Home theater PC Puns

I have a home theater PC (Windows 10) running Plex in our family room. My data drive (Seagate Barracuda) kicked the bucket after 2 years and I'm looking to buy 2 new drives: one internal data drive and one external for periodic backup. I'm wondering if I need a drive designed for NAS or for more general usage. My usage is light, so I'm looking for something economical and reliable.

Usage

• Light usage. Generally, only one stream at a time, only in the evenings.

Drives I'm considering

• Seagate IronWolf 6TB NAS - $150 - Seems like a good price and has great ratings
• Seagate BarraCuda 8TB Internal Hard Drive - $170 - This is for "compute" but offers more storage for a little more money. Would it be more appropriate for the external backup drive?

Thanks in advance for the input!

Update:
I ended up going with a WD Red 6 TB ($140) for my internal data drive and a WD Easystore 8 TB ($180) for my backup drive. I considered shucking an Easystore for my internal drive, but decided it wasn't worth the effort with the possibility of needing to address the legendary SATA issue.

So I found this old pc locally. On facebook marketplace. The person advertising it wants 50 euros for it and it includes a mouse and a keyboard too.

It's an ACER ASPIRE tower but I don't know which model is it, and I asked him but he is not PC savvy. All he knows is these details :

Core2Duo CPU

1TB HDD

GPU with HDMI

4GB Ram

Windows 10 Installed.

Now this pc is not for me, but rather for my father. He only needs it to boot it up, click on movies folder (which I will put myself via USB every week with new movies in it) and double click the movie so it plays and then maximize the movie. That's it. So it's a very basic home theater PC.

The TV is 4K but I'd be happy with 1080P.

Should I just jump the gun for 50 euros? Thanks.

If im planning to just hard wire hdmi from pc to avr, will i be getting good sound quality? or do i need a better sound card?

This is an update to the following post: https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/eg639k/red_lines_flashing_on_home_theater_pc_setup/

Over 2 years later, the lines are back. Even using the same fiber optic cable, but this time I found a solution. I am running up against an HDMI Bandwidth problem. My system was set at 4k@60hz and 8 bit 4:4:4 chroma.

After finding a chart like in this link: https://www.techhive.com/article/3330376/do-i-need-a-4k-hdmi-cable.html I discovered I was running really close to 18Gbps, and my HDMI is supposed to be max 18Gbps. This explains why the issue went away at 30hz, less bandwidth used. I adjusted the settings on my graphics card to 4k @60hz and 12 bit 4:2:0 chroma , and my issues have gone away. I plan on getting an HDMI 2.1 48Gbps HDMI and seeing if I can go back to 4:4:4.

Hope this can help someone from wasting months and losing their mind like I did over this. :)

Hello! I am trying to keep my home theater PC out of sight but I still have peripherals that I need to connect to it fairly frequently. The PC will be kept in a closet 4-6 meters from the TV and the hub needs to be by the tv. I need a cable that can go that long as well as a dock that can support a Logitech wireless peripheral adapter, a xbox 360 controller wireless adapter and possibly 2 USB to game cube controller adapters. 4-6 usb type-A ports needed in total which can be USB 2.0

I'm not super familiar with the limitations of modern technology so please let me know if this is too much to ask from a single hub/cable of that length or what models of hub or cable you suggest.

Hi guys-

I've been going back and forth on this and wanted your input.

I have a jvc nx7 projector and have been gaming w/my ps4 pro and xbox one x on my 7.2.4 setup. Recently my laptop died and i wanted to build my own pc. Was expecting to spend < $700, and wasn't planning on gaming on it.

My goal for this generation is to get a 4k 60hz experience which is the limit of my projector. I was lucky enough to get ahold of a ps5 preorder and was planning on buying an xbox series x next year. Both consoles have goals for this resolution/frame rate, but unsure if they'll actually achieve it.

But the more i read about these new nvidia 30XX cards, I'm thinking i might just be able to build a killer gaming pc. It would also allow me to get into madVR which i've been meaning to do. i've read that the 3070 might not get you 4k 60fps so i'd be looking at a 3080.

I don't have a dedicated space for a desktop in my home theater, so I would set it up in the bedroom behind my projector screen and drill through the wall to feed the hdmi cable and get the ethernet cable to my gigabit switch.

So What do you think i should do?

Should I spend close to $1500 for a killer gaming pc and skip the xbox series X (i have a game pass ultimate subscription which would allow me to game on the pc)? or should i just build a $700 pc and just get an xbox?

I am working on putting together a build that I will be using as a home theater PC/Plex server/HT gaming PC. I am having a hard time deciding on what case I should use for this... I also plan on hooking it up to a 50-65 inch 4k OLED tv preferably one that has a decent refresh rate.

here is the parts list of what I'm planning on putting into it:

PCPartPicker Part List

What I need suggestions on is the case and the TV. What would you recommend?

for the case, I am going to need something that will lay horizontally that I can also put a Blueray reader into.

I'm not picky on the tv as it will be wall mounted.

any other suggestions are welcome!

Hello, im looking to build a NAS/a living room pc to watch 1080p movies for about 250$. I live in poland so here 250$ is quite a lot of money. So, the htpc part is that i want to have a pc in my living room to watch movies and photos. No gaming. So the parts that i was looking at were: athlon 3000G cpu, a MSI A320M mobo (cause its a really cheap am4 board), some two of random 20$ goodram 4gb, 2666mhz cl19 ram sticks, a silentiumpc sprtan 4 cooler, a gigabyte 120GB ssd (for the os), a seagate barracuda as a nas drive (i just happen to have one lying around not doing much), a be quiet system power 9 400W 80 plus bronze psu (i trust be quiet and this build is going to be used for 24/7 operation), and an iBOX VESTA S07 (becaus its the cheapest case that i could find). Im asking for poining out any mistakes in my parts choice please. Is 400W enough? Thanks in advice for help.

Hello everyone! Not really sure if here is the more appropriate place to ask this, but I hope so.

I recently acquired a home theater but I am not managing to setup the surround 5.1 sound. It's the first time I do it so I don't know if I am missing something, but here is what I did:

- Connected an HDMI cable (1) between the HDMI OUT (ARC) port of the receiver and my TV

- Connected an HDMI cable (2) between the HDMI IN port of the receiver and my PC

- Connected an HDMI cable (3) between the HDMI IN port of the receiver and my PS4

However, when I go into the audio settings, it just shows "Stereo" option and doesn't allow me to select Surround 5.1. When I open Netflix no movie shows me the 5.1 audio option (tried with The Revenant). (see last note)

https://preview.redd.it/8soem7tyvxn51.png?width=781&format=png&auto=webp&s=0bc6ad11785ab1525cc3c6668cd55ed360f603c8

Some extra notes:

- With the PS4 it seems to have been recognized normally, since I managed to select the 5.1 audio option in The Revenant on its Netflix app.

- My video card (which is connected to the HDMI cable) is an AMD RX 480.

- [EDIT] I tried Netflix through Firefox and Chrome, didn't try it through the Windows app (although I am not sure if that's gonna make a difference since Windows audio settings is showing only stereo audio anyway).

EDIT [09/28/20]:

I got a new Samsung TV and in Netflix it recognized the 5.1 audio. But I am getting a Digital Optical cable to connect between the TV and the receiver, because my receiver doesnt let my devices to work with HDR when intermediating them.

Hi folks, I am getting RTX3080, and also ps5. Anyone has suggestion on av receiver for 3080 and PS5 ?

PC maybe is easy, because you can use hdmi to the receiver (like 2nd monitor) as the audio input. But PS5 is 4K with 120hz, I’ve been told, a lot of receivers only can do 60hz on output even gives 120hz as input. I have a new bird for home theatre stuff, maybe there are more details I should know, please advise me.

Anyone know a good receiver for 3080 and ps5 ? Of course, I hope the price is kinda reasonable, not those super high end ones. Lol.

1. Don't worry about setting up the number of speakers, just set the output for your HDMI connected to your receiver as Dolby Atmos for Home Theater.
2. You can setup the XBox button on your Xbox One controller to open Steam in Big Picture Mode.
3. Disable the login screen by following these steps

https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/how_to_disable_the_windows_10_login_screen.html

4. Depending on your PC setup turn on HDR in the Windows settings and for recent LG OLEDS turn on GSync in the Nvidia Control Panel. You can also switch to 1440p 120hz here. If you have an AMD GPU then these steps may work: https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/g65mw7/working_freesync_mod_for_vrr_displays_tested_on/

5. Xbox controllers can be used wirelessly with any bluetooth dongle, but get a quality one or get the official xbox one. Edit: Only newer versions of the Xbox one controllers support generic Bluetooth.

6. You can use the output on your receiver to use headphones, and this is by far the easiest setup. You can only use the audio input on the controller if you are using the official xbox adapter. Otherwise you will need to use a USB wireless headset. This comes with the headache of having to switch audio devices. If you remap the xbox button to open the gamebar then you can easily switch audio devices but you lose the ability to open Steam in Big Picture mode.

Issues I am having and would love tips for:

How to launch non-Steam games with only a controller? I have the xbox game pass which has a ton of great games but I have to use a mouse to open them.

Any other UI I can use to make the PC more controller friendly?

Edit: Currently trying Launch Box with the paid Big Box upgrade for a UI that launches non-Steam games and also allows for better controller use. I will report back.

Hi all, I need some help connecting my pc to a 4k tv. I've searched other topics and forums but without any luck finding answer.

Right now I've my pc connected via hdmi to the tv, while the home theater receiver is connected to the tv via hdmi arc. I also have connected to the tv the same way a PS4 and it outputs sound in 5.1. The same thing is with my Wii U and Switch although these are connected to the home theater receiver and they also outputs sound in 5.1.

But returning to the pc - I can't choose the 5.1 sound output in Windows 10, the only available option is stereo. So right now I have 4k video but stereo sound. If I'd connect pc to the home theater receiver, I'd have 5.1 sound but only full hd video as my home theater system has some years on its back already but I can't afford buying a new one right now.

Here're my pc specs:

mobo MSI H110M PRO-VD, H110

gpu Asus GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 (TURBO-GTX1060-6G)

and

home theater system LG BH7540T

tv lg uk6750pld

I'd really appreciate if someone could help me solve this problem.

EDIT

After tips from all of you I managed to connect the pc using 2 hdmi from my gpu: one to the tv (sending video) and the second one to the receiver (sending audio).

This allowed me to choose the 5.1 configuration instead of only stereo by clicking the sound icon in the task bar and I choose my receiver as the sound output in the sound control panel. But now the problem is that there is no sound from any of the speakers - when choosing the 5.1 surround test in the sound control panel, it shows all the 5 speakers but there's no sound from them. Why is that? Do you have any idea how to resolve this?

SOLVED: by poster tuanies:

>Your motherboard supports S/PDIF out, you just need a bracket for the header on the motherboard. https://www.amazon.com/SPDIF-Optical-Plate-Cable-Bracket/dp/B01LWNKIKN

----------------------------------------------------

Original OP:

- What I want to do: have 5.1 surround sound come out of my PC (preferably the max quality the home theater system or sound card can handle).

- What I have:

1. A good desktop PC (Windows 10, Intel motherboard) with only an aux port. The GPU has four video/audio ports (GTX 1070). I am using three of those ports for monitors.
2. A Sony home theater in a box (model DAV-DZ790k) with only optical audio and coaxial as in. It does have an HDMI as out. The system supports Dolby Digital Pro Logic 2 and DTS

- Explanation: I currently have the PC connected to the home theater via aux. I just learned that aux can't handle 5.1 sound. I was going to buy a sound card for the PC but I also found out that optical audio can't handle some of the better audio types out there. Can optical audio handel Dolby Digital Pro Logic 2 and DTS that this home theater supports? Or are those old standards and I can do better with a sound card? If so, how do I connect this new sound car to this home theater system?

- Possible solutions: I can buy an audio card with optical audio out for the PC and use the optical audio to connect the sound from the PC to the home theater. But will optical audio do Dolby Digital Pro Logic 2 and DTS?

Because HDMI is better at audio than optical audio, I thought of looking for a sound card with HDMI out but how would I connect it to the home theater? The home theater only has HDMI out. I have a monitor but it only has HDMI in.

I know this home theater is old now, but it is the best sound system I have. Can I use an converter cables to make it connect with the PS sound card? Is it just easier and not expensive to ge a good sound card and just use the same speakers of the home theater? How would those speakers connect to the sound card though?

Thanks in advance for the help and please ask me to elaborate anything that isn't clear. My ears will be grateful.

I'm kind of enamored with the idea of an htpc. But I can't figure out how it would work. I"m wondering if there are distros, with specific interfaces designed to work with an HTPC type setup.

Where you can sit on a couch several feet away and control the pc (with an air mouse, game controller, or something).

Ideally you would have big icons to select youtube, a media server, games (whether through steam or some emulator), or regular old tv (though I think that can be achieved by just changing the HDMI input).

Does such a thing like this exist?

Edit: I've seen screenshots of android TV...something like that. Only more Linuxy.

If I connect my PC to the HT receiver with an HDMI cable, and the receiver to the TV, I cant use HDR.

If I connect my PC to the TV directly with HDMI, I can use HDR but I cant hear its audio on the HT.

If I buy an Optical Audio Cable and plug it between the TV and the HT receiver, and connect my PC directly to the TV with an HDMI cable, will the sound from the PC play on the Home Theater?