htpc questions

[Guest Johnny5g]

Well, if you're looking to use Hulu, Netflix and Vudu, your best bet would be something like a Roku or an apple TV as those have built in apps for those services. I have myself an HTPC, but getting proprietary services to work is a pain. Kodi (formally known as XBMC) has no supported or functioning plugins for any proprietary services unfortunately. My solution was to run a server software called PlayOn (which you have to purchase a license for) which creates a UPnP server to connect Kodi to, that will allow me to view and stream those services. The downside is you're limited to what ever Hulu, Netflix, etc. streams via the web. (For Hulu thats 720p) So the quality is a bit meh.

 

So my recommendation is get a Roku or similar device (which is cheaper then an Apple TV I believe) if thats all you want to use you're HTPC for.

 

Hope that helps you out!

 

I can also provider further details if you really want to setup an HTPC for yourself.

thank you very much but i am a rebel when it come to tech. if i can build it i will build it. 

[MegabassNote]

thank you very much but i am a rebel when it come to tech. if i can build it i will build it. 

 

Nothing wrong with that, that's why I built mine! 

[Fgtfv567]

Your best bet is to install kodi on top of Windows for best compatibility with games and extensions. If you want to use apps, you have to install them. Lifehacker has some great guides about kodi. For a discrete GPU, only if you will be playing video games (install the kodi to steam extension if you are)

[othertomperson]

I use kubuntu with Kodi running over the top of it. As far as my parents are aware it's not even a PC, let alone a Linux PC. General navigation can be done either with a 360 controller or Dual Shock 3. The nice thing about Ubuntu is that drivers for these are natively supported without any tinkering on your part -- Dual Shock 3 is in particular less simple to get going on Windows.

 

When it comes to installing software, updates and general use (I got it to mess around with Linux as much as to use as a HTPC) I use this. I wouldn't game with it, but it fulfils its purpose decently.

 

As for hardware, you do not need a GPU unless you want to game natively on this. I use a Pentium G3258. I use its iGPU for both media decoding and Steam In Home Streaming. It handles all of this just fine.

[Guest Johnny5g]

Your best bet is to install kodi on top of Windows for best compatibility with games and extensions. If you want to use apps, you have to install them. Lifehacker has some great guides about kodi. For a discrete GPU, only if you will be playing video games (install the kodi to steam extension if you are)

ok thanks!

[Guest Johnny5g]

I use Ubuntu because it's light weight and don't really need to worry about AV, with Kodi as the media centre (There's loads of great addons for steaming). I've had mine running for the last year, never had any problems

can i get netflix vudu or hulu?

[Guest Johnny5g]

I use kubuntu with Kodi running over the top of it. As far as my parents are aware it's not even a PC, let alone a Linux PC. General navigation can be done either with a 360 controller or Dual Shock 3. The nice thing about Ubuntu is that drivers for these are natively supported without any tinkering on your part -- Dual Shock 3 is in particular less simple to get going on Windows.

 

When it comes to installing software, updates and general use (I got it to mess around with Linux as much as to use as a HTPC) I use this. I wouldn't game with it, but it fulfils its purpose decently.

 

As for hardware, you do not need a GPU unless you want to game natively on this. I use a Pentium G3258. I use its iGPU for both media decoding and Steam In Home Streaming. It handles all of this just fine.

ok thanks!

[DragonTamer1]

I just got my HTPC to a state where it can run reasonably well. It' underwealming in terms of performace but considering it's workload it doesn't need to be cutting edge.

 

The APU that came with the system was too weak to do video playback at full resolution (was only able to max at about 480p for youtube). CPU bound tasks seemed to be bottlenecked while using the integrated graphics, though I have no real evidence to support this; the system just seems to be faster once I offloaded the graphics. As mentioned though, if you have a more modern APU you should have no trouble with playback

 

It's specs are low even by the standards from several years ago, but it's not meant for playing games. There is an issue with youtube's 1080p60fps playback that is apparently associated with low end AMD cards. I can still do playback at 1080p and 720p60fps though. I may replace the card with something a bit more capable in the future but I'm getting the performance that I need for now so it's fine.

 

I use the app that for Netflix from the Windows 10 store (should be free).

[Murdoch]

Kinda sounds to me like you'd be better suited with something like the Amazon Fire TV. Services like Netflix, Hulu or Vudu? (is this similar to ultraviolet?) simply don't mesh well with XBMC. You can launch the external Windows store apps from within XBMC, but it's a bit of a pain to setup and hardly a flawless experience. You can perhaps get an extension for Netflix, but they tend to be pretty poorly implemented, even the YouTube and Twitch extensions suck ass, videos randomly don't load, the UI is horrible, it's just all round a bad experience. And I'm saying this as a hardcore user of XBMC, that absolutely loves XBMC for playing local network content. It just sucks ass for online services (for the most part).

 

On the other hand, you can quite easily install XBMC on fire TV and it works flawlessly. Along with pretty much any other Android App.