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[Z0001]

Hi there

We are going to get a 4K TV and need a second HTPC.

I am waiting for the Intel Dragon Canyon to replace our main HTPC, but thought in the meantime that I could test out how effective NUCs are as HTPCs by getting a more "bargain" NUC for our kids. Then depending on its performance I can make a call on a Dragon and/or a new graphics card.

We don't really to transposing, or playing to different devices (we are all Windows), so our graphic card needs may be minor.

I can then re-use our existing HTPC as a server and put it in the garage or somewhere out of sight.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a NUC for this second HTPC use?

Cheers!
Z

[bob]

A NUC11 will do 4k with MC, a NUC10 will probably as well.

[zybex]

I like the Gigabyte Brix - I have this one:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Mini-PcBarebone/GB-BMPD-6005-rev-10#ov

The fan is virtually silent. It plays everything including 4K HEVC at very high bitrates with the embedded GPU, very smooth. I use MadVR but with DXVA scaling (GPU-acceleration instead of CPU), which is perfect enough for my taste.

[Z0001]

Thanks for this.

So it is sounding like those little NUC boxes will play my 1080p and UHD Blu ray rips (mkv and iso) to a 4K screen using just integrated graphics no problem?

I'm a bit confused as I always thought that a discrete graphics card was needed ... what has changed to make this possible?

Currently have a large, dead, (expensive) HTPC under the TV ... A little box in the living room might get family approval!

Cheers
Z

[zybex]

Yep, no problem. iGPUs in these 10W processors have been able to do this with no problem for many years already. It's only if you want to use some heavy upscaling/downscaling algorithms that you need a more powerful CPU and a discrete GPU. Personally I really don't see the need, specially if you're playing native 4K that won't require any up/down scaling for your TV.  Even when upscaling 1080p to 4K I hardly notice any image quality difference between an iGPU and a discrete GPU running the latest algorithms and spending 10x the wattage.

Nothing beats the high WAF of these little silent boxes They can even be VESA-mounted behind the TV.

I wrote a sort of review here, you might want to read the entire thread:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,126065.msg873605.html#msg873605

Meanwhile MC now has a new video renderer (JRVR), but I haven't tested it yet so I don't know if it works well with an iGPU (it should). As I use MPC-HC as the actual player, I don't do much testing on that part of MC. However, even Red-October mode (HQ or not) in MC is fine as long as you enable the automatic display frequency switching to match the movie being played, and use DXVA2 options for scaling. They it's all smooth playback.

[JimH]

Meanwhile MC now has a new video renderer (JRVR), but I haven't tested it yet ...

What!?

[zybex]

I'll give it a spin soon.
I've said multiple times that I use MC just as a catalog, and MPC-HC as the player

Main reasons: player features and configuration options such as automatic/manual subtitle download, subtitle delay adjust, audio delay adjust, better seek controls, seekbar preview (like youtube), adjustable playback speed (1.20x for most documentaries is nice), custom hotkeys for everything, etc.

It still uses MadVR and LAV filters, so in terms of display quality it's the same/similar. Each time I re-test MC's embedded player, it loses badly on features.

[Z0001]

This is all very encouraging re WAF impact.

So to be clear, if I have a 4k screen, and 1080p content a nuc should play it fine? What about 720? Still ok? Is this "upscaling" you referred to?

Are there any fanless silent nucs that people might recommend?

Thanks for the very helpful feedback

Z

[zybex]

Correct, it's just a matter of configuring it correctly (once). I'm yet to find anything that doesn't play smoothly, from 320p to 4K.

There are some fanless NUCs out there - before this one I had a fanless Zotac. But the fan on these 10W units is pretty much inaudible, even when nothing's playing. I have it on 24/7 in my living room; it also acts as MC Server, Proxy and a bunch of other functions. Great HTPC for my needs.

[Z0001]

Think I am holding out for the Brix Intel 12th gen ...

On a slightly different line ...

How do these little nucs and brix iGPU boxes go with the streaming services, Netflix, Disney+, Stan, Binge, Prime, Windows Film  etc? Is the quality ok going to a 4K screen?

Thanks all!!!
Z

[Z0001]

Another follow up!

My media is all HD not 4k UHD. With a Brix to a 4k TV, is it the Brix/MC or the TV that does the upscalling to 4k? Can you choose if one is better?

Thanks
Z

[zybex]

Streaming works fine, though I don't really like it because their player apps (or browser) don't adjust the TV refresh rate to match the movie, so some streams are not smooth. I prefer to buy/download/rip, then play the file via MC or MPC-HC.

You can use either the TV or the PC for upscaling, but the PC quality is usually much better and allows you a choice of algorithm and fine tuning of many preferences. The hardware iGPU scaler (via DXVA2) is perfect enough for my eyes and uses almost no CPU/GPU/Power. It's much MUCH better than the upscaling my TV provides, even though they both probably use a variation of Lanczos (or perhaps this TV is doing Bilinear upscaling, I'm not sure). This may be different for newer TV sets, but I would bet that it's always worse compared to doing the upscaling on a PC.

[jmone]

Yup the no "Auto Refresh Rate Change" and the no RC support with the streaming apps drives me nuts.  I've also tried a bunch of "streaming" boxes and I find most are pretty unstable (especially with the Apple TV app).  The "best" I've found for streaming is the Apply TV box (will do frame rate changing and does not crash as much).

Serious veiwing is done by MC on HTPC's and even my older NUC7 / NUC8 running JRVR (under Win11 with HDR on all the time) work acceptably well with lower JRVR Settings.  I'm looking forward to seeing if 12th gen NUC style boxes will allow better JRVR performance though.

[Z0001]

Good to know.

Definitely MC is only way to go for high quality viewing.

Are the streaming apps on 4k TVs any better than their PC versions, in terms of usability and picture/audio quality? Presumably they have RC and manage the picture quality?