Kodi Community Forum

My first post after lurking for a few weeks.

A few weeks back my wife and I decided that our D*TV bill was ridiculous so we began to explore "cutting the cord". After some debate I believe we are ready to jump in. Although now I'm to the point where I'm not sure which direction to go in. I have only dabbled in digital media on the PC and only recently discovered XBMC. I've really only toyed with it and have watched some Dexter on it.

A little about our viewing habits and hardware use (then onto the hardware discussions):
I absolutely need my NFL, as much as possible. To that end, I purchased Madden25 with free Sunday Ticket for mobile devices.
We watch a fair amount of "premium" TV; Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Dexter, The Newsroom, Shameless, Vikings, Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, Sons of Anarchy, etc. We almost never watch anything "live", nearly everything is off the DVR.
We stream both Netflix and Amazon (can't beat Prime IMO)
We also watch a lot of Blu-rays, we have almost no media library setup for streaming and I'm not sure I want one. I like my physical media. However, I will be using bit-torrents for some current shows we watch and would like to store them for a while if possible.
We will also want our local channels (for nightly news), but do watch some sitcoms on locals. Again, never live.
I am into video games, unfortunately I seem to have less and less time for them. My system of choice is PS3, I did some minor PC gaming while in college (10 years ago or so).
Also of note, I am an architect by trade and do a fair amount of side work on my home hardware. This tends to lead to many renderings, of which my current hardware struggles with somewhat but is what I would "passable."

Currently owned hardware:
My college PC, Sony VAIO VGC-RA710g running Windows XP MC (32 bit, 3.2 ghz Intel p4 with hyper-threading, 1 gb ram, a dying GeForce FX5200 video card, an all but dead TV tuner, dead CD-R/W). She was a beast when I got her. I just spent a few hours the other night cleaning up the hard drive and programs cause it has just collected crap for a few years as a secondary almost forgotten machine. It still runs well and really seemed to liven up after the cleaning session.
PS3
My wife's ASUS Laptop (Intel Core i-5 2.4 ghz, 4 gb ram, running windows 7 64 bit). Current rendering/ArchiCAD/AutoCAD/Revit machine.
My main everyday display is a dumb as they come Westinghouse 42" 1080p LCD (about six years old, one HDMI input, one DVI input, no OTA tuner).
My secondary display is a Sharp 510 projector onto a 120" screen.
I run all video through a Monoprice 4x2 matrix switch.
Audio runs to my 6+ year old Onkyo 7.1 system. I only have toslink optical connections, no HDMI).
I have a boosted channel master up on my roof and can usually OTA consistently.

I will not be upgrading my display devices or my audio system. So I need audio via HDMI (to 42" lcd) as well over the optical for projector viewing. Video to be HDMI only.

A few options, in order of how I initially thought I would pursue this before any research:
OPTION 1
Build a "dream machine" HTPC/Gaming/Rendering Rig. See my "wish list". http://amzn.com/w/5UFY4BI9K0IO I would not upgrade the PS3 to the PS4 thus giving me a $400 starter fund. But, WOW, did that add up quick! The benefit is that I have a new work machine that would kill it rendering, I would be as future proofed as my wallet could afford, Blu-ray capable. Negatives, no PS4 (which I'm a console gamer at heart), wife and I fighting over the machine when I have work to do and she wants to watch TV, PRICE!
OPTION 2
Upgrade my old college computer to 2 gb ram (max capacity), get a new OTA tuner, possible new video card that supports HDMI handshaking (AGP x4/x8 mother board FYI) run XBMC off of this. Get new PS4 and use it or PS3 as blu-ray player. Would this system work for XBMC? I'm running it on here now, but seems slightly sluggish when doing certain thing. Could it output 1080p?
OPTION 3
Build a bargain sub $300 system that could achieve 1080p xbmc content, OTA with DVR capabilities. I have been out of the game a long time and know very little about this approach. I know the "horsepower" build approach only.

Soooo, long post short, what is everyone's opinions? Positives and negitives of each? Something I'm missing or forgot? What would you do?

I am leaning toward upgrading the old VAIO (it is quiet as it is liquid cooled) and running most media through that and thus allowing me to upgrade to the PS4 and use that for Blu-ray.

Seems to me,..you already have so many options with your existing equipment. Why buy more?
Not trying to discourage you from your dream,...but sometimes when you get the dream,..what you already had on hand is more than satisfying.

Your wife's ASUS laptop i5,...is certainly more than capable of becoming your HTPC,..and a portable one at that.

(2013-08-27, 15:22)GortWillSaveUs Wrote: [ -> ]Seems to me,..you already have so many options with your existing equipment. Why buy more?
Not trying to discourage you from your dream,...but sometimes when you get the dream,..what you already had on hand is more than satisfying.

Your wife's ASUS laptop i5,...is certainly more than capable of becoming your HTPC,..and a portable one at that.

Thanks for the thoughts. . .I was thinking the same thing, except that I am leaning toward my old Vaio. I'd rather not tie up the laptop for HTPC duties when I have another computer laying around doing absolutely nothing. Also, I'd rather not run an external usb tuner or HDMI to the side of the laptop (where the ports are on the machine) as it will make my component rack look messy (I know, I'm anal).

Any thoughts on upgrades to the VAIO to make it run XBMC flawlessly? I'm definitely leaning this direction, seems like a much more cost effective solution as well.

i'd prolly go with option 3 , build a rig just for HTPC only . cheap and low power usage. low wattage cpu and mobo and 60 gig SSD 4 gig ram and your set.

Imo option 1 myself im not keen on hybrid htpc/gaming systems , best to keep em completely separate,

as well as option 3 as your dedicated htpc u have options of the ps4 or upgrading your current pc as well

^ +1

I did the same thing a while back, including cutting the cord, and went with option 3. For about $300 I put together a very high performing XBMC system using an i3 processor and a small cheap SSD. No regrets at all.

Thanks for all the comments, it looks like most would agree to build a reasonable dedicated HTPC.

What benefits are there to building new vs upgrading my old tower. So far I see the obvious power savings; would it also be a performance boast (I assume so). What about the negatives? Seems like it would run about $150 or so more, which is not bad imo. Other then that, I'm not seeing draw back.

"AWP0", how is your OTA integration with xbmc? I am assuming many use xbmc with OTA and DVR, but reading through the wiki and just dabbling briefly, it seems like a bit of a PIA.

I use an HDHomerun as a my tuner, and ArgusTV as my XBMC DVR add-on, running on Windows. I have to admit that it took some time to get it working properly. Argus is very flexible, but I don't consider the configuration steps to be very intuitive so it took a while. However, it's been working great since I go it up and running (few months ago). I have about 15 channels in high def, and it's extremely reliable. I have found the DVR scheduling functionality to be a bit limited in XBMC, but Argus has a great web interface that is much more robust so I just that.

Regarding the build versus upgrade, guess you could go either way and be successful. If you spend $300 on modern components then you'll almost definitely result in a computer that performs several times faster than your old P4. It can be smaller, it'll product less heat and it'll use less power. To me that stuff is important, but everyone's requirements are different. It's possible that your P4 will perform just fine, especially if you choose a dedicated version of XBMC like Openelec.

I would use your college 'beast' as a server to store your media - it presumably has room for a couple of 3TB hard drives. Also use it as a PVR backend. Personal choice is mythtv but if you want to keep it as windows, you have other choices like NextPVR, MediaPortal, the abovementioned Argus.

Then buy a $200 approx small box like a NUC or a X26 from Aliexpress as your frontend and you are away.

Don't bother trying to render on your HTPC, keep the laptop for that and install XBMC on the laptop too so you can goof off watching TV when you should be working...

(2013-08-28, 07:51)nickr Wrote: [ -> ]I would use your college 'beast' as a server to store your media - it presumably has room for a couple of 3TB hard drives. Also use it as a PVR backend. Personal choice is mythtv but if you want to keep it as windows, you have other choices like NextPVR, MediaPortal, the abovementioned Argus.

Then buy a $200 approx small box like a NUC or a X26 from Aliexpress as your frontend and you are away.

Don't bother trying to render on your HTPC, keep the laptop for that and install XBMC on the laptop too so you can goof off watching TV when you should be working...

Get out of my head.