4k TV with mini pc media hub - no gaming

[Lramiez194]

Hey Guys,

 

I'm new to linus tech tips and just as new to forums - this is actually the first one I've ever posted a question on. If I break some rules or guidelines, please tell me directly rather than just trolling.

 

Question/topic:

 

I'm interested in getting a 4k TV for a living-room setting. 1080p is great, but with all the 4k talk and even some 5+k out there, i'm a little concerned with investing in some tech that will likely be out of date in the next year or so.

I want something I can watch movies and shows on, and preferably do so with a mini pc - something like a brix from gigabyte.

( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164014 )

) will not be gaming, just web browsing, movies, shows, etc. - light pc work.

 

Do I need a pc with a graphics card to do this without dropped frames, or terrible picture lag, or could something like intel integrated graphics 5500 take care of my needs?

[TetraSky]

Intel 5500 technically does support 4k.
As to whether or not it will work properly without lag, that I don't know.

 

Personally I'm not sure why you would want a 4k TV in the living room right now. Does your cable provider offer 4K ? Do you have any movies that are 4k?

[Stagea]

If you can wait out, I suggest waiting for AMD Carrizo (Q2 2015) or Intel Skylake (Q3 2015). Either should be able to let you play HEVC sources without an external GPU (right now, only the GTX 960 supports its native decoding).

 

While current Broadwell CPUs do support 4K, it is limited to 4K in 30Hz (HDMI 1.4 only) and has difficulty with 4K HEVC decode (even with the new drivers supporting HEVC acceleration). 

 

HEVC is slowly becoming the preferred compression format for UHD distribution. The current 2160p60 streams are almost all HEVC, and the new 4K Bluray format is expected to use HEVC.