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rampsputant · 2013-01-17, 16:08

Hey Folks,

Wanted to start a little discussion and get some opinions. Back in November I built a pretty rockin' HTPC using the A6-5500 chip and a lot of guidance from these forums. I've been delighted by the performance.

After Christmas, I invested in a new TV. I originally had no plans to get SmartTV, since this was redundant with features I already had in the HTPC, but the TV that I wanted had it, so I wound up purchasing a Samsung SmartTV.

Now, I quickly realized that Samsung's SmartTV platform is pretty sweet. Not only does it include all the streaming standards - Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Instant - it also includes HBOGo, and now even a Plex Client.

The Plex Client especially was a big deal for me. I thought, "why do I have this HTPC?"

Why not just load all my media onto my desktop PC in my home office (a pretty powerful gaming machine), and sell the HTPC? It seems that I can stream all my home media via Plex straight to the SmartTV, as well as having all the streaming apps, without needing a dedicated box. For much less than the value of the HTPC, I could upgrade the hard drive in my desktop PC to hold all my media files, and also buy a Playstation 3, which will give me a Blu-Ray player as well as a gaming system.

What are your thoughts? Have I obsoleted myself out of my HTPC? What am I missing?

Here are a few notes about my usage. I primarily use my HTPC for (in order of frequency):
- Streaming online video
- A media server for my home movie and music library
- A gaming system (controller-based Steam games and emulators)
- Watch Blu-rays and DVDs
- Occasional web browsing (primarily just when I'm trying to figure out how to do something with my HTPC)

I don't use my HTPC for any of the following:
- PVR (I don't have a TV tuner card because I don't have cable or even a TV antenna)

Cheers! Big Grin

josh5565 · 2013-01-17, 16:24

I didn't know a Plex client was available so I am not sure how well that works streaming large files. However I have noticed on my Samsung that large mkv files are about worthless to stream to it. The TV can't handle buffering of such large files. Smaller ones work fine though.

**Dougie Fresh** · 2013-01-17, 16:40

If your TV has all the features you use, then yes. If it doesn't and there's a feature on your HTPC not on your TV, no. Smile

UsernameXBMC · 2013-01-17, 16:48

Try playing some films on your tv using your plex client. Then you will see how smart your tv is... See how "blazing" fast the tv works when streaming from your nas. Which by the way has to have a plex media center client on board to work. Many of us that bulids HTPC are film buffs, audiophiles and what not. See how well your tv + nas server handles a 31 GB blueray and bitstreams audio to your AVR. My cousin owns one of the newer models of the Samsung smart tv, 55ES8005, and that one fights for its life to open the Angry Birds app.. Also Can your tv play a blueray disc? I think not..

**thethirdnut** · 2013-01-17, 17:45

Also, get back to us in 2 years to see how well the 'Apps' are supported over the long-term.

The in-laws have a similar SmartTV and frankly the interface sucks...nothing to spend extra $$ on that is for sure.

**Martijn** · 2013-01-17, 17:49

(2013-01-17, 17:45)thethirdnut Wrote: Also, get back to us in 2 years to see how well the 'Apps' are supported over the long-term.

The in-laws have a similar SmartTV and frankly the interface sucks...nothing to spend extra $$ on that is for sure.

Ack on that.
Interfaces on smarttv are useless

Vertigo · 2013-01-17, 18:40

Eventually I expect TVs to become smart enough that most people will no longer have much use for an HTPC, but the last "smart" tv I tried (a recent Phillips model) showed me we are still miles away from that. The interface was slow, rather ugly, videoplayback via uPnP of anything other than SD AVIs more often than not didnt work, if it did work, it would stutter badly, browsing the network was a PITA, youtube is so slow as to be utterly pointless, and it even crashed so badly a few times, I had to remove the power cord as even the physical on/off button didnt work anymore.

So yeah, one day, but not today.

**Beer40oz** · 2013-01-17, 18:53

Yup one day there will be no need for an HTPC... a TV will have everything that you will need.... we may see it in a few years...

rampsputant · 2013-01-17, 19:16

Thanks for the feedback, folks. This is exactly the kind of discussion I wanted to get going.

(2013-01-17, 16:24)josh5565 Wrote: I didn't know a Plex client was available so I am not sure how well that works streaming large files. However I have noticed on my Samsung that large mkv files are about worthless to stream to it. The TV can't handle buffering of such large files. Smaller ones work fine though.

I've tested an SD version of the recent Sherlock Holmes movie and it worked okay. I have not yet tested a 1080p Prometheus that I ripped from my Blu-ray. I could see how HD streams and the TV trying to process that might be an issue.

(2013-01-17, 16:48)UsernameXBMC Wrote: Try playing some films on your tv using your plex client. Then you will see how smart your tv is... See how "blazing" fast the tv works when streaming from your nas. Which by the way has to have a plex media center client on board to work. Many of us that bulids HTPC are film buffs, audiophiles and what not. See how well your tv + nas server handles a 31 GB blueray and bitstreams audio to your AVR. My cousin owns one of the newer models of the Samsung smart tv, 55ES8005, and that one fights for its life to open the Angry Birds app.. Also Can your tv play a blueray disc? I think not..

I don't have a separate NAS. I would be running Plex Media Server on my home office PC. I have no use for Angry Birds apps. However, I would get a PS3 to replace the Blu-ray playback functionality of the TV and to give some gaming capability to my home setup.

(2013-01-17, 17:45)thethirdnut Wrote: Also, get back to us in 2 years to see how well the 'Apps' are supported over the long-term.

The in-laws have a similar SmartTV and frankly the interface sucks...nothing to spend extra $$ on that is for sure.

Two good points. I have no idea how app support or even the Smart TV platform overall would be supported over the long term, while I can pretty much guarantee that XBMC is going to be around in 2 years.

Samsung's Smart TV interface is better than most. It's not blazing fast, but not achingly slow either. It allows some customization, but not nearly anything like XBMC of course, or even Plex. It does have the advantage of having all apps already integrated. One of the things that's frustrating to me about using XBMC is that every plug-in seems to work differently. Some of them integrate into the library, some don't, and there are still notable content plugin absences (such as HBOGo). On the other hand, XBMC is ever-growing and ever changing.

Are there HTPC uses that I'm not thinking of? Are there things for which you use your HTPC that you never thought of when you built it?

Vertigo · 2013-01-17, 19:24

Actually, a smarttv that eliminates the need for a HTPC for most use cases already exists: take a raspberry pi, and stick it to the back of your tv with some duct tape. Plug it in the USB port for power, and plug in the HDMI cable. There, done, smartest TV ever.

Considering how small and cheap a Pi is, I have to wonder why no TV manufacturers are doing just that (minus the duct tape). I can understand for $500 TVs, but surely on a $2500 TV they have enough margin to squeeze in a XBMC capable SoC rather than whatever SoC they have in there now.

**Martijn** · (This post was last modified: 2013-01-17, 19:55 by Martijn.)

what's wrong with duct tape? Tongue

I would love a TV with all the useless nonsense on it and just show me the damn picture.

**Beer40oz** · 2013-01-17, 20:30

Velcro tape would be better... Smile

RaggSokk3n · (This post was last modified: 2013-01-17, 23:05 by RaggSokk3n.)

iI have one of those smart Samsungs, it does Internett radio at the same speed a celeron cracks a aes file (certainly not the speed of light) - guessing that 1080p might be aiming a bit too high :p

aptalca · 2013-01-18, 04:47

Well, plex is cool in a way that they have apps for a lot of devices including some smart tvs and also cheap streamers such as roku.

I am using plex for remote streaming (I bought my mother-in-law a roku for Christmas and she streams from my media server using the plex client on roku from 500 miles away)

However, I don't think plex would ever replace xbmc for local streaming. Xbmc's gui and media management are far superior to plex. I see plex vs xbmc as an ios vs android debate. Plex looks cool at first, and is easy to set up, however the advanced options are very limited. Everything is oversimplified.

Like I said, I only use it for remote streaming on my phone, tablet, or friends' and families' computers.

I wish xbmc already had the remote streaming and transcoding options so I wouldn't need plex at all.

UsernameXBMC · 2013-01-18, 16:27

(2013-01-17, 16:48)UsernameXBMC Wrote: Try playing some films on your tv using your plex client. Then you will see how smart your tv is... See how "blazing" fast the tv works when streaming from your nas. Which by the way has to have a plex media center client on board to work. Many of us that bulids HTPC are film buffs, audiophiles and what not. See how well your tv + nas server handles a 31 GB blueray and bitstreams audio to your AVR. My cousin owns one of the newer models of the Samsung smart tv, 55ES8005, and that one fights for its life to open the Angry Birds app.. Also Can your tv play a blueray disc? I think not..

I don't have a separate NAS. I would be running Plex Media Server on my home office PC. I have no use for Angry Birds apps. However, I would get a PS3 to replace the Blu-ray playback functionality of the TV and to give some gaming capability to my home setup.

Well, I wasnt pointing that you should use the Angry Birds app.. Jesus, I was pointing to the speed of the thing.... And the whole idea of having a smart tv is surly not to use a computer... If you use a computer, what is the point of having a smart tv? You have not thought about this very much have you?