Building a Kodi HTPC – need some help

Hello guys,

I’m planning on building a new HTPC and I would like some additional information for which I am having a hard time finding online.

Some background on me, years ago I chipped the original Xbox and installed XBMC, I’ve used that for years until the hardware became obsolete due to lack of HD support.
I’ve used other stuff over the years since then but never had any setup which was as good as XBMC (loved the Xbox controller as remote!), and so I’ve decided to get Kodi.

Currently I am using a Vu Duo, which is basicly a sattelite receiver, with some linuxOS on it.
The benefits for me are that I can just FTP to the box, upload what I want to see and I’m good to go.
But it lacks features, does not have a gbit port, and it’s kinda slow (for example when loading subtitles).

So time to upgrade!

Streaming vs locally stored media hardware requirement.

First question, everybody on forums and articles I’ve read over the past few days is talking about “streaming”.

If I understand correctly, when talking about streaming we are talking about i.e.: Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc…
But also having downloaded or selfripped media stored on a seperate device, be it a NAS, some desktop computer in the same network, a Plex server etc …

What I would like to do is, basically what I’m doing today, I want to store the media on the box which will play it, by means of uploading the media via FTP.

Here’s my question:

When talking about streaming from a NAS or other seperate device, is that the same as transcoding?
Which setup requires the most performant hardware, streaming from a seperate device or playing media stored locally on the kodibox?

Buildlist

Depending on the feedback I get on the above questions, this is what I am currently looking at.

My requirements:

– One device to play media and store media
– Futureproof
– Silent
– Instant on
– 4K (locally stored 2160p media + streaming(i.e. Netflix)
– No keyboard/mouse but remote support
– small
– Gbit LAN

Here’s my question:

My first requirement, one device to play media and store media, shortens the list dramatically I think, no USB sticks, no Android boxes etc …
I only see two options:

– x86 hardware, selfbuild, in for example a Silverstone VT02 case
or
– Intel NUC Kaby lake

Is this correct?

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and helping me out!