The Ultimate Media Center

[poofyhairguy]

Herein lies my guide for building what I consider to be the best media center I have found. This is one of those do at your own risk sort of things, but I have created a successful version of the goal of the guide. If nothing else hopefully parts might be helpful to some people.

 

Taste of final product:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMm4A0xzvqA

 

This is a guide for building a Plex based media center for playing nearly every type of media file, with a working remote. I have played every type of divx / xvid file possible (even 1080p stuff). I have played the largest 1080p mkvs I can find on the net. I have played m2ts files from Blu Rays perfectly without reencoding. MPEG2, VC-1, and x264 Blu Rays all work when ripped with AnyDvD. MPG files. Files of cameras. Files off a dedicated NAS. Files from both Linux and Windows computers. All with 5.1 surround sound.

 

Play Apple trailers, Hulu, Joost, The Onion, Every Southpark and much more due to the newest Plex's streaming options. Honestly Hulu looks better on Plex than it does on my desktop.

 

Intro and Reasons.

 

First let me explain an earlier claim- this is the best media center so far possible in my opinion. Better then the Windows Media Center, even the Vista one. Better than any standalone playback box like the Popcorn Hour (amazing device but has trouble on some files, plus a so-so interface), the WD TV HD Media Player (nice interface, no network connection), an AppleTV (no 1080p support, doesn’t play many media files without hacking), or a PS3 (no MKV support). I even think it beats out things that share many of its parts- like XBMC on Linux or Windows done to the best they can be done.

 

Since Plex is basically XBMC for OSX it taps into OSXs potential to be a better media box than any of the rest. OSX offers three advantages over any other computer system:

1. It has really good sound support naturally. Every modern Mac can output both analog and digital signals. So Plex can easily support passthrough DTS and AC3 (DD) 5.1 signals to a receiver that can accept it. All you need is the right optical cable (a mini one for real Macs)

2. Every Intel Mac has a remote. Because of this OSX has the best remote support of any OS configuration I have found. The remote is simple (which I like) but the response and simplicity makes the experience the joy it is. Also (outside the scope of this guide) you can use Harmony remotes easily with this setup, as I have used my Harmony 670 with a Apple remote from the beginning.

3. The general stability of OSX’s core and graphics subsystem combined with the usual overall polish Mac apps gets pushes Plex to be the best experience of any media center interface bar none. Only thing close is XBMC on Linux or Windows for obvious reasons, yet I will attest that of the three OSXs unix nature combined with the polish has lead to a stability that I have rarely seen in any media device. You can literally make an appliance.

 

Limitations of this Setup

 

I want to get out in the open early on the two major limitations I have found so that no one gets disappointed later.

 

1. Currently Plex does not handle Linear PCM, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Maybe the newest versions of the software can handle some of it technically, since there is no Mac (or Hackintosh) that can output PCM over an HDMI the bandwidth restrictions of an optical connection won’t allow it. What Plex will do is downconvert most of these formats to DTS or AC3 so they work without redoing on the file (even though sometimes I will open a m2ts file from a Blu Ray in TSmuxer and strip out the HD audio and then remux it because every Blu Ray I have found also has either a DTS or AC3 track and the downconversion sometimes causes the audio to skip).

2. No hardware acceration (as in GPU acceration). You CPU does all the work, as long as the graphics card is at least Quartz compatible. What Plex will do is an amazing job of using multiple cores to play media files. In the next section I will give a better idea what CPU is needed.

 

Hardware Considerations

 

First things first- this will not work for PowerPC Macs. Only Intel Macs and Hackintoshes. Also no AppleTvs. Also you must have OSX Leopard (any point release).

 

I have tried many Macs and hacks as media centers over the last few months, so I have put together a range to CPU power and what plays smooth at every range.

 

Single Core- Divx of almost every sort. 480p content galore. Some x264 720p files but not many.

 

Dual Core 1.6-1.8GHz- Every Divx, Every x264 720p file made well. Many 1080p mkvs files (I find the ones over 8 gigs for a two hour movie start to hurt). MPEG2 Blu Rays m2ts files, but almost no x264, VC-1 (which is most of the them) Blu Rays.

 

Dual Core 1.9-2.4GHZ- Everything from last range but many more of the best 1080p mkvs the internet has to offer will play well, plus some many more m2ts files.

 

Dual Core 2.6-3.0+GHZ- Everything except m2ts files that still have their HD tracks. No reencoding ever.

 

So as far as recommend buying hardware I have to break it into two groups:

 

For real Macs I recommend at least a Dual Core Mini and the 2.2 GHZ one with 2GB RAM if you can afford it- you will be able to play every file you can come across-even blu ray rips. RAM matter less than CPU after 2GBs. The OSX program Handbrake can rip regular DVDs and add them to your media box very easily at high quality.

 

For a real Mac you need an optical cable with a 1/8 (or mini) adaptor to plug into the headphone port (Which Plex tells it to go digital). Also a HDMI to DVI cable would be needed to hook to a TV. I also find a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to be invaluable.

 

I love hacking on things and making something custom so I have gone the Hackintosh route. I don’t want to flesh out hacintoshing here, but I will give some key pointers.

 

First of all, please buy OSX. Its worth it.

 

The best motherboards for hackintoshing I think are the P35-DS3l and P35-DS3R. Here is a wonderful guide of how to set a hacintosh up with one of these mobos:

 

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.as...MVIEWTMP=Linear

 

Also you can just use the XXX hackintosh distro from the bay of pirates as it works great with no extra options checked.

 

I love a good low end 7xxx series Nvidia cards for hacintoshing as they are cheap and you don’t need much GPU for this project. DVI to HDMI adaptor does the trick.

 

I have found that 2 GB of RAM seems to be enough. I have never had a file use all of it if Plex is the only program running. But I will say 1 GB is too little for many 1080p files.

 

With the default options in the XXX distro the sound card will pass dts and AC3 over its optical if you select the digital output in both the System Prefrences and Plex's settings.

 

If YOU ALREADY HAVE OTHER COMPUTER HACKED AND THE ONBOARD AUDIO WON'T WORK

 

Maybe the best advice in my guide is that I have found that various hackintosh methods of utilizing onboard audio can cause problems with Plex (especially if you can surround). Its much better to use a driver that comes with OSX instead of one added, but the only OSX sound driver hacintoshes can use is the USB one.

 

The Creative Labs USB Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 is by far the best OSX usb sound card I have found. Not only is it plug and play, but it supports DTS and AC3 passthrough for its sdpif output in Plex. I went through many other USB sound cards to find this one.

 

Finally there is two ways of adding a remote to a Hackintosh Plexbox. The easier way is to buy a Mira and Mantra TR1 from twistedmelon.com. You plug it in, install the Mira software and it works- kinda. I tried this method first, and I will say it has major downsides. The fact that the Mantra is a regular USB receiver means it suffers from the same lack of accuracy and need for third party software to work that plagues other OS platforms. It just disappoints when compared to a real Apple IR port.

 

The second and much better option of adding a remote is following this guide:

 

http://photos.pottebaum.com/gallery/7075206_LwKc4

 

Newest verison of Plex (7.x) has amazing Logitech Harmony remote support. You just have to tell the logitech software that you need to add a plex device and tell Plex you have a Harmony it its settings.

 

This lets you add a Macbook Pros USB port. This method cost me $46 total, and worked plug and play. No Mira or Remote Buddy needed. Works great with my Harmony Remote as well.

 

Whatever remote option you use, make sure to enable the middle option on the remote setup screen.

 

Here is my final project hardware:

 

3.0GHZ Core 2 Duo

P35-DS3l

2GB 800MHZ ram

7300 GS 256MB passive cooled

Creative Labs USB Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1

Regular optical cable

Thermaltake Soprano Dx Case

120 MM fans for quietness

One fast 160GB Sata drive for OSX

3 1.5 TB Hard Disks for storage (no Raid as Plex does need it- all HFS+ partitions)

Sony IDE CD BURNER

Logitech Harmony 670

 

Basic Software Setup

 

The newest versions of Plex (7.x) include many new options such as Harmony support.

 

Download the stable Plex, and drag it into applications folder.

 

Many people consider Plex hard to use, but you just have to have it explained first then it is easy.

 

You add storage folders underneath the Videos option. When you add a source, make sure to “set content” to either be Movies of TV shows. When you do that and name files what Plex wants you to name them then Plex will download all the information on your files from the internet and add the files to the Movies and TV sections with full artwork and descriptions. Here is the guide for file names:

 

http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/Getting_...our_Video_files

 

Some other Plex hints- for the 5.x version you have to go into the audio settings and set the ouput to be digital to get passthrough surround. Also to get full screen you have to go to the appearance menu in the setup options.

 

I find AFP plus gigabit ethernet (or if you have to 802.11n) works best if you are going to stream HD movies off a NAS or server. Here is a guide to turn an Ubuntu box into a AFP server:

 

http://www.kremalicious.com/2008/06/ubuntu...machine-volume/

 

Final Notes:

 

To rip Blu Ray files you need a Windows Computer, a Blu Ray rom drive and AnyDVD software. I use TSmuxer to combine m2ts streams that come from Blu Rays or to take out HD audio (needed for DTS-HD tracks to prevent stuttering).

 

AnyDVD HD is easy to use but a little pricy. When it rips a Blu Ray look in the streams folder and sort by size. Biggest one is your movie. Rename and add to Plex.

[tha_toadman]

right on! thanks for the post, poofyhairguy. keep us posted if you can on any updates to this project.

 

i'm seriously kicking around a media center myself and thought that a 'plex' box with playon added to it might be the best option. i really don't want popcorn hour, mythtv, or WMC/WHS box but would like the features of them all in one solution. i think this might be it! thanks again and please keep us posted.

[poofyhairguy]

i'm seriously kicking around a media center myself and thought that a 'plex' box with playon added to it might be the best option. i really don't want popcorn hour, mythtv, or WMC/WHS box but would like the features of them all in one solution. i think this might be it! thanks again and please keep us posted.

 

Nothing beats Plex. Plays every file I have (and I promise I have all the edge cases any normal pirate would). Looks great. Surround sound without fighting!

 

I am so glad that we have the option.

 

I think software solutions like this will always beat out dedicated boxes like a Popcorn Hour.

[tha_toadman]

Well, so far so good. I've made my USB IR receiver like that link you posted had instructions for. I tested it on another Mac here at home and it works great! I think I'll probably be opting though for a Harmony 550 remote to control it all.

 

Man, I'm getting sooo excited to build this but just don't have the funds as of yet. It'll happen but it's just gonna be slow going.

[poofyhairguy]

Added more info about newest Plex software, digital audio update, and updated info about remotes.

 

With the newest Plex supporting Hulu, there is no longer a point to Boxee (yes I hate social networking things that shouldn't be).

[MacNutty]

Great. Thanks.

[tha_toadman]

OK, so I have to ask this question...

 

With the audio, this board has digital out but yet you recommend a USB 5.1. I know M-Audio makes OSX compatible boards for sound but I guess I'm just looking for anything that is internal and yet it seems as though there really aren't that many options to choose from. Is it a stability thing with onboard audio or is it the 5.1? I'm trying to make my build as streamlined as possible and less external devices the better but I'm thinking that at some point, I'll probably break down and get the Creative 5.1 like you had mentioned. I'm just curious to know what the other options are or what you have tried yourself.

 

As for the remote IR receiver, I'm contemplating putting mine under the case and then putting something transparent in front of it so that (again) I don't have yet another USB device hanging off of it externally. I've also pondered drilling a hole for the receiver but the case is so beautiful that I've killed that idea.

 

So far, for me, I have the case and the motherboard. More parts are on order as we speak but it will still be awhile until I have this box finished off. I'm just so damn anxious now...

[tha_toadman]

Well...

 

I haven't heard back from anyone so I said "screw it" and went ahead with my audio purchase. I bought an M-Audio Audiophile 192 card and then purchased a S/PDIF cable to run to my surround sound HTiB setup. It's received rave reviews everywhere I've looked and with Mac support, installation and setup should be a breeze. I'm anxious to hear the sound quality once everything arrives.

[poofyhairguy]

Well...

 

I haven't heard back from anyone so I said "screw it" and went ahead with my audio purchase. I bought an M-Audio Audiophile 192 card and then purchased a S/PDIF cable to run to my surround sound HTiB setup. It's received rave reviews everywhere I've looked and with Mac support, installation and setup should be a breeze. I'm anxious to hear the sound quality once everything arrives.

 

I have head great things about that card. It is maybe the best USB soundcard you can get in OSX. My creative is a cheapie usb to toslink adaptor in comparison.

 

Recommended CPU for the job:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819116074

 

The hardest part about the receiver is making it pretty!

[tha_toadman]

I have to ask, why a dual core and not a C2D? I'm just curious...

 

I want something that will push 1080p no problem and I'm still torn on the virtualization but the more I think about it, the less I think I'll be running it on a media center machine (or if at all). I appreciate your recommendation but would like to hear your thoughts as to why you choose that proc over others (like C2D or even a Quad). Thanks in advance!

[ccfiel]

poofyhairguy,

 

thanks for you post. I want to make also an media center. I tried to find the "Creative Labs USB Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1" for the sound card. Is this the one? http://us.creative.com/products/product.as...17751&nav=3. If its is. I did not says its support mac. Did i miss something? thanks in advance!

 

chris

[tha_toadman]

poofyhairguy,

 

thanks for you post. I want to make also an media center. I tried to find the "Creative Labs USB Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1" for the sound card. Is this the one? http://us.creative.com/products/product.as...17751&nav=3. If its is. I did not says its support mac. Did i miss something? thanks in advance!

 

chris

 

It is supported. If you search around, you'll find it will work but the reports say that the system volume is permanently stuck at 100%. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but that's what I've heard.

[ccfiel]

It is supported. If you search around, you'll find it will work but the reports say that the system volume is permanently stuck at 100%. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but that's what I've heard.

 

Thanks for the reply. I think I do not want to go to that direction buying creative that is half supported. Anyways, You are using "M-Audio Audiophile 192" for your sound is it fully supported mac os? why did not used m-audio transit?

 

chris

[tha_toadman]

Thanks for the reply. I think I do not want to go to that direction buying creative that is half supported. Anyways, You are using "M-Audio Audiophile 192" for your sound is it fully supported mac os? why did not used m-audio transit?

 

chris

 

According to the website it is although I'm still in the building process so I haven't had a chance to test it yet but it's said to work great. I'll let you know when I finish building the system -- probably middle to late next week. It came with an installer disc and the site + the box have Mac logos on them. The only crappy part about it is that it's ~$130 for the card. I figured though that if I'm ever going to be streaming films in the future, I might as well throw down the cash now and get the output that my system can handle. So my reasoning for not going with the Transit was simply that I didn't want much stuff hanging externally out of the box. Plus, I have the nice 5.1 sound system and figured that the Audiophile 192 would compliment it nicely.

 

I've gone back on my word about mounting the IR receiver externally and I just went to ebay and found a store selling the eHome USB box for Dell/Windows MCE Remotes. I plan to use that. I'll try to put some pics on a site when I'm done with my build.

 

I also debated on a quad core vs c2d and opt'ed to go with the c2d simply because it supports virtualization. I found a link to a plug-in that had to run under windows (?) but added Hulu support to Plex so I said to myself, 'might as well get the support'. We'll see how it goes.

[tha_toadman]

Thanks for the reply. I think I do not want to go to that direction buying creative that is half supported. Anyways, You are using "M-Audio Audiophile 192" for your sound is it fully supported mac os? why did not used m-audio transit?

 

chris

 

OK I'm pretty pissed off!

 

So apparently, the M-Audio card is PPC only and not Intel supported! They have a petition in now for Intel drivers but it's been going on for 9 months now so I got an RMA and said 'screw that'. I think now that I'm gonna just stick to my onboard audio for now.

 

As for the video card, I previous had tried an XFX board that was recommended to me, but that didn't have a working DVI port on the card so I said 'screw that' and returned that card too. Haven't really been having much luck on the audio and video front but I hope to have it all resolved soon.