Cheap HTPC

multimate

Cheap HTPC. Have Movies on Portable HDD.

multimate

multimate wrote: »

Cheap HTPC. Have Movies on Portable HDD.

What cheap build who you's reccomend (sub 200)

superneat

I have an overkill HTPC myself but i just bought one of THESE for my parents. Plays every file-type I've tried (avi, mkv, mp4, iso).
If all you want is something for playing movies, without the bells and whistles of a more polished, capable and expensive pc, this thing is great.
Decodes 5.1 channel audio if you have a surround sound or down-mixes to stereo if you don't.
For 40 quid you can't go wrong!

armitage_skanks

Every now and then you can get a 1080p-capable nettop cheap.

A couple of years ago it was the Acer Revo 3600s and 3610s, there was threads on Bargain Alerts about them. More recently I saw the eMachines Er1401 or 1402. The eMachines were unbelievably going for as low as £99 at one point.

The problem is they sell out quick and then you have scalpers trying to make a profit. But if you can get one of them you're sorted.

For a cheap build you can do something around an Atom/Ion itx board for under 200 if you shop around. XBMC Eden has a very fast jpeg decoder and also dirty-regions (not default) so I find even on a single-core Atom most skins fly along with no fanart lag.

I just run OpenElec off a fast decent USB thumbdrive so you can save money there. 4GB is enough unless you want to have local storage (for downloading torrents etc).

pug_

Don't forget the Raspberry Pi. I've mine on order for months now so I haven't been able to try it out yet, but based on reports it has the potential to be the perfect HTPC for people who don't need a lot of local storage or Live TV (though it might be possible to cobble something together via USB) and for under €50 too.

Access

pug_ wrote: »

Don't forget the Raspberry Pi. I've mine on order for months now so I haven't been able to try it out yet, but based on reports it has the potential to be the perfect HTPC for people who don't need a lot of local storage or Live TV (though it might be possible to cobble something together via USB) and for under €50 too.

Wow!... Just googled that there and the Raspberry Pi is the coolest thing I’ve seen in computing for years. Why hasn't this been done earlier?

I know its originally been made up for providing cheap computers to schools/education sector... but it looks like it could be the gadget to be strapped to the back of every tv for HTPC purposes!

Linky: http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs

Wcool

Seems to me that Raspberry Pi still has to prove itself. Not on the technical level, probably... But you get a tiny motherboard with no casing and no PSU and is more for people who don't mind plugging in a USB drive and know what they do.

The problem with the poll is that people have many different ideas about what an HTPC is.

Some are happy with playing from a laptop, others like a dedicated server in the background streaming to a computer beside the telly, or a small computer beside theTV having all the files. Or have a TV shows downloaded automatically. Or be able to record live telly or stream to multiple rooms.
And then there is levels of technical knowledge people want to invest in HTPC's or requirements like cost and electricity use.

All I can say is that for me Acer Revo worked. But only because I don't need TV recording and the price point was brilliant (180 euro 3 years ago). WD TV Live would probably work for my needs and was cheaper (only 60 euro at the time) but does not give me XBMC, flexibility and a bit of tinkering fun!

multimate

Wcool wrote: »

Seems to me that Raspberry Pi still has to prove itself. Not on the technical level, probably... But you get a tiny motherboard with no casing and no PSU and is more for people who don't mind plugging in a USB drive and know what they do.

The problem with the poll is that people have many different ideas about what an HTPC is.

Some are happy with playing from a laptop, others like a dedicated server in the background streaming to a computer beside the telly, or a small computer beside theTV having all the files. Or have a TV shows downloaded automatically. Or be able to record live telly or stream to multiple rooms.
And then there is levels of technical knowledge people want to invest in HTPC's or requirements like cost and electricity use.

All I can say is that for me Acer Revo worked. But only because I don't need TV recording and the price point was brilliant (180 euro 3 years ago). WD TV Live would probably work for my needs and was cheaper (only 60 euro at the time) but does not give me XBMC, flexibility and a bit of tinkering fun!

Here's what I need
* HDTV possess HDMI ports
* want to play SD movies (DivX, XviD)
* want to play 720P movies(less than 5gb)
Good to have
* want to play 1080P movies(less than 10gb)

Access

multimate wrote: »

Here's what I need
* HDTV possess HDMI ports
* want to play SD movies (DivX, XviD)
* want to play 720P movies(less than 5gb)
Good to have
* want to play 1080P movies(less than 10gb)

Jesus! would a 1080p movie really be as high as 10gb? :eek:

Most of what i would play would be SD approx 700 to 1400mb.

Access

Access wrote: »

Jesus! would a 1080p movie really be as high as 10gb? :eek:

Most of what i would play would be SD approx 700 to 1400mb.

Yeah, 8-12GB would be pretty normal for 1080p. Depends on movie length and bitrate obviously.

I've got full Blurays on my media server that are 40GB. Ripped from my own discs of course.

700MB Xvid seems very quaint to me, no offence :pac: It brings back memories of the early 2000s.

BigEejit

I use 720p for most of my movies (the odd one at 1080p), I normally keep well clear of anything under 3GB as the picture quality on a decent sized screen (40 inches plus) is atrocious. Dont have a 5.1 system (have a really good 2.1 setup) so it saves on the size of the movies too