I’m new to Plex, and I’m about to build my first HTPC system, which will be hooked up to the receiver with HDMI. In the past, I’ve used WD TV Live connected to my receiver, and streaming using Chromecast with an app called Videostream.
I’ve never owned a HTPC before, so I have questions on how it displays on the TV and how the content is sent and adjusted to the TV screen. Now from my understanding, when using Chromecast and disc players send the video feed, it’s sent as in the original size of the source and then the receiver or TV upscales it to 4k (Using a 4K TV) if needed.
1. So how does this all work when using a HTPC? When it’s connected, I’m assuming at that point you’re “casting” your windows screen to the TV. 1a. Do you have to adjust the resolution in windows to make it fit on the TV? 1b. Can you set a 4k resolution in windows, and should you 2. How does playing videos work? My guess is when the video is playing the HTPC is sending to the TV, not just the video source, but the whole windows screen (which is still behind the video and running?). How are things like HDR suppose to work then?
As you can see, I’m alittle confused on the quality of a video when playing directly from an HTPC through HDMI. Would it still be better when I have the HTPC setup to use the Plex app to cast through Chromecast, instead of HDMI output directly?
To be honest HTPCs in my opinion are a thing of the past…
With so many cheap clients on the market unless you are building a real home theater and want some custom HTPC it doesnt make sense.
You can get the Plex App on so many clients like the nvidia shield PS4, XBOX and so many smart TVs which provides an integrated remote control I moved away from HTPCs about 5 or 10 years ago now.
I mean if you look at the pure numbers you can build a HTPC for ~500 with a case that looks nice next to your TV and a quiet power supply so you can hear movies when it gets quiet and some bastardized remote like LIRC or some RF remote. Or you can get any of those other clients I mentioned and plop it right in instead and have gaming as well.
You can on the cheap side build some Raspberry PI and I have even seen a few kits at my local MicroCenter for like $50 or $100 you can build a mini HTPC but my experience with those little guys is not the greatest when it comes to being a HTPC.
Sorry I know I didn’t answer any of your questions but with the complexity of a HTPC for some users it might be easier to get an App on a supported client which makes the overall experience way better instead of fiddling with some home made rig.
Thanks for the comment! I have already ordered the NUC and it’s parts… that being said, I understand where you’re coming from. I’ll be using the NUC for other things than just the PLEX server and usenet downloader.
At this point, I guess I’m just trying to figure out the best way to “stream” the videos to my TV. HDMI or continue using something like Chromecast.
One important thing to think about is what kind of videos will you be streaming?
Is it all lower compression/definition 720p and below older codec H.264 avi stuff or
Is this on the higher end 1080 or even 4k H.265 mkvs or mp4
Do you plan on using DVR in Plex at all?
DVR content for me is MPEGTS container and H264 so making sure your client can natively play that will be good if you do.
Being able to direct play the videos you plan to play is a big factor so consider what format you have your stuff in and what formats you plan to obtain new content in and make sure your client can support all those formats so that no transcoding is required which again will make your experience 1000 times better.
I mainly use Samsung Smart TVs, Samsung/Google Phones and Chromecast as clients myself.
@nokdim said:
To be honest HTPCs in my opinion are a thing of the past…
In my opinion, a HTPC still rules if you want to direct play everything, particularly with subtitles.
There are so many exemption, even with the best box (e.g. nVidia Shield) where subtitles will prevent direct playback, so you end up with transcoding.
So, TL;DR:
If you have a big screen and want the very best in quality, both picture and sound-wise, still get an HTPC.
If you want to avoid having to deal with any transcoding, an HTPC is the only way to go as only the desktop client is capable of playing anything PMS can serve directly. Plus a full desktop OS based HTPC offers so much more flexibility in playing media (outside of Plex) or streaming than any OTT streamer can every hope to provide. If you want a single box that does everything, you can’t beat an HTPC.
An Odroid C2 running OpenPHT will Direct Play most anything & handle all the exotic HD audio formats correctly. It will cost about 1/10 of the cost of a HTPC. OpenPHT supports subtitles without transcoding by the PMS & also allows all the tweaking of the image that you get with an HTPC.
I think that OP is a little confused as they talk about having a HTPC connected to the TV by HDMI but then running PMS on it. A great beauty of Plex is that it’s a client/server application so you can run the client & server portions on separate & most appropriate hardware. So use a compute for your server if you want but use a proper client with a nicely designed remote connected to the TV.
@nigelpb said:
An Odroid C2 running OpenPHT will Direct Play most anything & handle all the exotic HD audio formats correctly. It will cost about 1/10 of the cost of a HTPC. OpenPHT supports subtitles without transcoding by the PMS & also allows all the tweaking of the image that you get with an HTPC.
I cannot test this, but: does it support 10bit color / HDR ?
I think that OP is a little confused as they talk about having a HTPC connected to the TV by HDMI but then running PMS on it. A great beauty of Plex is that it’s a client/server application so you can run the client & server portions on separate & most appropriate hardware. So use a compute for your server if you want but use a proper client with a nicely designed remote connected to the TV.
@nokdim said:
To be honest HTPCs in my opinion are a thing of the past…
In my opinion, a HTPC still rules if you want to direct play everything, particularly with subtitles.
There are so many exemption, even with the best box (e.g. nVidia Shield) where subtitles will prevent direct playback, so you end up with transcoding.
So, TL;DR:
If you have a big screen and want the very best in quality, both picture and sound-wise, still get an HTPC.
I’m def going HTPC, as it’s already being shipped =). How would you stream your videos from a HTPC? HDMI straight from the HTPC to the receiver, or use something like Chromecast? I’m still very much confused on the quality of the video from an HDMI input.
nokdim:
"Is it all lower compression/definition 720p and below older codec H.264 avi stuff or
Is this on the higher end 1080 or even 4k H.265 mkvs or mp4
Do you plan on using DVR in Plex at all?
DVR content for me is MPEGTS container and H264 so making sure your client can natively play that will be good if you do."
nokdim, I play both 720 quality and 1080 quality codec. I’d prob rarely ever download 4K vidoes, if ever. And no, I don’t plan on using the DVR in plex.
@Krummie7 said:
I’m def going HTPC, as it’s already being shipped =). How would you stream your videos from a HTPC? HDMI straight from the HTPC to the receiver, or use something like Chromecast? I’m still very much confused on the quality of the video from an HDMI input.
Yuck, no!
Chromecast is one of the worst solutions, quality-wise.
Besides, we are talking purely Plex client here.
So I am referring to a direct HDMI connection between HTPC and TV
(or maybe an AVR in between, for the surround sound)
@nigelpb said:
An Odroid C2 running OpenPHT will Direct Play most anything & handle all the exotic HD audio formats correctly. It will cost about 1/10 of the cost of a HTPC. OpenPHT supports subtitles without transcoding by the PMS & also allows all the tweaking of the image that you get with an HTPC.
I cannot test this, but: does it support 10bit color / HDR ?
I cannot test this either but I don’t believe that it does but as the OP say they are only watching 1080p/720p & have no requirement even for 4K it’s irrelevant.
@Krummie7 said:
I’m def going HTPC, as it’s already being shipped =). How would you stream your videos from a HTPC? HDMI straight from the HTPC to the receiver, or use something like Chromecast? I’m still very much confused on the quality of the video from an HDMI input.
With my setup I have an little Odroid C2 box running OpenPHT connected by HDMI to my AV receiver & that is then connected to the TV by HDMI. Other decent low cost clients include Raspberry Pi running RasPlex, Roku Ultra, Apple TV 4K, Amazon Fire TV 4K, Nvidia Shield. The latter four clients are capable of use for much more than just a Plex client of course.
The client is connected ideally by Ethernet cable to your home network but WiFi will suffice if your network is good & you are not playing high bit rate material. The Plex server is then connected to that same network again ideally by Ethernet cable.
If the client is sufficiently good that it will Direct Play media then the Plex server can be very low powered. Before I moved to Plex Cloud my PMS was running on a 4TB Seagate Personal Cloud which is the cheapest & lowest powered NAS capable of running PMS.
@Krummie7 said:
I’m def going HTPC, as it’s already being shipped =). How would you stream your videos from a HTPC? HDMI straight from the HTPC to the receiver, or use something like Chromecast? I’m still very much confused on the quality of the video from an HDMI input.
Yuck, no!
Chromecast is one of the worst solutions, quality-wise.
Besides, we are talking purely Plex client here.
So I am referring to a direct HDMI connection between HTPC and TV
(or maybe an AVR in between, for the surround sound)
Plex Media Player, in this situation, is King of the Hill.
A ‘10 Foot Remote System’ may work (can’t say, but Brother and Wife haven’t complained recently), but controlling it with a Smartphone App (Android tested and approved) works nicely. The caveat here is I haven’t seen the most recent Plex Pass Version, nor have experienced any of the horror that may, or may not be present in anything other than the public release of PMP that I am currently using.
I enjoy using Plex on my Roku. That’s pretty much where Plex Device Apps begin and end. I prefer PMP through the HDMI cable from server to TV at ALL other opportunities. The Plex App on my AFTV is nigh useless and in the 5 years I’ve had it Plex hasn’t been able to develop an app for AFTV that’s worth using.
When someone says ‘Chromecast’ - walk away… quickly.
@JuiceWSA said:
Plex Media Player, in this situation, is King of the Hill.
A ‘10 Foot Remote System’ may work (can’t say, but Brother and Wife haven’t complained recently), but controlling it with a Smartphone App (Android tested and approved) works nicely. The caveat here is I haven’t seen the most recent Plex Pass Version, nor have experienced any of the horror that may, or may not be present in anything other than the public release of PMP that I am currently using.
OpenPHT is the successor of the original Plex Home Theatre that was replaced by PMP much to the disgust of many fans of PHT.
I enjoy using Plex on my Roku. That’s pretty much where Plex Device Apps begin and end. I prefer PMP through the HDMI cable from server to TV at ALL other opportunities. The Plex App on my AFTV is nigh useless and in the 5 years I’ve had it Plex hasn’t been able to develop an app for AFTV that’s worth using.
The Plex app on the Amazon Fire TV 4K was until recently very good & in operation looked pretty much like the same app on the Roku. Unfortunately Plex decided to dumb it down & use the absolutely dreadful Android TV UI which has ruined what was one of the best Plex clients.
Sounds like HDMI straight to the receiver from the NUC it is then. When you guys connect your HTPC to your tv/receiver, do you have to do any special configurations in windows? Like changing the resolution to something specific, etc? I do have a 4k TV.
I’m learning a lot here, thanks for the comments guys.
@Krummie7 said:
Sounds like HDMI straight to the receiver from the NUC it is then. When you guys connect your HTPC to your tv/receiver, do you have to do any special configurations in windows? Like changing the resolution to something specific, etc? I do have a 4k TV.
I’m learning a lot here, thanks for the comments guys.
I didn’t. Windows 10 was pretty smart in that regard, but I don’t have a 4K TV - if that matters. I would assume Windows will detect the unit just like it did mine. I use the TV, change to the HDMI port for the Roku, then change to the HDMI port for the server at will… no issues.
I do run a magnum graphics adapter in my server machine - it’s also my gaming rig - and PMP happily sees that card, which is nice 'cause that’s where the HDMI cable is plugged in. All the enhanced features of PMP work as advertised. If/Until Plex messes everything up with a PMP ‘Upgrade’ - things are working fine.
