HTPC Upgrading Advice

techquest

I would go Synology as you don't need the transcoding. You can see that Amazon have the Red WD's and Synology Nas enclosure, probably cheapest Red WD's around at the moment. But shop around and look at what @Sloppy Bob is suggesting. it makes a whole load of sense.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WD-RED-NAS-Hard-Drive/dp/B008JJLW4M/ref=sr_1_2?hvadid=80607977932182&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=wd red nas drives&qid=1566848648&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Killbill118

Playing say 4K uhd Blu-ray or the likes on your HTPC needs key components to be “approved” or certified. And I’m not just taking about pure horse power or what your GPU can do.
Your CPU,  mother board GPU etc need to meet specs.
You can use something like powerdvd 19 to playback your blue ray disks or iso and if your system meets core requirements. You should be good. But if you do go the MS windows 10 route expect bugs and issues with Atmos etc.
PowerDVD 19

They do have an app you can run to check your PC specs to see if your parts are compatible.

In theory if everything works fine together you can setup your pc to run something like powerdvd or any other media center straight from boot bypassing windows explore by changing a simple shell script.

Long story short after being a PC gamer and heavily into HTPC setup for many years I just moved my media consumption to ripping everything to my NAS and then using my Zappiti 4K mini for main movies with Atmos and my apple tv /infuse for Netflix and family use.
PC is now just used for the odd gaming session.

siross

Thank you for all the advice guys, I think it's time for me to leave behind my trusty HTPC and get something slicker and more fit for purpose

techquest

Sounds like a cunning plan. Hope it all goes well for you.

Rambles

I have been using HTPC's for nearly 20 years and have 6 HTPC's in the house.

I recently bought a Vero 4K  out of frustration of not being able to get 4K / HDR with atmos to play back easily in the main room. MPC   MadVR = very fiddly and unreliable.

The Vero 4K  is brilliant. It is tiny and just works. If any of my HTPC's need replacing, I will almost certainly replace them with one of those.

If you are only using it in one room, you may as well store all your media on an external hard drive and not bother with a server.

siross

Thanks for that, confirmation it's the right way to go.

Good idea about an external hard drive. It will only be in one room, potentially 2 but the signal will be split at source rather than multiple sources

wokeye

Sorry to hijak this thread, but I'm really interested in this hardware.  I am getting tired of Windows.  This would be just for a spare room.  Sorry for the stupid question but am I right that this will output optical audio?  It's just that I would want to connect to a DAC then a hi-fi for listening to FLAC files. thanks

Rambles

Hi. It does have a toslink output so in theory that should work, but, I haven't tried using it for that purpose.

Pasanda

Having used a HTPC for 7 years, i've been through the mill on options, and here's a brief rundown.
Starting at the end, i decomissioned my HTPC a month ago. Very sad to see it go, but my chosen path ended up being a no-brainer.

Short version:
My movies are all ripped onto a 10Tb server. Low spec dell (t20) about 4 years old. Cost < £100   the cost of disks. Serves all of the families photos, audio and video.

Replaced HTPC with an Xbox One S. Bought reconditioned from Music Magpie 1 month ago for £120. Cheaper than a Shield or any HTPC upgrade, includes a BluRay Player. 4K out of the box. 7.1 audio out of the box. And it's an Xbox! Main reason was as a Plex client, but my son has found it's useful for other stuff too

as an aside, because the Xbox uses IR, i can now control literally everything with the Harmony 655 for £30. So TV, Xbox, AVR, BT Freeview, Hifi Amp and HIFI Streamer.

My wife likes it...

For £120 quid it's the most cost effective change i could have made.

wokeye

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.