Linux Mint or Win 7 for HTPC?

[FordFreak2013]

I am using some of my old hardware to create a HTPC. It will be using my Sabertooth X79 with 4x8GB RAM and a 3930k. Yes, it's overkill. But I don't have to spend more money since those components are already paid for. I'll have my movies and TV shows stored across 6 drives. 1 primary and 1 backup for movies A-M for example. VLC is going to be my primary player and will be used to play all the DVDs and BRs that I'm able to put on the drives. I still have to figure out what to do for my HD-DVD and 4k movies.

I have a spare legitimate Win 7 key which is partially why I'm trying to decide between that and Linux. From what I can tell PowereDVD is a good option for Windows. Is there anything for Linux that will play 4k movies directly from a disc? Google doesn't seem to bring up much unless the results talk about playing files from a hard drive.

 

[Muadib]

Here are the requirements For Power DVD.

Customer Support - What are the minimum system requirements for Ultra HD Blu-ray movie playback? | CyberLink

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[Shamrock]

VLC is available for Linux.

 

[drnickriviera]

Why not use that win 7 key to activate win 10?

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I am using some of my old hardware to create a HTPC. It will be using my Sabertooth X79 with 4x8GB RAM and a 3930k. Yes, it's overkill. But I don't have to spend more money since those components are already paid for. I'll have my movies and TV shows stored across 6 drives. 1 primary and 1 backup for movies A-M for example. VLC is going to be my primary player and will be used to play all the DVDs and BRs that I'm able to put on the drives. I still have to figure out what to do for my HD-DVD and 4k movies.

The advantage Windows has is ironically that it supports all the DRM required for high quality streaming. Linux can be a bit of a hassle is that regard.

But if you're just playing local media files I doubt you'll notice much difference.

I have a spare legitimate Win 7 key which is partially why I'm trying to decide between that and Linux. From what I can tell PowereDVD is a good option for Windows. Is there anything for Linux that will play 4k movies directly from a disc? Google doesn't seem to bring up much unless the results talk about playing files from a hard drive.

There is almost no way to play UHD discs directly on a PC. It requires such a specific setup that it's unpractical. Any AMD CPU/APU is right out. Doesn't support Intel SGX. Your 3930k doesn't either, so won't work either. Using AMD/Nvidia GPU since your CPU doesn't have an IGP? Out of luck too. That's just getting started on the issues.

You can activate Windows 10/11 with your 7/8(.1) key. It isn't officially supported, but works just fine. So that shouldn't be any issue.