The Living Room PC - anyone else done it?

[Bodhi]

Only PC related thing I play on the big TV is music, so my living room PC is a Sony Xperia Z, hooked up to the TV using Miracast. Only limitation is that on mine it disconnects WiFi to set up Miracast, so I can't access any music over the network. Not a massive issue as I have a 32Gb MicroSD full of tunes in the phone, and the OH's Z1 Compact can use Miracast and stream over the network, so I suspect this will get added when I get my KitKat upgrade. I've also got one of those old fashioned things called a CD Player, and a library of 700+ CD's, so I'm never stuck for something to listen to.

Films are mostly all on BluRay (played through PS3) as the quality of streaming services suck arse, although some will be watched on Netflix (on the Smart TV) or Sky Movies (erm duh).

 

[Raven]

Raspberry pi is the cheapest way really - other than building a media centre PC. The unit and case and whatnot can all be picked up from RS Componants who do a nice range of bits and bobs for it too.

You should be able to add your Xbox to the network and share folders on the PC to the network, that's how I did it on PS3*

*I found streaming on my PS3 up and down really, though I think that was down to the crappy router supplied by Sky, not tried it with my BT home hub as the PS3 now lives next to my PC and is plugged into one of my monitors.

 

[MYstIC G]

RasPi is totally the way forward @Tilda, you can also use RasPlex now for even tighter integration with the Plex ecosystem if you're that way inclined

That's a shame @Raven because tbh I found my PS3 to be the best all round media centre as it had native support for things like Netflix, worked with Plex over DNLA and because it was a console had the horsepower to actually do everything. In fact I think mine spent more time playing back video than it did playing games.

 

[Tilda]

Ok, I got it just about working with Plex and my chromecast. But its all going through a Sky router. If they're rubbish, can someone recommend a decent alternative?

 

[Raven]

The newer sky routers might be OK, mine was 3-4 years old before I switched to BT a year or so ago.

 

[babs]

The other option you've got @Tilda is powerline ethernet. You can get a pair for about £14 now, they let you use your home wiring as ethernet. So you could effectively wire your pc to the router, which would be great for plex + chromecast.

Router - powerline - - - powerline - pc

 

[leggy]

The other option you've got @Tilda is powerline ethernet. You can get a pair for about £14 now, they let you use your home wiring as ethernet. So you could effectively wire your pc to the router, which would be great for plex + chromecast.

Router - powerline - - - powerline - pc

@Tilda .. this was effectively my solution for years until I shelled out for a dual ban ninja N router. It worked perfectly for ages and I still use it now... solved all my wifi streaming woes at the time.

 

[Tilda]

Any brand you'd recommend?

 

[babs]

Tp-link, devolo, belkin. I had an email today from mymemory where they're selling a pair of tp-link 200mbit adapters for 13.99

 

[Tilda]

Cheers babs. Think I need 500mbps or will 200 do?

 

[babs]

Depends how much difference there is in price I think. I bought second hand 1gbps ones so couldn't really tell you, sorry

 

[leggy]

Cheers babs. Think I need 500mbps or will 200 do?

200 will do fine for point to point streaming (that's what I have) but if there isn't much difference in price I'd go for the 500mbps. Just in case you decide to use them for other stuff like large file transfers etc.

 

[Madmaxx]

OK, ignore the GTX 460 (the 760 is somewhere in Holland according to tracking) and the lack of cable tidiness, but here's the build!

It might not be its final home, but there's also a shot of it in the TV unit for scale.
View attachment 18314 View attachment 18315

guessing you got the card you ordered by now, hows it working out for ya.

 

[babs]

Awesome thanks, virtually silent with stock intel cooler. Boots to desktop in a few seconds, then a few more to steam big picture. I've done a short video to show boot speed, I'll link it shortly. I'd definitely recommend doing it, it's so nice to have so many games available for bugger all money, and have them look and play so well.

 

[babs]

Here you go. Typically I picked a boot where steam tried to update itself.

 

[caLLous]

Why does Steam take so "long" to load? I mean, it's not a long time but you have a pretty beefy CPU in there and an SSD, I would expect it to jump straight in once Windows has booted. I have no idea how heavy Steam is on the system but my HTPC gets into Plex (which is probably lighter than Steam) pretty much instantaneously after Windows boots.

edit: Sixteen seconds from pressing the power button to looking at the Plex home screen.

 

[babs]

As I said above, it tried to update itself that time. I'll do another clip on another boot and you'll see the difference.

 

[caLLous]

Oh right, does it start when that dialogue flashes up or does Steam do updatey things before it shows a splash screen? I don't really do Steam.

 

[MYstIC G]

Why does Steam take so "long" to load? I mean, it's not a long time but you have a pretty beefy CPU in there and an SSD, I would expect it to jump straight in once Windows has booted. I have no idea how heavy Steam is on the system but my HTPC gets into Plex (which is probably lighter than Steam) pretty much instantaneously after Windows boots.

edit: Sixteen seconds from pressing the power button to looking at the Plex home screen.

Network status I would imagine, steam doesn't do anything until it's fully established I believe.

 

[babs]

@leggy - did you ever make one of these?

 

[leggy]

@babs - I was still on the fence as I didn't want to upgrade my TV but I've just remembered I have a 24" 1080p monitor upstairs doing nothing. I can use that until new TV time. I'll reprice some components today.

 

[Bodhi]

I appear to have just discovered Plex. Bloody hell it's awesome, plays everything and a piece of piss to set up. With this in mind I'm going to change my set up, I've got an old Samsung laptop and a 500Gb drive to go into it, and it's going under the TV as a general media server, hooked up to a HDMI input if I need to view anything on the big screen.

 

[babs]

Yup, it's ace. Get plex remote from the Android app store for remote control over wifi, and the plex app if you sign up for plexpass let's you sync locally and stream over Internet.

 

[caLLous]

I haven't done plexpass but Plex Remote is just great. Plex runs at startup on my HTPC so I literally just hit the power button and then, as soon as Plex has loaded, launch Plex Remote on my phone and off I go. No mouse or kb in sight!

 

[MYstIC G]

The best part of Plex is that it works on every platform. Plex remote allows me to play to chromecast, plex on nowtv and plex on rasplex. I'm really hopeful that the get the app past LG quality control for my TV because at the moment I'm relying on DLNA for that which is a bit naff.

 

[Bodhi]

Nope I've spoken to soon on Plex. It seems to work fine if you use DLNA, but if I use the Plex Media player on my phone it is completely unable to finish playing an MP3. Works fine in the Walkman player over DLNA, but the Plex player is struggling. May have to go back to the drawing board here.

 

[MYstIC G]

Nope I've spoken to soon on Plex. It seems to work fine if you use DLNA, but if I use the Plex Media player on my phone it is completely unable to finish playing an MP3. Works fine in the Walkman player over DLNA, but the Plex player is struggling. May have to go back to the drawing board here.

Thats really weird @Bodhi, works fine on my N5 & N7.

 

[caLLous]

Never had that problem on any device I've had Plex on. Galaxy S2, Note 3 and Tab 2 10.1 (and the PC ofc).

 

[Bodhi]

I don't think it's device related, as I've noticed stuttering playing FLAC's through the PS3, and tracks seem to take a lot longer to load than when I was running Homestream off my desktop. I am wondering if the old laptop I'm using is the issue, it's got a good enough spec (Core 2 Duo P7500, 4Gb RAM, 250Gb HDD), but a 7 year old installation of Vista Home Premium, I'm wondering if that is the issue.

More testing required I feel!

 

[Raven]

I got lag with my PS3 on some films - it could well have been the router (oldish sky jobbie) I didn't use any particular software, just gave the PS3 access to some folders on my PC. Not tried it since switching to BT with their hub.