Help please : building a roku like dlna pc - insight would be appreciated.

[Criticalhitkoala]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone has some spare wisdom they can share in building a dlna streaming player with a spare pc. Long story short, my Amazon fire player is getting a little old and laggy and I just bought an asrock a300 for fun. Was going to throw a 2200g or 2400g in it and decided to try using it as a media player.

The only thing we use our fire play for is streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and funimation. I do use 5.1 sound and do have a Dolby atmos reciever with atmos speakers but haven't enabled it other than a few test with a ps4 I believe.

Before I do some dumb shit and spend and spend, was hoping that one of you could answer these questions for me.

- should I even bother? Rokus and shields are kinda cheap and they work well. Is using a pc for the same thing even worth the bother?
- any remote that you recommend?
- what's the status of atmos now? Last I check it doesn't seem to work on anything but a shield. Windows 10 has the option but when I tried it on my demon reciever last year, it was a complete no go.
- what software do you recommend to use for a media device?
- any purchase recommendations?
-get a local 2200g $60 cash or grab a 2400g?

Thanks ahead of time all. I have a whole month of free time coming up between work gigs so I wanted a fun summer project. I really appreciate the time and any responses.

If anyone hasn't had the chance to check out the Asrock A300, I suggest checking them out. I got a used one from Newegg for like $125 shipped. Could be a fun summer project for some of you H peeps.

 

[Krispy Kritter]

I've not kept track of this after I last looked into it, mainly because of cost (ie: it was much cheaper to simply replace/upgrade the device such as a Roku).

In any case, what I was looking at I believe was using Android OS to take advantage of the already existing (and frequently updated) apps.

 

[Criticalhitkoala]

I've not kept track of this after I last looked into it, mainly because of cost (ie: it was much cheaper to simply replace/upgrade the device such as a Roku).

In any case, what I was looking at I believe was using Android OS to take advantage of the already existing (and frequently updated) apps.

I've heard that because of this the Shield is pretty much the defacto best device for it's performance and and use of the android excosystem. I do get the a300 in a few days, will try to putz and put something together, and if it doesn't suit my fancy will probably just end up getting a shield.

 

[defaultluser]

I gave up on building my own Roku, because there is no prefect way to integrate a remote with every playback service on PC, and there is no true all-encompassing front-end like Roku's Chanel Browser..

There's also no standardized buttons you could map to that remote control (i.e. CBS All Access doesn't support Spacebar for pause like many other browser-based media players). Swapping controls for ever service would get annoying quickly.

This level of annoyance is why I just went with Roku. I still keep the HTPC because I like playing Steam games and playing emulation, and browsing is much easier with a keyboard and mouse plus a real processor!.

If all you want to do is watch video, then you should just buy a Roku / FireTV

 

[Saturn_V]

I've heard that because of this the Shield is pretty much the defacto best device for it's performance and and use of the android excosystem. I do get the a300 in a few days, will try to putz and put something together, and if it doesn't suit my fancy will probably just end up getting a shield.

If hi-res Surround is important (DTS-MA, Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD) and you have an AVR definitely get a Nvidia Shield. If you don't need that- just get a FireTV stick and use VLC.

 

[Criticalhitkoala]

I gave up on building my own Roku, because there is no prefect way to integrate a remote with every playback service on PC, and there is no true all-encompassing front-end like Roku's Chanel Browser..

There's also no standardized buttons you could map to that remote control (i.e. CBS All Access doesn't support Spacebar for pause like many other browser-based media players). Swapping controls for ever service would get annoying quickly.

This level of annoyance is why I just went with Roku. I still keep the HTPC because I like playing Steam games and playing emulation, and browsing is much easier with a keyboard and mouse plus a real processor!.

If all you want to do is watch video, then you should just buy a Roku / FireTV

I was worried about that with the remote. It's times like this as a pc guy why I realize macs are purchased. It'd because rokus etc just work. My fire was amazing for a long time, it's just a little old now.

I personally wouldn't mind using the pc for different things. But my wife prefers our media players to be as easy as possible. Hell it took nearly 3 years for me to get her comfortable with using a reciever along with the TV

 

[defaultluser]

I was worried about that with the remote. It's times like this as a pc guy why I realize macs are purchased. It'd because rokus etc just work. My fire was amazing for a long time, it's just a little old now.

I personally wouldn't mind using the pc for different things. But my wife prefers our media players to be as easy as possible. Hell it took nearly 3 years for me to get her comfortable with using a reciever along with the TV

Right, buy a new Fire TV just for streaming, and then use the PC for anything else (gaming, tv tuner, web browsing)

I use the computer to record TV shows and serve them over DLNA to the Roku., along with my ripped movie library.

 

[Criticalhitkoala]

Thanks all. I'll probably still putz about with it but probably will just wait for a shield to drop sub $100 again and go for that. We do have an atmos avr so it might be worth the try.