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Could you build a $200 HTPC that will run all blurays, netflix, and kodi movies?

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If you don't mind using linux or atleast learning it and tinkering. You could use a Raspberry Pi 3 for this. I used one of the olders ones for a school project a few years back.

I was able to make a nice HTPC and I think in total it set me back like 50 bucks. I think the new ones can even stream 4k content if needed. So maybe consider looking into those as an option as well. FYI they are tiny and can be mounted to the back of your tv or cabinet to be out of sight and mind.
 
Because everyone's collections aren't necessarily 100%0 digital

Having an extensive 100% digital collection eats up a very large amount of HDD space, so someone without a dedicated file server might opt to use optical storage. Personally I dont find H.264 encoding to be sufficiently inferior to the raw footage to be worth storing non-compressed videos. Cutting a 30Gb+ film down to 5-6Gb and can barely see the difference when played back over the network is a no brainer for me. Even at that though I do havd a 36Tb file/media server box that I keep my collection on which currently eats up around 19Tb of space.
 
I rent DVDs from Redbox, would I be able to use a DVD/blue ray player on a Z270 motherboard?

To simply play them back yes absolutely long as you have the proper software and a HDCP compliant device to connect them to. For anything beyond that I do believe it violates the TOS to discuss.
 
I rent DVDs from Redbox, would I be able to use a DVD/blue ray player on a Z270 motherboard?

Like an internal sata bluray player? That's what I use (granted, it's a z170 board), but it works well. Lots of software out there for playback, you can really take your pick at what you want. HDMI output to my receiver from the MB. I have full support of Dolby/DTS/Atmos/ect. and it sounds great.
 
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