Cheapest quality build to run XBMC / Plex

wako on 17/08/2014 - 04:31

Starting from scratch, Want Budget Quality Build, Rather pay a little more for less headaches.. And lower power consumption as will be on 24/7

Best option to allow all Computers/Tabs/Lappys in household to

  • stream Media
  • send downloaded torrents to

Bonus if can have Hulu & Netflix can be run through it, But not a must, Have A Roku3

Played around a bit with XBMC but a friend insists plex is better, I have not even looked at plex yet.. But I like the layout of XBMC alot like netflix…

Sparky got the projector up and wiring all done, Now the fun part..

Can I just run plex from RAID? Did I read that somewhere?

I hate networking stuff… It gives me a headache thinking about it

Computing

Comments

  • airzone on 17/08/2014 - 10:21
    +2

    I reckon a celeron nuc would come in handy here. You could probably even get away with a raspberry pi (although I'm sure bittorrent will kill it).

    In terms of RAID, neither of those 2 options will support it out of the box. You might need to get a usb / nas box with integrated raid. The bonus is that you won't have any issues with the raid drivers.

  • Domingo on 17/08/2014 - 10:47
    +1

    I use a HP N36L to do this (not using RAID). It runs Freenas 9, which gives a number of services/plugins that achieve a lot of what you want.

    I'm running it as a separate file server with XBMC on a HTPC upstairs. It's got a plugin for PlexMediaServer, so my iPad/Nexus 4 can stream off it. It also has AFP (apple) and CIFS (windows) shares set up for the drives, so both the Macs and PCs in the house can see it as network shares and drop/retrieve files from it.

    Works pretty well, usually the only reason it stops is because of a power outage.

  • hksmaso on 17/08/2014 - 11:49
    +1

    Rasberry Pi

  • selenas on 17/08/2014 - 11:54

    If you need transcoding, try consider j1800 ~ j1900 baytrail systems..

  • bargaino on 17/08/2014 - 16:26

    Are you just wanting a backend server, or will this be driving your TV directly as well?

    Celeron NUC and HP are good suggestions. Another is an ex-lease Dell Optiplex or equivalent. (for cheap and quality build)

  • [Deactivated] on 18/08/2014 - 10:07
    +1

    Any current generation (Haswell ReFresh) Celeron or Haswell will do the trick.

    I currently run a Windows 7 Plex server with a Pentium G3240 & 4GB DDR3 no problems. Cost around $375 to build without monitor or peripherals.

  • wako on 19/08/2014 - 08:47

    Sweet, Cheers guys…

    ended up finding some useful info @ assassinhtpcblog
    for anyone elce looking at the htpc stuff..

    • bargaino on 19/08/2014 - 09:40

      Then I think you may have asked the wrong question.
      That guy only describes windows on recent hardware. (Cos only windows users are dumb enough to need his "blog", apparently) At least he mentions Linux/OpenElec.

      In an effort to keep up with technology we have eliminated Sandy Bridge and Llano’s from our guides. Keep in mind, the Intel Sandy Bridge technology (and AMD Llano) are perfectly capable and highly recommended for HTPC’s as well.

      So definitely not the cheapest. And BTW, forget the Intel NUC. The new celeron Chromeboxes (ASUS or HP) are better for an HTPC.

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