GPU for 4K movie viewing

[Daniel Gibbons]

Hi
Firstly I'm not sure if this should've been in graphics card or home cinema, please move if necessary.
I have purchased the 55" LG OLED television. I have a number of UHD movies on my hard drive. My graphics card is old (radeon HD6900) and maximum output is HD resolution. There is no way I've found to force the higher 4k resolution.
So if I want to watch 4k from pc, I conclude I need a new GPU. Am I wrong?

However, if I were to put the films on an external hard drive, connect to TV and play from the TV, then I would get UHD resolution. Again is this conclusion correct?

If both conclusions correct, my dilemma would be deciding if investing in external hard drive that I can connect to television or upgrading GPU is the better option.

My gaming days are all but over, so I really just need my GPU to handle the UHD resolution for movie watching now. I suppose if any new GPU was benchmarked against my current HD6900, then just to be better than that would be suffice.

Is this possible on a budget???

Ive seen some Radeon cards at £59 that say will play 4k, but unsure if the other specs are better than my hd6900, but it has been discontinued and regarded as legacy for a year or two now.

Any and all advice welcome. Thanks.

 

[Daniel Gibbons]

Thanks for that. I have kodi, on the computer though, so will still have same issue. However, are you suggesting that be better off connecting external hard drive to tv via home network rather than wired with usb?

If so, then no need for external hard drive as can source movie files on computer from TV via home network.

However still have restriction on streaming anything on computer from Netflix, YouTube, or any source in 4K, so still leaning towards upgrading graphic card solution. Just want to get it at cheapest as not gaming.


Also, I don't think sound is major issue yet as just using sound from TV as no speakers or similar connected.

 

[Daniel Gibbons]

Yes but kodi, plex and streaming were mentioned.

Thanks. I will be doing both as computer is ethernet not WiFi and sits in main room behind TV. WiFi speed 78 Mbps.

 

[Daniel Gibbons]

Hi,

It really depends on your decision. Radeon R9 270 is the lowest-end graphics card with support of 3840x2160 and higher http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=32973A29-62EF-4BED-A065-971EE29FE1B7&lang=eng

And it is faster than HD 6970, if you have HD 6970 and not 6950 or lower.

https://www.3dmark.com/fs/1578148 5465 3DMarks

https://www.3dmark.com/fs/3001137 3407 3DMarks

It is the hd6950. At time of purchase was a great card, hoped it would have lasted longer before AMD retired it to legacy.

 

[Daniel Gibbons]

You can use Kodi on your PC to share your videos over home network and directly play them on your TV with built in video player.

I have all my movies on pc and use Kodi as media player. I used home network to access the files from TV in bedroom and tablets with VLC. However I may be missing a trick here I feel regards best/easiest way for these to be accessed from other devices. If you have any links or page recommendations for guides they would be very welcome .thanks .

 

[Daniel Gibbons]

You would notice even larger performance difference if you go for a R9 270.

The thing is that these Radeons, right now or like in your case, do not support higher resolutions, for example RX Vega 64 doesn't support 7680x4320, even though there are already available displays on the market.
Have no idea why Radeon group behaves in this way regarding this so important issue.
Technical problems?

edit: I was with HD 6870 and one of the reasons why I bought the R9 380 4GB is because of its 4K support.

The 290 suffice or recommend the 390 to
ensure hassle free playback?

 

[Daniel Gibbons]

290 and 390 is one and the same thing, the Hawaii chip, like 480 and 580 is one and the same thing too, the Polaris 10 chip.
Take the one that you can find cheaper

Good man, thanks.

 

[Daniel Gibbons]

A 290 does not support HDR playback (so it will be useless for UHD), also, a 290 struggles with HEVC/UHD (at least when using the recommended player MPC HC with madvr)

I know vega and 4xx series support HDR, no idea about nvidia cards, except for the 10xx series.

Thanks, I'll look at the higher spec.

 

[Daniel Gibbons]

why not simply stream it to say a firestick with kodi installed, much easier than having to faff around with an external drive.

Interesting. I have Kodi on my PC, How would I stream to the tv? I have previously used home network and pointed to TV at the files on hard drive but that was direct to the files, not via Kodi. I have no idea how to do it via Kodi, especially as Kodi is on the pc and I want to watch on TV bypassing the pc streaming.