ExPat TV Box for 20,000 baht - kinda-sorta

[Garzan]

This isn't a thread on how to do a Kodi box for the least amount of money. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think you're likely to beat a $35USD Raspberry Pi 3 and free Kodi. Also, this is not a box I'm selling, so I put this in the techy area, rather than the for sale area.

 

This is more in the way of a 'one box to rule them all' sort of thing, and the 20,000 baht is only for the configuration I picked. It can go up or down depending on whether you choose the Celeron version, or go up to the i7 version. I went with the i5 version.

 

So what did I get? An Intel NUC6i5SYH. It's basically an UltraBook laptop folded into a 4"x4"x2" box, and comes without RAM or drives. For mine, I decided on 8GB of DDR4 SODIMM (2x4GB), and a 500GB M.2 drive (about the size of a stick of gum.) You can easily put 16GB of SODIMMs in if you are so inclined. I also had an old 250GB spinning disk I took out of my laptop when I installed an SSD into it that I put into the HTPC just because. Add in a keyboard and a webcam, and I figured, good to go.

 

 

As mentioned, the Intel NUC does not come with memory or drives. The laptop size SODIMMs snap onto the main board just like they do on a typical laptop, and the M.2 drive slots in on the main board as well. There is an enclosure for a 2.5 inch drive on the base plate. Fortunately the kit comes with an International power supply. Apparently the older versions came with a power block, but you had to go out and buy your own country specific wall cord. That is no longer an issue. Installing memory and drives takes maybe five minutes, put the base plate back on, and you are ready to go.

 

 

There is no included OS, so you're free to choose some sort of linux, or some version of Windows. In my case, I installed Windows 10 Pro from a USB stick. The online guides I read kept talking about needing to go to the Intel site, and putting the lan / wifi drivers on the USB, but in my case, once Windows started updating itself, all the Intel drivers needed got automatically installed. The only remaining basic install issue was going to the Intel site, and downloading the Windows firmware updater for the NUC. This part was super easy, run the exe, it reboots, and on the way back up, updates the boxes firmware.

 

 

The only thing left now was to configure Windows, and load applications, like Kodi, Halo(s), Steam, etc. With 8GB of RAM, and Intel Iris 540 graphics on the Skylake i5-6260U processor, if your games will play on a laptop, they should have no problems playing on this box. Through the HDMI connector, my Samsung 46" TV screen is 1920 x 1080, 60p, and you get to play on your sofa, without some long ass cord running from your laptop. :-)

 

Could I have done this for less money? Sure. An i3 version probably would have been just fine for all I want to do, and if I was only interested in Kodi, maybe the Pentium or Celeron versions. However, I wanted the onboard Iris graphics, and that meant i5 or i7. This gets me a HTPC at roughly three times the cost of my Minix box, which is now moving to the bedroom. I've also got a reasonable sofa gaming box that is quite a bit more powerful than my current laptop (Inspiron 1545). And finally, I have a general purpose sofa based home computer that the family can use. All that doesn't mean I'm going to be getting rid of any of my other computers any time soon, but if I was living in a small space, I think this would make an outstanding 'do it all' computer. Plus, with it's small size, it would be easy to fit in a bag if you wanted to travel with it. All you'd need at your destination would be a TV with HDMI, and hopefully reasonable wifi if you wanted to stream television, or play networked games. (or write that next epic trip report.) All in all, I think I will get a good return on my computing investment.

 

There is one last thing I'm looking to do. I found a company in the US that makes a CEC module for the NUC. What that is, is a small board that fits inside the NUC, and allows your television to talk to the NUC, and the NUC to talk to the television. So, turn on the TV with your remote, and you power up the NUC. Turn on the NUC and you power up the TV. Use your TV remote buttons to control selections on the computer. It is suppose to work very well controlling Kodi functions with the TV remote. The only gotcha is that the TV needs to be CEC enabled. (I think the Samsung name for that is Anywhere+)  

[theBigT]

cool project. interesting projects. might get me one of those intel boxes

[Joseph Kerr]

Nice post Garzan

 

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[Bunter]

Enjoyed the write up Gar...

 

You are max'd out tech wise now.. Enjoy

 

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[Garzan]

I also thought of another bonus: when I travel with my laptop, most room safes are too small to fit my laptop in. However, this box would fit into any room safe I've so far encountered. :-)  (And since it would also fit into a good size handbag pretty easily, perhaps that's a good thing.)

[Garzan]

cool project. interesting projects. might get me one of those intel boxes

 

I am so far very impressed with it. I got mine at InvadeIT in Hua Hin. They ship to anywhere in Thailand. 

http://www.invadeit.co.th/category/barebone-pcs/intel/

 

I think the price point is reasonable, considering the processor is already soldered onto the board. When I built my desktop, the processor chip was probably the most expensive part.

[Garzan]

Update: Having a struggle getting the microphone in the MS Lifecam 3000 to pick up audio from across the room. "Cortana" can't hear anything, and neither can Skype. I swapped out my Logitech C190 from my desktop, and that has the same issues, plus, the camera isn't nearly as good. As an aside, the camera in the Lifecam 3000 is really nice, it's just the microphone that sucks.

 

Unless I can think of some alternative, I think the solution is going to be a bluetooth headset with a boom mic. Not exactly what I was hoping for.

[Garzan]

I ordered the CEC modules from Pulse8. It took a while with DHL to get them through Customs in Bangkok, but they finally made it to Udon. I bought one to fit inside the Intel NUC, and another one to go externally outside the Minix X8-H+. 

 

After a couple of days, I must be missing some vital component, or my expectations were in error, or my procedures are in error. Unless I make some telling discovery, the CEC modules were a waste of time and effort. But, I didn't know that prior to ordering them. :-) I'll still keep playing around with them, especially since they are already paid for and here, and I'll keep the two remotes handy. I'm sure there is some way to get down to one remote per television, but I haven't found it yet.

 

https://www.pulse-eight.com/