I know this is probably something that gets brought up a lot, and I've been doing a lot of Googling trying to find some good answers to this (browsing through both Windows and Linux options), but I figured in the end, getting some opinions tailored to my exact question might be the best option.
First, here's the setup I currently have:
Server: Windows 10 desktop with i5-6600k, Radeon 7850, and 16GB RAM. This machine is running an Argus TV server hooked up to an OTA antenna. It's also set up as a Steam in-home streaming server, though I don't really use it for that much because I don't have a good client machine just yet.
Clients: Nexus Player, Nexus 6, Macbook Pro (2009, C2D), Surface 3. All of these play TV relatively okay, using Kodi to connect to the Argus TV server. The Nexus Player sometimes chokes with stuttery video when playing Live TV, and Kodi will sometimes lock-up entirely if there are signal issues that it can't seem to parse.
None of those issues present themselves on any other client device, which is weird.
I also use the Nexus Player for Netflix, Youtube, and Sling TV, and a PS3 for Amazon Prime streaming. I use a Harmony Smart Hub w/controller to manage all this (along with an Xbox One/360, Wii U, and Wii, but those don't have much to do with this...).
So, the two big hiccups in my setup are the strange performance issues with the Nexus Player and live TV, and the lack of a good Steam In-home streaming option.
Here is what I would like to do. I would like to build a client machine, probably a Braswell or i3 NUC, that can take over all of the streaming duties that the Nexus Player and PS3 currently handle (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Kodi/Argus, Sling TV, Youtube). 1080p content would be ideal. I would also like to be able to manage 1080p Steam In-Home streaming on this machine (though honestly, I'd probably settle for 720p since my server's GPU isn't that great nowadays).
And ideally, I'd like to use an interface that works well with the Harmony controller (so a basic media controller interface, I suppose).
Part of me thinks that just putting live tiles for the Windows 10 tablet interface would work okay (then using the on-screen keyboard), but I don't have any experience controlling Windows 10 with a media controller. Is this a comfortable experience? I'm trying to keep the end-user experience as simple as possible, mainly because my wife doesn't have the patience for anything that doesn't "just work" simply and easily. Setting everything up can be decently complicated as I don't mind tinkering, but if she wants to sit down and watch some TV, it should be as easy as the Nexus Player.
Another part of me thinks that maybe setting up a Linux distro with a simplified front-end would be good, maybe using Chrome web-app shortcuts to launch streaming services, then Kodi/Steam for everything else. But I've read that most streaming services still don't play well with Linux, refusing 1080p in some cases, not working at all in others.
I know this is a big, messy question, but is there some solution that could work for all these use cases, in one box?
tl;dr:
I want to build a box that does all the following in an easy-to-use interface that plays well with a Harmony Smart Remote:
Netflix Amazon Prime Instant Kodi w/Argus TV Steam in-home streaming Sling TV Youtube
Thanks in advance for any replies!
Submitted by cjp87 | #Specialdealer
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