I want to set up an HTPC to run PMP in a living room. With embeded PMP gone, I assume this would now be a windows platform. I’m looking for some advice on the best way to set this up from scratch. I’m going to be buying hardware so don’t to leap forward until I’m sure how this works. The HTPC will exist solely to do Plex so no reason to look at other cosiderations.
Is the best plan one of the mini PC platform? Any reason to consider one over the other?
Some mini pc’s have a build in infa-red sensor. Would those be compatible with Plex? I have played aorund with a FLIRC, but not sure how you would make the built in sensor work. Built in sure looks a lot cleaner sitting out in the living room.
Since this will only run Plex, what is the most convenient way to start/stop the HTPC? Seems the process of booting / shutting down would be problematic. Ideally one button would boot up and put it right into PMP. Do you shut down every time, or do you just let it go to sleep? I really want to be able to do it all from a conventional remote / harmony, but not sure if this is realistic? How do others do this?
Is there any purpose in using a video / audio card outside of what would come on-board in a minipc format? it’s all about quality to me, but I don’t think even a high end video or audio card would matter what-so-ever to Plex? correct? Would the video motion actually come out smooth for just watching 4K? similar questions for high def mutli channel audio files?
I think those are the big questions but I’m sure others will come up as I figure this out. Thanks in advance.
Why bother with a PC for that purpose? A 4K Firestick, Roku or even a Shield would use less power and probably work better while taking up almost no room at all.
I have a Shield now. I’ve had it a couple years and would not have bought a lower model, but I don’t recall the option of a Shield vs a Shield Pro at the time.
My issue with the Shield is that it will not pass through an audio only flac 5.1 file. flac 2.0 will pass through just fine but Plex always transcodes flac 5.1 to AAC 5.1. When you tell it to force pass-through, it won’t play (via wired ethernet), just silence. When I use Plex via the web-browser on my laptop (wireless) it does pass through flac 5.1 without transcoding.
So if someone can tell me for certain that a new Shield Pro will passthrough flac 5.1 I will be completely happy to shell out $200. I’m sure the HTPC will cost more, and a purpose built streamer is a much better answer.
I went with an Intel NUC. I have had these before and have been happy with them. I’m sure you can find a cheaper PC that could fit your needs.
I’ve personally had lots of “fun” with FLIRC and the like. Today I use a Logitech Harmony with a hub and control the computer via Bluetooth. BT is more reliable, responsive, and easier to setup so I’d recommend that method if you can.
I have set it to auto-login and autostart PMP on boot. PMP has menu items to suspend/shutdown/exit/etc. I tend to leave mine running but that’s mostly because it’s very low power and I’ve had a bad experience with a prior generation NUC which had buggy firmware that could make it never be able to wake from sleep. Essentially it required taking out the motherboard and shorting a jumper before it could ever turn on again.
Anyway, I think you can wake these devices via IR but I’ve not tried it. I know you can via Bluetooth
I use the on-board video. It’s not native HDMI but rather uses a LSPCON to convert DisplayPort -> HDMI. Sometimes this gets in the way. On Ubuntu 18.04 it cannot output 10-bit video but from what I’ve read this is resolved in later versions of Ubuntu (I’ve not tried it), so this is an area where a separate video card could make a difference. Also I’ve had issues doing passthrough on DTS-HD/TrueHD but I’m not sure if that’s specific to my receiver setup or something (my receiver is old). Instead I use the software decoding in PMP to output 8 channel PCM to my receiver. Since I don’t have elevation speakers, I’m not losing anything yet. I’ll likely revisit this once I add them to my setup.
The built-in graphics card is likely enough for your needs. A modern card should have no issues at all decoding 4k quickly enough.
On HDR video: PMP compiled with a newer version of MPV (which I do and describe in the link above) supposedly can tone-map and if you can output 10-bit give the same experience (from what I’ve read). It looks like all that’s really necessary to configure is the peak nits of your display in the mpv.conf file. I’ve not tried this myself as I don’t have all the requisite equipment so don’t take my word for it.
I have also had disappointments with the Shield, AppleTV 4K, and the Roku (the last most of all). I have media these cannot play without transcoding which makes my NUC the go-to player. Furthermore if you are playing media which is not the full resolution of the display, the video has to go through upscaling at some point (either the device or the display). The upscaling available in a PC’s graphics card puts streaming devices to shame and you can easily see the difference. Additionally most displays have better upscaling than these streaming devices can provide, but they must be given the native resolution of the media to be able to provide any upscaling themselves.
Also, I use this machine mostly for PMP but I also will exit PMP and use the Ubuntu desktop directly for things that only a PC can really do (such as a real browser).
Just curious, what kind of audio only content uses flac 5.1 ? SACD/DSD?
what bit/sampling are the flac 5.1 ?
I understand the importance of HQ audio, but given that plex is transcoding the 5.1 flac to aac 5.1 it would seem like these flac files are not exactly standard 16/44khz?
There are sources where you can get 5.1 flacs with 48kHz/24bit up to usually 96/24. DVD audio, Bluray audio, or specialized shops like hdtracks.com (I actually don’t know if theay offer surround, but there must be some at least.)
Sometimes even in 192/24, but these are usually converted DSD files. (and the sonic improvement is at least questionable, since the sonic quality of DSD on a SACD compares roughly to PCM 96/24) But there are also DSD files available which use double the data rate of SACDs.
I would suggest the OP open a new thread with a better title, client AND server logs, and a sample of the file(s) which have problems.
Also, I would ask if they have tried these files in another app, such as vlc, kodi, emby, etc… to see if it specific to plex, or it affects all apps on shield.
could be simply that shield does not support the particular sample/bitrate of the files in question.
Blockquote
Just curious, what kind of audio only content uses flac 5.1 ? SACD/DSD?
what bit/sampling are the flac 5.1 ?
I understand the importance of HQ audio, but given that plex is transcoding the 5.1 flac to aac 5.1 it would seem like these flac files are not exactly standard 16/44khz?
The multi-channel flac is ripped from SACD’s, DSD files, and Blu-Ray Audio discs. Flac provides a lossless format that Plex can work with.
The whole point is I DON’T want it to transcode to anything. That defeats the whole purpose of having a lossless audio format to begin with. When I get home I’ll verify bit/sampling of the flac files.
I don’t think this is the same issue. The Shield will play 5.1 audio if I let it transcode to AAC. It won’t play the original flac and nothing comes out if you do a “force direct play”
I have done this before, at least a couple times. (I don’t recall if anyone asked for logs) I sent someone more directly involved with the Shield a sample and nothing ever came of it. The only advice I was ever given was “it should work” but it never has. I’m going to get more info on bit/sampling rates and will post here.
So if you are ripping from 3 sources, and you want a lossless result that Plex can play without transcoding, what would you use as a bit/sampling rate for 5.1?
DSD files from SACD sources
flac ripped from blu-ray audio
flac ripped from DVD audio (OK I haven’t done this one yet but it’s coming soon).
I will point out the existing multi-channel flac DID play direct from my laptop through my Marantz pre/processor. It’s the Shield that didn’t seem to pass it through.
As a note to all who are helping me, My Shield is a 2017 model, not the new 2019 Pro. Is there any solid reason to believe the new model would solve this?
They seem to be either 44.1kHz/24 bit or 88.2kHz/24 bit. Those are all from DSD sources and not sure why one would have come out different than the other.
I know the one I’ve been toying with is 88.2, so I’ll give the 44.1 file a try and see.
The flac files ripped from blu ray audio are 96/24
