Minimum basic requirements for a budget 1080p HTPC

mrgrey · Oct 21, 2017

I've looked around, but have not found a great explanation as to what I need at minimum to build a cheap HTPC. I received a free large screen 1080p TV from a relative, but I have old interfaces (such as RCA cable from DVD player) that are not porting well into the new TV (it doesn't have an RCA input, and the converter I have causes all movies to appear washed out/over saturated, which cannot be fixed by adjusting the TV's display settings).

I don't quite understand what I need *at minimum* to build an appropriate HTPC that can play DVDs and BlueRays, and stream Netflix, etc. For example, I see a lot of "4K" builds, but I don't know what the "4K" means - is this a resolution, or a bandwidth? Do I need a 4K build to display 1080p, or again is this indicating a higher resolution?

I am versed at building gaming PCs, but have never been a huge TV watcher and always just used my laptop for Netflix, etc. I can just HDMI the laptop to the TV, but I don't have the DVD/BR playback I want on the laptop.

I was considering the G4600 as a nice cheap processor to start with, but can the processor decode 1080p content on its own? Or do I also need a GPU? I've always gone with Intel on my builds, so I prefer to stay with what I'm used to. In addition, I've seen a number of posts about how the G4600 is Win10 only, but does that mean it can't run Linux? Can Linux even be used for an HTPC?

I've noticed that many builds use these low-profile cases that make the HTPC look more like a console. Is this necessary? It seems the low-profile components are sometimes more expensive. I don't care about profile, I care about going with components that save money but can still perform and won't die in 1 year.

How much RAM is necessary?

If anyone could help with the bare bones necessities for an HTPC setup, I'd really appreciate it!

13thmonkey · Oct 21, 2017

I'm currently using an old (2011) i3 laptop with HDMi out to run 1080p and it's fine, storage is obviously a little tight.

So a pentium will be fine, yes mini-itx boards are more expensive, but seriously have you considered a cheap laptop with HDMI? Any modern CPU will cope quite happily. Would be cheaper than a build, and you'll get windows included. Maybe $300 tops.

Sorry missed a paragraph. BR playback could be achieved through an external BR drive. Still much cheaper than a new build.

achilles174 · Oct 21, 2017

mrgrey :

4K is a resolution. It means roughly 3840x2160 or twice 1080p's number of pixels in both the horizontal and vertical directions so four times the total number of pixels.

mrgrey :

1080p is just a resolution. The actual content is some kind of encoded data, hence the decoding you talk about. 1080p is just a resolution, the actual decoder is going to be something like an H264, VP8, H265, etc. decoder. Those will work without GPU (ie, CPU-only).

Linux has codecs, so you could use Linux if you want.

mrgrey :

Technically cases are strictly optional, it's just a great way to keep components safe and prevent the cat from chewing internal wires. That said, the general goal with HTPC systems is to be QUIET. You don't want to hear five fans and a water pump as background noise. Necessary amount of RAM is ambiguous, but on a Linux system you could easily use 4GB and be fine.

This all said... do consider a simple Bluray player with Netflix built-in or a Bluray player and a Chromecast device. Both are going to be fine with 1080p and will do what you seem to want to do while costing far less than a custom HTPC, even with a G4600.

4745454b · Oct 21, 2017

His issue would be the old style plugs. You will probably need to find an adapter that converts HDMI to composite/component. That way you can output from your HTPC to the old TV. You don't need to worry about 4K, that's the resolution . And yours is 1920x1080. 4K is 4x that size. I find mATX cases to be better than the console looking cases. Console cases can be too small and not allow you the ability to add things. But it's a personal call. A console case would look much better in an entertainment center.

You shouldn't need anything too beefy for just playback. Any basic CPU with a basic GPU should be able to handle playback. I doubt you'd even need more than 4GBs of ram. (8GBs for other tasks isn't uncalled for.) You also shouldn't need SSDs or other things either. Video playback doesn't need a lot of speed and even a DVD drive is super slow compared to modern HDD.

13thmonkey · Oct 21, 2017

4745454b :

His issue would be the old style plugs. You will probably need to find an adapter that converts HDMI to composite/component. That way you can output from your HTPC to the old TV. You don't need to worry about 4K, that's the resolution . And yours is 1920x1080. 4K is 4x that size. I find mATX cases to be better than the console looking cases. Console cases can be too small and not allow you the ability to add things. But it's a personal call. A console case would look much better in an entertainment center.

You shouldn't need anything too beefy for just playback. Any basic CPU with a basic GPU should be able to handle playback. I doubt you'd even need more than 4GBs of ram. (8GBs for other tasks isn't uncalled for.) You also shouldn't need SSDs or other things either. Video playback doesn't need a lot of speed and even a DVD drive is super slow compared to modern HDD.

I think TV is new style, the rest of his kit is old style, that's how I read it anyway

4745454b · Oct 21, 2017

Double checked, nevermind. New gear with HDMI out should fix it.

mrgrey · Oct 21, 2017

13thmonkey :

4745454b :

I think TV is new style, the rest of his kit is old style, that's how I read it anyway

You are correct.

mrgrey · Oct 21, 2017

Thank you to everyone who answered, all your information was helpful.

I will look at the cheaper options, I was thinking of making the PC build to do a few other office type things as well. But I hadn't considered the cheaper options.

Search

Minimum basic requirements for a budget 1080p HTPC

mrgrey

Distinguished

achilles174

13thmonkey

Titan

achilles174

Honorable

4745454b

Titan

13thmonkey

Titan

4745454b

Titan

mrgrey

Distinguished

mrgrey

Distinguished

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page