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strangebutalsogood t1_jb6q88c wrote

I simply connect a PC directly to my TV.

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Axman6 t1_jbn43cw wrote

Do you get Dolby Atmos/Vision or equivalent HDR and audio doing that?

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strangebutalsogood t1_jbn746v wrote

Not with my current setup but the image quality is still very good, and the tradeoff is worth it for the amount of control I get. I run the audio to a vintage receiver and drive two sets of large Boston Acoustics speakers, so the audio is excellent.

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soggybiscuit93 t1_jbcmrz0 wrote

I'm curious about PC as streaming box. Say this is your scenario: You come home, you want to watch one episode of a show on Netflix, and then an episode of a show on Hulu. What does that process look like for you?
Do you have to boot the PC? Launch software? How do you launch and easily switch between apps?

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strangebutalsogood t1_jbcyapo wrote

My computer is always on and my desk is fairly close to my living room TV so I just walk over and load things normally. I usually have a few pages and apps open with various things queued up and just drag the window over when needed. It's powerful enough that I can stream to my TV and continue using the computer for other things if needed. Also I have a VPN to watch content from the UK and NZ etc, and some other ways to have whatever content I want on the computer so I find the experience of having it connected to my TV very freeing.

I also have a remote mouse/keyboard app on my phone that connects to my computer so I can control it from anywhere in my apartment.

This works well for me because I live in a small apartment, when I live in a larger place I'll still have the media computer but probably set it up more like a server and set up an ethernet HDMI hub to drive the TVs.

Ironically, I actually have a smart TV loaded with all the streaming apps and whatnot, but I find the user experience quite terrible and only use it as a last resort if for some reason the computer is out of commission.

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heybart t1_jba6ekn wrote

PC apps like Netflix aren't limited to 1080p?

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strangebutalsogood t1_jbagw8q wrote

The official Netflix app lets you stream in 4k on desktop, but usually if I find that the streaming quality of any movie is below my standards then I'll find it by other means and play it directly.

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AkirIkasu t1_jbavdxy wrote

Weirdly the biggest problem with a PC media center is that you will need to power it with an outdated Intel chip, use Intel's integrated GPU, run windows and a proprietary player if you want to watch 4K Blu-Ray discs on it, because they use a draconian DRM scheme which was Intel-exclusive until Intel decided they weren't going to build it into any of their chips anymore.

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heybart t1_jbazcc2 wrote

I used to use a PC hooked to my TV to play media, then the Android TV devices just got too competent for me to bother. Even a $20 Walmart Onn can play 4K blu ray remux from network drive at a fraction of power usage

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AkirIkasu t1_jbb34xt wrote

Yeah, this just affects you if you want to watch your movies the way the industry wants you to. In reality most people who care are probably using MakeMKV at this point.

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Disastrous-Spell-135 t1_jb78pr9 wrote

Simply

Edit: lol you peoples living rooms must look like ass, HDMI cables and towers all over the place to save a few euros on an apple tv or shield

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strangebutalsogood t1_jb794rw wrote

Yes

Edit: my living room looks just fine, thanks. Cable management is a thing.

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justthisones t1_jb98dkw wrote

Tbf anything that isn’t behind one-two button presses while sitting down seems difficult to many people nowadays.

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bear60640 t1_jb9bttl wrote

Two buttons?!!!! What am I, getting paid by big TV???!!!

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Delta8ttt8 t1_jb79647 wrote

An hdmi will carry video and audio. Grab a Logitech Wifi mouse n keyboard. What else do ya need? If your pc is so Far away from the tv then you have a big living area. Buy another pc. If you have a smaller area then money might be tight and it’s a worth investment.

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jjj49er t1_jb98n9i wrote

I use Unified Remote on my phone to control my computer. It has mouse and keyboard functions, but also custom remotes for whatever app you're using to watch the video.

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muscletrain t1_jb85sfv wrote

I stream everything originally had the Intel ComputeStick from years ago and just replaced it with one of the many options on Amazon. For about $250CAD you can get a stick that plugs directly into your HDMI Slot with 8GB RAM + 128GB space and is smaller than my cellphone, full windows 10 or 11 and just stream whatever you want...It really is simple. Plug a Bluetooth keyboard with the mouse pad combo and you never need to worry about streaming things again.

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Disastrous-Spell-135 t1_jb9fbyb wrote

And for 150 dollares i can just use a apple tv, don’t even need a mouse and keyboard

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muscletrain t1_jban6uv wrote

And then what pay for all your subscriptions ? I just open a browser and stream whatever I want..there is no cables showing the apple tv box is probably 3 times as big and much more restricted. People also have stuff like PLEX servers setup they're not having a tower sitting on the floor with an HDMI cable running to it....

Or download any other streaming app like Moonlight to your smart TV.

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Disastrous-Spell-135 t1_jbbejgy wrote

Yes, i pay for some subscriptions. I am not watching some janky fucked up browser stream in my home theater, thank you.

And for my digitised bluray collection i have a plex server. What, you think the apple tv cannot play a simple plex stream? The best plex player out there is only available on iOS, Infuse.

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Holofoil t1_jbarqmu wrote

Mini pcs have been a thing for a while now. You can even get cheap ones for like a 100$ that don't throttle on 4k video.

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