charlesk 2 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Hi All, I'm about to move into a brand new house, and the opportunity to review media player options for the Home Theatre projector room as well as a number of other TVs around the house. I need your help please in recommending the best media player to give me the MB3 experience, that is NOT a Rasberry or HTPC. I'm after a retail self contained media player of some kind. I'm currently running MB3 server on a Win 7 machine with Ethernet around the house. In the past have been using Xbox360 to view content, but time for something new. Mostly TV & Movie MP4s, BUT the big difference in that I now want to get into 3d MKVs and other HD mkv files, which may not be ideal with an Xbox 360 or even an Xbox One. I really like the MB3 look and feel and so want to maintain that, especially the RECENTLY ADDED option, so I know which TV eps I'm up to watching. Any recommendations please that give me a great MB3 experience, while still being able to play everything? I'm not sure if an Xbox One would do all that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vidman 589 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Minix neo x8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macburp 109 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Minix neo x8 +1 for that, running either Kodi or the Android mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14935 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 That's not what he asked for. He wants a self contained media player so that means Roku, Nexus, etc. For your main theater, though, I think you do need to re-think your options and consider a NUC running one of the windows clients or the Android box recommended above. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSattler 387 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 +1 for that, running either Kodi or the Android mobile app If I could get my x8h Plus to actually put out sound all the time I would agree. Just rma'd it, hoping the next one is better. But yeah, this one seems to work the best when it does work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlesk 2 Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 That's not what he asked for. He wants a self contained media player so that means Roku, Nexus, etc. For your main theater, though, I think you do need to re-think your options and consider a NUC running one of the windows clients or the Android box recommended above. True that's what I meant, and yes it's for the main theatre. What advantage would the NUC have over one of the others? Wider range of files? Higher def? 3d? From what I've seen the self contained would play those anyway, so why bother with the whole NUC thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14935 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 You are not going to get things like full HD audio support or direct playback of high bitrate content from any of the streaming boxes. Also, I'm not sure if they will do 3D (just don't know on this point). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abobader 2947 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 True that's what I meant, and yes it's for the main theatre. What advantage would the NUC have over one of the others? Wider range of files? Higher def? 3d? From what I've seen the self contained would play those anyway, so why bother with the whole NUC thing? The main answer to high consider is this: You are not going to get things like full HD audio support or direct playback of high bitrate content from any of the streaming boxes. Also, I'm not sure if they will do 3D (just don't know on this point). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TolkienBard 54 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 A combination is what we settled on in this house. All of the televisions now have a self-contained client, mostly Rokus, with one exception - the "main" display of the theatre. For the movie night/entertaining friends screen that is the centerpiece of the theatre, we use a HTPC. It is set up as an appliance though, and so performance is nearly the same as something like a ROku, except we have access to full HD support in both audio and video, including 3D support. The Roku 3 is more than capable of handling normal viewing of content, but it does not support the high bitrate content, nor is it likely to ever do so. It's smooth and responsive, and it "just works". The HTPC though, allows us to get the most that we can out of any media file. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlesk 2 Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 You are not going to get things like full HD audio support or direct playback of high bitrate content from any of the streaming boxes. Also, I'm not sure if they will do 3D (just don't know on this point). Ok, great point. You've convinced me. Can you please help me with my understanding... So on the NUC I'd install Openelec and run Kodi? Or is there a native Emby app/solution for the OS/NUC I should use instead? or do I install Win 7 or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koleckai Silvestri 1150 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 The NUC is just a Intel computer in a small case. It can run your favorite OS, probably even Mac OSX with a bit of tinkering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianW 1053 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 On my NUC (which is under the main TV) I have Windows 8.1, MBS and MBC and all my content on a NAS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlesk 2 Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 Ok so wanting a nuc now to run a 110" projector with 5.1 and 3d hidef bit rate media. Will a Celeron nuc suffice when running openelec? Anyone got a Celeron nuc running openelec and playing above be able to comment on the smoothness? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koleckai Silvestri 1150 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 (edited) With the proper codecs, a Celeron has the ability to play high definition video and high definition audio. Video decoding sequences are embedded in the chip itself to make it more efficient. Usually it isn't the CPU that prevents certain content formats. It is the OS that is installed on the device. With the NUC, you get to choose the OS. With devices like the Nexus Player, you do not. At least not easily. The NUC's main advantage is that you control the OS and it isn't locked down. You can install whatever codecs, apps or drivers you need to get what you want. Edited March 24, 2015 by Koleckai Silvestri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gthrift 57 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Do not get a celeron nuc. Go for i3 at the minimum. I had a celeron nuc and had to set it to 720p to be able to browse MBC smoothly. I believe there is also an issue with bitstreaming feom the celeron nuc. My i3 nuc on the other hand is smooth at 1080p. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenH 16 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 (edited) Whilst I'd suggest Roku 3 - it just works with a great MB3 app interface, for 3D, etc, you have to go with a PC - NUC or otherwise Edited March 25, 2015 by WarrenH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14935 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I second going with an i3. Mine runs Emby WMC flawlessly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSattler 387 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I am essentially doing the same thing. A full htpc in the living room and in other locations I am switching to android boxes. I have been able to play my full bluray rips on the fire tv sticks with kodi and direct playback so far. With the HDHoemrun live tv plugin, and with a live the plugin for HDHomerun coming to Emby my hope is to use just kodi with mb3 or just the emby client. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talos 2 Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 With the i3 nuc running Emby smoothly what size libraries are we talking? I'm looking to upgrade from an older am2 based amd which struggles currently with media browser 2 and my 3000 movie library. Lots of stuttering when scrolling through the list and coming out of a movie into the main list takes ages sometimes. Is Emby more efficient than mb2 and is the i3 fast enough for large libraries or should I consider the i5 nuc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playadru182 0 Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 +1 for Lenovo Q190 (currently have) or ASUS VivoPC (VM60 or VM62, planning to get for my new home theater) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TolkienBard 54 Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 With the i3 nuc running Emby smoothly what size libraries are we talking? I'm looking to upgrade from an older am2 based amd which struggles currently with media browser 2 and my 3000 movie library. Lots of stuttering when scrolling through the list and coming out of a movie into the main list takes ages sometimes. Is Emby more efficient than mb2 and is the i3 fast enough for large libraries or should I consider the i5 nuc? An i3 processor should be more than sufficient for most libraries. The issue is less about the size of the library than it is the number of stream being served simultaneously. An i3 is more than sufficient to run at least two simultaneous 1080p streams that require transcoding. If your server does heavy transcoding duties for a number of users, the i5 is a solid choice, and can often be found for only a small upgrade in price if it is bought on sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talos 2 Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 When I'm talking about the lag there are no streams running at all. I'm just talking about general navigating through the library to pick something to watch. Once I got over ~2000 movies and 300 TV series the scrolling around the lists got really laggy. I'm now at around 3000 movies and 500 TV series and the phenom 550 4gb ram htpc can't cope I don't think. If I go in to view info on a movie it can take up to 20 seconds sometimes once I press back to get back to the main list. Nothing to do with streams just processing the sql database once it gets over a certain size I guess... I'm thinking upgrading to the i3 with 8gb ram should be plenty for a library my size... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pr3dict 33 Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 I have a haswell i3 in my main server/seedbox/HTPC/tuner... Any reason to upgrade to an i7 if I can get one on the cheap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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