HTPC: Which Intel NUC?

[sub-80]

Good Day;

My sibling wants an HTPC to watch the all movies (all formats) stored in NAS. Therefore,
• which model do you recommend?
• storage size recommended?
• # of ram stick and size?

Thanks;

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[Ken g6]

What do you mean by "all formats"? Does that include HEVC?

Would a simple ChromeCast be enough?

 

[ViviTheMage]

Get the cheapest one running KODI. I have the original NUCs running a n2820 proc and they play everything great.

Why not get a chromecast plex or something though? If it's just for movies like keng6 said.

 

[JeffMD]

ehhh... don't buy the cheapest you can get, cause if you find something it has difficulty running you are SOL.

I sought the same thing in an htpc (5x5 NUC style). I found my targeted spec should be between 2000 and 3000 passmarks. This is obtainable by any of the i3 based mini PCs. I ended up running with the MSI Cubi-001BUS.

 

[sub-80]

Tried chromecast with Samsung tablet that had kodi, but the lag was unbareable. She was using my portable gaming pc as htpc which is an overkill.

I believe a intel nuc i3-6100 is sufficient for 1080p and 4k, but there's hardly any reviews concerning the use of it as a htpc.

There's a lot of review for Intel nuc i5. But not much love for the i3 version.

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[JeffMD]

Tried chromecast with Samsung tablet that had kodi, but the lag was unbareable. She was using my portable gaming pc as htpc which is an overkill.

I believe a intel nuc i3-6100 is sufficient for 1080p and 4k, but there's hardly any reviews concerning the use of it as a htpc.

There's a lot of review for Intel nuc i5. But not much love for the i3 version.

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You can find lots of i3u reviews if you find the laptops with them. I also wrote a review for the cubi on the mini pc forum. Aside from the form factor, the insides are pretty eventless.

 

[sub-80]

Decided to not go with intel nuc, but build a HTPC incase 10bit decoding is required I'll install a graphic cards.

 

[JeffMD]

Sounds like a plan. It looks like skylake does support 10bit 265 up to 8k resolutions, so you could go with the skull canyon nuc. Otherwise you are looking at a much bigger pc.

 

[piasabird]

If you plan on watching 4k media I am not so sure just how 4k ready the Intel IGP is. One thing that might make a difference is if you are sending the 4k video to an HDTV, then maybe the TV will enhance the video a bit. HDMI 1.4 is only capable of 4K at 30 frames a second.

 

[sub-80]

building a i3 htpc costs almost the same as intel nuc i3. But if i require 10 bit decoding or 4K 10 bit decoding the assembled just requires a simple upgrade while intel nuc needs to be replaced.

 

[JeffMD]

pias, these have display ports and the h265 spec has been finalized for a while now. Skylake supports h265 10bit at 8k resolutions, it is more than ready.

 

[sub-80]

pias, these have display ports and the h265 spec has been finalized for a while now. Skylake supports h265 10bit at 8k resolutions, it is more than ready.

I haven't checked intel nuc i7 specs but I have checked i3 and i5. Even though both can run 4K. As per review i3 can decode 10bit nor playback 10bit videos. As per review from legitreviews.com i5 cpu runs at 100% when running 4K 10bit playback, which after a couple of years will affect the bearings of the fan.

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