HTPC vs Roku, FireStick, etc

[ibex333]

Can someone please explain this to me? What are the advantages of an HTPC over other much cheaper streaming devices such as the abundant cheap Chinese Android boxes for sale on Ebay and Amazon, FireStick, Roku, Apple TV, etc, etc.

You may argue that HTPC does 4k... So what, even a $45 FireStick does that too... Streaming from Kodi or whatever? So what... FireStick can do that too with PLEX and so on... Side-loading apps? I can do that without an HTPC. Hacking, home-brew, emulators? Can do that with a FireStick.


The only thing that comes to mind is STORAGE. Like if you want to record live TV.


But what are the other advantages? Anything much more important or obvious that I am missing?


For example, there are devices such as the Beelink AP34 Pro MiNi PC(google it) for sale. How is such a PC "better" purely as a multimedia consumption device as opposed to other much cheaper streaming gizmos?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Easier access to your massive libraries of pirated content.

HTPC also can double as a gaming box.

Otherwise, not better. Just entrenched - the set top boxes have only recently (<4 years maybe) been good/cheap enough.

 

[CSMR]

Most of them don't hardware decode 10bit HEVC, which makes them already obsolete.
Most of them don't have gapless playback, which makes them very bad music players.
Most of them seem complex and involve proprietary streaming services. I could be wrong about this but that's how it seems from a quick search.
None of them can take 2.5" drives as far as I can tell for additional storage.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Most of them don't hardware decode 10bit HEVC, which makes them already obsolete.
Most of them don't have gapless playback, which makes them very bad music players.
Most of them seem complex and involve proprietary streaming services. I could be wrong about this but that's how it seems from a quick search.
None of them can take 2.5" drives as far as I can tell for additional storage.

w/r/t proprietary streaming services, pretty much any device will work with pretty much any streaming service nowadays.

Ease of use is basically at "grandma" levels.

They're based on last-gen cell phone CPUs mostly, so 10-bit HEVC will probably be another couple years, but a critical mass of consumers don't care.

 

[Genx87]

HTPC has always fascinated me. Built one about 15 years ago then came across a TiVo and thought wtf am I wasting time and money trying to get this HTPC to work? It has only got more lopsided with these devices you mentioned. The only HTPC like function I do now is plex server. But that is dying to me as well due to online streaming. Instead of maintaining the library by powering the box, replacing dying hardware. I can buy the movie on Amazon and never worry about it again. Live TV is the same. Sony VUE has a cloud DVR.

 

[Malogeek]

I've used HTPCs for my house media viewing and live TV/DVR for many years now. I'm shutting down all my PCs and replacing them all with Shield TVs. I love this thing, it's perfect for my needs.

I use Kodi for general media playback with all data on a NAS. Has no problem with 10bit HEVC, x265, HD audio formats. Plays anything I throw at it.

Also have a HDHomerun cable TV device on the network which I can watch via the Shield, with all shows recorded directly to the NAS. Also supports protected content channels, HBO etc is fine.

It's Android TV on and you can side load whatever you want

 

[Hans Gruber]

I use ROKU built into my TCL's. It pretty much bullet proof for streaming netflix, amazon and youtube videos up to 4k.

 

[BurnItDwn]

HTPC is generally better.
Roku is convenient due to being able to cast from the phone.

 

[killster1]

HTPC has always fascinated me. Built one about 15 years ago then came across a TiVo and thought wtf am I wasting time and money trying to get this HTPC to work? It has only got more lopsided with these devices you mentioned. The only HTPC like function I do now is plex server. But that is dying to me as well due to online streaming. Instead of maintaining the library by powering the box, replacing dying hardware. I can buy the movie on Amazon and never worry about it again. Live TV is the same. Sony VUE has a cloud DVR.

Sounds like you have fiber or watch lower quality videos. Some people can not stream the quality they seek. So HTPC would be better. Firesticks are slightly annoying you want to side load apps? I went ahead and purchased a few armlink octacore 4gb ddr4 boxes. they are OK. Can you surf the web from your firestick? Can you play a game? Can you plug in storage? (maybe you can i dont know seemed like a hassle to me when i used one) Everything has a pause with the firestick nothing seems immediate. Should i have gone teh nvidia sheild route or a fanless htpc yes! but with HTPC i get carried away and it will turn into a 600$ box when im done

 

[ch33zw1z]

I typically use a Roku three. It takes my 500GB USB drive just fine, and access the streaming apps is good. I stopped acquiring movies a music years ago when the kids were old enough to notice. I encode all the movies I buy in the proper streams for the rokus built in codecs, copy them to the is drive. It's advantage is ease of use for almost anyone.

The HTPC was always fun, but power hungry in comparison, though you can probably build a pretty low power itx box now, but you're still stick with finding a quality remote.

 

[Genx87]

Sounds like you have fiber or watch lower quality videos. Some people can not stream the quality they seek. So HTPC would be better. Firesticks are slightly annoying you want to side load apps? I went ahead and purchased a few armlink octacore 4gb ddr4 boxes. they are OK. Can you surf the web from your firestick? Can you play a game? Can you plug in storage? (maybe you can i dont know seemed like a hassle to me when i used one) Everything has a pause with the firestick nothing seems immediate. Should i have gone teh nvidia sheild route or a fanless htpc yes! but with HTPC i get carried away and it will turn into a 600$ box when im done

135Mbps DSL from Centurylink. Amazon streams in HD, Netflix as well. I have no need to surf the web from my TV, nor plug in local storage as it is either on my plex server or streamed from Netflix\Amazon. Gaming is done on my PC. /shrug

I agree if people are in a location with poor internet location they need something local like movies on a HD or BluRay. Amazon firebox can stream Plex fine.

 

[killster1]

135Mbps DSL from Centurylink. Amazon streams in HD, Netflix as well. I have no need to surf the web from my TV, nor plug in local storage as it is either on my plex server or streamed from Netflix\Amazon. Gaming is done on my PC. /shrug

I agree if people are in a location with poor internet location they need something local like movies on a HD or BluRay. Amazon firebox can stream Plex fine.

who said anything about amazon firebox? i dont even know what it is! Not everything is stream-able tho, can you stream UHD 10bit 4k movies from anywhere online? also you change the question when you add in a plex server. Because then there is no decoding happening.

What i would like to know is what movie boxes can decode x265 4k uhd movies. I have not tried my ARM s912 octacore box i have but i really doubt it will work. Will try and check later today. I have been getting into the new x265 codec and checking how to get it running flawless on all devices. Maybe most modern cpu/gfx cards decode this but your firestick will not. Of course when you throw in a 400+$ plex server seems to change the argument alot.

HTPC PRO

Decoding.
Audio advantages
Wifi speeds increased?
storage options
Boot speed / usage speed (seems like the firestick is VERy VERY laggy to my taste)
surely lots more like gaming options Os options but you said multimedia only..

Cons HTPC
More power consumption (maybe less then running a plex and firestick)
larger space taken
possibly the OS depending which one and its navigation from couch.
Not silent
extra power cables?

Your firestick ever freeze? roku every mess up? Well mine have.. has my WINDOWS PC froze or crashed at all? Not a single time that i can remember in the past 5 years of use. Trying really hard to think maybe a game crashed to the desktop because of some funny keypresses but it didn't require a restart or unplug like the firestick has.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I used to do htpc, and if it was just me, I probably still would, but ultimately you can't beat a streaming box for simplicity for those who aren't techinically inclined. You can go further with them than out of the box - as in add on PC stuff if you want to.

Remember, that with an HTPC if you aren't around and it goes belly up for some reason...well you'll hear about it. None of that other stuff mentioned really matters to anyone but 1% of the population (at least yet). With a streaming box you can just unplug/replug.

 

[Malogeek]

Shield TV can decode 4k 10bit HDR. Unless you want profile 2 4:2:2

 

[bfun_x1]

I used to do htpc, and if it was just me, I probably still would, but ultimately you can't beat a streaming box for simplicity for those who aren't techinically inclined. You can go further with them than out of the box - as in add on PC stuff if you want to.

Remember, that with an HTPC if you aren't around and it goes belly up for some reason...well you'll hear about it. None of that other stuff mentioned really matters to anyone but 1% of the population (at least yet). With a streaming box you can just unplug/replug.

This is why I have a Roku on every TV. Kids and grandparents can use them and I never need to fix anything.

 

[killster1]

Shield TV can decode 4k 10bit HDR. Unless you want profile 2 4:2:2

to bad shield is not listed in the Topic.. it is almost triple the price of some of the streaming devices and hmm 8x more than my firestick was new.
Also it seems most the Chinese boxes can decode 10bit 4k hevc fine so thats great news for me.

 

[smitbret]

I used HTPCs for years, running Kodi (OpenELEC or LibreELEC) on a Chromebox or Rasp Pi 2. If all I wanted to do was stream my local media then it would have been great. I had my server downstairs and organized everything with Mezzmo. Kodi had a nice Mezzmo add on that made things really smooth. Kodi still has the best media player out there.

However, the world has gone global streaming. My family wants that Grandma level access (i.e. very easy) to NetFlix, Amazon Prime, etc. A Dual-Boot HTPC wasn't going to cut it. There was no way to run the streaming services through Kodi so when the Mezzmo app came out for the FireTV it was a no-brainer to get 3 FireTV sticks and a Gen 2 FireTV box and drop a beefier CPU into the server.

BTW, the FireTV box does HVEC 10-bit. The Fire sticks don't but it's not a big deal since Mezzmo just transcodes any non-compliant files on the fly. They're few and far between anyway. Any server with a CPU that has a Passmakr rating of 6000 or higher is enough to run Mezzmo or Plex to any of the cheap streaming devices. For the price that many people spend on each HTPC station you can probably get an old i5 CPU (get a used PC workstation for $100) and set up a server along with cheap Rokus or FireTV sticks that will do everything and do it easily with things like voice control.

Audio support and passthrough is really the only place where HTPCs still have a clear upper hand. The sticks are handicapped badly for this but Amazon had the nVidia Shield for $139 a couple of months ago and the boxes with HDMI ports support most major codecs.