[Ehosteda]

Hello everyone,

I have a few questions that I want to ask. I have been doing a lot of research on this board and other websites about different HTPC solutions and I am quite unsure of which route to go.

Right now, my main objective is to ditch cable all together and rely only on my HTPC and my PS3 for netflix/bluray playback.

HTPC Questions-

I have been looking at a lot of barebones systems, and just building one from scratch. My plan is to run Ubuntu and XBMC. Here are the systems I have been looking at.

Jetway Mini-Top Atom Dual-Core 525 NVIDIA ION2

Zotac ZBOX HD-ID-11-U Intel D510

Zotac ZBOX HD-ND22-U Intel CULV Celeron 1.2 GHz

XTreamer Ultra

For the barebones I was planning on putting a SSD and 2 or 4 GB or RAM.

My only requirements for the HTPC is that it runs 1080p content flawlessly and is rather quiet.


My other question relates to storage. Right now I have a USB 2 external hard drive that I keep my media on, and use to play it from. I am wondering if USB 2 is fast enough for playing HD content, because, for example, using my current set up (laptop core2duo, nvidia gtx280m) playing back 1080p Planet Earth, a scene with a lot of birds will cause my system to lag horribly.

Would USB 3 solve this, or would building a NAS and using Gigabit ethernet to stream it be faster?

Sorry for the long post but these are things I just can't find a solid answer on. Thanks for all the input!

- Will

[eskro]

The best way is to have your HTPC read movies from a NAS of course...
Depends on how much your willing to spend also like usual...
Like putting up a NAS + HTPC can be expensive at first but,
you get what u pay for, and its the best way for any HTPC Enthusiast!

USB2 is fine for almost every 1080P movies but some will stutter...
those with high bitrates will be problematic....
i dont recall the stat but, i remember PoofyHairGuy saying them...
LIke more then (x) your movie will stutter if played from USB2...

Yes USB3 is fast enough for any 1080P movies...

But what u could look for instead is an eSATA port on your HTPC Case!
that's the same thing as plugging a regular drive directly on your mobo's sata port!!
Its like having an internal drive with %100 speed but the drive is External...
so u need an eSATA External Drive or a seperate drive + an eSATA Enclosure

[wsume99]

I agree with eskro that HTPC+NAS is the best way to go. Streaming over gigabit is the best option because nearly every device now has an ethernet port. Plus if you are going to get rid of cable then I'd bet that means you'll be downloading content off the internet - which a NAS can hadle nicely for you. A NAS might be more costly upfront (you could easily build a starter NAS for $300) but it's the cheapest option in the long run. Just compare the cost of a bare 2TB drive to a 2TB eSATA external drive.

All ION boards will play 1080p nicely. The CULV option is the best IMHO because it gives you ~50% more cpu power if you ever need it.

USB3 is great except it's hard to come by. None of the boxes you listed have a USB3 port. So I'd say that pretty much relegates you to either eSATA or building NAS. The question you need to ask yourself is do you want to end up with a whole farm of eSATA drives or a single NAS hidden away somewhere? I chose the latter.

[Subliminal Aura]

movies on USB2 stuttering ? How ?

Someone please explain this. Thanks

[mr.sparkle]

USB2 is fine for almost every 1080P movies but some will stutter...those with high bitrates will be problematic....

I welcome any documentation on this

[Ehosteda]

Thanks for the responses guys!

Subliminal Aura: This video clip is an example of what lags my current machine hooked up to my TV. I am not sure why, because my current laptop that I use is a high end gaming laptop that plays games flawlessly, but is unable to go without lagging with HD video sometimes. I thought it might be because of the USB 2.0 hard drive that I am using?

wsume99 - Yeah I use newsgroups to get the shows that I cannot find on Netflix or Hulu so I think I will go with a NAS.

eskro - I thought about using eSata, but I have never been able to get great speeds from it. With the drive I use now, it is abou the same speed as the USB port and I am not sure why that is.

Is Zotac or Jetway a good company? Are there others that are more recommended that I have not found yet?

Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

[Subliminal Aura]

Subliminal Aura: This video clip is an example of what lags my current machine hooked up to my TV. I am not sure why, because my current laptop that I use is a high end gaming laptop that plays games flawlessly, but is unable to go without lagging with HD video sometimes. I thought it might be because of the USB 2.0 hard drive that I am using?

Ahhh the angry gentle birds test with high number of reference frames, typically used to test and break htpcs. I wouldn't worry too much about not being able to play that flawlessly mate

ps It has nothing to do with where the file is placed ... on an SSD or usb drive it makes no difference as the problem is with the file's high bitrate coupled with high number of reference frames which causes problems for hardware enabled renderers.

If you have a fast enough cpu you should be able to play that back flawlessly.

[Ehosteda]

Ahhh the angry gentle birds test with high number of reference frames, typically used to test and break htpcs. I wouldn't worry too much about not being able to play that flawlessly mate

ps It has nothing to do with where the file is placed ... on an SSD or usb drive it makes no difference as the problem is with the file's high bitrate coupled with high number of reference frames which causes problems for hardware enabled renderers.

If you have a fast enough cpu you should be able to play that back flawlessly.

Haha I did not know that this was a common segment of video that was used as a test . The computer running that now is a 2.8GHz Core2Duo and it chokes during playback more than the Marlboro Man himself .

Would the Ion/Atom dual core with Hyper-threading be able to handle that? For some reason I just can't believe that it will be able to. I do no wish to have to explain why my TV is lagging to my friends anymore

[mr.sparkle]

Would the Ion/Atom dual core with Hyper-threading be able to handle that?

yes

[Ehosteda]

Alright thanks for all the help so far, I just have one more question for you guys.

I really like some of the heavier XBMC skins, and I heard that they can make some of the Atom processors lag a bit, so I was thinking that the CULV nettop might be a better choice, or am I wrong?

So here is what I narrowed it down to:
The HD ND-22 with a 32GB SSD and 4 Gigs of RAM which comes to around $385.

Then, since I prefer building my own machines I made a tentative HTPC on NewEgg (Link).

It is a little more pricey, but I am not sure if I need that extra performance or not to ensure that there is zero lag in anything.

Sorry for all the questions, I am used to building gaming rigs where I don't care about noise or anything else.

[eskro]

2 Gigs of Ram is enough for XBMC...
nothing wrong in having 4GB, but 2GB is enough....


if you were planning on using WIndows as OS,
i'd say get yourself a ZACATE platform...

[MOBO+CPU+GPU] ASRock E350M1 Zacate Dual-Core 1.6Ghz HD6310 ALC892 Mini-ITX ($110 + $7)
[CASE+PSU] Apex MI-100 Black mini-ITX 250W ($53 + $0)
[FAN] Scythe Slipstream 120mm 800RPM 40.17CFM 10.70dBA ($13 + $0)
TOTAL: ($183)


if your thinking about runing XBMC Live,
of course get an Nvidia GPU....

[CPU] Intel Celeron E3400 Dual-Core 2.6GHz LGA-775 65W ($50 + $0)
[MOBO+iGPU] ZOTAC GF9300-K-E LGA-775 WiFi Mini-ITX ($108 + $0)
[CASE+PSU] Apex MI-100 Black mini-ITX 250W ($53 + $0)
[FAN] Scythe Slipstream 120mm 800RPM 40.17CFM 10.70dBA ($13 + $0)
TOTAL: ($224)

[Ehosteda]

Thanks for all of your advice!

I decided to build my own HTPC, and I ended up going with the following components.

ASUS E35M1-I DELUXE
64Gig Crucial SSD
G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB Ram
Antec 300-150 mITX Case
MCE Remote

Thanks for all of your help! I will keep you all updated with how the build goes.