HTPC

[Trem]

I know this has been done to death on here but meh, lets do it again.

I really want to have a go at IPTV and have some football streams for next season and I really don't want to pay Sky anymore. I currently stream my movies etc from a server onto my TV through it's inbuilt media player.

I don't want a Raspberry Pi, I have an Android mini PC and it's shat and I can't use Linux. I want a good mini PC that will run Windows and do all of the above with ease. It will not be used for anything else, no games, no nothing, just streaming from the internet and from my server.

Advice and links will earn you Trem sex credit.

Thanks in advance.

 

[soze]

An Intel NUC sounds like it will fill all your needs.

http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/nuc/overview.html

You can buy fan less enclosures for the boards too so if you don't want off the shelf you can build one with no fans and a IR Port.

 

[MYstIC G]

As @soze says you want a NUC if you're just nabbing stuff from a server/interwebstream.

If you want something that does disc based playback then you could do worse than an Asus EeeBox

http://www.asus.com/EeeBox_PCs/

PS: Can the Trem sex credit be used to get you to force yourself upon Teedles?

 

[soze]

Good thought I did not even think about a disk drive

 

[caLLous]

It would only need space for the OS so a 60gb SATA (or mSATA) SSD would be fine (indeed overkill). He mentions playing from a server and he doesn't ask about saving ithe stuff he's streaming (he could always shoot it over the network onto the aforementioned server) so no need for any serious storage in the box. I still want one of those Intel NUCS tbh.

 

[Trem]

I do have an ssd lying around somewhere but it is pretty old now, are there any certain ssd requirements for these Intel thingys? I am so out of the loop it is scary. Yes @MYstIC G the credit can be used for other humans, so if you want to use it as a gift then feel free but in all honesty Teedles is pestering me so much for some Trem juice at the minute it would be a bit of a choir.

Yes Callington, I will not need to save anything on the HTPC, just the OS will be on it and whatever codecs/players are needed.

Edit - The Asus seem good but do you have to have them standing up looking all wank like that or can they lie flat and normal, fucking pisses me off how companies are trying to go all fancy and different (boxee anyone?), just make me a fucking flat, neat thing you cunts

 

[MYstIC G]

I do have an ssd lying around somewhere but it is pretty old now, are there any certain ssd requirements for these Intel thingys? I am so out of the loop it is scary. Yes @MYstIC G the credit can be used for other humans, so if you want to use it as a gift then feel free but in all honesty Teedles is pestering me so much for some Trem juice at the minute it would be a bit of a choir.

Yes Callington, I will not need to save anything on the HTPC, just the OS will be on it and whatever codecs/players are needed.

Edit - The Asus seem good but do you have to have them standing up looking all wank like that or can they lie flat and normal, fucking pisses me off how companies are trying to go all fancy and different (boxee anyone?), just make me a fucking flat, neat thing you cunts

I think the stand is optional.

 

[MYstIC G]

I think the stand is optional.

May be lies, can be vesa mounted to the back of a TV though.

 

[Trem]

Ooohh the back of the TV you say, now that could be a winner. I shall research that one later. The Intel one is the one I do want but I need to add up the cost of that one because I reckon that could end up being pretty pricey.

 

[caLLous]

Yeah you're paying for that spangly Intel name and all the proprietary bits they put in it. It won't the cheapest solution. Once you've included RAM and an SSD you're looking at the best part of 500 notes for the i5 version (or a hundred less for the i3). You can also mount them on the back of the telly but I think they're good-looking tbh and won't look out of place (and they are ickle).

By the way, those models above don't have space for a 2.5" drive, you'd have to use an mSATA SSD. You need to pay an extra £~40 for the expanded version that can take a 2.5" drive but you really wouldn't need that.

 

[Trem]

So if I were to go for the Intel NUC which out of these is the one to go for, bearing in mind future proofing when I have another TV spaz out and buy a 4k set -

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=intel+nuc