First Steps for building my HTPC system

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xena7051

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#119479 2-Jun-2013 23:05

HI

I started to put together what my solution would look like for my first HTPC. Here is what I am thinking and the questions that if you can help me with the final design and if you disagree please let me know.

1) Buy a Roku 3 cost approx $120 NZ plus frreight. This will provide external content and channels - both audio and video..mainly for getting content from overseas

2) Small NAS . Capacity to start with 4 GB useable disk space...ideally can be extended to 16GB. It will run Plex server. This will store and feed local content - MP3's, films- AVI's and MP4's, Photo's and documents.

4) The devices accessing the content would be Iphone5 and Galaxy S2, Samsung SNote Tablet, and old devices would be a Samsung 42 plasma an old Harman Kadon AVR 5550 amp...the last two items can't be networked. I have an old HP Pavilion Slimline running Windows 8 32 bit (urgent need of more memory)....I was thinking of keeping this for the desktop publishing and surfing the web. I would install a PLEX client on all of these.

What do I need to setup on the NAS to record e.g. from the Roku to the hard disk? I presume I need a Tuner?

The idea is to have one simple interface.... for accessing the content....on what ever device requesting it.

My questions.

Roku 3

1)Thoughts of the Roku 3? Is there a simple way to connect this so I can access american content like Netflix without having to e.g. create a VPN to gain an american IP address? So is there a simple to setup a Roku 3 from NZ to connect to overseas content? This would be hard wired to my Telecom Ultra Fibre router.....I would then need to stream to TV and to the AMP (in the next room) and throughout the house...not sure how to stream throughout the house and back through the internet.... and also when the receieving devices are not network connected how do we get the content to them? Thoughts

2)Can you feed NZ content through the Roku e.g. my sky feed, TV on Demand..Freeview?

3) I believe Roku doesn't have YouTube as a supported feed....my presumption if I could feed this via the Plex server?

NAS

Is there a suggested unit I can buy....possibly populated with 2 x 4GB drives....ideally could be extended. If two expensive it would have to remain two bays...not sure how you design the redunancy if you only have two drives.....or do you have to go to a complete mirror i.e. RAID 1. Suggestions of Units on the market. Need somethig ideally quiet and hopefully not to power hungry? Anyone have one for sale?

What other software do I need to install on the NAS?

I am told the speed of the CPU's is important for smooth "transcoding"...of the content to the various devices requesting? What speed should I use, min or recomended?

Is there a way to stream local content form my NAS to non network devices...e.g. some device you can connect to back of the TV and AMP and can then stream either form the Roku or from the NAS (Plex server) the content I want to hear or view? In time I will upgrade the TV?
In regards Smart TV's…..what are the critical features needed on a Smart TV when you want to do the above? My current thoughts is to buy in the future a Samsung..i.e. supports PLEX? Ideally picking up a model (last years) that has been surpassed and now at a reasonable price but still has the necessary features needed.....so..what is the minimum the TV needs....what features do you suggest should be also included as nice to have if not essential?

I would appreciate your thoughts

Cheers

davidcole

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#829921 3-Jun-2013 08:16

Regarding plex on the NAS, plex is varied depending on the type of NAS. Ie if ARM based you don't have access to teh Plex transcoding facilities as teh CPUs are generally too small. You'll need an intel based one for transcoding.

Transcoding is most likely needed on your tablet and phone devices. I believe the roku is able to take a lot of the format locally....I shoul find this out in a day or 2 when i gt my roku 3.

I don't believe anyone has written any channels for a roku for NZ ondemand content.

I run a 2nd plex instance on a machine with tuners, and feed the freeview content into that plex instance. Ondemand would be a nice addition.

Onthe basis of the freeview questions you'v had I'd almost think you'd be better with a machine for a plex server with the tuners for freeview and enough CPU grunt for transcoding.

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xena7051

44 posts

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#829923 3-Jun-2013 08:28

So any guides to the type of machine needed , number of tuners etc...by having the tuners and plex software.. for overseas content if I have the tuners etc and PLEX software...wouldn't that do the same as what the Roku will do?

davidcole

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#829924 3-Jun-2013 08:34

xena7051: So any guides to the type of machine needed , number of tuners etc...by having the tuners and plex software.. for overseas content if I have the tuners etc and PLEX software...wouldn't that do the same as what the Roku will do?

Yes...but you're tied to a mouse and keyboard and trying to read a browser at 3 - 6m.

I've just started watching something from a UK based cahnnel this morning in fact....to get it going I had to be right up onthe computer to read the screen, as when using a PC they expect you're within a m, and draw the screen fonts accordingly. Most streaming sites do not have a 10" (or lean back) interface. The roku is designed entirely around this.

Of couse I'm coming from a windows point of view...things would possibly be better (for the streaming side) iif you went with xbmc.

xena7051

44 posts

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#829960 3-Jun-2013 10:41

Hi

How are you planning to connect the Roku 3 to your various devices.....this is one area I am not sure of e.g. I will have the Roku 3 connected to my Telecom router.... I was hoping stream via WIFI from the Roku to the TV ......which is in another room from where the router and PC is located.

Currently my TV is not network enabled, so I would have to have some sort of dongle to allow streaming until I get the funds to replace and get a smart TV. Thoughts....would this type of connection i.e. WIFi just give the crappy quality ....therefore defeats the purpose of spending all this time and buying a device like a Roku.

At the moment we don't have Freeview....so this would be a bonus and make us consider to drop Sky.

Very interested in your experience on setting up the Roku 3 in NZ

Cheers

davidcole

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#830016 3-Jun-2013 13:23

I use an Apple TV via wifi has no issues with Netflix. I've had a roku before and it was fine via wifi player off plex. Quality was ok.

chevrolux

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#830022 3-Jun-2013 14:02

Currently my TV is not network enabled, so I would have to have some sort of dongle to allow streaming until I get the funds to replace and get a smart TV. Thoughts....would this type of connection i.e. WIFi just give the crappy quality ....therefore defeats the purpose of spending all this time and buying a device like a Roku.

I am not sure you quite have the right idea there with using the Roku.

Plex is a really good media distribution server and works on a Server-Client model. Your NAS runs the Plex server software. So when picking a NAS make sure there is Plex software to go with it.

You would ideally have a Roku for each TV you want as I don't think it lends itself that well to streaming off it. Roku also has a nice app to use with Plex - which you need as the Roku doesn't have DLNA streaming.

That is something you could look at to is just use the built in DLNA clients that are on most TV's nowadays.

To let the Roku use Netflix I have just put an override in the DNS file to use the Unblock-US servers to resolve netflix.com, paypal.com and hulu.com. Means everything else still uses local DNS servers so is nice and quick and not VPN overhead.

JimmyH

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#830073 3-Jun-2013 16:11

xena7051:

Currently my TV is not network enabled, so I would have to have some sort of dongle to allow streaming until I get the funds to replace and get a smart TV. Thoughts....would this type of connection i.e. WIFi just give the crappy quality ....therefore defeats the purpose of spending all this time and buying a device like a Roku.

I advise you to think some more about replacing the TV, as it seems that you are looking at a solution that is both sub-optimal and, just as importantly since funds seem to be an issue to you, more expensive than it needs to be.

Most smart TVs aren't that smart anyway, and I certainly wouldn't recommend ditching a good TV and replacing it just to get a newer "smart" model that's network enabled. Indeed, even if I was in the market for a new TV, "smart" would be way down my list of considerations - and certainly a distant fourth after picture quality, number/range of inputs, and sound quality.

Instead, get a media player, be it a Roku, WD Live, Oplay! or whatever else meets your feature requirements. It will add the network connectivity and smarts you are after - both better (performance, features, range of codecs supported) and much more cheaply than a TV upgrade will do. Good networkable media players can be had for sub-$100 in sales. Decent recent models don't cost that much more. For under $200 you can get models with built in WiFi etc.

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reven

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#830133 3-Jun-2013 17:42

just a quick suggestion, if you haven't already I would checkout an ouya instead of a roku 3. plex is coming to it, and xbmc as well. basically the same price, just more robust.

xena7051

44 posts

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#830239 3-Jun-2013 21:11

Yep I might be getting a bit lost here...I thought I could get all me overseas content like Netflix via the Roku 3 device... send this to my plex server which could then distribute this and local content (i.e. on the NAS) to all my devices (stream via Wi-Fi ..hopefully still in HD quality) or record these live content feeds it via turner card . The receiving devices would need to support a plex client i.e both within my home and when we are remote.

Is this possible.....

davidcole

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#830253 3-Jun-2013 21:43

You'll need something to control the tuners. Plex, nor a roku cannot do this - unless there's a HDHomeRun channel for the roku, not sure. So something will be needed to schedule and record your freeview content, then you can load that into plex if you desire and serve it up like other local content.

kiwijunglist

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#830290 4-Jun-2013 03:46

from what I understand , plex roku and live TV do not mix well.

if live TV is important then mepo and mce are best.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

kiwijunglist

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#830291 4-Jun-2013 03:50

xena7051: Yep I might be getting a bit lost here...I thought I could get all me overseas content like Netflix via the Roku 3 device... send this to my plex server which could then distribute this and local content (i.e. on the NAS) to all my devices (stream via Wi-Fi ..hopefully still in HD quality) or record these live content feeds it via turner card . The receiving devices would need to support a plex client i.e both within my home and when we are remote.

Is this possible.....

I'm pretty sure Roku can access Netflix directly. go have a look on the Roku website the are have plenty of Roku reviews on YouTube. your other devices can access Netflix directly. the Roku does not send out video streams to other devices, it only receives streams

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.