Australia: Intel NUC for Surround Audio and Video going cheap

[HomerJAU]

I just bought a new Intel NUC (Eighth generation) on eBay to replace an 5 year old NUC for a great price:

$269.10 with 10% discount and free shipping with EBay Plus membership
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/232796051282
You will also need RAM and and SSD drive: (I got these from Amazon AU - free shipping with Amazon Prime membership)

8GB RAM:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07CNJZG1T/
NVME SSD:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07MG119KG/
Just under $400 AU for all three with free shipping.

This will give you an extremely fast media player when LibreElec (Kodi) is installed. There’s a thread in the QQ Media Player sub-forum on installing the parts. Screwdriver is the only tool required.

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...nuc8i3beh-how-to-installation-of-parts.25705/
This will play all multichannel media files (audio and video) from a local USB drive or from a network device, including 4K, 1080p video, Atmos, DTS-HDMA, FLAC etc. Rips from DVDAs, SACDs, BDAs and BDVs. When turned on it starts at the Kodi screen like a disc player. It does not start like a computer. It is quiet, I can’t hear any noise even when my AVR is not playing.

If you are interested but don’t feel comfortable setting one up yourself I can do it for QQ members (no charge, you pay for the items above and shipping.).

NOTE: You will also need a wireless Remote or you can run from an iPhone or iPad or Android phone/tablet via wifi.

EDIT: There’s also Kodi addons to stream Netflix, Optus Sport and Foxtel/Kayo content in HD (you’ll need a paid subscription for each)

 

[kap'n krunch]

Dude, so cool... you are such a freaking genius, man....

I'm sure it's nowhere near as cool but I am rather proud of my tweaked Mac Mini...it is quite a monster...funny cause when I was looking for a PC alternative, it was way more expensive and I was lucky enough to get the last Mac generation with Intel chips...

It would be great if you let me know what you think of my machine..cheers!

 

[HomerJAU]

Nice. Looks pretty powerful.

I‘m just about to start on getting a MAC OS version of Music Media Helper started. I’m trying to resurrect an old MacBook Pro (my daughter’s old notebook) but it may be too old for latest MAC OS.

 

[kap'n krunch]

Nice. Looks pretty powerful.

I‘m just about to start on getting a MAC OS version of Music Media Helper started. I’m trying to resurrect an old MacBook Pro (my daughter’s old notebook) but it may be too old for latest MAC OS.

Let me know if I can be of any help...

Cheers!

 

[HomerJAU]

For Australian/NZ users thinking about a Kodi based media player that is extremely fast and quiet. (In fact anyone in US to but not sure on shipping/customs fees)

There are quite a number of Intel NUC8BEH mini PCs (used) being sold in Perth on Ebay with free shipping. Completely built but no operating system. $200 AUD including 500GB NVME SSD Drive and 16GB memory.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/404650623594
I have been using two of these for around 3 years for all my multichannel playback from ripped discs. It plays everything from Atmos TrueHD, DTS-HDMA to FLAC 5.1 at 192/24. And will play 4K movies with HDR (but not Dolby Vision).

All it needs is to install LibreElec (A Linux version of Kodi) and a remote control (wireless remote is probably around $20 to 25 AUD. It has multiple USB ports for external USB drives and Ethernet and WiFi too for network access to servers or a PC/Mac.

If any QQ member is interested I am willing to install and setup LibreElec/Kodi on one for you. You just pay for the shipping form MEL to your address (In fact I'll but the NUC, install and ship to you for $200 + Remote Cost + Shipping to your address)

I will also update each NUC with latest HDMI firmware (solves HD Audio with 2023 AVRs) and latest BIOS as I have those on USB sticks now (I did mine) so easy to do.

For anyone running Kodi - These NUCS with NVME SSD drives are incredibly fast for library navigation, scanning etc.

If you have any questions please post here.

I'll check Amazon to see what a decent remote control will cost (Kodi can be controlled from mobile phone and tablet apps via wifi)
Edit: This one for $20:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/111721672798

THX
Garry

 

[steelydave]

For anyone who wants to get into a standalone file-based multichannel music playback (not to mention this being easily capable of 4K HDR movies) what @HomerJAU is a remarkable deal. I have a 7th gen NUC (these are 8th, and considerably better) with similar RAM and hard drive that I bought 5 or 6 years ago and I paid nearly 3x the price being offered here. If I had 200 Aussie shekels (and the shipping and duty weren't punitively expensive to Canada) I'd be first in line for one of these.

This is just another reason we owe Garry a debt of gratitude for all his efforts in making computer-based multichannel playback affordable and accessible. If you're on the fence about one of these, get off it!

 

[HomerJAU]

If I had 200 Aussie shekels (and the shipping and duty weren't punitively expensive to Canada) I'd be first in line for one of these

I just looked up air shipping (up to 1.5kg) to US/Canada is AUD$50 - about $40 Canadian/33USD using Australia Post. I Quick Look on Canadian website shows about $20 CDN duty.

The company selling those NUCs have many and will take offers. Maybe they’d accept $180 each or less for 3 or 4? They want to offload, probably from a university or call centre. BTW: I buy from their Melbourne store.

I’m thinking of getting at least 1.