6 replies to this topic

[GraphicX]

so random thought, the ps3 is being an absolute pain for watching netflix, half the time it won't even work & we just end up watching whatever on commercial tv.

i've got a gigabyte GA-H81M-S2PH motherboard with is a socket 1150 doing nothing, was thinking i could couple this to a pentium g3258, get some ram off a mate along with whatever gpu, add that to a case & psu i already have, along with a 3.25" hdd & dvd drive i already have & turn it into a media pc.

the g3258 is cheap as chips & has really high overclock potential (so much so it can outperform my quad core 4440 in a lot of tasks) so i could use it as a bit of a lazy games pc/ps4 muncher with a better gpu later on (why'd i get rid of my gtx 660 again lol).

but on the otherhand the ps3 is already sh!t as a media centre, i'm guessing windoze isn't going to be much better as it's just as bad much of the time.  plus both are noisy (fans & disc drive) & load times etc.  then there's cost, would all of this be outweighed by a simple android box from ebay ?

i've never used an android unit for it, or an apple tv for that matter.  what are the wifi ranges on these things like & do that just 'work' ???  has any one got any experience with any of this ?

[GasClown]

No time at the moment - maybe just start doing some research and find out what you need... start here perhaps?

http://www.lifehacke...centre-for-600/

[Axe99]

I'm a bit crook today, all that tech talk goes over my head, but for what it's worth:

- I've watched Netflix on Chrome and it ran fine.  Watched it on our tablet and my mobile as well (mobile runs it very well, looks very flash, but mobile also quite new, so it'd kind of want to).  Don't think you'd need much horsepower in a PC to run Netflix.  Might even be worth getting a PS4/XB1 (Netflix runs fine on our PS4, same as PC other than some very small differences with the UI).

- Depends on what TV you've got, but if you've got one of those newfangled 'Smart TVs', I'm seeing more and more phones with 'throw' functions.  I'm guessing it's a way of getting Netflix on the phone, and then wi-fi (or bluetooth, or what-have-you) it to the TV.  Not entirely sure though, best read up before checking.  That said, if you've got a Smart TV, it might have an app for it anyways.  There might even be some kind of video out for mobile devices to TVs, although I've never looked into or heard of them.

Good luck .  Agree PS3 very long in tooth for a media centre these days.

[GraphicX]

tv in the lounge runs netflix natively in its own apps.  it's the tv in the bedroom i've hooked the ps3 to for netflix & having all the trouble.  my phone runs netflix & can do that throw stuff, but it's more headaches, would rather run it native on the tv, or failing that have something setup to do it easily (& not battery operated).

thinking the pc will be more trouble & money than it's worth, just not sure about those little android boxes & apple tvs though.  if the wifi range sucks than no good.

[Axe99]

GraphicX, on 27 August 2015 - 06:26 AM, said:

thinking the pc will be more trouble & money than it's worth, just not sure about those little android boxes & apple tvs though.  if the wifi range sucks than no good.

I have no experience at all with those things, and haven't read any reviews.  I also said "You'd think Iraq would have WMDs, they'd be crazy to invade otherwise", and we all know how that turned out.  So, keeping all that in mind:

"Given the main point of those Android/Apple boxes is to do things like Netflix, you'd think they'd have to be at least half-decent at it".

And make sure you read some reviews as well .  On the plus side, I've got an Android phone, and the Netflix app on that works fine, so in theory you'd think it'd work alright on an Android box.  At the very least, it shouldn't have any WMDs .

[GraphicX]

ordered a 3rd gen apple tv the other day from ebay.  off the cuff of the announcement of the 4th gen model the 3rds were on ebay out for $87 delivered.  so in a nutshell much cheaper to get one of these than build anything & being apple it'll simply work without any fuss (so long as my wifi range & that of the apple tv are adequate).

[Axe99]

Can't go too wrong with something for $87 and, as you say, Apple have their eye in on these things so it should just be plug in and play.  Happy Netflixing .