New to HTPC's...

[phalnax]

My family is in the market for an HTPC. I would be downloading movies and tv, and hope to watch them on the tv. I have been looking at the Eeeboxes from Asus and it seems like they would do the trick.I am absolutely not in the mood to build my own pc and in somewhat of a hurry as I have been putting this off for a while and am now moving into a new house. I'm not even sure if I need an htpc for what I plan on doing as it is fairly simple. So I suppose I'm just throwing a feeler out there for peoples' opinions on what I should look into purchasing for simply watching downloaded movies and tv.

I would like HDMI, no need for an optical drive, wifi and preferably a small footprint. Price range is HOPEFULLY under 300.

 

[timta2]

You might be able to get away with something small and cheap like Western Digital's media players. They typically work very well with local content you already have, but are often lacking in the online streaming department, at least in comparison to Roku. Roku is the best at streaming from the internet, but in the past hasn't worked for watching local content. I think that's changed a little bit since the Plex channel was added.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=330
http://www.roku.com
https://plex.tv

I love my older WD Live device. It's very simple and trouble free, and plays everything I throw at it. I also have a full size HTPC in my living room that runs XBMC. It's a lot more flexible, but it is huge and was way more money.

http://xbmc.org/about/

 

[teh_chem]

First I would say; pay for the content you enjoy consuming. Second I would say, if you're not recording tv, do you have a network drive/nas? I think a great option is a Roku box or stick, and just play your content from your network drive (I've had luck with the stick playing all sorts of formats).

300 is going to push it for a full system, how much storage are you looking for?

 

[kac77]

You would be better off building your own unit. I've tried WD Live and Chromecast. The WD Live was the only one that really supported local content. However, both of them (and probably the Roku as well) lack the necessary CPU / GPU power to play all types of content. They especially have trouble with movies encoded with high bit rates. Basically 1080p action movies usually have a problem somewhere.

The FireTV I haven't tried and it's supposed to be the most powerful unit out there. However, I decided that rather than recreate the wheel why not go with something I know works?

The only thing that really could be used by adult and kid alike was something I built myself. It's doable for $150 or less depending on features (like remote).

 

[nekrosoft13]

XBMC is amazing, I have it setup in 3 different rooms, all streaming from my central server.

there is tons and tons of online streaming content available after you add few add-ons, life sports, movies, tv shows etc...

right now trying to figure out how to setup a central SQL database so it keeps track of what was watched and when, I will be able to pause in one room and resume in next.

 

[RyC]

XBMC is amazing, I have it setup in 3 different rooms, all streaming from my central server.

there is tons and tons of online streaming content available after you add few add-ons, life sports, movies, tv shows etc...

right now trying to figure out how to setup a central SQL database so it keeps track of what was watched and when, I will be able to pause in one room and resume in next.

I'm sure you've already seen this: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=MySQL

It was very easy to set up, and works perfectly. No issues when I upgraded to Gotham either.

 

[nekrosoft13]

yes I did but thanks! just didn't have time to set it up yet.

 

[sinisterDei]

I've run the whole gamut of HTPC options, and I have recently circled back around to a "full HTPC" setup. In my case, "full HTPC" is an inexpensive Pentium CPU, mobo, a bit of RAM and a tiny SSD to boot from since all my media is accessed over the network. Using a SSD keeps everything as silent as possible. I use XBMC for the actual media front end, and have run both XBMC atop Windows as well as a "standalone" OpenELEC installation of XBMC. Both options work great.

Something like this: http://i.imgur.com/YujRaaW.png
To that you would need to add a case/PSU of your choosing. I spent a bit more on that bit, buying a Silverstone HTPC case so everything blends into the media center but there are many choices obviously.

It *is* more time, effort, and likely money than buying a WD Live or whatever. But, with that come additional capabilities. For example, I own Xbox controllers that work on the PC and also use my HTPC as a Steam in-home streaming receiver, which lets me play games on the big screen like a proper console.

 

[J Macker]

I'm trying to make the same decision right now. Though, I already have a "full" htpc for my main TV.

For the new device, I'm seriously considering either the Roku3 or Amazon FireTV.
From what I've read, the devices are nearly identical in features, but the FireTV is a little more responsive.

Both devices have full support from Plex & FireTV supports xbmc as well, so local content works great on both devices from what I've read. They both play content from Amazon instant streaming, which is a major plus for me.
Ease of use, small size interface & smooth playback are the most important to me.

There are some refurbished Roku3's on amazon for $78 shipped, so that's pretty tempting to me.

 

[skiddy]

I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but you could look at the Intel NUC models - other than price, it sounds like it would fit your needs.

Intel NUC D34010WYK1: $270
Crucial 120GB mSATA: $76
Crucial 4GB SODIMM: $41
Intel mSATA 7260 WiFi: $32

Total: $419 (without an O/S - you can use Linux & XBMC)

WiFi antenna is built into the chassis, and you also have built in IR. Haswell w/5000 HD gives you light gaming abilities and 4k support. This would be significantly more powerful than the Eeeboxes which use atom processors.