TV companion PC hardware requirement Q

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chenw

2[H]4U
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Oct 26, 2014
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Hey all,

My family has recently purchased a 4k TV (just an IPS, not the fancier OLED), and I have been meaning to see if I can attach a multimedia PC onto it, since the built in system is rather clunky and the USB ports are very limited.

Primarily, what I plan to want to do with this:

1. Being able to play, ideally, 4k Netflix videos, and hardware based h.265 would be desireable, as I want as few hiccups during video playback as possible. Being able to play UHD-BR is not a requirement.

2. Needs to have HDMI 2.0, already got fed up with running my 4k monitor in 1440p because the lack of HDMI 2.0.

3. Basic gaming is going to be done on it, but primarily emulation, anything that is graphically intensive is going to be done on my desktop.

This is mainly for family, but I want to use it as well, so I'd like the smoothest possible experience.

I am currently eyeing Intel NUC, specifically the 6th gen i7 model (NUC6i7KYK), as from the looks of it, it has by far the most powerful iGPU, all other models doesn't seem to be able to touch Iris Pro 580.

I would have built HTPC if I was able to hide the box, but I am not, so I want the box to have as inconspicuous as possible, hence the NUC choice. Bit pricey, and not sure if I am being overkill here.

Any recommendations? Thanks!
 
The gaming and Netflix 4k are going to be the biggest problems. Netflix 4k is not possible without a Kaby Lake CPU and MS Edge browser at the moment. As for gaming if you are just need light gaming a GTX 1050 would be a good choice, they are very low power and some have no fans. The problem with this option is you will need a much larger case then a NUC size to fit a 1050. But for the price of the i7 NUC you could build a low power gtx 1050 PC that would be much better for gaming.

To be honest a NVIDIA shield would probably be your best bet and you would be able to play Netflix 4k and basically any other media service is supported including running Plex/Kodi. There is also games that are supported and you can stream games from your desktop to the TV if you need to.
 
Also, be very wary about 4k support for actual desktop resolutions. Lots of 4k-60hz support only runs at chroma 4:2:0 which will cause visual artifacts for normal desktop use, but is fine for video playback. Relatively few 4K TVs have 4:4:4 chroma support, and even some that do require special configuration of the inputs to enable it.
 
Yeah what TV did you get? Exact model number. Chances are it's not going to look good unless it has 4:4:4 chroma support.

With that being said I had no idea Netflix required a Kaby Lake CPU for 4K video. My little i5 2400 HTPC setup plays 4K Youtube videos without any issue. It also plays 4K media from my Plex Media Server.
 
Yeah. It's total marketing BS; there's lots of GPUs that can handle 4K H.265 decode, especially at the framerate and bitrate of internet-streaming 4K. The number I've seen tossed around for Netflix 4K is 15 Mbps, whereas a Blu-ray 4K will be in the neighborhood of 80-120 Mbps, which is a ton more data to decode and is where a 'hardware decode support' requirement might come in. I say might, because I haven't actually seen anyone try and software-decode a H.265 stream of significant bitrate, but I would think that the i5 CPUs of the world might have a shot at doing it. All that is of course setting aside the CPUs and GPUs that have partial and full H.265 decode support.
 
My exact TV is LG 49UH611T, but after further research, I found several hitches:

1. my 970 won't work, has to be 1050

2. My TV doesn't look like it will work, I had plans to buy the OLED 55" but I think the cost is too prohibitive compared to the amount of use I will ever get out of it

3. UHD-BR is an afterthought, not a primary concern.

I have now ditched that idea and instead going with Raspberry Pi 3 with RetroPie and Kodi, Kodi should serve well enough for the movie files I will be playing (720p MKV's).
 
I'm glad you've found a solution, but I'm still confused a bit.

1. Why won't your 970 work? The GTX 1050 would support HDMI 2.0 output and the 970 wouldn't - that I understand - but the Raspberry Pi 3 doesn't support HDMI 2.0 or Netflix @ 4K either, and HDMI 2.0 isn't important unless you're running at 4K. Since you're playing 720p MKVs, it would seem that running at 1080p would be just fine.

2. This one is just as confusing; aside from most of the spec pages being in Japanese (I think) it looks like a normal TV. What do you mean by "doesn't look like it will work"
 
Another awesome option is the NVIDIA Shield TV. I highly recommend you check it out on youtube/etc or ask me questions if you have any. I just got one about 2 weeks ago and it is fantastic.
 
sinisterDei said:
I'm glad you've found a solution, but I'm still confused a bit.

1. Why won't your 970 work? The GTX 1050 would support HDMI 2.0 output and the 970 wouldn't - that I understand - but the Raspberry Pi 3 doesn't support HDMI 2.0 or Netflix @ 4K either, and HDMI 2.0 isn't important unless you're running at 4K. Since you're playing 720p MKVs, it would seem that running at 1080p would be just fine.

2. This one is just as confusing; aside from most of the spec pages being in Japanese (I think) it looks like a normal TV. What do you mean by "doesn't look like it will work"
Click to expand...

1. 970 working or not actually has nothing to do with HDMI. In fact, 970 does have HDMI 2.0, but it doesn't have HDCP 2.2, only 960/950/Pascals have it. I went with raspberry pie because, if I removed the 4k Netflix angle, I actually remove most of the reasons for building that HTPC in the first place. I don't need 4k output otherwise, so I guess I really went with RPi3 because I just wanted to see what it is capable. If RPi3 can play all of the media files I have on had, then RPi3 would have solved all of my needs for that HTPC, minus Netflix. In the worst case scenario, it's a $70 emulation station I can use by the TV.

2. I dug a little into this, though I cannot find the exact pages anymore right now, my conclusion was that, unless the TV specification sheet explicitly states that it supported HDCP 2.2 (the number 2.2 must be explicitly written), it will not support HDCP 2.2. A simple "Yes" box isn't enough to guarentee it, as apparently there are TVs that have penultimate version of HDCP, but only HDCP 2.2 actually works for netflix, there are no other options. The TV model I have doesn't say it supports 2.2 HDCP, even the Samsung TVs I could not find that information, only LG OLED TV actually explicitly writes 2.2.

Which is why the "I assume it will not work" comment. The consumer law enforcement here isn't doing any consumer any favours either, usually unless the company in question is more generous than usual, I do not have the luxury of experimenting with the setup.

Essentially, my choice to build the HTPC, in the specs above, is completely hinged on 4k Netflix, nothing else. But after digging deeper, I learned that my 970 will continue to be unemployed, and I have no way of checking if the TV does have HDCP 2.2 unless I actually build the Rig. If the TV turns out it doesn't have correct HDCP, I would have, literally, built that HTPC for nothing.

Hence, I have officially given up on the idea. As much as the OLED TV is getting significant discount recently, $3000 is really hard to justify to spend on netflix. I will instead save that money to fund Volta and 4k/120hz/HDR monitor instead.
 
Makes sense. RPi3 sounds fun to play with for sure.

If you haven't totally given up your dreams of 4K netflix, but don't want to spring a whole HTPC's worth of money into finding out, why not get one of the smaller media player devices? There's 4K capable Chromecasts, Roku devices, and nvidia Shield TV devices as suggested by raidflex.
 
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