4K HTPC all-in-one. Good/bad idea? Possible?

[Brammm]

Hey all

 

We recently moved and besides an upgrade of the internal network, I'd also like to upgrade to a 4K TV in the near future (will probably hold out for some of the stuff announced at CES). Currently, I have a little FreeNAS box that runs Plex and sits in the garage. We stream stuff on our 1080p TV using an old Playstation 3. We also use that for Netflix. 

 

Going forward, I'd like to build a small miniITX HTPC using a Kaby Lake CPU that could do the following:

- Stream Plex

- 4K Netflix

- Steam In-Home streaming

- Some surfing

- 4K blu-ray

 

That last one seems a little difficult:

a) I've found it hard to find a suitable case that remains small enough, something like the Antec ISK 310 150W. Small mini ITX cases a plenty, but few that have support for a Blu-ray reader.

b) Would an Intel i3-7300 be sufficient? 

c) Is it uberhaupt a good idea to combine everything in one thing? It sounds convenient to me, but I might be ignorant.

d) If it's a good idea, are there blu-ray drives that support 4k already? All I could find online are a couple month old articles that say it isn't possible yet.

 

Budget is fairly irrelevant. Doesn't have be to stupid expensive or completely overpowered, but I don't want to be limited either.

[DiamondShark286]

do you have a10 gigabit network switch?

[Brammm]

1 minute ago, Tb428 said:

do you have a10 gigabit network switch?

Only regular gigabit. Is that important? 

[DiamondShark286]

1 minute ago, Brammm said:

Only regular gigabit. Is that important? 

you should be fine just would put in a 10 gigabit network card otherwise

[Brammm]

1 minute ago, Tb428 said:

you should be fine just would put in a 10 gigabit network card otherwise

Oh, phew  Sadly, the contractors put in cat5e when I told them "put in ethernet" instead of cat6. So don't know if 10 gigabit is in my future in this house

[DiamondShark286]

what is your budget

[Brammm]

2 minutes ago, Tb428 said:

what is your budget

I've edited my OP, budget is fairly irrelevant. I'm not a hardcore AV enthusiast. I don't need super high end stuff, but on the other hand, don't mind paying for quality. 

[Trav_X]

2 minutes ago, Brammm said:

I've edited my OP, budget is fairly irrelevant. I'm not a hardcore AV enthusiast. I don't need super high end stuff, but on the other hand, don't mind paying for quality. 

That i3 should be fine that you chose. And as of right now, I don't believe there are commercial optical drives that play 4K blu-Ray. I'd believe that within a short time, there will be a 4K Blu-Ray drive that goes through USB 3.1 Gen 2.

[Zagna]

16 minutes ago, Brammm said:

d) If it's a good idea, are there blu-ray drives that support 4k already? All I could find online are a couple month old articles that say it isn't possible yet.

 

[done12many2]

2 minutes ago, Zagna said:

 

 

Nice timing on the delivery with that one!

[Brammm]

4 minutes ago, Zagna said:

 

Oh man, thanks for that link! I'm new to these forums. Still discovering what kind of gold mine they are. You're getting my hopes up

 

As @done12many2 said, impeccable timing!

 

The articles do mention you need at least an i5 though, so might bump up to a 7400.

[DiamondShark286]

here this should work https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bZ3kzM probably don't need the gpu but I put it in there anyway also didn't find a 4k blueray player

[done12many2]

For 1080p, the i3 7300 is going to be more than plenty, but you also have an upgrade path should you run into some issues with 4k as I suspect you may.  Offloading 4k to a device and letting it do the work, no problem.  Transcoding it on the server, maybe not so much.  

[zMeul]

15 minutes ago, done12many2 said:

Transcoding it on the server, maybe not so much

if the TV is a smart TV he won't be needing any transcoding at all since the TV has it's own HW decoders

I browse the folders directly from my DLNA enabled to my PC TV and play them with zero transcoding, I have tested UHD HDR files by the way

 

what he'll need is a NIC that is actually HW offloading capable, not those RealTek shits, but Intel NICs - even a Intel Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter is enough

[Gonio]

It is no HTPC, but check out the Nvidia Shield TV. It is basically also the best media stream device out there + you can game on it. It also works with plex and Kodi + it is a elegant not to large device by your tv.

 

For 4k Blu-ray you are forced to a seperate player currently but saw a notice of Pioneer today that talked about 5.25 drives including PowerDVD comming soon. You will need PowerDVD to play original Blu-Ray.

[done12many2]

19 minutes ago, done12many2 said:

Offloading 4k to a device and letting it do the work, no problem.  Transcoding it on the server, maybe not so much.  

7 minutes ago, zMeul said:

if the TV is a smart TV he won't be needing any transcoding at all since the TV has it's own HW decoders

I browse the folders directly from my TV to my DLNA enabled PC and play them with zero transcoding, I have tested UHD HDR files by the way

 

Yeah, that was covered in the part you didn't quote.  I do the same thing as you.  My Samsung TV takes care of all that stuff on the TV end.  

 

I mentioned the transcoding simply because when people add a home server to their arsenal, the often times start branching out into more mobile stuff.  In that case, transcoding will occur on the server depending on how you set it up.

[Brammm]

1 minute ago, Gonio said:

It is no HTPC, but check out the Nvidia Shield TV. It is basically also the best media stream device out there + you can game on it. It also works with plex and Kodi + it is a elegant not to large device by your tv.

 

For 4k Blu-ray you are forced to a seperate player currently but saw a notice of Pioneer today that talked about 5.25 drives including PowerDVD comming soon. You will need PowerDVD to play original Blu-Ray.

Yeah, considered that or a NUC too, but like the idea of building something myself. 

[zMeul]

1 minute ago, done12many2 said:

I mentioned the transcoding because simply because when people add a home server to their arsenal, the often times start branching out into more mobile stuff.  In that case, transcoding will occur on the server depending on how you set it up.

that's the part I find absolutely crappy

why would you restrict yourself to a small screen 

[done12many2]

1 minute ago, zMeul said:

that's the part I find absolutely crappy

why would you restrict yourself to a small screen 

 

I don't know.  Stuck in the car in the parking lot waiting for kids to get out of practice.  Get creative with it.  

[zMeul]

1 minute ago, done12many2 said:

I don't know.  Stuck in the car in the parking lot waiting for kids to get out of practice.  Get creative with it.  

don't have kids, neither a car

 

and ps: the little shits can get home on their own 

[Brammm]

4 minutes ago, zMeul said:

that's the part I find absolutely crappy

why would you restrict yourself to a small screen 

- Watching shit while taking a shit

- On the train to work

- When away from home on a tablet

 

But yeah, the transcoding doesn't worry me too much. Building a new beefy server that should handle all that just fine.

[zMeul]

1 minute ago, Brammm said:

- Watching shit while taking a shit

- On the train to work

- When away from home on a tablet

I've tried it .. it's utter shitty and beyond unacceptable

[done12many2]

1 minute ago, Brammm said:

- Watching shit while taking a shit

- On the train to work

- When away from home on a tablet

 

Exactly.  As soon as you build it and realize the shit you can serve out, provided your ISP upload is up to the task, you absolutely take advantage of it.   Even without a car.  

[done12many2]

1 minute ago, zMeul said:

I've tried it .. it's utter shitty and beyond unacceptable

 

Fortunately, I'm in a position in my life where I no longer have to travel much, but a couple of years ago, I lived on the go.  My Synology NAS served out more movies than I can even guess.  Connections on both end matter, but most of the places I traveled to had great connections.

[zMeul]

1 minute ago, done12many2 said:

Fortunately, I'm in a position in my life where I no longer have to travel much, but a couple of years ago, I lived on the go.  My Synology NAS served out more movies than I can even guess.  Connections on both end matter, but most of the places I traveled to had great connections.

it's not exactly about the connection but the size of the screen