I have an old MacBook pro i5 I put an SSD and patched with Big sur patcher Run Apple TV VLC and Safari... covers all bases
Could do the same with a win laptop I guess. Mac mini would work well too.

 

I still use a WDTV box. Which I love because it plays any format. Only problem is, I don't think they still produce them so if you do find one it's either used or one of the last/later models, which will cost you an arm and a leg.

 

Thanks to all for the new responses.

Yes. Been reading some TV's can do that. Others the usb port is just there for a tech to troubleshot. I have a couple of Vizio 32 inchers that are at least 6-7 years old or so. Haven't looked yet to see if they're capable. Be surprised if at least one of them are.

Seldom do I use one of them 'free' streaming sites, but have no audio sync issues when using them. Never use pay sites as I always get the tv shows and movies I watch from various scene release sites, torrents, and no issues their either except for the occasional bad rips that get nuked and proper replaced.

Thanks for all the info. Yes. As in my op, I've been doing that for a long time.... pc laptop > hdmi > tv.
Also aware of having a properly spec'd hdmi cable for what I'm using having run into that problem with a second tv I got and the cable I was already using didn't work on it, heh.

Have a 07' macbook that's been relegated to bedside to play audiobooks, podcasts, music when going to bed. Had bought an hdmi adapter at one point and hooked it up to a tv. Plus then you have to run a separate cable from the headphone jack for the audio. Kinda kludgey. Plus browsers don't work anymore being that old so it's useless in that respect. When the macbook was my main computer, I got pc laptops to use as my media hub.

The macbook got pushed to the sidelines when I got a 2012 mini, which, knock on wood, is still going strong. Waiting for this damn so called apple silicon Mini Pro that's supposedly coming. Then perhaps the '12 mini can take over as media player as well.

 

Laptop/PC running PLEX server; w/8TB movie drive connected. ROKU wireless stick (~$25-30) plugged into the HDMI of the TV running the free PLEX app. Done. You need a wireless router though, but you should have that already.

 

My Samsung Smart TV is 10yo. I met problems just few times due to unsupported format in the past. But it was when I used wireless casting to TV. I haven’t checked what max capacity of hdd it supports.

 

Anything you can install the Kodi software or Plex on and has USB in & HDMI out will fit your needs. I have been using a dedicated laptop that holds Plex Media Server on it, collecting all available media (movies, TV series, music albums) information in the past.
Currently using Kodi on firestick and it's working perfectly.

 

Last edited: Mar 12, 2022

Your own router...

 

Plex media server

 

I have looked at this Plex thing but looks like it's not open source. So who knows who else is listening when you install this "Plex Server" on your PC... No thanks. I'll stay with good old Kodi forever. There are some nice skins for it and there really isn't much of a reason to use anything else.

 

NVidia Shield - I'm not a gamer but this plays anything I throw at it it on my telly from streaming services to films and tv stored on my NAS or anywhere really.
Really good version of Android TV included which you can add loads of other things to, including the likes of kodi and vlc.
I've tried a lot of other players over the years but have settled on this for a while now.
It was a bit more expensive than some others - think I got it on sale but the extra power (meant for gaming) makes it run very smooth.
Plus they regularly push updates - which means they're still developing it continually which is brilliant.
Used to use the WDTV before and the updates didn't take long to stop on that!

 

I wouldn't bother getting any brand of Fire TV to run Kodi, they're quite broken and generally get filled up w/ images and metadata if you have a lot of media files. Esp if you expect to backup configs, skins etcs. Also sideloading (and teh Amazon store) is a PITA! I'd look for sth w/ plenty of storage (16G+) to make things easier in the long run. Try to use ethernet to stream locally, and you should be able to use an old desktop to pack w/ old HDs to store media on, leave in a cupboard and forget! Rly depends on what kind of TV you have, whether 4/8k, HDR, hdmi 2.1+ etc as to the best option?

If you can stretch a bit, Mecool MK6 or an Odroid (N2+) model are a bit more future proof? But search for "Kodi box" and it should give you more relevant results?