Hi everyone!
In the next year or so, my project is to rip all my blurays and put them on a 4tb external USB hard drive. I’ve already done it for all my DVDs, but I still have to buy an external bluray player in order to finish the job. My budget for the bluray player is CHF 75.- used, so around 75$. All this is done through MakeMKV.
Then, I’d want to have a small Linux PC that I’d use as a media center. My budget is under CHF 100.-, so around 100$. I’ve noticed that you can get 2014 MacMinis with i5 or i7 for that budget, but I’m open to any other brand.
What I’d want the PC to do: -Play all my movies stored on my external USB drive. I don’t think I have 4k movies, but I can’t exclude that some of my Blurays will be 4k in the future -Display my family pictures and videos stored on kDrive (a cloud by Infomaniak) through Firefox and WebDav -Play my music on my Yamaha Amplifier through Firefox and Tidal -Use the wifi for updates, browser based stuff, etc…
The PC would probably not be used for anything else for now, but it needs to be able to become a desktop PC again in the future if needed.
I’d want to operate the PC with a bluetooth mouse and only have to use a keyboard from time to time.
I’ve heard about Jellyfin, Libelec, Kodi and other stuff but I don’t really know what they are.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Hardware
A mac mini is probably overkill for what you want to do. We are talking standard blu-ray after all, meaning your videos are going to be limited to 720p. Most hardware will have no problem dealing with that. The cheapest solution that’s fit for purpose is a refurbished thin client. They aren’t powerful or anything, but you don’t need powerful. You need quiet (passively cooled) and low on energy consumption.
Thin clients can be had on eBay for less than 30 Franks.
Software
Standard blu-ray most certainly is not limited to 720p.