I’ve determined to check a radical change to my lounge streaming setup.
For years, I’ve used an Apple TV 4K for streaming, and whereas it’s been an important machine general, I’ve all the time wished to strive swapping it for a house theater PC. In my early cord-cutting years (circa 2010), I used an inexpensive Intel Atom-powered Lenovo nettop (now out of date) to entry Hulu’s web site (nonetheless free on the time) and keep away from its subscription charges on linked TV units. Plugging an inexpensive mini PC into your TV immediately might yield related benefits.
This experiment might fail for a wide range of causes, and I’ve already hit some snags in my preliminary setup. But when it really works, it might supply much more management over the streaming expertise together with some potential price financial savings over time.
The case for a house theater PC (in 2025)
I’m going into this mini PC experiment with a bunch of use instances in thoughts:
Advert-skipping powers: With a desktop net browser, I can use MultiSkipper to fast-forward via commercials on Hulu, Peacock, Tubi, and different ad-supported streaming providers, and I can use uBlock Origin to keep away from advertisements on YouTube. This might save some huge cash as ad-free streaming subscriptions get dearer.
The MultiSkipper browser extension.
Jared Newman / Foundry
Password sharing: Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing doesn’t apply to web site or cell app use, presumably as a result of it’d be difficult to dam out-of-home use on moveable units. Watching on a PC might make account-splitting simpler, particularly as extra providers comply with Netflix’s lead.
Unrestricted multiview: Image-in-picture is a multitude on streaming platforms, with inconsistent help throughout apps and units. That’s not a problem on PCs, the place you’ll be able to simply open up extra browser home windows or use the helpful picture-in-picture Chrome extension. This might actually turn out to be useful throughout March Insanity.
Watching two movies at a time is not any downside on desktop net browsers.
Jared Newman / Foundry
Unlocked playback speeds: Some movies simply don’t must be watched at common pace, however except for YouTube, most video providers don’t allow you to pace up playback on sensible TVs and streaming units. In contrast, Netflix’s net model has built-in pace controls, whereas the Video Pace Controller extension works throughout a broad vary of web sites.
Streaming guides galore: Whereas most streaming platforms supply information options for monitoring exhibits and discovering new issues to look at, they don’t work with each streaming service and so they are typically loaded with advertisements and upsells. On a PC, you’ll be able to take your choose of streaming information websites reminiscent of Reelgood, JustWatch, Trakt, and Plex Uncover.
Extra leisure choices: With a mini PC setup, I’m wanting ahead to utilizing some apps that aren’t out there on an Apple TV, reminiscent of Nvidia GeForce Now and Plexamp.
The {hardware}
The Beelink Mini S12 Professional’s HDMI outputs join direclty to the TV.
Jared Newman / Foundry
I didn’t need to spend so much on this endeavor, nor did I need a noisy desktop PC that takes up loads of area.
That led me to Beelink’s Mini S12 Professional, whose $169 road worth is simply a bit greater than the nicest streaming gamers, and its footprint isn’t a lot bigger both. Whereas its Intel N100 processor is light-weight, it helps 4K HDR video, comes with Home windows 11, and features a pretty beneficiant 16GB of RAM and 500GB of storage.
Comparable merchandise abound from different mini PC distributors, however I’ve had a constructive expertise utilizing a barely pricier Beelink SER5 Ryzen-based PC as my on a regular basis laptop and determined to stay with a model that I do know.
One caveat: The Mini S12 Professional doesn’t help HDCP 2.2, which Netflix requires for 4K HDR video. The SER5 doesn’t have that limitation, however I caught with the cheaper mannequin for causes I’ll clarify beneath.
The trade-offs
Whereas I’ve barely began utilizing this new setup, I’ve already encountered a number of points.
The most important downside is inconsistent 4K HDR video help on streaming websites. Netflix technically helps 4K HDR in Microsoft’s Edge browser, however even on Beelink’s higher-end SER5, it refused to budge past 1080p. Amazon Prime and Max don’t help 4K or HDR on PCs in any respect.
That stated, I solely upgraded to Netflix’s Premium tier with 4K HDR (which prices $25 per thirty days, as an alternative of $18) for testing functions. Max fees additional for 4K HDR as effectively, and huge swaths of different streamers’ catalogs are restricted to 1080p anyway. Encompass sound can be a problem on streaming websites, however my lounge setup is stereo-only anyway.
Utilizing an air mouse could also be as near the distant management expertise because it will get.
Wechip
The opposite apparent challenge is usability. Maintaining a mouse and keyboard in the lounge is out of the query, and whereas I’m wanting into air mouses with small built-in keyboards, like this one, navigating a desktop interface will probably be much less best than clicking round on an actual distant. This can take some finagling, and the remainder of my household will probably want to change over to the Apple TV or the Google TV software program constructed into our tv.
Observe up! I solved my TV streaming issues with this $30 keyboard
In different phrases, this gained’t be a really perfect resolution for everybody, and it may not even work out within the Newman family. If this entire TV experiment fails, I’ll probably repurpose the little Beelink PC as an inexpensive option to play with some Linux distributions; if it succeeds, it may very well be a lot a extra liberating option to entry streaming content material. I plan to report again quickly with new ideas and findings both approach.
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