[MrCrispy]

I'm hoping there's a new build of AndroidTv (GoogleTv) that does away with current Android limitations, opening up a lot of the $50-$100 Android boxes as full XBMC players with no limitations, as they already have hw decoders etc.

[TRaSH]

The main reason why I build my own HTPC was because most pre build look like a Wii or a XBox or even worse.
I wanted a HTPC that blends in my equipment.
Most people think it's a plain blu-ray player if they see my HTPC.
And it all can be controlled with my remote.
Till they make a decent looking ready to buy HTPC I will always build them myself.
But perhaps for the bedroom or kids room a pre build will do.

[MrCrispy]

What's wrong with the way NUC / Chromebox looks? Its a little black rectangle that can even be hidden!

[Talguy]

What's wrong with the way NUC / Chromebox looks? Its a little black rectangle that can even be hidden!

another reason why the nucs are so awesome. You can mount them behind your TV or hide it in the cabinet with ease. Its easier for me too since I use an RF remote.

[DocG]

I think the NUC has been a bit of a game changer. Previously you could self-build something as good as you could buy. Now that Mini-ITX is the smallest DIY option, going for a smaller NUC or Chromebox is quite compelling.

This. I've replaced my last DIY build. I mean, it's 19.7 cm x 19.7 cm x 7.5 cm. Why would I want anything so massive? It's huge, and to think I once thought it was quite small. Plus, most decent DIY builds, even if you choose good components, are still quite audible.

What's wrong with the way NUC / Chromebox looks? Its a little black rectangle that can even be hidden!

another reason why the nucs are so awesome. You can mount them behind your TV or hide it in the cabinet with ease. Its easier for me too since I use an RF remote.

Exactly! You can even build your own VESA adapter, so you can potentially fit 4!

[MediaPi]

Nice setup DocG, how big is your tv it looks gorgeus and BIG like 60 Inch big

[voip-ninja]

What's wrong with the way NUC / Chromebox looks? Its a little black rectangle that can even be hidden!

another reason why the nucs are so awesome. You can mount them behind your TV or hide it in the cabinet with ease. Its easier for me too since I use an RF remote.

This!

I use an IR extender. It was a very simple thing to mount the IR repeater to the NUC (which has excellent IR sensitivity) and I simply stuffed the NUC in a drawer where you can't even see it.

I see a lot of comment about options OTHER than NUC, which is fine, but if you want good 23.976 1080P playback, there really aren't many (any?) other options out there. Only the newest Intel GPU does perfect 23.976.

I have made large MKVs out of each of the LOTR extended edition BDs. I watched one over the weekend. 3.5 hours and not a single glitch, skip or hiccup in the playback... all in glorious 1080P/23.976 on my monster 65" plasma. Clearly not something that a person with 32" TV cares about, but on my large TV with really high performance audio, it is worth every penny of a NUC over an Android box....

As far as DIY... well, why? The NUC is invisible and tiny so building something else with a larger case, hacked in after-market IR remote, etc, is just laughable... at least for my needs.

[drpizznock]

It seems these days DIY threads are few and far between. It's all about the NUC, Chromebox, Fire TV and various android boxes.

So, are the day of building your own HTPC gone do you think?

It is too easy to buy an off the shelf box that will meet the needs of a media playback device and still have horse power left to do more. I only have two boxes left in my home that are build from the ground up, the server and my personal workstation. All other devices hooked up to a TV are Gateways or Lenovos. There is no need to build these and if I could get something like Amazon Fire that still allowed me to watch TV via CableCard like WMC does, I would.

[drpizznock]

Sorry but the nomenclature is disturbing me. A NUC is still an HTPC. Home Theatre Personal Computer. A small media oriented box is still an HTPC.

You can build a PC that is almost as small, and certainly as quiet and low power, as anything in the "preassembled"/NUC line.

How is a NUC an HTPC? Absolutely nothing happens when you take it out of the box and turn it out. You have to add to it like you would to any other barebones kit you would purchase.

[rushingjs]

To add to MrCrispy's sentiments, the android apps being added to the fireTV are what really sold me.

[MrCrispy]

DocG, where do you get the stands that are on the back of the monitor to mount the Chromebox on? I'm planning to use a Harmony or PS3 remote, they should both work over Bluetooth, so I don't IR extenders. And why do you have 2

[voip-ninja]

Sorry but the nomenclature is disturbing me. A NUC is still an HTPC. Home Theatre Personal Computer. A small media oriented box is still an HTPC.

You can build a PC that is almost as small, and certainly as quiet and low power, as anything in the "preassembled"/NUC line.

How is a NUC an HTPC? Absolutely nothing happens when you take it out of the box and turn it out. You have to add to it like you would to any other barebones kit you would purchase.

The NUC is pretty close to a "pre built" machine. You add RAM to it and an SSD, which takes the typical tinkerer about 30 seconds to do.

[nickr]

Sorry but the nomenclature is disturbing me. A NUC is still an HTPC. Home Theatre Personal Computer. A small media oriented box is still an HTPC.

You can build a PC that is almost as small, and certainly as quiet and low power, as anything in the "preassembled"/NUC line.

How is a NUC an HTPC? Absolutely nothing happens when you take it out of the box and turn it out. You have to add to it like you would to any other barebones kit you would purchase.

What a silly question. It is a PC. It is used for Home Theatre. It is therefore an HTPC.

[drpizznock]

Sorry but the nomenclature is disturbing me. A NUC is still an HTPC. Home Theatre Personal Computer. A small media oriented box is still an HTPC.

You can build a PC that is almost as small, and certainly as quiet and low power, as anything in the "preassembled"/NUC line.

How is a NUC an HTPC? Absolutely nothing happens when you take it out of the box and turn it out. You have to add to it like you would to any other barebones kit you would purchase.

The NUC is pretty close to a "pre built" machine. You add RAM to it and an SSD, which takes the typical tinkerer about 30 seconds to do.

Which is why it's called a kit, because you still need to add things to it to get you to your desired state. After you add the RAM and an SSD you still need to add the right mix of OS and apps before it can even be a media playback device and then it still doesn't support optical media and video capture/dvr capability.

[MrCrispy]

HTPC used to mean a device to handle ALL your media needs - local media playback, live tv and timeshifting, streaming services.

I don't think this is true anymore for most users. esp Live tv and DVR, most people don't have cable cards/antennas. And streaming services are either blocked on pc, not supported, or offer less content than via other devices (Tv, streamer box). So in effect, what most people want is a power efficient box that can play back their local media and supports all formats. Which is where XBMC excels.