Advice on adequate hardware for new build

[nthpixel]

I'm about to embark on a journey to cut the cable company. So I'm going to build a dedicated PC to run NextPVR and Kodi and need some advice on what hardware is most important for a good experience.

These are the uses I plan for it:

- NextPVR server
- Schedule recordings
- Connected to an internal digital antenna to get over the air digital cable (about 150 channels)
- Plan to connect to a dual tv tuner
- Watch shows recorded from NextPVR, Hulu, Netflix, etc...and others on network sites

These are the specs I'm thinking:

- Small form factor to fit the media center cabinet
- 16 GB RAM
- Intel i5 proc
- Decent to high-end video card
- Hauppauge USB dual tuner (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_dualhd.html)
- Store recordings to external USB 3 drive
- Connected to the router via cable

What do you guys think? From what I understand, the video card and disk drive is the most important. Should I get a high end card or will that hit the point of diminishing returns? Disk space is cheap unless I need solid state. Do I need solid state?

I think heat and power consumption should also be a consideration of mine.

I'd like to build something that wouldn't need any upgrades for at least 3 years.

[HarryH3]

I'm using the ancient relic in my sig and it works just fine. No fancy video card, just a basic one with HDMI out. I suspect that the GPU in your I5 would do a fine job of rendering video through the HDMI-out of your motherboard. I'm not using Kodi, but for NPVR you don't need much horsepower. It works great, even with older hardware. We also stream Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. I installed an old 64GB SSD for the OS and NPVR when I upgraded another PC and had the drive leftover. It sped up boot times considerably and made a noticeable different in how quickly the TV guide displays onscreen, but it certainly isn't required.

[mvallevand]

What is over the air digital cable? If you truly are in an area with 150 OTA channels I figure a good omni directional antenna weakest link.

For specs your biggest decision will be whether you need 4K Netflix or not in the next 3 years.

Martin

[nthpixel]

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know I don't have to go top of the line. Don't really care about 4K right now as my TV (that I just bought) doesn't support it anyways.

What is over the air digital cable?

Maybe I used the wrong term. I was referring to over the air TV that are digital...not analog.

[JavaWiz]

You may want to do some research on OTA stations available in your area. According to this article (May 2015), the most HD OTA stations in any particular location in the US is < 30 (however, this only reflects HD signals, not SD), I'd be surprised if there was anywhere that had 150 OTA stations.

However, I agree, probably most important is getting a good antenna and making sure it is located in an ideal spot (like in attic or top of house). You may also want to look at Silicon Dust Extend or Connect for streaming the OTA stations over your network (or to NPVR for recording).

[pcostanza]

In some areas of the country you may be close enough (with a powerful antenna) to get 2 CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS affiliates but I also find the 150 channels to be very high. That rivals some cable packages!

[scJohn]

IMHO an I5 is overkill unless you plan on doing a lot of transcoding. I would go with 8GB(2 x 4GB) over 16GB. Unless, again, you will be doing a lot of transcoding. A 1 TB hard drive should do nicely. For an HD MPEG2-TS stream, a conservative figure is 6 GB per hour. You do not need a high-end video card unless you plan on doing gaming on this system. I would go with the Hauppauge Quad-tuner (PCIE). I would also look into SilconDust Connect or Extend.

I would future proof(4k) and go with a Kaby Lake CPU. That is the only CPU family that will have WIN10, NextFlix, PlayReady 3.0 support.

[nthpixel]

You guys are right, the 150 channels or so I'm getting not all HD..only a handful are. Most are SD and not very good.

Ok, so I'll aim for 8GB of RAM, an average video card (no gaming on this machine), look into Kaby Lake, and Silicon Dust. I don't think I need 4 tuners. Two is good enough for me. Do you recommend it because pcie has performance gains over usb?

[mvallevand]

My experience is my HDHR tuners have not been as good with weak signals as other capture devices I own. As I see it the advantage is you don't need to have the antenna running to your PC. The Extend is useful since it has built in h/w transcoding to h264 to save space for recordings.

Martin

[scJohn]

I don't think I need 4 tuners. Two is good enough for me. Do you recommend it because pcie has performance gains over usb?

You have to look at how TV shows are scheduled (and how many people are in you household). Also will one of your tuners be dedicated to Live TV. My tuners are dedicated to recording.

Where I live, I have OTA access to the 5 major broadcasters and 2 independent stations. So at a typical 8:00 PM, I have 8 programs this I might want to record. Me, I have never record anything from the 2 independent stations. So 2 down, 5 to go. Mostly likely, I will watch 1 of the remaining 5 live. So that leaves 4 possible to record. With 2 tuners, you can only record 2 of the 4. With 4, well all four. My own personal experience has been 2 tuners, dedicated to recording only, covered my typical 8:00 PM schedule about 97% of the time. The other 3%, there is 1 or 2 time periods during the course of the TV season where I want/need to record 3 shows. I(you) have no control over the network scheduling gods. I have a 2 tuner PCIE card and a SD Connect.