Question Built a SFF system for use as a "Home Hub" HTPC connected to TV, want to run apps

greigm78

Reputable
Sep 28, 2018
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Thanks to the collective input of the forum, I built a SFF system from an AsRock A300 Deskmini with a Ryzen 3200G and 8GB of 2666 SO-DIMM memory, running from a 120GB SATA SSD.

It's all working fine, but ideally what I'd like to be able to do is run apps like Amazon Prime video and Netflix without having to use the clunky web based viewers that I am currently locked to.

So, what's the best way to run the SFF like an Android device, for example. Or is it not worth doing? It's just that the Amazon prime web site does my head in, whereas the app on my Smart BD player is much nicer, albeit slow (i thing the better CPU/RAM will speed that up).

Thanks
 

Oussebon

Upstanding
Feb 17, 2020
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Netflix has a (Windows) desktop app that lets you predownload the shows if you want, so you can just get that app. The app's fine, insofar as one might choose to call Netflix's UI 'fine'.

Amazon Prime doesn't have a Windows app AFAIK. And it's probably more faff than it's worth it run an android emulator just to get the app even if it means using the website.

What else are you using the hub for out of interest?
 

greigm78

Reputable
Sep 28, 2018
283
37
4,840
Netflix has a (Windows) desktop app that lets you predownload the shows if you want, so you can just get that app. The app's fine, insofar as one might choose to call Netflix's UI 'fine'.

Amazon Prime doesn't have a Windows app AFAIK. And it's probably more faff than it's worth it run an android emulator just to get the app even if it means using the website.

What else are you using the hub for out of interest?

It's connected to the TV via a Denon AVR so I use it for watching old films I have downloaded over time (some may be more legitimate than others :D). I also use it for Spotify and I have around 60GB of music that I run through the amp.