Spec me: bedroom TV HTPC alternative

DataVampire said:
turn your htpc into a plex server then purchase one of the cheap now tv boxes, you know the ones that come with a free entertainment pass, or a second hand one. will stream fine to your tv in your bedroom. so long as its 1080. also bear in mind if you buy a new smart tv for your bedroom it will more than liekley already have a plex app, so will not infact cost you anything.
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Well, that sounds a great cheap option. A couple of questions:

1. If I turn the HTPC into a Plex server, will I still be able to use Kodi as the front-end? I assume so, but not 100% sure.

2. Would I be able to wake and sleep the HTPC from the bedroom this way?

If both of these questions are answered in the affirmative then that sounds potentially the ideal solution!
 
As far as i am aware(i am prety new to this) you can have both plex and kodi runing on the same htpc:

For example you could use the kodi setup for downstairs and use the plex setup for the bedroom.

I sctualy prefer the look of plex to kodi its a personal thing/choice but its very similar, you click on the side a menu for example movies it brings up your movie collection and they look like mini dvd covers of the film ect ect.

Wake on lan i am not sure about tbh i have never bothered to use this feature my htpc is perm on. and very quite.

There is a prety good plex forum on the plex website.

As with kodi there are loads of youtube vids on using plex and kodi and both together, you could always install plex and see if you like it, no harm no foul, doesnt do anything to your files.

I just use plex all around the house, the only problem im having atm is serving of 4k movies
 
If you're running Plex, you wouldn't need/want Kodi... unless you're using it for "other" things. There is a Plex plugin for Kodi though I've no idea how well it works.

Why not just leave the HTPC on all the time? Mine uses an average of 40w which is <£5 per month. Makes things tons easier and you end up using them for other useful things too, mine does all kinds other than just a HTPC now!
 
DataVampire said:
As far as i am aware(i am prety new to this) you can have both plex and kodi runing on the same htpc:

For example you could use the kodi setup for downstairs and use the plex setup for the bedroom.

I sctualy prefer the look of plex to kodi its a personal thing/choice but its very similar, you click on the side a menu for example movies it brings up your movie collection and they look like mini dvd covers of the film ect ect.

Wake on lan i am not sure about tbh i have never bothered to use this feature my htpc is perm on. and very quite.

There is a prety good plex forum on the plex website.

As with kodi there are loads of youtube vids on using plex and kodi and both together, you could always install plex and see if you like it, no harm no foul, doesnt do anything to your files.

I just use plex all around the house, the only problem im having atm is serving of 4k movies
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Thanks! I've been googling a bit since your last post and whilst it's not easy to find definitive answers, it looks like PMS on the HTPC will work fine behind Kodi (hope it doesn't take up too much system resources as the system only just runs Fifa17 that the boys like to play).

Leaning towards the Fire TV box over the Now box, though, since I've seen lots of people complaining about Now's ability to play 1080p content without stuttering and the IQ not being great. Fire TV sounds like it works great with Plex and HD content.

So, once we can move up there it looks like grabbing a Fire TV box and installing PMS on the HTPC should work well.

Oh.. I'll also need a homeplug system to get connectivity up there. I feel a new thread coming on...

Thanks all for your input. It's been really helpful.
 
Is wifi not reachable upstairs ?. whith my persoanl experiance with homeplugs id rather cable lol. white ethernet cable is easy enough to hide nowadays. but thats jsut me lazy.

Good to hear your sorted. and remember if your going to get a new tv, it will msot proberly have the plex app. most smart tvs now have it.
 
DataVampire said:
Is wifi not reachable upstairs ?. whith my persoanl experiance with homeplugs id rather cable lol. white ethernet cable is easy enough to hide nowadays. but thats jsut me lazy.

Good to hear your sorted. and remember if your going to get a new tv, it will msot proberly have the plex app. most smart tvs now have it.
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Yeah, actually it makes sense (of course) to cable up rather than use some wifi extended. I'll try to find a homeplug that can provide both wifi extenstion (for my phone and ipad) and wired connection for the Fire TV.

We will get a new TV, but probably not for at least 6-12 months. Our cash reserves have been pretty much depleted by getting the loft converted! Happy to pay the price of the Fire TV box for now.

DataVampire said:
Forgot to say, can you post back and let us know how you get on your experiances ect, iw oudl love to see how you get on.
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Yes, will do!

Looking forward to trying this idea out (I will earn lots of brownie points from my wife if I look like the expert getting all this sorted...)
 
My HP N54L server is running Windows 10 and I have installed a free utility called "Smartpower" which will hibernate the server when certain IP devices are no longer connected. Those devices are my Fire TV or my Raspberry Pi.

Both the Pi and the Fire TV run kodi in one form on another. Both of them use a program app called Wake on Lan. So kodi is launched from either device and it will then send a signal to the server to its IP address, and using its MAC code, to wake the device. The library will then update Kodi once it detects that the server is awake.

The server will remain awake until the Pi and or the Fire TV is then powered off.

Note that both the Pi and the Fire TV do not actually go "off" but go into a deep sleep state as such, even the Pi with a power off command. So I have a couple of remote mains plug things with remotes. I switch that on and in turn that powers up, for example, the Pi which will then switch on the TV to the right channel and the nstart Kodi up which in turn etc etc etc.

It seems to work well.

I just find it a nuisance that Amazon is so restrictive about their Prime stuff not running on devices other than their own or very few approved ones. I would love to have my Prime stuff running through the Pi.
 
So, just returning to this thread as I'm filling my online shopping baskets now and have some final queries for those more in the know:

I was all set to buy the Amazon Fire TV box, but then thought... I'm only going to be streaming from the HTPC and using iPlayer/4OD/etc. so do I really need the Fire TV over the Stick (which is £45 cheaper after all!)?

I've tested my wireless network and am getting 55-100Mbps over wireless in the new room. I'm thinking that should be enough to stream (lossy) HD rips shouldn't it? So do I need the Fire TV for its wired properties over that?

I'm not interested in gaming on the TV or any other functions than catch-up TV services and streaming content from the downstairs HTPC. My budget could stretch to either (or to the Shield TV if it came to that), but hey, I'm tight and want the cheapest option that will do what I need! :)
 
Why do you need a HTPC, Samsung TV have all the online TV apps you need plus PLEX?

Shield TV running PLEX server downstairs, job done
 
HEADRAT;30488422 said:
Why do you need a HTPC, Samsung TV have all the online TV apps you need plus PLEX?

Shield TV running PLEX server downstairs, job done
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I already have an HTPC downstairs in the living room, which we use for a Kodi box mostly (didn't I say this upthread? Apologies if I didn't... life is hectic) and also for light gaming for the kids (Lego games, Fifa, etc.) so it seems easy to use that as a source for the media we already have.

In the new bedroom we will currently only have an old 720p TV (not a smart TV). We will for sure replace it within the next year or two, but not now. So we're looking for the cheapest option that will work well to allow us to stream lossy HD rips from our downstairs HTPC and to use iPlayer, 4OD, ITVplayer, etc.

As I say, I was set on the Fire TV box based on earlier replies, but then wondered if given our specific situation I could save money and get a Fire Stick instead...
 
Oh yes... the key issue here was whether 55-80(ish)Mbps wireless network transfer speed would be enough to stream lossy HD content over our home network! (It's my last night of work for the week and I may have had a couple of pints so sorry if there's repetition here! :) )
 
I could not match the word Roku in the thread - if your tv is older and does not have all the apps, as headrat commented; then Roku (2,4205e or 3) has them all with netflix/amazon+plex(from htpc), 2+5ghz wifi, or plug a usb drive, so that should work.
If you wait a bit may be back to recent £30 deal too.
 
jpaul;30488562 said:
I could not match the word Roku in the thread - if your tv is older and does not have all the apps, as headrat commented; then Roku (2,4205e or 3) has them all with netflix/amazon+plex(from htpc), 2+5ghz wifi, or plug a usb drive, so that should work.
If you wait a bit may be back to recent £30 deal too.
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I did look at the Roku products (sticks and boxes) as a possibility, but the issue I had was that they're not really significantly cheaper than their Amazon counterparts, but the specs do seem quite a lot lower. If I could find a Roku 3 or 2.405e for £30 that would be great, but they're all £60-80 that I can see, which is roughly in line with the Amazon box.

Cheapest options would seem to be either a Roku stick or an Amazon stick. Again, prices seem to be broadly similar for both. Either would probably do, but I'd like to know whether I'm likely to have a good experience streaming lossy HD content and on-demand services over wifi.
 
Chromecast £30 and you can use Plex with it
Raspberry Pi 3 around £40 for the lot and you can put OSMC (Kodi) onto it
 
Shivy011;30489735 said:
Chromecast £30 and you can use Plex with it
Raspberry Pi 3 around £40 for the lot and you can put OSMC (Kodi) onto it
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I did consider both of these. In fact, it was my intial idea to use a Pi (liked the idea of having one to tinker with!) and then I moved on to thinking of getting a Chromecast!

What put me off the Pi was just deciding I wanted a simple plug-and-play system that I can be sure my wife will be able to use. When Kodi hangs or crashes on our HTPC I still have to sort it out, so wanting to avoid that!

The Chromecast looks good in many ways - and cheap - but doesn't it rely on using a phone or PC to cast things to it to reach its full potential? I decided again that I'm after a system that my wife will be able to use when I'm away for work.

What I'm really after now is hearing if people have good or bad experiences of streaming media using Plex over a wireless connection. I'm quite happy to punt £40 on a Fire TV stick if it's going to work well over wireless (50-80Mbps connection speed).
 
Shivy011;30490641 said:
I have no problems using 1080p Plex over chromecast or direct to TV App on samsung tv
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It's possible I've misunderstood how the Chromecast works. I thought you needed to use a phone or PC to cast content to it or make apps work? Does it have apps built in in the same way the Fire Stick does? So I could switch it on and without using a phone select, say, iPlayer, 4OD or Plex and just have it work?

It doesn't come with a remote, though, does it? So how is it controlled if you don't want to use a phone or PC?
 
Sorry I made it confusing

I have a chromecast in a non smart TV and another TV which is smart and has a plex app

Chromecast does require a phone or tablet to use it, so fire stick may be better
 
Ah. I was getting a bit confused :)

Thanks for clarifying.

Noticed I missed a Fire TV box going cheap on the MM this morning! :( Failing seeing another one there soon I guess I'll just get a Fire Stick and keep fingers crossed it all works out over wifi.
 
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