Reasonably priced box/HTPC for Openelec?

blass · 16-02-2015 10:51am #1

Hi all, Looking for a reasonably priced unit (roughly EUR120 max or less) that will run openelec flawlessly. It is intended for a bedroom so will not be used all that much just the occasional live football or movie here and there but I want it to work without fail unlike android which needs too much tlc if not turned on often enough. Looking for something prebuilt and ready to install openelec onto. Also must have decent WIFI. Any suggestions please?

captain_boycott · 16-02-2015 2:15pm

blass wrote: »

Hi all, Looking for a reasonably priced unit (roughly EUR120 max or less) that will run openelec flawlessly. It is intended for a bedroom so will not be used all that much just the occasional live football or movie here and there but I want it to work without fail unlike android which needs too much tlc if not turned on often enough. Looking for something prebuilt and ready to install openelec onto. Also must have decent WIFI. Any suggestions please?

Intel NUC - works flawlessly with OpenElec. Best price I could find on Amazon was 106 STG plus you'll have to use parcelmotel. You still need to add some RAM and storage (a USB stick which you probably have lying around will do). Over all, a little more that the 120E budget but IMHO, all the android boxes are un-reliable & buggy, the NUC is excellent. (plus has built-in IR).

blass · 16-02-2015 2:45pm

Thanks for your reply, I was coming around to that conclusion. I was unsure what else I needed. So if I buy the NUC all I would need is say 2gb strip of RAM and whatever storage I want? Is it that easy?

fish fingers · 16-02-2015 2:57pm

blass wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, I was coming around to that conclusion. I was unsure what else I needed. So if I buy the NUC all I would need is say 2gb strip of RAM and whatever storage I want? Is it that easy?

I have the nuc 2820 since last May, all I needed was the ram and USB stick to get Openelec running.

blass · 16-02-2015 2:59pm

fish fingers wrote: »

I have the nuc 2820 since last May, all I needed was the ram and USB stick to get Openelec running.

Cool. I presume the RAM is just slide in and off you go?
Also, did you install an SSD?

johnybean · 16-02-2015 3:10pm

I have the 2820 nuc also and yes, the RAM is simple to sldie into place. There is room for a 2.5" hard drive also so I added a SSD which brought the price up a bit from your budget but as has been stated previously, you only need a usb key to run openelec.
Be careful though, the new NUCs required 1.35V RAM like this one so you will probably have to get new RAM for it as opposed to using some which you have lying around.

blass · 16-02-2015 3:24pm

johnybean wrote: »

I have the 2820 nuc also and yes, the RAM is simple to sldie into place. There is room for a 2.5" hard drive also so I added a SSD which brought the price up a bit from your budget but as has been stated previously, you only need a usb key to run openelec.
Be careful though, the new NUCs required 1.35V RAM like this one so you will probably have to get new RAM for it as opposed to using some which you have lying around.

More useful info, thanks. Will be purchasing RAM new. Re storage I have an 8gb SSD lying around so that will do for now considering I won't be downloading to this unit .
Is the WIFI decent?

johnybean · 16-02-2015 3:56pm

I only use wired connection as I always find wifi flakey so cant comment on that

blass · 16-02-2015 4:00pm

ok, thanks.
Mine is for a bedroom so WIFI is important in this case.

captain_boycott · 16-02-2015 9:52pm

blass wrote: »

ok, thanks.
Mine is for a bedroom so WIFI is important in this case.

Wifi works fine for me, but it totally depends on distance from your access point, intervening walls, etc so your mileage may vary!

The NUC has 3 usb ports so if you had to, you could add an external wifi adapter. It also has an ethernet NIC, so a powerline device is another option.

blass · 19-02-2015 3:13pm

fish fingers wrote: »

I have the nuc 2820 since last May, all I needed was the ram and USB stick to get Openelec running.

A few questions for you please!
So you had no issues getting openelec up and running?
Do you boot into openelec off the stick or just use the bios to choose it when needed?
Did you install an OS on it?
Also, have you added any storage internally?
that's all for now!

captain_boycott · 19-02-2015 6:14pm

I built 2 NUCs with OpenElec in the past year...on one I used an internal 16GB flash card using a mSATA adapter. The other I did not even bother with an internal disk and just used an external 16GB USB fob and booted from that.

OpenElec IS the OS. (its Linux plus Kodi in one)

And was very straightforward, just take your time to read the instructions on the openelec website.

blass · 20-02-2015 2:17pm

captain_boycott wrote: »

I built 2 NUCs with OpenElec in the past year...on one I used an internal 16GB flash card using a mSATA adapter. The other I did not even bother with an internal disk and just used an external 16GB USB fob and booted from that.

OpenElec IS the OS. (its Linux plus Kodi in one)

And was very straightforward, just take your time to read the instructions on the openelec website.

Thanks for the info. I intend to use Openelec via bootable USB for now. waiting to get a copy of windows and then I will install an SSD (mSata not an option in my NUC.) Does the NUC recognise new drives automatically or do they require any formatting?

Johnboy1951 · 20-02-2015 4:39pm

I use both R-Pi (2) and NUC.
Both work well with Openelec.
The R-Pi 2 is a great leap forward in usability over previous Pi models.
I would probably not have bothered with the NUC if I had a Pi-2 choice at the time.

I put an SSD in the NUC and have a standard Linux OS as well as Openelec on that SSD with Grub bootloader set to a short time-out which boots Openelec by default unless I intervene.

bazzz · 20-02-2015 5:05pm

Hey all,I've asked this already...But not got any response,so I'll just ask again.
What kind of price are people willing to pay for a HTPC,that can handle just about everything thrown at it?
Now I'm realistically talking about a base price of €180 upwards and a go to for all needs box(fanless).Thanx for any replies,if any.

Johnboy1951 · 20-02-2015 5:07pm

bazzz wrote: »

Hey all,I've asked this already...But not got any response,so I'll just ask again.
What kind of price are people willing to pay for a HTPC,that can handle just about everything thrown at it?
Now I'm realistically talking about a base price of €180 upwards and a go to for all needs box(fanless).Thanx for any replies,if any.

Do you want to include TV tuners in the HTPC?

bazzz · 20-02-2015 5:39pm

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Do you want to include TV tuners in the HTPC?

There will be the option of that via PCIE or USB direct.DVB -T2/DVB -S.I'm really just looking for opinions on what price people would realistically pay for such a HTPC.This will Dual/Tripple Boot if needed and run all formats thrown at it...HD/Full HD/3D/4K(regarding streaming playback).

Johnboy1951 · 20-02-2015 6:41pm

bazzz wrote: »

There will be the option of that via PCIE or USB direct.DVB -T2/DVB -S.I'm really just looking for opinions on what price people would realistically pay for such a HTPC.This will Dual/Tripple Boot if needed and run all formats thrown at it...HD/Full HD/3D/4K(regarding streaming playback).

For a fresh build from scratch I expect €600 to €700 .....

blass · 26-02-2015 2:50pm

Thanks for all the help folks. I bought the NUC DN2820FYKH with the 2830 chip. I have 4gb ram and I used a spare 8gb SSD which is running Openelec, plan to add windows soon.

Johnboy1951 · 26-02-2015 3:18pm

blass wrote: »

Thanks for all the help folks. I bought the NUC DN2820FYKH with the 2830 chip. I have 4gb ram and I used a spare 8gb SSD which is running Openelec, plan to add windows soon.

I will be interested to hear what kind of user experience you get with Windows on that NUC.

Reasonably priced box/HTPC for Openelec?

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