Chromebox As HTPC

[saikatbiswas82]

I am not AMD fan nor their marketting officer but I am using AMD based systems since 2004 and never ever faced any issues. :licklips:

That's great.

Sometimes in our friend circle, we often debate on AMD vs Intel. To tell you the truth - nobody wins [emoji3]

However, let's not dig deeper into that. Let's concentrate on how to achieve a nice HTPC at a moderate price point and which consumes less power.

I've checked few videos on RPI's media playing capabilities. It's really an wonderful device for video too.

Now coming to few minor things like audio pass through etc. I finally concluded that going a small form factor HTPC might be better.

There are plenty of options really. Like other FMs suggested - NUC, beebox, Himedia etc.

It's not always possible to buy each one of them and test it out side by side.

So let's not go to benchmark results or something like that. Let's test it out with what we have and how that particular system can handle all the media that we throw at it.

BTW, I haven't received my Chromebox yet. I might be getting it next month hopefully. Will share my experience and photos ofcourse. [emoji4]

Now, I was thinking about adding a remote control (maybe Bluetooth or ir with a usb dongle). I'll be having the kore media remote control for android as well.

Sam can advice you on the Intel based HTPC around your budget as he has a lot of knowledge on Intel systems.

I'll definitely get in touch with Sam for my future build.

Sent from a handheld device. Some typos might creep in.

 

[neoonwheels]

Well, since we cannot test each and every system and thats why Sam has created below thread. Go through it, would help narrow down a good config:

http://www.hifivision.com/home-thea...hare-your-htpc-s-media-player-horsepower.html

 

[saikatbiswas82]

Finally received my Chromebox a couple of days back.

After going through a lot of forums/posts, I started with the os hack. Finally installed LibreELEC on my Chromebox successfully today afternoon.

So far I've tested with few movie rips with DTS audio. No problems at all. Yet to test Blu ray ISOs once I receive my gigabit switch (probably this weekend). Will test HEVC capabilities as well.

Just a side note - I've tested few h.265 ( upto 10mbps) files on my asus laptop (intel i5 but no dedicated gpu). It worked just fine.

Sent from a handheld device. Some typos might creep in.

 

[saikatbiswas82]

One update.

Tested H.264 videos upto 120mbps 4k - works flawlessly.

For H.265 videos - upto 5mbps worked superb but beyond that (like 10mbps or so) screen judder came into play.

As of now, my movie collection contains only H.264 videos - so I guess I don't have to worry.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

 

[regeHA]

One update.

Tested H.264 videos upto 120mbps 4k - works flawlessly.

For H.265 videos - upto 5mbps worked superb but beyond that (like 10mbps or so) screen judder came into play.

As of now, my movie collection contains only H.264 videos - so I guess I don't have to worry.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

How much did you pay for it? My apologies if I missed it in a previous post.

Seems kind of expensive for what it does, kind of like a Mac Mini.

Unless I am corrected on the price point.

 

[saikatbiswas82]

How much did you pay for it? My apologies if I missed it in a previous post.

Seems kind of expensive for what it does, kind of like a Mac Mini.

Unless I am corrected on the price point.

No worries.
I bought it used from eBay US and was hand carried by my brother. It did cost me around INR 5300 only.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

 

[regeHA]

No worries.
I bought it used from eBay US and was hand carried by my brother. It did cost me around INR 5300 only.

That's a steal, especially for what it can do, and with the WAF.

I'm kind of window shopping right now, assembling a new gaming PC, as well as a Plex specific rig for transcoding.

 

[saikatbiswas82]

That's a steal, especially for what it can do, and with the WAF.

I'm kind of window shopping right now, assembling a new gaming PC, as well as a Plex specific rig for transcoding.

That's great. Hope to see your review soon.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

 

[regeHA]

For H.265 videos - upto 5mbps worked superb but beyond that (like 10mbps or so) screen judder came into play.

This is indeed a disconcerting point, more and more current gen media is becoming available in H.265. My 2nd gen Intel i7 plays the low to medium bit rate files well enough, but needs a higher end GPU for more tasking bit rates. My 6th generation Intel i7 also does not handle the higher bit rate files any better, not very surprising though considering the performance upgrades from the 2nd to the 6th generation is only around 13% per CPU benchmarks.

However, it will become more of a necessity in the days to come, I am myself re-encoding my Blu-ray collection in H.265 and other than the Nvidia Shield everything else take a lot of resources to play them.