Topic: Unofficial HTPC users thread: Tips, Tricks, and everything HTPC

[wheelee]

you need a RAID setup then...

alam ko may mga shop na pwedeng mag recover ng mga ganyan, nag hahanap din ako ng dirve ng same as my deadgate, nasunog ng external drive yung PCB. dapat daw same Firmware ang gamitin para umaandar ulit.

[yonsei55]

madali lang ba magsetup? diy yung freenas kesa bumili ng drobo or synology.

meron nga ata kaso nag aalangan naman me sa security.

[alaeh]

10GBe NAS

[alaeh]

Waiting for a few more items to arrive

U-NAS NSC-810A
Asrock Rack D1541D4U-2O8R [embedded Xeon D-1541 with 2x 10Gbe SFP+ ]

[keema]

Hi everyone, I have some movies on my external hard drive plugged in thru usb in my 2012 macmini. The macmini is connected in my avr to get audio via spdif adapter out.

Im using VLC only as player on my macmini. Ano pa bang mga mas okay na player beside vlc sa macmini ko? nabasa ko kodi daw pero papano ko ma-aaccess yung files sa external hdd ko via kodi?

At papano ang setup sa kodi sa macmini para makapag output ng dolby or dts 5.1 pag pine-play na yung movies? thanks..

[alaeh]

UPDATE #1
Have recently added a Quadro P2000 to my build for Plex transcoding. Found a great deal for it

So far i've put together a basic running build.. currently testing on UNRAID although I still have not committed to the disks I want to use. 

Pulled from Dell T420
8 x 480GB SSD for storage and parity
1 X DC P3700 800GB for Caching

I want to use Ultrastars but not sure if I can benefit from their performance much given the nature of how UNRAID stores parity information which tend to favor storage capacity rather than performance. Although SSD Caching does seem to help as I'm able to do average 650-900MB transfer rates out of the box with no tuning yet. 








10GBE Read and Write Performance



UPDATE #2
Wasn't too happy with UNRAID's performance considering it is a paid software but can't really fault it because it never claimed to be a good NAS. I think UNRAID shines more as a hypervisor than a NAS.

Anyhow, I took a different.. and cheaper route... I decided to go with Proxmox because it supports hardware passthrough which allows the VMs or containers to manage resources directly so that it will work as close to native performance

It took a bit more work and some sleepless nights but given the wealth of information available online nowadays I was able to install both FreeNAS and Plex
Server running on Centos.

Using Proxmox, I was able to assign physical disks to FreeNAS could it manage directly and I showered it with lots of ECC RAM. Unlike UNRAID, FreeNAS performs better if you give it more RAM. I get way better transfer speeds even without the benefit of NVME for caching

As for Plex on Centos with GPU passthrough, took a bit more work. First, all my media are on FreeNAS so I had to mount it via CIFS to CentOS and setup
some scripts for it to remount each time the VM is rebooted.

Also, I wanted the Quadro P2000 GPU to do all the heavy lifting ie encoding and decoding so I had get it to use FFMPEG othewise the CPU will still share with some of the heavy lifting.

The result is quite actually satisfying. I'm able to run 3 concurrent Plex streams each forcing the P2000 to transcode 4K to 1080P and my CPU utilization
is barely 20% considering I only assigned the CentOS VM 2 cores to play with.

Same goes for FreeNAS, by assigning it only 2 CPUs, I'm still able to get close to 10Gbe transfer speeds.

Quadro P2000 doing the heavy lifting





FreeNAS file transfer performance



What's inside U-NAS case

[flashDB]

wow hardcore!

off topic: there is a way to decode aac 5.1 to dolby/dts?

[sillyputty]

Been away from htpc...can we now build an htpc that can decode atmos and output it via rca? If yes what do i need? 5.1.2 setup and my receiver is pretty old but it has multi-channel input but no hdmi

Going to build a gaming rig for my kids...might as well have it do dual-purpose as an htpc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ninjababez®]

using a10 9700 lang
di kaya 4k movies

ano ba ang ok na video card na mura lang, strictly movie playback lang ng 4k and no games
mahal kasi ryzen 2nd hand 2000 and 3000 series (yun lang kaya ng msi b350m mortar)

Sent from my Redmi Note 9 Pro using Tapatalk

[Arulco]

^ wala atang mura na ok na video card ngayon. Kahit 2nd hand mahal pa rin.

Sa tingin ko baka mas okay pa na bumili nalang ng barebones mini PC na naka Intel Tiger Lake-U (11th gen core) since maganda yung built-in video decoder ng Xe Iris Pro graphics niya. Pati AV1 decode meron. Sa AMD, wala pa atang APU na may AV1 decode support. Vega pa kasi yung integrated graphics sa latest na APUs nila. Siguro pag nagkaroon ng APU na naka RDNA2 graphics, okay din yung pang HTPC.

[Verbl Kint]

using a10 9700 lang
di kaya 4k movies

ano ba ang ok na video card na mura lang, strictly movie playback lang ng 4k and no games
mahal kasi ryzen 2nd hand 2000 and 3000 series (yun lang kaya ng msi b350m mortar)

Sent from my Redmi Note 9 Pro using Tapatalk

Magkano po budget?

[ninjababez®]

Magkano po budget?

hi bro
tipong less than 5k lang sana.
pero sabi ng barkada ko, weak daw masyado cpu baka suminok parin daw

[Verbl Kint]

hi bro
tipong less than 5k lang sana.
pero sabi ng barkada ko, weak daw masyado cpu baka suminok parin daw

Alam ko kaya ng A10-9700 4k. Mas malakas pa yan sa phone processor so dapat kaya 4k, kahit 30Hz lang.

Anong motherboard niyan?

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[ninjababez®]

Alam ko kaya ng A10-9700 4k. Mas malakas pa yan sa phone processor so dapat kaya 4k, kahit 30Hz lang.

Anong motherboard niyan?

Sent using Tapatalk

sumisinok bro as in tearing and lag
built in vga lang gamit ko and mobo is msi b350m mortar with latest bios naman
will try 30hz since naka 60hz sya ngayon


update: forgot to mention ok pala 4k youtube playback
must me the players im using
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[Verbl Kint]

Yung hardware acceleration option pa check na rin sa mga video players.

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[ninjababez®]

Yung hardware acceleration option pa check na rin sa mga video players.

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thanks bro
gom vlc splash ayaw kanina
maya check hardware acceleration hehehe

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[Stagea]

hi bro
tipong less than 5k lang sana.
pero sabi ng barkada ko, weak daw masyado cpu baka suminok parin daw

He's wrong. The problem is YouTube's 4K is now limited to VP9 and AV1; the UVD in your APU does not decode those formats in hardware.

YouTube used to have 4K in AVC (that your UVD supports) but that was phased out a few years ago to reduce storage and bandwidth needs.

If you're using Chrome or Edge to play the videos, you can install h264ify if you want to run hardware acceleration in YouTube. This will however block all non-AVC content so 4K and 8K would not be available to you.

[ninjababez®]

He's wrong. The problem is YouTube's 4K is now limited to VP9 and AV1; the UVD in your APU does not decode those formats in hardware.

YouTube used to have 4K in AVC (that your UVD supports) but that was phased out a few years ago to reduce storage and bandwidth needs.

If you're using Chrome or Edge to play the videos, you can install h264ify if you want to run hardware acceleration in YouTube. This will however block all non-AVC content so 4K and 8K would not be available to you.

how about vlc, kmplayer and gom master, kahit enable hardware acceleration sumisinok parin
btw master, ok na sya sa youtube 4k playback
Sent from my Redmi Note 9 Pro using Tapatalk

[Stagea]

The frame drops that you're experiencing is because your computer is decoding the VP9 or AV1 stream in software (exceeding the CPU's capacity). Your PC will be able to decode Blu-ray 4K material however, as that uses a HEVC stream that the UVD in your APU decodes in hardware.

YouTube is in the process of removing 8K in VP9 too for storage and bandwidth conservation (leaving AV1 as the way to get 8K content). If you're planning to get a CPU/APU/GPU, AV1 support is the best way to ensure 8K compatibility. Aside from Google, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, Cisco, etc. are fully supporting AV1 as the codec for high quality streams (slowly supplanting HEVC and VP9).

This is the same reason why 8K TVs typically run Samsung or Mediatek chips (none of the current Qualcomm chips support AV1). This is why the Exynos variant of the S21 should be able to do 8K via the major streaming platforms while the Snapdragon variant could not.

[Stagea]

how about vlc, kmplayer and gom master, kahit enable hardware acceleration sumisinok parin
btw master, ok na sya sa youtube 4k playback
Sent from my Redmi Note 9 Pro using Tapatalk

Check your CPU and GPU utilization. If you're running YouTube in 4K, you will see that GPU decode may not be utilized. This will be much higher if you're viewing 60Hz content. Open stats for nerds to watch for frame drops. Bristol Ridge has had spotty VP9 support (some acceleration enabled in some early driver versions and not on more recent releases).

All the players that you mentioned are just dependent on what codecs are available and how they're configured and programmed. If the codecs take advantage of the hardware decoding and/or acceleration features of your APU or if it reverts to purely software handling will be a huge determinant for performance. In cases when you'd have to revert to purely software decoding, performance between codecs can also vary significantly.


For local 4K playback with your APU, choose 4K AVC or HEVC sources so that your UVD can decode them in hardware. For streaming sources, Vimeo and Amazon Prime use some HEVC (VP9 though inferior to HEVC is more common since it's royalty-free).


The next battle is between VVC and AV1. VVC is a superior format to AV1, but AV1 is simpler and is royalty-free. The latter seems to be winning once more.

[Stagea]

Right now the desktop HTPC options are:

8K AV1
Intel Iris Xe (11th Gen Core series) integrated graphics
Intel Iris Xe MAX dedicated graphics
AMD RDNA 2 (Radeon RX 6000 / Radeon Pro W6000 series) dedicated graphics
Nvidia Ampere (GeForce RTX 30 / RTX A series) dedicated graphics


4K VP9
Intel Generation 9.5 / Kaby Lake (7th Gen Core / Xeon E3 v6 series) or newer integrated graphics
Intel Generation 9.5 / Gemini Lake (Celeron J or N 4xxx / Pentium Silver J or N 5xxx series) or newer integrated graphics
AMD Raven Ridge (Ryzen 2000 G APU series) or newer integrated graphics
AMD RDNA (Radeon RX 5000 / Radeon Pro W5000 series) or newer dedicated graphics
Nvidia Pascal (GeForce 10 / Quadro P series) or newer dedicated graphics


4K HEVC
Intel Generation 9 / Skylake (6th Gen Core / Xeon E3 v5 series) or newer integrated graphics
AMD Bristol Ridge (7th Gen APU series) or newer integrated graphics
AMD Polaris (Radeon RX 400 / Radeon Pro WX series) or newer dedicated graphics
Nvidia 2nd Gen Maxwell (Geforce 900 / Quadro M series) or newer dedicated graphics

For mobile machines, do note that there are some GPUs that may carry similar branding but may be from an older family (rebadged products). Those models will normally offer the decode ability of the chip family that they belong to (say a Quadro M2000M will not have hardware HEVC support since it's still a 1st Gen Maxwell chip).

Aside from decode support, always check the connectivity support that you need (HDMI / DP version and HDCP support).

If you need Microsoft PlayReady 3.0 support, the minimum requirements are:
Intel Generation 9.5 / Kaby Lake (7th Gen Core / Xeon E3 v6 series) or newer integrated graphics
AMD Polaris (Radeon RX 400 / Radeon Pro WX series) or newer dedicated graphics
Nvidia Pascal (GeForce 10 / Quadro P series) or newer dedicated graphics

For HDMI 2.1 support without an adapter, the only options are the following at the moment:
AMD RDNA 2 (Radeon RX 6000 series) dedicated graphics
Nvidia Ampere (GeForce RTX 30 / RTX A xxxxM series) dedicated graphics

[Stagea]

If you have working AV1 support, the videos in this playlist will appear in 8K:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxlYufCbJvEZh4FEOnO3LyBOAu6arYb-E
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAHHRXXBNrE9dc50XrKj5eg

[ninjababez®]

Right now the desktop HTPC options are:

8K AV1
Intel Iris Xe (11th Gen Core series) integrated graphics
Intel Iris Xe MAX dedicated graphics
AMD RDNA 2 (Radeon RX 6000 / Radeon Pro W6000 series) dedicated graphics
Nvidia Ampere (GeForce RTX 30 / RTX A series) dedicated graphics


4K VP9
Intel Generation 9.5 / Kaby Lake (7th Gen Core / Xeon E3 v6 series) or newer integrated graphics
AMD Raven Ridge (Ryzen 2000 G APU series) or newer integrated graphics
AMD RDNA (Radeon RX 5000 / Radeon Pro W5000 series) or newer dedicated graphics
Nvidia Pascal (GeForce 10 / Quadro P series) or newer dedicated graphics


4K HEVC
Intel Generation 9 / Skylake (6th Gen Core / Xeon E3 v5 series) or newer integrated graphics
AMD Bristol Ridge (7th Gen APU series) or newer integrated graphics
AMD Polaris (Radeon RX 400 / Radeon Pro WX series) or newer dedicated graphics
Nvidia 2nd Gen Maxwell (Geforce 900 / Quadro M series) or newer dedicated graphics

For mobile machines, do note that there are some GPUs that may carry similar branding but may be from an older family (rebadged products). Those models will normally offer the decode ability of the chip family that they belong to (say a Quadro M2000M will not have hardware HEVC support since it's still a 1st Gen Maxwell chip).

Aside from decode support, always check the connectivity support that you need (HDMI / DP version and HDCP support).

If you need Microsoft PlayReady 3.0 support, the minimum requirements are:
Intel Generation 9.5 / Kaby Lake (7th Gen Core / Xeon E3 v6 series) or newer integrated graphics
AMD Polaris (Radeon RX 400 / Radeon Pro WX series) or newer dedicated graphics
Nvidia Pascal (GeForce 10 / Quadro P series) or newer dedicated graphics

For HDMI 2.1 support without an adapter, the only options are the following at the moment:
AMD RDNA 2 (Radeon RX 6000 series) dedicated graphics
Nvidia Ampere (GeForce RTX 30 / RTX A xxxxM series) dedicated graphics

master intay ako price drop ng ryzen 3400 or 3200g, ok na kaya ito?  ^_^
most of my contents naman are 1080p, minsan nga lang may naliligaw na 4k
i

[Stagea]

master intay ako price drop ng ryzen 3400 or 3200g, ok na kaya ito?  ^_^
most of my contents naman are 1080p, minsan nga lang may naliligaw na 4k
i

Check mo codec ng content na pinapanood mo. Kung VP9, okay na yan Picasso APUs. Get the 3400G na, para at least 8-thread.

If you'd notice sa list mas nauna isupport ang HEVC over VP9 ng hardware makers kasi expected nila na HEVC ang magiging popular format dahil siya ang ineendorse ng Blu-ray Disc Association, Microsoft and Apple. Di nila pinansin ang codec ng Google na VP9, but dahil ginawang royalty-free nagsilipatan sa VP9 ang madami to follow YouTube's lead. Napakambyo ang hardware makers to include support for VP9 nung pakonti ng pakonti na ang nagmimigrate to HEVC.

[ninjababez®]

Check mo codec ng content na pinapanood mo. Kung VP9, okay na yan Picasso APUs. Get the 3400G na, para at least 8-thread.

If you'd notice sa list mas nauna isupport ang HEVC over VP9 ng hardware makers kasi expected nila na HEVC ang magiging popular format dahil siya ang ineendorse ng Blu-ray Disc Association, Microsoft and Apple. Di nila pinansin ang codec ng Google na VP9, but dahil ginawang royalty-free nagsilipatan sa VP9 ang madami to follow YouTube's lead. Napakambyo ang hardware makers to include support for VP9 nung pakonti ng pakonti na ang nagmimigrate to HEVC.

thanks master, medyo mahal pa kasi apu amd talaga kaya di makabili hehehe

[Stagea]

thanks master, medyo mahal pa kasi apu amd talaga kaya di makabili hehehe

Yup, medyo mahal piyesa ngayon. Dedicated GPUs sobra laki tinaas kaya may pressure din sa APUs.

Ang cheapest option with hardware 4K VP9 decode is Gemini Lake (Celeron / Pentium Silver), pero baka sobrang bagal na for your general use maski okay decoder.

[ninjababez®]

Yup, medyo mahal piyesa ngayon. Dedicated GPUs sobra laki tinaas kaya may pressure din sa APUs.

Ang cheapest option with hardware 4K VP9 decode is Gemini Lake (Celeron / Pentium Silver), pero baka sobrang bagal na for your general use maski okay decoder.

oo nga master
will wait nalang, im sure in 2-3 years marami na mag dispose ng gen 3 ryzen nila (b350m mortar lang kasi mobo ko hehehe)

[Stagea]

oo nga master
will wait nalang, im sure in 2-3 years marami na mag dispose ng gen 3 ryzen nila (b350m mortar lang kasi mobo ko hehehe)

Pag ikaw mga 2-3 days lang yan waiting period eh. 

[ninjababez®]

Pag ikaw mga 2-3 days lang yan waiting period eh. 

pag naging konsi nako master hehehe

[Blackstar]

oo nga master
will wait nalang, im sure in 2-3 years marami na mag dispose ng gen 3 ryzen nila (b350m mortar lang kasi mobo ko hehehe)

Mejo nagtaas nga Ryzen Gen 3 bro. Almost a year ago nakabili ako Ryzen Gen 3 2200G for P3,700 (discounted price original price of P4k). When I checked again pinakamura na is at 5.5K (not sure kung legit as new seller pa lang) and pinakamahal is 7.7k. Generally it's in the 6-7k range. And you would think it should have gone down already pero mas nagmahal pa.