[greggplummer]

My good old Windows 7 HTPC bit the dust and now I'm trying to decide what to do. The options I'm considering are 1) replacing/repairing the HTPC, 2) replacing it with a streaming box like the NVIDIA Shield and connecting it to my HDHomeRun devices for live and recorded TV, or 3) replacing it with a streaming box and drop cable TV.

For this thread, I'll concentrate on the first option. I'll ask questions about the other options over in the 'Networking, Media Servers, & Content Streaming' forum.

I built my HTPC around 2004, so it's about 15 years old. Obviously, my HTPC did not support 4K. That wasn't a problem because our HDTV is only 1080p. If I replace or upgrade this system, it would make sense to get components that will be compatible with 4K because we will eventually upgrade to 4K.

At this time, I would prefer to build a new PC and reuse whatever components I can from the old PC. That means buying a new motherboard, CPU, RAM, graphics card, SSD and power supply. I can probably re-use the hard drives and Lian Li PC-V800B case. Here's a shopping list of the components I'd need to buy, along with the current prices:

MB: MSI H110M PRO-VD - $45
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 8M Skylake Quad-Core 4.0 GHz - $300
RAM: G.SKILL Flare X Series 32GB - $141
GPU card: PNY GeForce GTX 1060 6GB - $155
SSD: Mushkin Source - 500GB 2.5 Inch - SATA III -$53
PS: EVGA 550 B3, 80+ Bronze 550W - $90
total component cost = $784

Wow. That's a lot more than I was hoping to spend. It doesn't look like I could cut enough corners to get this down to only a few hundred dollars.

For now, I'd like it to run Windows 7 and WMC. Can anyone think of potential problems running Windows 7 on a modern PC? Are there any issues with drivers etc.? Can you use Windows 7 to view 4K content?

 

[greggplummer]

I could also consider Windows 10 and an alternative to WMC for watching and recording TV. I've tried J.River Media Center v25 and the HDHomeRun View app on my Windows 10 laptop and they work okay with my HDHomeRun Prime and HDHomeRun Dual. My Spectrum cable TV service with CableCARD works with my Prime, and I have an antenna in our attic attached to the Dual for OTA broadcasts. However, neither of these applications are as nice as the UI and functionality of WMC, especially the HDHomeRun View app, so it would be a downgrade IMO.

Or, I could replace WMC with Plex or Kodi or some other modern alternative. Having no experience with either of those programs, I'd like some advice regarding this option. I have an UnRAID media server and could use plugins for those programs that might integrate with my network. However, I'd need to upgrade UnRaid from v5 to v6. I haven't bothered with that upgrade yet because v5 has been working great for over 10 years (I probably already went from v4 to v5 during that period).

Any opinions about these options?

 

[greggplummer]

We have several laptops running Windows 10 Home. Connecting them via HDMI to our HDTV works but is a hassle. The Windows 10 apps for Netflix and Hulu can't simultaneously display the video on both my laptop and the HDMI connected TV. When the display is duplicated, the video on these apps show on my laptop but is blank on the TV and I only get the audio. The video will show on the TV if I set the 2nd display to extend. Moving windows between the 2 displays is difficult because of the different screen resolutions. My laptop has 4K resolution and the TV is only 1080p. When I move a window on my 4K laptop to the TV, the window expands beyond the TV's border and is blown up to become unusable. Maybe this problem is unique to my laptop. It's a MSI gaming laptop and has 2 graphics controllers - the built in Intel graphics and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 GPU.

I didn't have the problem of duplicating the display with my wife's ASUS laptop. However, she doesn't use the Netflix or Hulu apps and instead views them with her Chrome browser. So maybe the problem is with the apps. I haven't determined if there's much difference between the PQ of the apps vs the browser.

I don't think it's practical to use my laptop as a media PC, even if I can solve the above problem. My laptop has a 17" 4K screen that is 100% AdobeRGB and is usually hooked up to a SpyderX color calibration tool. I use it a lot for editing photos. However, I could buy a similarly powerful laptop and dedicate it for this purpose. There's one on our local Craigslist that compares to mine. It has an Intel Core i7 6820hk unlocked quad-core, GTX 1070 8GB GPU, 32GB DDR4 2666 RAM and a 250GB PCIe SSD. All I might need is a external hard drive to increase the storage capacity. They're asking $500 for it because the LCD screen cracked and has been removed. It should work fine when it is connected to our HDTV via HDMI. Does anyone see any problems with my logic here?

 

[grittree]

I don't think Skylake can install win7. Latest are Haswell & Broadwell. Socket 1150.



Not sure if HTPC needs to do 4K HDR. All that can be done by the TV using streaming apps or Bluray.

 

[rekbones]

I would just fix your old HTPC and run WMC for as long as you can. From my research there is nothing that comes close to replacing it. My win7 PC I had setup for DVR/WMC bit the dust and I replaced it with HDhomerun DVR service on my WIN10 server but it is a lousy piece of software but I only need it to watch local OTA and record CBS as all other channels are covered by my Hulu subscription. As for Netflix, Hulu and any other apps I use FireTV's loaded with Kodi everywhere except in the theater. I dropped cable several years ago. Plex and Kodi can't replace WMC as they can only serve as a front end and the pirate apps are unreliable and not legal. The only flaw in the FireTV's is they won't support lossless audio but if you step up to a shield you can get lossless also.

 

[captain_video]

There is no other option if you watch and record DRMed content on HBO, Fox, etc. other than a Tivo or your provider's DVR. The 1st generation Ryzen CPUs will support Windows 7 but you need to merge the USB 3.0 and or NVMe drivers into the Windows 7 installation image. I know that Gigabyte offers a tool and the drivers for this on their driver download pages and there are other motherboards that support it as well. Other than going with older hardware you'll be hard pressed to find any new hardware that supports Windows 7. Check the manufacturer's website to see if they supply drivers before you buy a new motherboard. You should also check your CPU for Win 7 compatibility.

Another option is to find a used motherboard on ebay and simply swap it with your bad one, assuming that's the culprit. You should check to see what actually failed and then replace just that component for the cheapest possible solution. If you want a HTPC that also does 4k you may have to switch to Win 10 as drivers for a 4k graphics card may not be available for Win 7.

I have both a Windows 7 HTPC that I use as a DVR and a Windows 10 HTPC that I use for playing 4k content and archived video files as well as music using JRiver Media Center. I also use a Shield for streaming content from Netflix and Amazon and the occasional YouTube video. You can buy a used Windows 7 PC for next to nothing these days so investing in new hardware may not be the best solution. Having two HTPCs dedicated to specific tasks really works well for me. You can build a nice small form factor HTPC that does the job and doesn't take up much space.

 

[dschlic1]

I have a HTPC that I use to record OTA and play music. I had Win 10 Pro installed on it using KODI. Because I record OTA TV, the HTPC is left powered on all of the time. Win 10 Pro continiously gave me problems. MS would push through an update, and things would stop working. Also Win 10 and KODI combination did not like my AVR being powered on/off.



I finally called it quits and installed Libreelec and have not looked back. Some minor hassle in the intial settings, but once dailed in, I have no problems with the system. Of course this would not work for CableCard.

 

[grittree]

The really nice thing about using Win 7 WMC for viewing TV is the fantastic interface.

To my knowledge, only WMC lets you skip ads with two button presses. 6 + skip instantly skips 3.5 mins. Then there is FF speeds of 1.8/10/100x.

I get a perfect picture using just i3 graphics, and any old Z87 or Z97 system is all you need.

Ebay is your source.

 

[captain_video]

The really nice thing about using Win 7 WMC for viewing TV is the fantastic interface.

To my knowledge, only WMC lets you skip ads with two button presses. 6 + skip instantly skips 3.5 mins. Then there is FF speeds of 1.8/10/100x.

I get a perfect picture using just i3 graphics, and any old Z87 or Z97 system is all you need.

Ebay is your source.

Tivo remotes also have a 30-second skip feature built-in. If you use Comskip or ShowAnalyzerSuite with WMC you can skip past most commercials with a single button press.

 

[Charles R]

To my knowledge, only WMC lets you skip ads with two button presses. 6 + skip instantly skips 3.5 mins.

TiVo now offers AutoSkip... no buttons required! However it isn't available on all content... over 95% of what I record. I used WMC for years and truly enjoyed the experience. I replaced it with DVBLink (back in the day) as it was more client/server friendly... and enjoyed it as well.