I might get told I have this question in the wrong place. However I looked in the Plex Player section of the forum and it requires I pick a specific platform. As which platform is actually part of my question. So if someone finds there is a better place I understand it may get moved.
My Plex Server runs on unRAID and my main room streamer is currently an inVidea Shield. My only complaint with the Shield is it won’t play multi-channel flac without transcoding to AAC. I have some 5.1 high res music and really don’t want to lose the whole point by transcoding it down to something lossy. 2 channel flac plays fine, but multi-channel transcodes. If you force it to direct play it won’t play.
So I was going to build a miniPC and run Embeded PMP as I had played with some time ago, but I just realized Embedded PMP is going away.
So I’m looking for suggestions on the best streamer/player for my needs. I have no allegiance to any platform but generally its about maintaining the original quality for the main viewing room.
- Able to play UHD without transcoding. 4K, and all original HD 7.1 audio (Dolby True and DTS HD). (same for 2K, but if it can do 4K I should be pretty set)
- Able to play multi-channel flac without transcoding.
HTPC is the only platform I think that really does this, but I really want something that turns on/off like a streamer rather than having to load windows and then start an app putting it in TV mode. If there is a way to simplify the startup, I’d be more comfortable with HTPC.
I’m hoping someone has an idea or platform that merges these two concerns.
Thanks in advance.
