Spec for Home Theatre PC

Roll · 20 Jul 2020 at 17:17

Home I'm posting this in the correct section.

I've been thinking about putting together a cheap Home Theatre PC for some time, not for anything serious but to play around with.

As it won't be used for anything more demanding than playing films stored on a network drive and maybe some video streaming I'm hoping that I can get away with using lower spec parts.

The spec I'm considering is a quad core AM3 processor, 8GB memory and 120GB SSD drive. I'd be happy if a low end graphics card with 1GB memory will do the job.

Suggestions and advice very welcome please.

Thank you.

lucid · 20 Jul 2020 at 17:35

Honestly, buy a Firestick and run Plex. Other similar low-cost / low-power / low-maintenance solutions exist.

andy_mk3 · 20 Jul 2020 at 17:39

lucid said:
Honestly, buy a Firestick and run Plex. Other similar low-cost / low-power / low-maintenance solutions exist.

This. Unless you need something that absolutely requires a PC.

Firestick or Mi Box or Shield or something will do a real good job at media playback from a NAS.

Roll · 20 Jul 2020 at 18:56

Thanks will certainly consider this.

However if I'm able to get parts cheap/free I may still go ahead with the HTPC as a fun project.

hornetstinger · 20 Jul 2020 at 20:54

Don't bother. Get amlogic media player at £50 instead. Miles better. Low power, silent, and fast

lucid · 21 Jul 2020 at 00:26

Roll said:
Thanks will certainly consider this.

However if I'm able to get parts cheap/free I may still go ahead with the HTPC as a fun project.

Unless you're doing something big or complicated with recording from tuner cards, or trying to rip and condense lots of Blu-ray discs, then a really basic PC will probably suffice.

4K streaming would probably push up the requirements on the graphics card a bit. Getting digital audio via HDMI shouldn't prove too difficult though, presuming you have an AV receiver or soundboard with a HDMI input and HD audio decoding. You won't really want to settle for optical out as that's limited to DD and DTS audio.

Software can be a pain: The need for an OS; and making sure that older hardware you can get free/cheap is compatible. Then there's the need for bits of SW to do various jobs. You'll need a media player front end, so Plex or Kodi for that. Maybe something for transcoding and/or compressing such as Handbrake. If you intend to rip DVD and BD discs you'll need a suitable drive and software for that.

Then there's how you control it. A wireless keyboard with mousepad is the most practical thing but hardly living room friendly. I think you can still get used MS Media Centre remotes with the USB IR receiver (or new clones of them). However, neither solution can push the power button, so you'll either leave the PC on but in standby - on, idling, burning a few watts - or you'll get up and push the power button for on.

Everything is do-able, and all fine in theory. But personally, I would rather sandpaper my balls with 80 grit and then bathe them with rubbing alcohol than spend time nursing another HTPC system though various stages of software conflicts/updates/bugs and the resulting hardware incompatibilities, but each to their own.

placeholder · 21 Jul 2020 at 09:06

Agree with the above. Technology has overtaken them and there are now far more user friendly solutions. If its going in a media room or bedroom and its just you using it then it could (potentially) be a wee project to mess about with but if you are looking for an actual practical living room solution for all the family it will drive you nuts!!!

I had one in a media room about 10 years ago with it attached to TV and projector and accessible from a tablet and as an interface for music and movies and it was fine for me because it was pretty much the only one who touched it. I now have a smart TV, fire stick, chrome cast etc and its just not required.

Roll · 21 Jul 2020 at 15:32

Think I've got the message, HTPCs have had their day.

Can anyone recommend a specific media player box please?

What I'd need it to do is play films stored on a NAS drive and stream video. A web browser and USB sockets (for keyboard/mouse) are also a must.

wellibob · 21 Jul 2020 at 15:54

Nvidia Shield tv Pro (approx 199 quid) . Other cheaper android boxes available at half the cost however

hornetstinger · 21 Jul 2020 at 18:59

wellibob said:
Nvidia Shield tv Pro (approx 199 quid) . Other cheaper android boxes available at half the cost however

More like a quarter

hornetstinger · 21 Jul 2020 at 19:01

Roll said:
Think I've got the message, HTPCs have had their day.

Can anyone recommend a specific media player box please?

What I'd need it to do is play films stored on a NAS drive and stream video. A web browser and USB sockets (for keyboard/mouse) are also a must.

Happy with my amlogic s912. New versions are 905x

However if you need official subscription service apps I probably wouldn't recommend these Chinese boxes as apparently aren't supported and app doesn't work. It installs but not sure , haven't looked into it.

lucid · 22 Jul 2020 at 04:42

Roll said:
Think I've got the message, HTPCs have had their day.

Can anyone recommend a specific media player box please?

What I'd need it to do is play films stored on a NAS drive and stream video. A web browser and USB sockets (for keyboard/mouse) are also a must.

The Android boxes such as @hornetstinger is using are great in that they use the same sort of O/S as an Android smartphone or tablet, so you can do most things a smartphone will do such as run Kodi and Youtube and Firefox or Chrome browsers.

There are generally 2-3-4 USB ports which takes care of connecting a wireless keyboard and a local HD and a USB memory stick.Wired and wireless network connection is catered for.

Where they come up against problems is with support for the enhanced features of 4K UHD such as Dolby Vision. To tick those licensing and rights boxes you need something like the latest nVidia Shield.

Somewhere in the middle is the functionality of vendor-specific devices such as Amazon -Firestick and -Cube products, Roku, Apple TV.

HEADRAT · 22 Jul 2020 at 05:52

wellibob said:
Nvidia Shield tv Pro (approx 199 quid) . Other cheaper android boxes available at half the cost however

This, NVIDIA have done all the hard work so you don't have to!

sHo0sH · 22 Jul 2020 at 07:13

Xiaomi mi box s looks to have the Dolby vision support, usb port and other requirements and can be had for about £60-80 depending on location purchased

Shield Pro is the daddy though

jpaul · 22 Jul 2020 at 10:32

Does the shield have the driver support for, many, usb freeview/sat cards ? (I know $$homerun works) or do you need to enter the linux/windows domain ?
maybe, that's a bit niche, but for that reason I still have nuc type mini-pcs in my basket, with which, you can also, get netflix 4k.

Ability to add on a usb dac too, will android/shield provide that.

Mission creep, as discussed in, other thread, you need a 1060 gfx to run madvr, for good video upscaling.

HEADRAT · 22 Jul 2020 at 11:07

For Freeview then you'd just need something like a HDHomerun, then you just download the App and you can watch TV, simples.

Exactly what I do, I have a quad tuner HDHomerun and it means I can watch live TV on pretty much anything whether I'm in/out of the house, HDHomerun also runs great with PLEX.

pepp77 · 22 Jul 2020 at 11:40

I had a few HTPCs several years ago, bought proper cases, so they had power on from remote control, displays etc. Over time I got frustrated with needing windows, needing codecs, needing this, needing that. I ended up ditching it for a Roku and have never looked back.

jpaul · 22 Jul 2020 at 12:10

HD homerun are $$, as I said, £150 , versus a usb /dbb-t2 stick for £10, if. you have hardware that is compatible.

HEADRAT · 22 Jul 2020 at 12:21

HD Homerun connect duo is £119.99, if you have the time/inclination then go HTPC, did that 10 years ago and now I have a mix of Apple TV 4K and Nvidia Shields.

If my use case required more then as you say a NUC would probably be a decent solution.

sHo0sH · 23 Jul 2020 at 06:20

TVs all have built in tuners, what would the need be for a usb tuner??