HTPC Help

[sa226]

I'm looking to get my HTPC setup the best way possible. Everything is built and setup ready to go, I am just a little lost when it comes to configuring everything.

My setup is:
HTPC: wired to router, setup with Windows 7 and XBMC
60gb SSD for OS stuff, and 256gb HDD for any overflow

Home Computer: Wired to router, Windows 7 etc, etc
128gb SSD for OS and programs, 500gb HDD and 750 gb HDD for storage

And several random wireless devices

I want to go with a combo of XBMC, Sickbeard, Couch potato, Headphones and SABnzb.

This is where it starts to get fuzzy for me.

Should I run all programs off of my Home PC and point XBMC to look at the storage there? Should I run everything off of the HTPC? and just let it take care of everything?

There seems to be very few limits with what you can do with XBMC, with all of the plugins available, is it essential to have a VPN to take care of them all?

I used to think I was quite adequate with this type of thing, I am pretty good with computers, I can build em' and fix em' quite easily.....but the whole idea of an integrated home theatre network is completely foreign to me.

Thanks for any suggestions

[oilyfan]

I would run Sab and sick beard on the home computer for the simple reason that it has more storage space. SAB will drop the files into a shared folder on the home computer and you point XBMC to the share. Regarding the VPN question I will defer to someone else as I don't use XBMC. I recommend PLEX.

[sa226]

Thanks
What makes you recommend Plex?
I'm not set on XBMC, it just seems to be the most popular and I like the seemingly endless plugin options and customizability.

[GoinAllTheWay]

With things like Telus Optik TV and the Shaw Gateway, what's the advantage to having a HTPC these days? Not criticizing, just honestly curious.

[oilyfan]

Originally Posted by sa226

Thanks
What makes you recommend Plex?
I'm not set on XBMC, it just seems to be the most popular and I like the seemingly endless plugin options and customizability.

To me Plex is easier to set up and looks better, it doesn't have the range of plugins that XBMC has but it is pretty slick still. I guess I only really watch local downloaded content, if you are watching a lot of online content probably XBMC is better.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

With things like Telus Optik TV and the Shaw Gateway, what's the advantage to having a HTPC these days? Not criticizing, just honestly curious.

Content from the internet. I am guessing that most people don't use it as DVR for their cable TV anymore.

[MickMcGeough]

Plex has a very kick-ass iOS app too. My secondary HTPC setups use iOS Plex Clients & AirPlay.

[Tinordi]

Go with XBMC it is the standard and better than Plex.

As per your question I would get a NAS with a couple TB of hard drives or use the 750 GB drive you have in there, run Sab and Sick from your HTPC computer and allow them to post process with the destination of your NAS.

This way you cut down dependency on having two computers on. You can also let Sickbeard, couchpotato server, send update notifications to XBMC directly.

With a VPN, just use remote desktop when you really need to get into the bits of XBMC. Otherwise, Sab and Sickbeard are accessible anywhere over your internal network through http.

[silentsim]

I use Plex. Very user-friendly for the others and a great UI.

[CKPThunder]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Plex has a very kick-ass iOS app too. My secondary HTPC setups use iOS Plex Clients & AirPlay.

How do you find the quality of the video? I find the video really starts to degrade if you airplay this onto a tv that is larger than 32".

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by CKPThunder

How do you find the quality of the video? I find the video really starts to degrade if you airplay this onto a tv that is larger than 32".

What do you have quality settings on the app set to?

[sa226]

I have googled "plex vs xbmc" and the results are mainly people arguing about which is better without providing much evidence....

I understand there is a plex plugin for xbmc.....wouldn't that give the best of both worlds?

[oilyfan]

Originally Posted by sa226

I have googled "plex vs xbmc" and the results are mainly people arguing about which is better without providing much evidence....

I understand there is a plex plugin for xbmc.....wouldn't that give the best of both worlds?

In my experience PLEX is way easier to set up than XBMC and it supports mobile devices very well. I would suggest you install both XBMC and PLEX on your HTPC and see which one you prefer.

[CKPThunder]

Originally Posted by silentsim

What do you have quality settings on the app set to?

Just the default settings which I now I see is set for 2 Mbps 720p on my iPad but only 720kbps 320p on my phone.

Well don't I feel stupid.

Thanks silentsim

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by sa226

I have googled "plex vs xbmc" and the results are mainly people arguing about which is better without providing much evidence....

I understand there is a plex plugin for xbmc.....wouldn't that give the best of both worlds?

A plex plugin? That doesn't make much sense since Plex is XBMC (a fork, anyway). They're based on the same codebase.

Plex has much better client apps (at least, they were much better the last time I tried an XBMC remote client). Otherwise, I don't have a strong preference between them.

[sa226]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

A plex plugin? That doesn't make much sense since Plex is XBMC (a fork, anyway). They're based on the same codebase.

Plex has much better client apps (at least, they were much better the last time I tried an XBMC remote client). Otherwise, I don't have a strong preference between them.

http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/...ient-for-xbmc/

http://www.totalhtpc.com/plexbmc-unh...ade-in-heaven/

Maybe a plugin for XBMC was a poor choice of words, but they pretty much plugin to each other do they not?

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by sa226

http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/...ient-for-xbmc/

http://www.totalhtpc.com/plexbmc-unh...ade-in-heaven/

Maybe a plugin for XBMC was a poor choice of words, but they pretty much plugin to each other do they not?

I've used that before. Functionally it's great, as you can use XBMC as the client but use Plex's superior media management and server. There are some limitations though. If you want full integration with your media on your home screen, you're limited to one of a few skins for XBMC. If you want to use a skin that isn't one of those, then you have to navigate through a few menus every time you want to get to your media which is annoying.

[sa226]

Bumping this, as I'm looking for a bit of help. Googling hasn't got me anywhere.

My HTPC is all built and running pretty well aside from a few needed tweaks and XBMC's unwillingness to see my TV shows.

One thing that has stumped me is that when viewing some video files and Netflix, I get horizontal lines kind of popping up every 30 ish seconds.I want to say its artifacting, but that would likely imply a hardware issue. It runs the mkv's beautifully, so I don't think its a hardware issue. Like a video processing problem. Kind of hard to describe but my initial thought was that it was having a hard time processing the video.

But the lines only happen with the smaller files. Xvids, AVI's, ISO's as well as Netflix. The large HD mkv files play beautifully.

I thought it may be some sort of transcoding issue, but then whey would the issue pop up on Netflix?

I run XBMC and WMC on a windows 7 machine plugged into a Samsung TV via HDMI out from a HD Radeon 6450.

[oilyfan]

What's the processor on your HTPC?

[sa226]

It's a Pentium dual core e5200

I think it is a video card issue. I swapped the card from my desktop with it. They are the same card with the same drivers just different manufacturer (HIS vs Gigabyte)

And now the issue is gone. I still find it odd that it would only do it on certain playback though.