Newbie to 4k & smart tv (haven't owned a tv in 10 years!) Can I HTPC with it?

[hamlet_jones]

I'm lost! We just got a 58" Samsung MU6070, on sale, seemed like a good price ($450)

Got it assembled and my wife set it up enough so that we were able to watch Crackle,
but that's as far as I got.

So, what have we been doing for tv/movies in the last 10 years?
Well, I built a win7 pc, & we download movies, and watch them
on my large monitor, or transfer to a external drive and watch them
on my wife's new macbook pro laptop...
I was going to get a large monitor and build a dedicated
HTPC, but then this smart tv came along...

I'd still like to still watch youtube videos, and my movie collection,
but I'm really in over my head this time. I don't know if I can get a HTPC
tower to play nice, if I need a large expensive video card, or if my smart
tv is already equipped, or if I can watch from an external hard drive?

I went to Samsung's website, downloaded user manual, but it looks like
it's for more than one model, & poorly written.

I have dsl, speedtest consistently returns Mbps11.5 I am in a dead
zone, so no digital tv signal at all, and no cable available in my neighborhood.

If anyone can help get me started in the right direction, great! Tom's has
always helped me in the past.

 

[photonboy]

Please don't mention torrented (presumably pirated) video content here.

So...
NETFLIX or similar would be a great choice for video. If the Smart TV interface doesn't have that option then a BluRay player or other media input device that has NETFLIX is another good choice (make sure it does support Netflix).

If Speedtest reports 11.5Mbps (Mega-Bits per second) then you have enough to watch normal HD Netflix but not "4K" Netflix.

Other:
Expensive video card?
Only if you want to build a gaming PC which is a completely different topic and complicated.

ROKU and other devices exist that can handle videos but they have limited support for audio and video codecs so there's no guarantee most of your video content will be playable.

Some people use KODI (I do) and that seems to work well. I use it on my PC but there are ways to use it on various devices:
https/www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-install-kodi-fire-tv,news-25115.html

You can for example, buy a WDMYCLOUD device and attach it to your local ROUTER via the included Ethernet cable. It then is seen by all local devices that can view it. Even BLURAY players though they have an audio watermark protection on 2013+ players that can prevent audio at times on most 2013+ movies (will start playing audio then at some random time you get a "CINAVIA" warning and the audio is muted).

So long story short I suggest:
1) Netflix
2) 4K or normal BluRay player (possibly with Netflix)
3) WDMYCLOUD to share stored, legal videos
4) Roku, Amazon or other device to attach via HDMI possibly using KODI
5) XBox One X or PS4 Pro gaming device? (various options I assume Netflix too but won't likely play most video codecs for legal reasons)

Android media box.. EXAMPLE ONLY:
https/www.amazon.com/GooBang-Android-Bluetooth-Amlogic-Processor/dp/B076KHQKZZ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1532191581&sr=8-4&keywords=4k+kodi

Look for one with:
a) great customer feedback
b) KODI support (or feedback on how to manually install KODI)
c) 4K video support
d) large list of video/audio codecs support (MKV, MP4, AC3, MP3, H265... )

*So you might for example buy an Android box, install KODI, then link it to your WDMYCLOUD at which point it should download the information (wallpaper etc) and you can navigate to a movie and play it with the Android box remote.

**When using KODI or similar it's best to rename the files on the drive they are stored to be as accurate as possible including the date. For example:
Bladerunner 2049 (2017)

Hope this helps you get started.

 

[hamlet_jones]

Okay, I have two HTMI ports, and onscreen menu suggests that I can access 3 or more external devices (laptops, etc).
So if I built a HDPC, install Kodi, I can have, say, netflix thru my new smart tv, and all of my archived content, and new
content from my HDPC tower? (I have old documentaries that are obviously not 4k, I'm not sweating that.)
Maybe I should return the Samsung and get something else more suitable t my style of entertainment.