Do I need to build a HTPC to do this??

Mike1983

Mike1983

Mike1983

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Hi all

I currently have a couple of Popcorn Hour devices connected to TV's in my house plus a central server where my media is stored. My TV's are the very early "smart" TV's so very clunky and limited to functionality / apps (no lovefilm, netflix, iPlayer etc...)

I'm looking at refreshing my gadgetry as part of an up and coming house move and wish to have a box under a TV that does the following

1) Plays video files stored on my server onto the TV at high res, 55 inch TV @ 1080p
2) Ability to play movies on the TV from sites such as Netflix, Lovefilm etc.
3) Ability to play content from iPlayer, 4 OD etc..
4) Ability to control all of this from an Android tablet.
5) The box is to be on show and should look like any other "black box" A/V hardware on display under the TV.

From my research, I'm led to believe I should go down the route of building a HTPC based on Windows and install XBMC. Am I correct in my thoughts here?

Any decent guides floating around?

Thanks

Mike
 
It so cheap to build a HTPC from older secondhand parts & spare Components you have laying around I would go down this route..
Mike1983 said:
From my research, I'm led to believe I should go down the route of building a HTPC based on Windows and install XBMC. Am I correct in my thoughts here?

Any decent guides floating around?
Click to expand...
I myself found the best time to build a HTPC was when I upgraded my main rig,as I used some the old components left over after upgrading my main rig (I.E PSU,GPU,CPU,memory,HHD,Windows software)


EDIT..And it looks like your just about to upgrade your main rig..;)
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18488509
 
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Raspberry Pi would do all of that, buy a black case for it and hey presto! Cheap as chips.
I have iplayer, 40D, etc.. and it plays flawlessly. 1080p files are no issue either.
 
platypus said:
I wouldn't bother with Windows. I've just switched to OpenElec XBMC and it is awesome.
Click to expand...

I agree. I bought an Arctic MC001 have just installed openelec and it works brilliantly. I don't know if it will play streaming services like lovefilm but I am pretty sure there are plugins for the rest. I only ever play 720p footage but that works flawlessly and I hear its the same with 1080p.
 
Mike1983 said:
Hi all

I currently have a couple of Popcorn Hour devices connected to TV's in my house plus a central server where my media is stored. My TV's are the very early "smart" TV's so very clunky and limited to functionality / apps (no lovefilm, netflix, iPlayer etc...)

I'm looking at refreshing my gadgetry as part of an up and coming house move and wish to have a box under a TV that does the following

1) Plays video files stored on my server onto the TV at high res, 55 inch TV @ 1080p
2) Ability to play movies on the TV from sites such as Netflix, Lovefilm etc.
3) Ability to play content from iPlayer, 4 OD etc..
4) Ability to control all of this from an Android tablet.
5) The box is to be on show and should look like any other "black box" A/V hardware on display under the TV.

From my research, I'm led to believe I should go down the route of building a HTPC based on Windows and install XBMC. Am I correct in my thoughts here?

Any decent guides floating around?

Thanks

Mike
Click to expand...

Look at streamers also (most of which have catch up tv links in the software), personally I prefer the elegance of these over any windows based machine because there is no maintenance to be required over time. Should also cost you less than a good looking htpc case let alone incl the innards.
 
If you're running multiple rooms Plex (http://www.plexapp.com/) is also a good alternative to XBMC.

Runs a server/client based architecture so you would set up plex server on your current server and then the plex clients are all synced with one another without any effort at all.

Plex is a fork from XBMC so has all the same features otherwise.
 
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