Smallest PC that I can run 7MC on

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woodchuck

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Smallest PC that I can run 7MC on

#1

Post by woodchuck » Thu Jun 15, 2017 4:25 pm

What are the smallest PC's that 7MC has successfully been installed on? Anyone do a Raspberry PI?

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Scallica

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#2

Post by Scallica » Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:20 pm

HTPC Enthusiast / Forum Moderator - TGB.tv Code of Conduct

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Doctor Feelgood

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#3

Post by Doctor Feelgood » Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:25 pm

Pi's are not really for Windows... You can run Windows, but not like you might be expecting... Especially for graphical stuff like Media Center. There are more powerful Pi alternatives that can do it, but they may be limited too. Not sure what would happen with things like extenders or multiple recordings.

There are plenty of miniature PCs with more traditional architecture that would work, but will be way more expensive than a Pi... Perhaps more than a normal sized PC (but you're paying for the tininess)... Maybe the ECS LIVA, Zotac ZBOX, Intel NUC

kd6icz

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#4

Post by kd6icz » Fri Jun 16, 2017 1:49 am

I have three of these running Windows 7 64bit and Media Center. You can get one up and running for under $200 with 4GB RAM and a WD 1TB AV drive.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Mini-PcBarebon ... -rev-10#ov

They include a VESA mount to hide them behind the TV. Paired with the Keyspan RF WMC remote and you have a totally stealth WMC DVR setup.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

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#5

Post by mdavej » Fri Jun 16, 2017 2:40 am


Slinkynose

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#6

Post by Slinkynose » Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:23 pm

I know you said smallest and not cheapest, and I have to congratulate Scallica on finding a compute stick that doesn't use eMMC storage, but in case you were looking for a cheap, small reasonably attractive solution I have been looking for the same thing.

I have found quite a few option on Ali Express under the Mini PC category. I have an XYC that I got for $186 from Gearbest, but that is out of stock now. The cpus have been a mix of pentiums and i3s, but the 1037u in the xyc has been totally up to the task of running WMC as an "extender" only.

Some tips from my experiences -
1. These small boxes probably won't deliver the best experience if it is your main server.
2. You can use a Symlink to map the recording drive on your main server to the "extender" MiniPC
3. You cannot install windows 7 on eMMC, which most of the compute sticks and Mini-PCs from China use.

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DavidinCT

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#7

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Jun 20, 2017 12:06 am

If your watching TV. you have tuners to think about (networkable ones could be an option), then you have storage. If your going to store movies or record a lot of shows, how much space do you need ? 1 - 5 tb ? Then you need a IR board or USB device so you can control via remote. A few things that will make a tiny system large.

So, small/tiny size might not be the BEST thing for a HTPC...
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

mdavej

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#8

Post by mdavej » Tue Jun 20, 2017 4:41 pm

DavidinCT wrote:If your watching TV. you have tuners to think about (networkable ones could be an option), then you have storage. If your going to store movies or record a lot of shows, how much space do you need ? 1 - 5 tb ? Then you need a IR board or USB device so you can control via remote. A few things that will make a tiny system large.

So, small/tiny size might not be the BEST thing for a HTPC...
This is exactly why I went with a small desktop unit with everything inside one box instead of a tiny computer plus all the other boxes and power bricks you have to plug in to make it work. Not to mention the premium you have to pay for tiny. A small system can easily be bigger than a traditional desktop when you consider all the external components you have to add (tuners, drives, IR interface, etc.).

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DavidinCT

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#9

Post by DavidinCT » Wed Jun 21, 2017 9:17 pm

mdavej wrote:
DavidinCT wrote:If your watching TV. you have tuners to think about (networkable ones could be an option), then you have storage. If your going to store movies or record a lot of shows, how much space do you need ? 1 - 5 tb ? Then you need a IR board or USB device so you can control via remote. A few things that will make a tiny system large.

So, small/tiny size might not be the BEST thing for a HTPC...
This is exactly why I went with a small desktop unit with everything inside one box instead of a tiny computer plus all the other boxes and power bricks you have to plug in to make it work. Not to mention the premium you have to pay for tiny. A small system can easily be bigger than a traditional desktop when you consider all the external components you have to add (tuners, drives, IR interface, etc.).
I hear ya. I still have D.Vine case with the VFD display (that still works perfectly after all these years), so it has a full ATX board in it and about 14tb of storage total (a few drives) but, if you really trying to go for a small foot print, it all maters on your needs. If your just for TV and do a networkable model, sure, you can get a few TB on some smaller form factors (2.5" for 2TB) but, any larger drives, your going to need 3.5" drives and that alone will trash the though if using a USB PC option if you try to keep all together.

Or you will just need a bunch of boxes and that makes more of a mess than just a larger box...
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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#10

Post by suttonb1 » Fri Jul 07, 2017 2:56 pm

May not be the absolute smallest, but it sure works the best for a total solution.

My config:
Intel NUC6i5SYH (H model has room for an m2 drive and a 2.5" laptop sized drive)
32GB HyperX DDR4 2133MHz (yea, it's overkill. 16 will be more than enough)
Samsung 256GB 850 Evo m2 (used as my main system drive)
HGST - Travelstar 7K1000 1TB 2.5" SATA (used to store all recordings, etc)
Logitech K830 wireless keyboard/trackpad (really is the best compact wireless keyboard/mouse combo. rechargeable, but the battery lasts FOREVER)
Generic USB3 hub (NUC only has 4 USB ports, and I'd rather not use the 2 on the front)
Generic Bluray drive (that I've used very sparingly to rip kids CD's. I don't own any physical discs!)
Logitech Harmony 350 remote (NUC has a front side IR receiver. best remote for WMC, and often only $20 on Amazon)
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 running Media Center

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#11

Post by Venom51 » Fri Jul 07, 2017 4:59 pm

If the compute stick had a RJ45 jack and you didn't have to rely on wireless that would be sweet for the way I deployed my setup. No need for large amounts of local storage as the iSCSI mappings I did have worked out great so far.

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#12

Post by JSylvia007 » Mon Jul 10, 2017 2:02 am

Venom51 wrote:If the compute stick had a RJ45 jack and you didn't have to rely on wireless that would be sweet for the way I deployed my setup. No need for large amounts of local storage as the iSCSI mappings I did have worked out great so far.
I bet you could get a USB Network adapter. It comes with USB 3.0, so you should be able to get near 1gbit... This seems like a nice addition to the fact that extenders are getting harder and harder to find.

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JohnG

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#13

Post by JohnG » Mon Jul 17, 2017 8:49 pm

I bought one of these HP T620 Plus thin clients and was running my ceton infinitv in it before I got rid of HD cable and now just have a HVR 1250 low profile tuner card in it and it works awesome. I have it setup to boot directly to WMC and it just runs 24/7 and it is dead silent. It is a AMD GX-420CA 2.0 GHz quad core cpu and I upped the ram to 8gb. I run a 128gb m2 ssd in the m2 slot and a 64gb mini pcie ssd in the msata slot as I don't really care about recording any programming. It does have USB 3.0 on it so if you wanted to add a external hard drive you could use it to record on. http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-T620-Plus-Fl ... SwfVpYqiwI

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