[bomber89]

Hey everyone,

I'm very new to all this so please forgive any stupid things I say or ask..
I am trying to get the easiest most reliable method of storing all of my media and having it readily accessible on both of my tv's and possibly a tv at my mum's house. I would also like to be able to stream online TV and record things. So I have been reading a whole lot of articles and forums over the last 2 weeks and learnt a fair bit but I am not confident in choosing a certain set up or spending the cash on it without advice from others just yet.

To give you a bit of background I am currently just using my external HDD's plugged in to my laptop for storage of all my media. I have my very old cheap laptop (Dell N5030 Pentium Dual Core T4500 2.3GHz with 4GB RAM running Windows 10) wired to my router which my 2 smart tv's are also wired to. So at the moment I have access to all my media via DLNA through Kodi as Plex doesnt even want to think about streaming from it and I have not got any android boxes or similar to run Kodi properly through my TV.

My research so far has led me to believe that the best way for me to get what I want is to build a HTPC that can
- Store all of my media on it (at this stage 6TB is sufficient however I would like room for expansion in the future)
- Run kodi (for my hard wired TV's) and either plexbmc add on or plex (for my mums TV)
- Handle up to 3 1080p movie streams
- Run utorrent/usenet (I am only just learning about usenet)
- Run 24/7, so low power would be good

These are probably all pretty common wants/needs for other people who have built HTPC's so it is probably pretty straight forward for most of you (just not me!)

So far I have come up with 2 options using PCPartPicker and I would really appreciate any feedback/improvements or advice which one to go with.

My "Low Power" build
PCPartPicker part list: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/2zjrTW

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100T 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($180.99 @ Mwave Australia)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($179.00 @ IJK)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($33.98 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($95.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Western Digital Red 6TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($379.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case ($139.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($77.00 @ Umart)
Total: $1083.97

My "Moderate" build
PCPartPicker part list: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/hTqZt6

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.00 @ Scorptec)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($145.00 @ IJK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($74.99 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($95.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Western Digital Red 6TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($379.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($162.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($77.00 @ Umart)
Total: $1261.99

I think I may have left out something to give me the ability to record TV but I'm not sure if that just requires software.

Last but not least I would love some advice on the box to run kodi at each of my TV's. Is it worth building a mini HTPC for each of them or should I just get an android box, and which one should I get?

Once again I am a complete newb to this so any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Not sure if it makes a difference or not but I am located in Australia.

Thanks in advance..

[Soulbind]

Hell no. Use a nice "thin client" and a big server to house your media.

Something like a Wetek Core or Nvidia Shield or an AsRock Beebox (all very good options) + a Synology NAS or a QNAP NAS, Look at the 2 bay Syno or QNAP NAS options, should be good for you, you can run Plex and a Torrent client on them.

For that cash, you can buy 2 SHIELDs : https://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv + this Synology NAS : https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS216+ ( Amazon : http://www.amazon.com/Synology-DiskStati...ords=ds216 )

Actually, for that cash, you can get a 4 bay NAS : http://www.amazon.com/Synology-Station-N...B00IKTSSIO , and for the remaining 400$ the 2 SHIELDs.

[katsup]

I'd say your build is overkill. Stop thinking about getting a big server and look at a Synology or QNAP that supports DLNA (I think they all do). The current models should cover your requirements. Your biggest concern would be transcoding for plex.

As for your TV clients, upgrade 1 at a time to be sure you like each. People have different tastes. The most popular devices are listed in the sticky.

[bomber89]

Thanks for your input
Okay sounds good to me. I haven't heard of the core or beebox yet but I'll have a look into them. I've been thinking about a shield or a pi2. Not sure if they are all available in aus or not so I'll check them all out.
You mention that my biggest concern is transposing for plex. That's why I was avoiding a synology or QNAP and looking at building my own with an i3 or an i5 processor to make sure I have enough processing power.
Also, just having DLNA capabilities is not good enough to run kodi the proper way is it? I thought I was already using DLNA and I just get the raw files.
Thanks

[katsup]

To get Kodi on your TV you'll need a device that can run Kodi at each TV.

Some NAS models can transcode fine. One such model that recently came out is the Qnap 451+. Disclaimer, I do not own this model and only going off what I have read on the web.

I only mentioned DLNA as that is what you are using now.

[Soulbind]

Thanks for your input
Okay sounds good to me. I haven't heard of the core or beebox yet but I'll have a look into them. I've been thinking about a shield or a pi2. Not sure if they are all available in aus or not so I'll check them all out.
You mention that my biggest concern is transposing for plex. That's why I was avoiding a synology or QNAP and looking at building my own with an i3 or an i5 processor to make sure I have enough processing power.
Also, just having DLNA capabilities is not good enough to run kodi the proper way is it? I thought I was already using DLNA and I just get the raw files.
Thanks

The main question is, before you buy anything, do you need transcoding in the first place? All of the options above, Shield, Core, Beebox, can playback most stuff natively, without any transcoding necessary. And since you're running a wired connection between the setup, you should not need transcoding to compensate for low wireless speeds .

[kadajawi]

Yeah. If possible I'd get a player that can support anything you'd want to throw at it. Better quality, lower power consumption than having to transcode. The only issue is that right now, there are not so many devices that can do it. There are always a couple of odd files making things hard. h264 Hi10p for example. And recently I've seen a HEVC file with 12 (!!!) bit. People are nuts...

One problem with getting a NAS that transcodes is... what files can it read? If we are talking about a processor that uses hardware decoding units to decode, i.e. the CPU isn't powerful enough to decode the most demanding files, then you're running into trouble again. The files that proper Android boxes can't play will be too demanding for the NAS too. So basically we are looking towards an i3/i5-ish NAS, and they don't come that cheap.

[jakejm79]

If it's only a handful of files that you have that would need to be transcoded then just convert them once ahead of time, and just make sure that anything you rip in the future is capable of being played by your clients,

[shabuboy]

+1, split the storage from the media clients, in a few words NAS + set-top-box.
One of the advantages, if you pick the correct NAS, it can be years before you touch it again. With the media player, things are changing rapidly.

The fact you never heard of the Wetek, makes me wonder if you read the sticky thread on top of the very first page for this forum:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916