HTPC for Digital Playback of Movies

[itschris]

I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to need an HTPC. My streaming to iPad, to Apple TV, using PLEX setup works fantastic for music, but so so for movies.

I can't stream the high def surround codecs and I can't even stream normal DTS through the ATV.

So all I want is an HTPC that will store my movies that I can put in my cabinet and hook directly to my system. I think I can still use PLEX and use my iPad's PLEX app as a controller, but I have to look into that more.

But for the PC, I dont want to build some giant super high end deal. I don't need any gaming capabilitiy... just movies. I'll probably start out with a 3TB hard drive to get started. Do I even need a seperate video card these days or is the on-board graphics/audio on most motherboards capable of sending the surround sound via HDMI?

I just need a decent configuration that will work. I haven't kept up with the HTPC stuff too much over the last year or so, so I'm not sure what's out there now.

 

[sparky77]

I've been using an Acer Aspire Revo nettop computer with Nvidia Ion Graphics built in for my htpc for nearly two years now. About the size of a portable cd player and fits behind my tv really easily, plus the external blueray drive fits neatly on shelf nearby. So far its been able to play back any movie without a hiccup, and send the hd codecs to the receiver via hdmi. So an htpc can be pretty simple if all you want is playback and serving files to other equipment.

 

[itschris]

I've been using an Acer Aspire Revo nettop computer with Nvidia Ion Graphics built in for my htpc for nearly two years now. About the size of a portable cd player and fits behind my tv really easily, plus the external blueray drive fits neatly on shelf nearby. So far its been able to play back any movie without a hiccup, and send the hd codecs to the receiver via hdmi. So an htpc can be pretty simple if all you want is playback and serving files to other equipment.

I actually looked at that. The only issue is storage. I'm at about 2TB right now. What is your storage solution that you're using?

 

[sparky77]

I'm actually using a freenas server running on an antique P3-700, with a 320g hd in it, and an external usb 2tb hd. I've been running one of the older stable versions of freenas for over 3 years now with no problems. It streams to at least 5 computers simultaneously with no problems as of yet, If your more interested I can double check what version I've been running. Or, you could just hook up external HD's as you wish, add a usb hub if you have to. lol

Edit: Freenas v0.7.2 Sabanda (revision 5504) only using samba and fuppes(dlna server).