# HTPC Recomendations



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

Hello all, I have never posted in this section of the shack. Honestly I read much more than I post anyway, though I have been absent from that lately due to work. I have some time off and am looking at buying or building a htpc.

Last summer I bought a couple of pivos boxes running linux to give xbmc a try. They worked fine for a while, I love xbmc by the way, but eventually I couldn't get anything to play due to script errors.

I don't have a lot of knowledge of xbmc or these boxes, but I am technical enough that I was able to reset the boxes and put the newest version of xbmc on them, so far so good. If they break again at least I have an idea how to repair them.

Long story short, ill keep the pivos boxes, but will likely put them in bedrooms. I believe a htpc for the theater room would be more acceptable and future proof, seems like there is a new streaming box released every week.

That said, I am looking for something small, not a tower or laptop. I read about the Intel nuc and it sounds great, but does anyone have any experience with them or other recommendations?

I don't particularly want to build my own htpc, but would likely be able to install the software if I had to.


----------



## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

i used this Acer Revo L RL70-UR308 Desktop PC not sure if this will work for your needs,have xbmc and works fine,i like the fact it's small and non-intrusive.


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

moparz10 said:


> i used this Acer Revo L RL70-UR308 Desktop PC not sure if this will work for your needs,have xbmc and works fine,i like the fact it's small and non-intrusive.


Does it play 1080p and the audio codects fine?


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

moparz10 said:


> i used this Acer Revo L RL70-UR308 Desktop PC not sure if this will work for your needs,have xbmc and works fine,i like the fact it's small and non-intrusive.


One other thing, you said you "used" it. Did you move on to something better, or is there another reason why you no longer use it?


----------



## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

JDEaston said:


> One other thing, you said you "used" it. Did you move on to something better, or is there another reason why you no longer use it?


meat to type use


----------



## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

I think if you brought the Revo RL70, you'll be pretty happy.
To answer your question about 1080p and HDMI audio


----------



## white-outreviews (Feb 19, 2014)

Why don't you want to build one?


----------



## prerich (Mar 26, 2008)

white-outreviews said:


> Why don't you want to build one?


Agreed!!!! :T


----------



## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

as White-Out Reviews asked why not build it,there is so much new hardware out there it's unreal,i've built a couple of destops but that was 7 years ago and how technology has changed,and you could save some $ while having fun at the same time.


----------



## white-outreviews (Feb 19, 2014)

Seriously! Add all the customization's and options you want. For the same amount of money or maybe a little bit more when you include OS and the case (I prefer to use custom cases). 

Just do a bit of research or ask what works great together. AMD and ATI are my personal favorites. (IMO) lol


----------



## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

here is a link has some good info on htpc's worth checking out
http://mymediaexperience.com/


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

I may be up for building my own, I like the idea of it, but I've never done anything like that before. I have built a diy sub, but an htpc seems much more complicated. The most I have done with a computer is upgrading ram and hard drives. Even when I did the hard drive it was for a security system and didn't require me to load an operating system from scratch.

I am open to it, just don't know if I have the expertise to do so. If I did do it, I would probably start with something like the Intel nuc that has the prosessor, video, audio already in a case. I'll check out the link and do some research on what I should do though. Thanks for the help, I am a firm believer that if you can DIY you will get better results for the same or less money.


----------



## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

Don't forget there's alot of good help to guide you thru the process here,so you wouldn't be building on your own,the people in this forum are full of knowledge and willing to help at the drop of a hat.


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

moparz10 said:


> Don't forget there's alot of good help to guide you thru the process here,so you wouldn't be building on your own,the people in this forum are full of knowledge and willing to help at the drop of a hat.


Your right, there is plenty of help here. What really worries me starting something like this is if I have to install the motherboard and CPU myself. Looked at the budget and value options on the link provided under 2014 reviews. 

The price difference isnt a big deal, but I do have a couple of questions. I won't be gaming with this, or using anything that I believe would tax either of those systems, I will primarily just be using it for xbmc. I don't need android like most of the set top boxes use, which is why I went with a linux version of the pivos I'm using now.

So my questions are does xbmc run well on windows? Which of those two boxes would work best for me, I don't really want to run from openelec because I believe it needs a USB drive to boot xbmc. Are both of these units able to run windows, linux?


----------



## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

It runs fine on mine also have it on an older laptop also running windows for the living room,i found a better explanation for you " It will work good with both Xbmcbuntu and OpenElec. With the latest OpenElec iso you will be up and running in like 5 minutes (no kidding) since it will work out of the box without any need for tweaks etc. XBMCbuntu works well after upgrading to the latest video drivers. Right now i run the latest OpenElec on my Revo 70, plays everything smooth. CPU load on playing 1080p is like 10-20%. It outputs HD Audio via HDMI.

You can transfer files to your Revo 70 running any Linux build by enabling Samba on your Revo. Samba will let your Windows machines see the Linux box and you can map shares etc.This is on by default in OpenElec so you will be able to transfer data to/from your Revo at once.

The Revo 70 comes in different packages. Some with Linux, Some with Windows 7, bigger or smaller hdd's etc."


----------



## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164011


----------



## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

that is one nice machine and tons of options


----------



## white-outreviews (Feb 19, 2014)

You could use an AMD APU system. No graphics card needed and they have great performance. Less power consumption and more room for other add ons. Motherboard, CPU, RAM, and SSD Hard Drive is all you really need. And an HD Ready Display


----------



## blitzer (Mar 5, 2010)

I am now trying a mac mini out for a few reasons. Almost no moving parts, very quiet from a noise perspective, PCs I have had in the past inserted some noise artifacts into the sound stream from their power supplies etc - the Mini does not. Very small. They are more expensive, even used, but I am doing well with it. Plus - it is Linux and is super stable.


----------



## prerich (Mar 26, 2008)

blitzer said:


> I am now trying a mac mini out for a few reasons. Almost no moving parts, very quiet from a noise perspective, PCs I have had in the past inserted some noise artifacts into the sound stream from their power supplies etc - the Mini does not. Very small. They are more expensive, even used, but I am doing well with it. Plus - it is Linux and is super stable.


What are you using for a player...please say Pure Music, or something along those lines.

Sent from my iPad using HTShack


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

Thanks guys for all of the suggestions and help, have not decided which route ill go yet, but I am considering everything mentioned. I had read about the Mac mini before it was mentioned on here. On paper it sounds perfect for what I want to do. Price and specs fall right around what I'm looking for, I also know that the apple tv has been one of the most liked xbmc devices, so that helps ease my mind. 

My only issue with it is when I read about it, it gets great reviews. However when I read about it running xbmc it gets mixed and bad reviews. There are just so many options and opinions with htpc's running xbmc that I may have to take my time with this. If not for some of the issues I've read about when running xbmc the mac mini would be my favorite right now though.


----------



## blitzer (Mar 5, 2010)

prerich said:


> What are you using for a player...please say Pure Music, or something along those lines.


I refuse to fall into the itunes black hole, so I am using Jriver Media Center to play any and all music files. I have been very impressed at it's capabilities and they are constantly improving it. At the same time, I am also running Plex and have been able to listen to music from the server and watch movies when I travel, just like I was at home(I have a big pipe in and out of the house for movies). I am still in experimenting mode

Pure Music looks like it is keeping up with the times though you need to be an iTunes person to use it I understand... I initially picked Jriver because a lot of the Stereophile reviewers use it.


----------



## blitzer (Mar 5, 2010)

JDEaston said:


> Thanks guys for all of the suggestions and help, have not decided which route ill go yet, but I am considering everything mentioned. I had read about the Mac mini before it was mentioned on here. On paper it sounds perfect for what I want to do. Price and specs fall right around what I'm looking for, I also know that the apple tv has been one of the most liked xbmc devices, so that helps ease my mind.
> 
> My only issue with it is when I read about it, it gets great reviews. However when I read about it running xbmc it gets mixed and bad reviews. There are just so many options and opinions with htpc's running xbmc that I may have to take my time with this. If not for some of the issues I've read about when running xbmc the mac mini would be my favorite right now though.


Until I bought the Mini, I was a PC only guy. I still don't like the Mac OS GUI as much as windows, but the hardware quality is crazy impressive. It is dead silent and runs cold with about 1/10 the power requirements of a PC. I am actually running a Windows 7 in VMware on the Mac Mini as well.

I just installed xbmc on the my mac mini with OSX 10.9.1 64bit. Seems to work great and has a nice interface. Is there anything I can test for you? Any specific concerns with it? I have not read up on it, so don't know the issues.


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

blitzer said:


> Until I bought the Mini, I was a PC only guy. I still don't like the Mac OS GUI as much as windows, but the hardware quality is crazy impressive. It is dead silent and runs cold with about 1/10 the power requirements of a PC. I am actually running a Windows 7 in VMware on the Mac Mini as well.
> 
> I just installed xbmc on the my mac mini with OSX 10.9.1 64bit. Seems to work great and has a nice interface. Is there anything I can test for you? Any specific concerns with it? I have not read up on it, so don't know the issues.


They are mixed reviews so I don't know how to take it yet. But mostly people have complained about xbmc running fine for a while then it won't run anymore. Read about some audio issues too, but nothing with the video. 

I don't know what to ask you really other than how long have you been using it? Have you had any issues at all with it running xbmc during that time? My only use for whaver I get is to run xbmc as well as it can, and occasionally run a web brower.


----------



## prerich (Mar 26, 2008)

blitzer said:


> I refuse to fall into the itunes black hole, so I am using Jriver Media Center to play any and all music files. I have been very impressed at it's capabilities and they are constantly improving it. At the same time, I am also running Plex and have been able to listen to music from the server and watch movies when I travel, just like I was at home(I have a big pipe in and out of the house for movies). I am still in experimenting mode Pure Music looks like it is keeping up with the times though you need to be an iTunes person to use it I understand... I initially picked Jriver because a lot of the Stereophile reviewers use it.


:T !!!!! Great!

Sent from my iPad using HTShack


----------



## blitzer (Mar 5, 2010)

JDEaston said:


> They are mixed reviews so I don't know how to take it yet. But mostly people have complained about xbmc running fine for a while then it won't run anymore. Read about some audio issues too, but nothing with the video.
> 
> I don't know what to ask you really other than how long have you been using it? Have you had any issues at all with it running xbmc during that time? My only use for whaver I get is to run xbmc as well as it can, and occasionally run a web brower.



No, I just installed it today based on you bringing it up.  So no history yet. I am playing with it and having it load up all my music and videos. I will ping you if I have issues.


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

Ended up buying an Intel NUC i3, it came with a 60gb SSD drive, 4gb of ram and a copy of windows 7. Seems like it should work for what I am trying to do, now I just have to figure out how to set it up and find a good remote for it.


----------



## wasser (Nov 29, 2010)

Those NUC systems look interesting. What software are you going to run for the media side?

What remote do you have in mind? I generally just use my phone as a remote for my Raspberry Pi running Xbian, but Flirc is also nice as it allows one to use any existing remote control.

http://www.flirc.tv/


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

wasser said:


> Those NUC systems look interesting. What software are you going to run for the media side?
> 
> What remote do you have in mind? I generally just use my phone as a remote for my Raspberry Pi running Xbian, but Flirc is also nice as it allows one to use any existing remote control.
> 
> http://www.flirc.tv/


It'll basically just be used for xbmc. I was thinking of running it from OpenElec originally, but since it comes with windows I may just run xbmc from it. Depending how much memory windows ties up I may delete it, my only use for it will really be streaming xbmc. 

No idea about a remote, I don't even know where to start. I may go with the flirc option and use a spare remote I have laying around.


----------



## wasser (Nov 29, 2010)

I prefer the Android app Yatse to control my Xbian Xbmc from my phone and my tablet, but using an actual remote with Flirc is, admittedly, more intuitive.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.leetzone.android.yatsewidgetfree


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

wasser said:


> I prefer the Android app Yatse to control my Xbian Xbmc from my phone and my tablet, but using an actual remote with Flirc is, admittedly, more intuitive.
> 
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.leetzone.android.yatsewidgetfree[/QUOTE
> 
> ...


----------



## wasser (Nov 29, 2010)

There are no issues using both Flirc and Yatse to control XBMC.

As for which XBMC to use, that's really up to you. The differences are ultimately not really big. Basically, it's just Windows vs Linux. If you're familiar and comfortable with linux, then go for it. I don't think you'd have to use any lightweight options like OpenElec or Xbian as I'd imagine your NUC has plenty of power. Otherwise, just go with the Windows build and be happy. And, as a bonus, you'll be able to use it in ways besides just XBMC.


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

wasser said:


> There are no issues using both Flirc and Yatse to control XBMC.
> 
> As for which XBMC to use, that's really up to you. The differences are ultimately not really big. Basically, it's just Windows vs Linux. If you're familiar and comfortable with linux, then go for it. I don't think you'd have to use any lightweight options like OpenElec or Xbian as I'd imagine your NUC has plenty of power. Otherwise, just go with the Windows build and be happy. And, as a bonus, you'll be able to use it in ways besides just XBMC.


Thanks for the help, I have an extra remote laying around that I really like the layout of, so I will probably try flirc with it, and run Yaste on my phone. Then decide from there.

As far as which version of xbmc to run, I am fine with windows since it came with a copy of it. I like linux, from my limited experience with it, but if this unit will run either on xbmc fine, I would probably stick with windows to make it easier for anyone else in the house to use. 

Thanks again for the help


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

The NUC is here and thus far this thing is nothing short of amazing. Compared to what I upgraded from at least.

The windows 7 that came with it is on DVD, I don't have an external DVD drive and its impossible to find a windows 7 image online to transfer to usb. So for now I'm just running openelec on it, openelec seems to be a great choice for running xbmc smoothly. Streaming 1080p and DD 5.1 files, is using less than 10% per core of the processor. I'm amazed.

For input devices I bought a Logitech k400 keyboard/mousepad, and am using Yaste on my phone. I may still get flirc, to have a normal remote associated with it to make it easier for other people in the house to use.

Thanks for the help guys, so far I am extremely happy with it.


----------



## wasser (Nov 29, 2010)

Glad it's working out for you. 

If you still want to use Windows 7, then you can use WinToFlash to transfer your copy to a USB flash drive.


----------



## JDEaston (Dec 30, 2011)

wasser said:


> Glad it's working out for you.
> 
> If you still want to use Windows 7, then you can use WinToFlash to transfer your copy to a USB flash drive.


Thanks again. I am hesitant about even installing windows now because this thing is performing so well with just open elec. I will probably give it a try though, if I don't like how windows performs with xbmc I guess I could dual boot and just use openelec for xbmc. I don't have another dedicated pc in the house though so I should probably give linux or windows a try.


----------

