Ask Engadget HD: Best HTPC to replace my NAS?

Just a few weeks ago, we considered combo NAS / media streaming set-top boxes, but what about those like our friend Matthew, looking for a HTPC that can function by itself as a NAS server without the extra hardware cluttering one's entertainment space? It's all too easy to have a "too many boxes under the TV" problem, maybe you can help him solve this one:

"I'm looking for some advice on an HTPC setup for my home. Currently I have way too many boxes under my television and I'm trying to consolidate them to minimize clutter. One such box is my beloved FreeNAS server; it functions as NAS, a bit torrent client, and has time machine support for my laptop. Is there an HTPC available that might also function as a NAS server with all of the features I use on my FreeNAS server? I also have an Xbox 360 and have considered getting a Windows Home Media Server and using the Xbox as an extender to get the content on my television, but I like the idea of an HTPC with an internal Blu-Ray drive. Do you have any suggestions?"

So what's the best setup to get all that functionality in a single box? Let us know if any of the HTPC builders out there have a solution that fits, or if a custom build (we have a few suggestions to get you started) is in order.

[kevon27 Posted Dec 23rd 2009 2:03PM]

Stay away from HTPCs.. It's a pipe dream that ain't gonna come true.
You want bluray and streaming, get a PS3 or samsung or LG bluray player.
For TV, just pay for cable or satellite.
And for backups, just get something simple like this from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122029
Netgear ReadyNas system.
Do let those nerdy people fool you. The dream of having one machine to do it all (and very well) does not exist.
HTPCs (extenders) are a waist of time.

[andyg8180 Posted Dec 23rd 2009 2:24PM]

@kevon27 lol stay away from HTPCs?? tell that to everyone running XBMC or Boxee...

[andyg8180 Posted Dec 23rd 2009 2:31PM]

@kevon27 also, a lot of people would prefer an HTPC over purchasing cable TV... Considering Hulu, Netflix, AmazonVOD, Torrentz(for the bad boys and girls), Crackle, and a butt load of Cable alternatives... Consider this one batman, digital cable will probably run you around $100 a month + DVR fees + box fees + taxes + "convenience fees"... Hulu = free, netflix =$9/mo, VOD $3/per, Crackle = free, OTA HD antennas = free broadcasting, Redbox $1/per... I mean seriously, "nerdy people" as you call them will easily be putting that extra $100 per month into the bank... Oh and did i mention you can play it all On demand? You dont have to wait for friggin 8pm on monday to sit thru stupid commercials...

Learn what HTPCs can do before you speak...

[kevon27 Posted Dec 23rd 2009 3:04PM]

@andyg8180
And all that stuff you mentioned does not work seamlessly on a HTPC..
You'll need to implement keyboard and mouse to use.
Still no HD netflix on MCE. Good luck getting blurays to work 90% of the time.
Htpc's are great for the illegal bit-torrent downloads of movie and music. Then you try to playback your downloaded bluray rip converted to .mkv and you run into codec issues.

Enjoy.

[scottbakertemp Posted Dec 23rd 2009 2:33PM]

Currently I have a 360, PS3, and dishnetwork 622 connected to my receiver. I also have a htpc and windows home server in another room. If you have to have everything combined, an HTPC with a bluray drive would cover as much as possible.

Any windows PC can share files and run a bit torrent client. Not sure about time machine support though.

[blackacex22 Posted Dec 23rd 2009 2:37PM]

Try the Dell Zino HD. You can configure it with a blu-ray drive and also discrete graphics. Load it with your music and movies and buy a media center remote. It has HDMI out so you're all set. It's a hassle still if you want to do cablecard DVR stuff with any media center setup, but it doesn't look like you are requesting that.

This is by far the most reasonably priced HTPC solution with a great form-factor.

[TheAngryIntern Posted Dec 23rd 2009 3:54PM]

@blackacex22 they must have changed something, I was checking out the Zino and only option they have right now is a DVD+-RW drive

[blackacex22 Posted Dec 24th 2009 12:07AM]

@TheAngryIntern Wow you're right, the blu-ray option isn't there. It was there last week! If you look up the Zino HD on google you'll see all the articles talk about it with a blu-ray drive. Bummer! It's the perfect HTPC for

[andyg8180 Posted Dec 24th 2009 9:00AM]

@blackacex22 youre right it was definitly there... i saw it when it was released... as for "the perfect htpc" i think youre almost right... im actually a little nervous about its HD playback... But as for an htpc to get into the market, youre definitly right... esp with the e-sata support...

[Mikecel79 Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:42AM]

@blackacex22 The Blu-Ray drive isn't available right now because of a shortage of the drives. There is a thread on AVSForum about this little box. Most people that ordered a Blu-Ray drive had their orders delayed. That said I have one without a Blu-Ray drive and it's a great little box. It won't be the ultimate HTPC but it plays all my ripped DVDs, Netflix, Hulu, and WMC easily.

[Ordeith Posted Dec 23rd 2009 2:46PM]

Ask EngadgetHD: Best solution for fixing the newer, more broken, Engadget websites.

[jholmstadt Posted Dec 23rd 2009 2:52PM]

I personally built a HTPC from scratch. Engadget has a write up that may be old now, but you can easily build a Blu-Ray loaded HTPC for $1100-1200, add to that an HD PVR and now you can have your satellite/cable, OTA, and Blu-Ray in one box. Even better you can use the box for gaming with the ATI 5770 or better.

Pros:
-No need for NAS because computer can share files (no always the best solution, but works if you are keeping costs down)
-No need for extra console if you play a lot of single player games
-Blu-Ray is built into your DVR (no need to switch sources)
-Media center is arguably the best looking DVR interface
-Multi-room works well with extenders
-VOD works both from Cable/Satellite (when using HD PVR) and Netflix streaming and others are built into media center
-Audio files work easily with your receiver

Cons
-You need to enjoy working on computers because it won't work out of the box

[Plexus Posted Dec 23rd 2009 2:59PM]

Three words for you :" Build it yourself" or if you prefer "Have it assembled" (for you).
This is the only way you can have it do exactly what you want, the way you want, look and feel the way want and when you want something else just change it or upgrade it.
I just would not suggest a NAS /HTPC combo: build a nice HTPC with raid 0 HDs and buy a good NAS with raid1 HDs.
My boss spent a fortune in a Niveus home system and he's jealous of my self built that cost me a fraction; he's currently trying to unload it and have me or ( I hope) someone else have his dream system tailored to his needs and tastes.

[zebibyte Posted Dec 23rd 2009 3:04PM]

I've been very happy with my all-in-one home server setup, it's stable, fast, and so far does everything I want. With the recent i5 upgrade, I actually have it running with a lower noise/power level than the previous version, under 150w doing multiple HD recording/playback/commercial flags, and sub 70w idle.

Windows 7 Ultimate x64, running Media Center
Arcsoft TMT3 for Bluray playback
DivX Plus HD for accelerated .mkv, etc playback

Antec P180 case (33dB for the full system)
i5-750 clocked to turbo to 4ghz, idle at 1.5ghz
8gb DDR3
Nvidia GeForce GT 220 with passive cooler
Kingston 40g SSD boot drive
8x1TB drives in RAID 6 on an LSI 8888ELP controller

2x HD Homerun (4 clearQAM tuners for local HD)
2x ATI OCUR tuners for encrypted QAM HD premium channels

2x Linksys DMA211 extenders
2x Xbox 360 for games and extenders

It's a full tower case, and cabled through the wall the TV is mounted on so it sits in my office, but has USB, IR, HDMI, etc all cabled into the living room, with a Bluray burner in an eSATA 5.25" enclosure in my media cabinet for easy disc access. It can simultaneously record 6 HD streams, playback on 4 extenders and locally to TV, and commercial flag 2 of the streams.

I remote desktop into it for torrent, management, etc. Windows Media Player will do Remote Media Streaming of all the content, and transcodes it in realtime to the appropriate resolution and bitrate for the remote device. I run VMware Workstation with Windows Home Server in a VM, for the home LAN backups and easy pc management.

It's not perfect, and certainly wasn't cheap, but I have one box running at home, handling all the media and server duties I need.

[kevon27 Posted Dec 23rd 2009 3:08PM]

Most people on Engadget don't even mess with HTPC's, except for Drawbaugh and maybe one other person.
Everyone else just pays for cable, use Tivo and have bluray players.
Life is easier that way.

[kevon27 Posted Dec 23rd 2009 3:09PM]

@kevon27 I should say... People who work at engadget don't mess with HTPC's.

[KevinQ Posted Dec 23rd 2009 3:15PM]

The catch 22 about your dilemma is it needs to be powerful enough to server as a multimedia decoding machine and at the same time, energy efficient enough to server NAS 24/7. I would guess something with a low powered cpu/gpu combo. The Zino fits that bill with a small 60-75w psu that can be on 24/7. It also has a built-in blu-ray drive and eSATA ports for NAS purposes. I don't know any other machine with such lower power specs that can also serve as HTPC.

Atom/ION builds are okay i guess but the cpu makes you want to pull your hair out doing anything processing intensive.

[zebibyte Posted Dec 23rd 2009 3:50PM]

It is possible to build a low power HTPC. You're not going to get to ION efficiency levels, but you can get close. An i5 CPU, GT 220 GPU, and a "green" series drive can playback H.264 Bluray rips under 60w, and will idle at about 45w. This is measured for the complete system via a kill-a-watt on the power cord. And when you need it, it can step up to real CPU power levels for transcoding, flagging, etc.

[JustAnnuthaDewd Posted Dec 23rd 2009 5:06PM]

Since he appears to be a Mac user (due to Time Machine needs), the Mac mini Server model might do well for his needs. The only apparent downside is the lack of Blu-Ray support in OS X. I'm using Plex on my mini to serve as an HTPC, though it's not the server model nor do I use it to the extent that he wants to use. When it comes to my Blu-Rays, I just rip with an external drive and play the rip. It takes maybe 5 minutes to rip and I do it all within OS X. There is a 3rd-party BD drive available for replacing the existing drive inside the regular Mac mini, so that could be an option. It really boils down to how inconvenient the lack of BD support playback in OS X will be.

[EM1 Posted Dec 24th 2009 5:22PM]

I love using my Mac Pro as an HTPC. The processor is a bit much but it comes in handy when I am using Handbrake to make digital copies for Plex. It's nice because I run the video straight to my TV and a TOSLINK cable to my receiver. With Plex I can watch Hulu, Netflix, and all the other good good stuff.
As for storing data, it has 4 drive bays and there are 3rd kits to add a 5th, even a 6th drive if you remove the DVD drive.

[edGe Posted Dec 25th 2009 8:45PM]

Build yourself a Windows Home Server... Best thing I ever did.

[Proud Japanese Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:08PM]

@edGe
yuk windows

[Charlie Eggwhite Posted Dec 29th 2009 5:12PM]

I've had a Sony Vaio TP2S/B & a 40" Samsung telly for over a year & had no problems so far. Recently upgraded to Win7, extra RAM, double DVB tuner & I reckon it'll still be good for a while yet. Windows Media Centre really _is_ the best thing MS have done in ages.

[jedi Posted Jan 18th 2010 10:00AM]

??? Replace a NAS with an HTPC. A NAS is something that will complement an HTPC regardless of whether or not you are running a specialized device or just another PC. Separate storage allows for you to have the best storage solution while not needing to worry about the noise or heat associated with it. 4, 5 or 10 hot swap drives in another room are very handy.

An HTPC should be nothing more than a lightweight "media server" extender with the specs required to be invisible and play media well.