When I was younger and still living with my parents, and even after I moved out and joined the Military, I typically used a computer to play all of my media. In the early days it was DVD media, then SD MPEG/AVIs, then BluRay, and now HD MKVs/etc. Until I moved into an apartment with friends during college I had never required a way to present media to a common area. Through some clever redirects of PlayOn and DLNA magic I was able to use my PS3 to act as a media center, but while this was satisfactory it was in no way ideal. The consideration to build a standalone Media PC was always there, but money was tight, so we made do!
Fast-forward a few years; I’ve purchased a house and now more than ever need to solve the same problem! I’ve owned several media set-top boxes. In order, the Apple TV 2 (Jailbroken), an Apple TV 3 (couldn’t Jailbreak), a Netgear NeoTV 550 (got it on a sale), a Raspberry Pi (running RasPlex), and an OUYA (video streaming is not its strong suit). Most recently, I’ve purchased a Roku 3. Here is the review!