A Budget Home Theater & PC Setup: 4K, HDR, UHD Blu-ray, and More
by Ganesh T S on December 26, 2017 8:30 AM ESTConcluding Remarks
Home theater components have seen rapid technological advancements over the last decade. It is almost given that most components will become outdated 4-5 years down the line. Under these circumstances, it is important to identify local troughs where things don't change much except at the leading edge. The rise and stabilization of 3D video was the last such trough. Right now, 4K and HDR seem to have finally matured and become ready for mass adoption. From a HTPC viewpoint, HDMI 2.1 should not be a cause for concern and make consumers wait for the next big thing. This is a marked departure from the tone I had adopted when we last looked at options for HTPC displays back in 2015.
In the process of working on this article, I configured and set up a budget home theater build from the ground up (except for a few speakers from my earlier setup). The table below lists the components that I chose along with the pricing for each. Readers interested in building their own set up will not go wrong by picking and choosing from the list below.
| Home Theater Setup Components Guide | |||
| Component | Model | Price | Notes |
| Display | TCL 55P607 | $700 | The TCL C-series (with Dolby Vision) is also recommended, and is available for a comparable (if not lower) price from outlets like Costco as of December 2017. |
| AV Receiver | Denon AVR-X3400H | $999 | The lowest price we found while tracking this product was $799. A more budget-friendly is the Denon AVR-S730H at $430 (as low as $349 at times) |
| Media Streamer | NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV | $199 | Available for as low as $160 at times. Recommended as a more flexible alternative / add-on to the Roku Smart TV features of the TCL P- and C-series TVs. Offers ease of setup and use compared to the HTPCs listed in this table |
| HTPC | ASRock Beebox-S 7200U | USD 349 (Barebones) | Recommended HTPC if media playback is the primary requirement |
| Intel NUC7i7BNHX1 | USD 506 (Barebones) | Recommended HTPC if media playback is a primary requirement, and flexibility to add an eGFX enclosure for gaming and/or hardware extensibility is also desired. Offers much better CPU / GPU performance compared to the ASRock Beebox-S 7200U | |
| Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080K | USD 2000 (pre-built) | Recommended HTPC if gaming is the primary requirement. Most powerful CPU and GPU in the list of considered systems, but comes with size and power consumption penalty, as well as the inability to support UHD Blu-ray playback | |
| Blu-ray Drive | Pioneer BDR-211UBK | $117 | Our choice for the Blu-ray drive has to be an internal one as of now, since almost all USB-based ones are currently not available directly in the North American market |
| SATA-USB Bridge for Blu-ray Drive | UGREEN SATA-USSB Adapter with Hub | $26 | A multi-purpose SATA-USB bridge with a microSD reader and a couple of additional USB 3.0 Type-A ports. If looks are a concern, the Vantec NexStar DX USB 3.0 Enclosure (NST-536S3-BK) at $44 is a good choice. However, since the components are concealed in my setup, I went with the more veratile and cheaper UGREEN option |
| Blu-ray Player Software | CyberLink PowerDVD 17 Ultra | $48 | Pretty much the only option available to play Ultra HD Blu-rays legally. Does automatic playback in HDR mode for supported local files on supported Intel GPU-based systems. Note that this is not a mandatory component if the Pioneer BDR-211UBK is used. The Blu-ray drive comes with a OEM version of PowerDVD 14 that supports UHD Blu-ray playback. However, only the retail version gets updates that can fix issues that new titles in the market may have |
| Speakers | Polk Audio RC80i | $117 | Purchased a couple of these in-ceiling pairs for new rear and surround channel speakers, along with ceiling speaker protective covers. Choice depends on home theater size and other requirements. Works well enough for me to recommend |
| HDMI Cables | AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (10 ft. / 3 pk.) | $14 | The Monoprice cables are recommended over the AmazonBasics ones. |
| Monoprice Certified Premium High Speed HDMI Cable (10ft.) | $3.14 | ||
Consumers looking for a compact and pure media playback HTPC (including OTT streaming, local media playback, and UHD Blu-ray playback) can opt for either the ASRock Beebox-S Kaby Lake series or the Intel NUC7i7 series. The key is the presence of a HDMI 2.0 / HDCP 2.2 port. If UHD Blu-ray playback is not essential, a machine equipped with a GP107 GPU (GTX 1050 / GTX 1050Ti / GT 1030) is a good choice, as it comes with a GPU capable of VP9 Profile 2 decoding in hardware. However, such a system is unlikely to be as compact as the UCFF machines. If gaming is as important as media playback, a hybrid setup with the Intel NUC7i7 series along with a eGFX enclosure connected to the Thunderbolt 3 port and incorporating a high-end Pascal or similar GPU can also fit the bill. While we have not evaluated such a HTPC setup, it does offer the best of all worlds on paper - gaming with Dolby Vision, UHD Blu-ray playback, and all the other bells and whistles. This is possibly a setup we would like to evaluate in a future article.
Moving forward, consumers should look forward to dynamic HDR metadata support. If the components in the display chain are already capable of Dolby Vision, it is likely that consumers are not going to see any major difference compared to components supporting the dynamic metadata feature of HDMI 2.1.
Dolby Vision on PCs presents a host of challenges. In general, dynamic metadata is problematic for general-purpose devices like Windows machines. On such systems, there may be many different video windows open, each with conflicting metadata. So all these different formats need to be merged into a single color/brightness domain. By comparison, most CE devices are in full-screen-video mode, and don't normally have to worry about multiple HDR formats appearing on screen concurrently. Addressing these challenges will require the OS and GPU vendors to work together to go beyond the current HDR10 deployment.
In terms of HTPC hardware, one of the interesting platforms about to debut in shipping systems is Gemini Lake. The low-cost platform supports SGX, HDMI 2.0, and HDCP 2.2. Gemini Lake platforms have a lower power budget and memory performance compared to the KBL-U systems covered in this piece. Intel confirmed that they do not plan to support HDR processing workflows in Gemini Lake due to those constraints. Consumers looking for Gemini Lake to provide a low-cost HTPC platform should prepare to temper their expectations.
Finally, a note on the HDMI cables used in my setup: I bought a number of them of various lengths (up to 10ft.) from both Amazon (Amazon Basics) and Monoprice. The Amazon Basics had a 33% failure rate (only 4 out of 6 were able to work with the GTX 1080 in a Razer Blade Pro driving a 4Kp60 signal at RGB 4:4:4 to the LG 43UD79B). Fortunately, I was able to test out prior to installing the cables inside the wall. On the other hand, the Monoprice Premium Certified cables had a 100% success rate. It is a no-brainer to go with the Monoprice ones.
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ganeshts - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
I would love to get a rundown of the budget for that PR server backend. Still too limited IMO and not enough flexibility.Aspernari - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
"On a budget", then recommends and links a receiver over twice the cost of the TV!Come on. Seriously.
Aspernari - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
Replying to myself to further comment: His actual recommendation, the Denon AVRS730H is merely JUST AS EXPENSIVE as the TV.And then there's no actual speakers, or mention of speakers on the entire AVR page... So why are we getting a receiver?
At the price of the receiver alone, you can start getting into entry level Atmos-enabled soundbars.
ganeshts - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
How is $349 / $429 as expensive as a $700 TV? Maybe you are seeing some other numbers?ddrіver - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
Ganesh, are you actively trying to not understand the point multiple people are making? DO NOT PUT "BUDGET"-ANYTHING IN THE TITLE. Especially if you're going to use a $2000 HTPC with a GTX1080, or a $1000 receiver (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Z9ZGSZ ). Did I already say it? This is not budget!Do you get your Christmas bonus for clicks? I clicked because I'm looking for a receiver recommendation on a budget and expected some good but cheap options. And I find you're actually using a $1000 model and just mentioning another almost $500 model (https://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVRS730H-Receiver-wir... ) once without detailing much on alternatives or what similar models I could go for. You went on to talk about the $1000 model for the rest of the receiver section.
Aspernari - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
Whoops, I was thinking about the S405. Sorry, the receiver is only nearly as expensive as the TV when the TV is on a good sale. Now, let's get back to the absurdity of this article.This article lacks direction and focus. It misses the mark for both its stated purpose, and as any sort of reasonable guide or reference.
- Assume the reader is recycling speakers, but not any other components - Going all the way down to HDMI cables.
- Clearly a sponsored deal with Denon. It's disclosed but still awful since no other receiver is mentioned, alternatives like soundbars (again, low end Atmos is available for less than the recommended receiver) are never mentioned, and anyone looking for help unpacking the current audio tech is left on their own.
- $2000 HTPC, even as a joke option, is more than the entire rest of the recommended kit combined.
- Recommending all sorts of hardware that doesn't support features that should have been seen as requirements (Tegra and the $2000 HTPC failing to provide full HDR support, etc).
- Recommending a $200 Android device in an article about budget setups featuring a Roku TV.
- $200 more in Bluray playback equipment to the HTPCs, but no consideration for UHD bluray players or the Xbox One S - The recommendation is to deal with the minefield of compatibility issues rather than spend the same sum on a standalone solution that doesn't suffer from those problems - and plays games!
- I'm going to harp on the Denon sponsorship and the clear bias there again. There are two products named in the article subsections. The TV, and the receiver. And it's not even the recommended receiver! No other single product gets an entire page to itself. The section about the receiver is even longer than the TV. There's no info provided about the S730H, not even basic specs. Congrats on your free $1000 receiver, but it doesn't belong in a budget article.
I get that you wrote this as a "this is what I did" article, not a comprehensive guide, but come on. No alternatives suggested for the Denon is... Really galling.
we - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
Apparently Ultra HD Blue-ray video and sound quality from the Xbox One S is somewhat disappointing.https://www.whathifi.com/news/no-xbox-one-s-isnt-v...
Aspernari - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
There've been some patches since that article was published which, as I understand it, addressed most of the quality issues.I have an X, and have no complaints - but I also don't have another UHD disk player to compare against.
Aikouka - Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - link
I've mentioned this before, but the Xbox One's greatest flaw is that it's too noisy. Disc noise pushed me away from using the player after playing only a single movie (Sicario). I also ran into problems with the disc freezing in random spots, but not always in the same spot. (Do note that other players had no problems with the disc at all.) If you want a basic UHD player, I'd probably go with the Sony X800. I've had the best luck with mine so far with only a few hiccups in the beginning. I did replace it simply because I wanted a unit with Dolby Vision, which the only decent (but not cheap) option there was the Oppo 203.Galid - Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - link
There must be a lot of kids in here, this is not SUPER budget but it sure is budget in my mind. My home theater setup without the PC is worth 6k$ and it is considered cheap by many standards. The best budget and worthy contender for around 600$ would be the Onkyo NR727. I myself would not consider anything below but that's only 200$ cheaper. ONE of my speakers costs freaking 400$ and I'm really considered on the OK/cheap side. Do you guys ever go out in stores, you know, not those internet websites where you click and wait, ACTUAL audio video stores? WAW you guys need to see the light outside, it's made by the SUN! WAW!!! Any respectable audio video store will have AVR + speakers setups from 1k to 50k$++, so I would consider 1 to 5k pretty cheap.Wanna go ultra budget, buy used and freaking leave this website alone. What do you want, website full of used audio video pieces of equipment just leave this place. Sure this article could be better but it sure look budget friendly to me and I'm FAR from being a rich guy.
When I see people complaining about a 800$ receiver, I cannot help but wonder who's reading these articles. You work for mcdonalds 24h a week? Don't look at buying a home theater, get a BETTER JOB then come back ffs.