluminum / Steel MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case - Newegg.com
• OCZ ZT Series 550W Fully-Modular Power Supply ($79.99)
OCZ ZT Series 550W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Bronze High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom - Newegg.com
• 80GB SATA 3 Intel SSD DRIVE for OS ($0.00) Spare Parts I have left over
• 2TB Western Digital Black Drive
• Western Digital WD Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Newegg.com
• Logitech K400 (920-003070) Black USB RF Wireless Standard Keyboard $0.00 (Spare Part)
Logitech K400 (920-003070) Black USB RF Wireless Standard Keyboard - Newegg.com
• Panasonic Slim Internal Blu-ray Burner SATA
Amazon.com: Panasonic Slim Internal Blu-ray Burner SATA (Slot Load) Drive with Multimedia and Archive Suites: Computers & Accessories


Operating System:
• Windows 7 Premium OEM $89.99

Home Theater Software Server:
• Plex Media Software

Total Expense: $825.00

 

[jotham]

I would probably switch the hard drive to a western digital red drive as it will run cooler and quieter yet still be plenty fast. Also, you may want to consider getting the red drive from amazon as newegg has had shipping problems in the past where there was damage to the drive that showed up later.

For ripping movies, use MakeMKV (worth paying for). Also, make sure you have a viable backup system as it's a lot of time to waste if your hard drive bites it. If you want to keep it in the same case, two red drives in raid 1 should do it. It won't save you from user error but it will save you from a hard drive crash.

Amazon.com: WD Red 3 TB NAS Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, SATA III, 64 MB Cache - WD30EFRX: Computers & Accessories

I may have misunderstood your build as I thought you would rip the blu rays and dvds to the HTPC. If you are doing rips, then it may be worth having an external SATA blu ray drive as it will be faster then a slim drive. I look at it like this, slim drive for impromptu watching of rentals, external normal blu ray drive for speedy ripping of content.

Unfortunately I have no idea about a good front end that still plays at top quality. I'll be interested to see what you settle on.

good luck!

 

[panteragstk]

Plex is a great front end based off XBMC (also great). XBMC is a bit more customizable in the fact that you can use external players like MPC-HC with the LAV decoders and madVR to get the best video playback possible. I use an alternative front end that is no longer available, but I do use MPC-HC in the combination mentioned. This guide will get you all set up with MPC-HC. Plex and XBMC are both fantastic so it will come down preference in that area.

 

[Cos]

Thanks!

Great input from you both, it is greatly appreciated!

I have an external NAS device, but the processor is not powerful enough to run PLEX and full 1080p etc. I have 6TB of Space of my NAS and I use the WD Red Drives in those. The 2TB WD black Drive I have is extra, was going to pull it out of my gaming PC as I don't need 4TB (I have 2 2TB WD Black in it now) in it. Was going to use it to backup key files on my NAS, but not needed. All movies would be ripped to the NAS, a lot already are, but I had the extra storage, so figure it would be good for future movie purchases.

Appreciate the advice on the ripper software, I was using DVDFAB a long time ago and had nothing but problems with it, this was about 4 years ago.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I have a bit of experience running custom htpc. you don't need much of processor to play 1080p video even atom will do fine if the system has right gpu
you'd need AnyDVD HD SlySoft AnyDVD HD to backup the blurays
I recommend ripping movies to your nas and get a slim client, install openElec 3 with xbmc 12 and be done with it

 

[panteragstk]

Thanks!

Great input from you both, it is greatly appreciated!

I have an external NAS device, but the processor is not powerful enough to run PLEX and full 1080p etc. I have 6TB of Space of my NAS and I use the WD Red Drives in those. The 2TB WD black Drive I have is extra, was going to pull it out of my gaming PC as I don't need 4TB (I have 2 2TB WD Black in it now) in it. Was going to use it to backup key files on my NAS, but not needed. All movies would be ripped to the NAS, a lot already are, but I had the extra storage, so figure it would be good for future movie purchases.

Appreciate the advice on the ripper software, I was using DVDFAB a long time ago and had nothing but problems with it, this was about 4 years ago.

If you use direct play in Plex the NAS won't have to transcode anything. CPU power won't matter at that point.

 

[Cos]

Question with Direct Play: If the file format is already correct by whatever device is reading it, then it is direct play. But lets say I want to watch a movie on my Android phone, wouldn't it need to transcode or not? Complete newbie in this area.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

This is correct, client device must be able to native play of this movie format, I suggested xmbc as it supports tons of formats, including recently pass-thru of hd audio codecs to avr (which works great for me)

Modern android devices can play pretty much everything (with MX Player for example). Today for example I copies few 1gb 720p mkv files to my sdcard and enjoyed them during my morning commute (trains, not while driving)

 

[Cos]

Great last question then. I know know that XMBC decodes HD audio codecs, does PLEX?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I don't think that xbmc "decodes" hd codecs, it's recognizes them and passes them thru to avr.
As for Plex - Can't find much - this page hasn't been updated over a year - Client Comparison - Plex.
Plex doesn't have linux client, only hardware devices, win or mac

 

[panteragstk]

Plex HT will pass through HD audio. I believe it is pre-release though.

 

[Cos]

Great input and appreciated, now to play around with my NAS and see how well it works. Might be able to bypass the HTPC altogether which would save about $800.00

 

[itschris]

Great input and appreciated, now to play around with my NAS and see how well it works. Might be able to bypass the HTPC altogether which would save about $800.00

I'm a bit lost here. If you get rid of the htpc, are you then streaming from the NAS to your system? I just want better video/audio performance than I'm geting from AirPlaying from my iPad to my Apple TV3. The only way to pass the hi-def audio was to have an HTPC connected to your system that has an audio card that can do DTS-MA and Dolby Tru-HD.

 

[panteragstk]

I'm a bit lost here. If you get rid of the htpc, are you then streaming from the NAS to your system? I just want better video/audio performance than I'm geting from AirPlaying from my iPad to my Apple TV3. The only way to pass the hi-def audio was to have an HTPC connected to your system that has an audio card that can do DTS-MA and Dolby Tru-HD.

You could use something like a Dune or Popcorn Hour to stream HD audio. Some support BD menus as well.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Chris, no need for sound card, most modern video cards have hdmi ports. They don't do real audio card stuff, but more than sufficient of passing the digital sound to receiver
and xmbc on tiny box will be much better than airplay (which xmbc supports too btw)

 

[itschris]

Chris, no need for sound card, most modern video cards have hdmi ports. They don't do real audio card stuff, but more than sufficient of passing the digital sound to receiver
and xmbc on tiny box will be much better than airplay (which xmbc supports too btw)

Okay, how bout this... I'm going to layout what I have and what I want and then maybe you can tell me what I should do. You're solutions seem far simpler and cheaper.

My receiver, cable/internet connection, router (hardwired to TV, receiver, AppleTV, and blu-ray player) are all in the same spot in my family room. My desktop computer is in my office in another room on wireless. it has all my movies and music, etc. I have a 3 or 4 iPads laying around. The desktop runs Plex Media server, the iPads run the Plex app. Right now, i view everything through PLEX, then AirPlay to the AppleTV which is hooked to my receiver. This works fantastic for music since I can be anywhere in the house and have access to all my music. My wife can use it too which is a big plus. I also use this for watching movies. But it's only okay. Basically I'm accessing the movie via PLEX on my iPad, then click AirPlay to get it on my TV. The picture quality suffers from double streaming I imagine and I can't get the surround sound to pass through.

So I went back to the idea of getting a new computer or moving my existing computer to the cabinet where my stuff is located and hooking my pc HDMI to my receiver. I would then use the PLEX App on my iPad that acts like a remote control to control PLEX on my desktop. I figured the hard connection to the system would provide better video quality and allow the hi-def surround sound.

So with that... what do you suggest?

PS - sorry to the OP for highacking the thread but I think we're all sort of talking about the same wants and needs.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Chris In your case it is most beneficial to stick with Plex as your server/client...
Have you gave a thought of getting Roku3 with Plex Client. Connect it with hdmi cable to receiver. This will stream straight from nas to roku (skipping double streaming issues)
You should be able to control Roku3 from ipad app

Roku3 is on sale now for only $89 so it's not a huge risk if this isn't as smooth as you like
On the cons side: Roku3 only supports AC3 5.1 - the rest of the codecs will be transcoded to it : https://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/74765-roku-3-plex-and-hd-audio/

It looks like (and I could be wrong) than Plex doesn't actually have a linux client (only server). There is however a Plex plugin for XMBC thou Add-onleXBMC - XBMC

tldr: Since I don't know much about Plex, I think going with audio limited to ac3 5.1 on roku is not bad choice and should very easy to set up

Going with OpenElec/Xbmc with Plex plugin is also possible, but I got the feeling it won't be as easy to implement....

 

[itschris]

Yeah see that's the issue...no hi def codecs. I guess it's only a 100 bucks but I don't know. I think I'd rather go with a solution that gets me where I want to be. You always talk about these cool little boxes so I was thinking there might be the perfect solution just sitting there.

So basically, I guess I'm still best off with the route that I spoke about above.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

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.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Yeah see that's the issue...no hi def codecs. I guess it's only a 100 bucks but I don't know. I think I'd rather go with a solution that gets me where I want to be. You always talk about these cool little boxes so I was thinking there might be the perfect solution just sitting there.

So basically, I guess I'm still best off with the route that I spoke about above.

Well, like I said you Could try go with OpenElec/XBMC AND add a Plex plugin - you could have best of both worlds - hd codecs support and use of existing plex library.
It could be worth a shot - installing OpenElec is pretty easy and skins/plugins are really easy to add - just all gui stuff.

This box - Newegg.com - Foxconn Brazos AT-5570 AMD A45 (Hudson D1) 1 x 204Pin AMD Radeon HD 7290 Black Mini / Booksize Barebone System
Should work for OpenElec HTPC build - just keep in mind you'd need to add memory (2gb should be fine) and storage (i think a simple class 10 SD card should do the trick or ssd/laptop drive)


See reviews - it's not good fit for windows, but works just fine for openelec with 1080p video and hd audio pass-thru.

and yes, it would NOT be good fit for netflix