Media PC spec? for HDR playback

[MatsNorway]

Budget: 5-1000Dollars, depends on answers, no strict budget, but value is ideal, can be budget/low end. Can even just be a laptop. But should be quiet.

Country: Norway

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Movie/Youtube playback.

Other details: Got nothing to build from really. 

 

 

 

Backstory: Got a LG B3 65" 4K OLED Smart-TV and HDR does show in windows settings as supported.

• Tried USB-C dongle to HDMI, from a Lenovo Yoga S740 15,6" FHDGeForce GTX 1650, Core i7-9750H, 16GB RAM, 1 TB PCIe SSD. Not working  (machine is from 2020)
  • Bought and tried a HDMI 2.1 compatible cable from the Yoga no difference.
    • Tried that cable directly out from port on work computer, a Lenovo with a 2080 Super. No difference

 

So i think i need a compact machine for the TV setup. to play HDR content at high refresh rates. Whatever modern Movies comes with (usually only 60fps still)

 

 

1. I guess the start of this build is to understand HDR playback from Windows/PC. How does one read up/read the relevant info to not fuck it up?
2. I guess then its time to look at pretty case proposals. Should be black to match Fosi Audio ZD3

3. The rest. Tips and good ideas.

 

 

 

[jaslion]

1 hour ago, MatsNorway said:

Whatever modern Movies comes with (usually only 60fps still)

So 24fps. There was a VERY brief phase of 48fps movies but thats gone now.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, MatsNorway said:

Tried USB-C dongle to HDMI, from a Lenovo Yoga S740 15,6" FHDGeForce GTX 1650, Core i7-9750H, 16GB RAM, 1 TB PCIe SSD. Not working  (machine is from 2020)

• Bought and tried a HDMI 2.1 compatible cable from the Yoga no difference.
  • Tried that cable directly out from port on work computer, a Lenovo with a 2080 Super. No differenceT

 

 

so just hdr isnt working? Its an oled so like borderline nothing lost anyway.

 

 

since its not working on a rtx2080 directly I think you just have a dud cable really. That or hdr is just being waaay wonky on windows as it usually is. Again no big loss on an oled really. Due to the way oleds work hdr is a nice bonus but mostly hdr is there to widen the contrast between black and white levels which well surprise the oled has the deepest black levels of screen tech there is by default but cant reach the high peaks a lcd with a strong backlight can due to the way its made.

 

 

But as for getting hdr to work you need:

A gpu from the last like decade if not a bit older even.

A hdmi cable thats normal (genuinly just buy a cheap hdmi cable no need for 2.1 just have it be a regular brand like idk ugreen or som crap)

 

Both systems you mentioned WILL output hdr signal so either the tv is messing it up, the cable is fucked (youd be surprised how many bad cables there are) or windows is being dumb again.

 

So yeah just find a working hdmi cable and also dont plug the hdmi jnto the earc port.

 

If you wanna buy a pc a used ultra small form factor pc from like dell,hp,... With a i5 8500t and 8gb of ram in it for 100$ is waaaaaaaay overkill already.

[ChrisLoudon]

2 hours ago, MatsNorway said:

can be budget/low end

Any old PC or used components from eBay plus an Nvidia GT1030 would do the trick nicely. Just built my friend an HTPC from a load of bits and bobs in my attic and found a GT1030 which played back all 4K content + HDR on his C4 OLED perfectly.

 

2 hours ago, MatsNorway said:

Whatever modern Movies comes with (usually only 60fps still)

Movies are shot in 24p with the only exception to that, a brief excursion into 48p (HFR) by Peter Jackson with the Hobbit but suffice it say, it didn't catch on.

 

If you want to experience a movie in a higher frame rate, turn on TrueMotion on your LG. Its god awful and it still bemuses me as to why LG have it on by default on all inputs.

 

2 hours ago, MatsNorway said:

Got a LG B3 65" 4K OLED Smart-TV and HDR does show in windows settings as supported.

What happens when you toggle the HDR within Windows? Is the toggle even there? On the LG, what is the input icon set to? From memory, on LG OLEDs if you set any HDMI input to 'PC' it forces 4:4:4 chroma subsampling which can look better is some use cases but what you really want is HDR to switch to RGB with 10bit or 8bit with dithering. Blu-ray's are 4:2:0 and with movies, you are unlikely to notice any difference. 

 

HDR in Windows 10/11 is kinda strange. On some panels / TVs its not uncommon to turn it on and see the Windows desktop looking dull and washed out BUT when playing movies / games in HDR, its perfect.

 

Another option to consider would be to build / buy a NAS (even a single drive machine would do) and use that as a media server for your Smart TV / Games Console / Roku or whatever. Look at PLEX or Jellyfin as paid / free options for this.

[MatsNorway]

 

4 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Any old PC or used components from eBay plus an Nvidia GT1030 would do the trick nicely. Just built my friend an HTPC from a load of bits and bobs in my attic and found a GT1030 which played back all 4K content + HDR on his C4 OLED perfectly.

Really? its that easy?

4 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

What happens when you toggle the HDR within Windows? Is the toggle even there?

No HDR toggle is available. Tried different ports. Two different cables. I doubt its the cables both being wrong.

4 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

On the LG, what is the input icon set to? From memory, on LG OLEDs if you set any HDMI input to 'PC' it forces 4:4:4 chroma subsampling which can look better is some use cases but what you really want is HDR to switch to RGB with 10bit or 8bit with dithering. Blu-ray's are 4:2:0 and with movies, you are unlikely to notice any difference.

I have not had a proper TV in almost a decade. But so far i can not alter much it seems. I have seen the chroma option but it was grayed out. Did not find it this time on the HDMI 1 port when looking in settings. What bother me is the 8bit only.

4 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Another option to consider would be to build / buy a NAS (even a single drive machine would do) and use that as a media server for your Smart TV / Games Console / Roku or whatever. Look at PLEX or Jellyfin as paid / free options for this.

i hav a Synology machine that is waiting to get connected. I kinda hate to set it up cus i do not understand anything of it usually. I also lack proper cable ethernet in the apartment.

[MatsNorway]

HDR came on when i swapped to my stationary. So its PC building time.

 

I need something stable and quiet. Quality is more important than getting the most value/performance possible. 

Machine is for 4K Blueray movies and light gaming maybe. car games perhaps, Emulators etc. 

 

Early list:

• Corsair RM650e (I already have corsair stuff so its forced by legacy) https://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?p=14366564
• i am thinking AM4 since i have that and it can migrate my beefier 5900X in the future. + RAM? 
  • So i guess i am looking for a dirt cheap AM4 board and CPU
    • https://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?p=5141222 ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0
    • https://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?p=5139853 AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz Socket AM4 Box
    • SSD -  WD Red SN700 NVMe M.2 2280 1TB https://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?p=5910554

 

Looking at HTPC cases? is there a completely different world out there when it comes to running media and light weight gaming? I was thinking a regular windows PC but smaller. 

I am scared i just gonna hate it right away because there is no space inside it. 

 

Could i run integrated GPU and still get smooth HDR running?

 

Case: I strongly prefer Fractal cases. And i can not have glass sides/view of interior anything/RGB.

[MatsNorway]

Click on Flere filter for more filters. Case is the tricky part i feel. I could go abroad to find case but toll etc. gonna make it expensive so it has to be quite the case.. heh.. before i consider it.

https://www.prisjakt.no/c/kabinetter?r_1426=180-360&r_1427=200-400&r_1428=180-693&sort=price 

 

Is it feasible to buy blueray player and just play movies from that? Or is it too much region locks/does not work on Windows etc. still so it becomes a hassle? 

[MatsNorway]

Case has to be a Fractal Terra. Only one i like that has front facing ports and is of give or take the right size. A bit narrow, but height is so that it also fits in a shelf just outside the picture.

[KidKid]

On 5/24/2025 at 4:48 AM, MatsNorway said:

Budget: 5-1000Dollars, depends on answers, no strict budget, but value is ideal, can be budget/low end. Can even just be a laptop. But should be quiet.

Country: Norway

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Movie/Youtube playback.

Other details: Got nothing to build from really. 

 

 

 

Backstory: Got a LG B3 65" 4K OLED Smart-TV and HDR does show in windows settings as supported.

• Tried USB-C dongle to HDMI, from a Lenovo Yoga S740 15,6" FHDGeForce GTX 1650, Core i7-9750H, 16GB RAM, 1 TB PCIe SSD. Not working  (machine is from 2020)
  • Bought and tried a HDMI 2.1 compatible cable from the Yoga no difference.
    • Tried that cable directly out from port on work computer, a Lenovo with a 2080 Super. No difference

 

So i think i need a compact machine for the TV setup. to play HDR content at high refresh rates. Whatever modern Movies comes with (usually only 60fps still)

 

 

1. I guess the start of this build is to understand HDR playback from Windows/PC. How does one read up/read the relevant info to not fuck it up?
2. I guess then its time to look at pretty case proposals. Should be black to match Fosi Audio ZD3

3. The rest. Tips and good ideas.

 

 

 

You won't need a very powerful computer for this. It's 4K and most movies are 24fps, even integrated graphics can do 4K 60hz (though maybe not with HDR). I don't think you'll need to spend $1k on it.

[MatsNorway]

So where should focus be then? Mobo? in case you need optical out on sound etc?

 

• GPU is largely irrelevant, need HDMI and i guess thats it. Should be quiet.. A GPU with fanless mode i guess is sensible to look for. 
• CPU: Any AM4 seems strong enough out the box. 
  • CPU cooler can be stock AMD
• PSU: is the smallest modular one.. (From Corsair)
• Case: Fractal Terra.
• Mobo - i guess i want USB C in the back?
  • Gotta be mITX due to case
  • Should handle a 5900X in the future
    • Something like this: Asrock A520m