2023-07-11, 19:05
@meridius
Just add a GTX 960 4GB video card to your existing Windows PC. This is your most affordable option. Online bidding sites routinely sell them for about $50. It will handle all audio and all video except DV which is way overrated although you can still play DV on a Windows PC but it will layer back to HDR. The O/S and everything else doesn't matter to render audio and video since the GPU hardware carries all of the heavy lifting. As long as your choice of software players, like Kodi, comply with your O/S, that's all that matters. Upgrading to W11 should be free of cost and it works as perfect as the previous builds should you prefer state-of-the-art. Paid subscription streaming can also be a challenge if you're not in to owning your titles and you like to pay to watch something for a limited time only. Every other aspect of playback will be handled perfectly unlike the multiple gadgets needed to make up for the deficiencies of the others. Personally, I'd hate to have to pick and choose which devices for which title to playback. I just like to press play.
A PC will still be needed for ripping and customizing your titles as will every other computing need before playback is ever considered be it from the same PC or an additional gadget. A PC can eliminate most, if not all, extra gadgets too like a NAS for instance which in most cases is just another 2nd PC as if the 1st PC can't serve to clients just as well. If a part in a PC fails for some reason (rare) or you simply want to upgrade something for some reason (a better GPU for gaming), you remove and replace that part instead of the entire gadget or adding yet another additional one. Gadgets rely on firmware updates to keep up with the latest things. Sooner than later, the hardware in them can't keep up with the software forcing the units to be trashed and replaced until the next round of the same thing occurs.
I hope my opines help you as might everyone else's.
Just add a GTX 960 4GB video card to your existing Windows PC. This is your most affordable option. Online bidding sites routinely sell them for about $50. It will handle all audio and all video except DV which is way overrated although you can still play DV on a Windows PC but it will layer back to HDR. The O/S and everything else doesn't matter to render audio and video since the GPU hardware carries all of the heavy lifting. As long as your choice of software players, like Kodi, comply with your O/S, that's all that matters. Upgrading to W11 should be free of cost and it works as perfect as the previous builds should you prefer state-of-the-art. Paid subscription streaming can also be a challenge if you're not in to owning your titles and you like to pay to watch something for a limited time only. Every other aspect of playback will be handled perfectly unlike the multiple gadgets needed to make up for the deficiencies of the others. Personally, I'd hate to have to pick and choose which devices for which title to playback. I just like to press play.
A PC will still be needed for ripping and customizing your titles as will every other computing need before playback is ever considered be it from the same PC or an additional gadget. A PC can eliminate most, if not all, extra gadgets too like a NAS for instance which in most cases is just another 2nd PC as if the 1st PC can't serve to clients just as well. If a part in a PC fails for some reason (rare) or you simply want to upgrade something for some reason (a better GPU for gaming), you remove and replace that part instead of the entire gadget or adding yet another additional one. Gadgets rely on firmware updates to keep up with the latest things. Sooner than later, the hardware in them can't keep up with the software forcing the units to be trashed and replaced until the next round of the same thing occurs.
I hope my opines help you as might everyone else's.
