Playback Issues - Audio/Video & Power

[Chicken]

That one has good reviews, specs look good as well.  SD card slot.  I do need a new PC, this one looks like it consumes about 3W, not too shabby.

[Chicken]

"atc98092" wrote:
Here's a rather unexpected deal. A fanless, WIndows 10 Pro small form factor PC for $125. Atom x5 processor, 4GB ram, 64GB SSD or SD card, can't tell which. Support 4K video, Gigabit Ethernet and dual-band 802.11N wireless. Also supports Bluetooth. Considering the OS alone would cost you $100, that's a heck of a deal. Use Kodi or something similar for your theater interface, add a wireless mouse and keyboard, and you have a complete system for under $150. With VGA and HDMI out, you can connect it to virtually any display. Since it's a full , legal install of Windows 10 Pro, you can install almost anything you need. With nothing mechanical inside (no fan or hard drive spinning), it would be dead silent and almost unbreakable. Almost...

Good news for me, I was able to find a ROKU solution for my immediate needs.  This includes both the 3600 and 3800 sticks but excludes my old 3400 stick so that's no biggie given it's outdated anyway.
So I spent some quality time with my WIFI LAN kicking the tires and legs out from under various devices and my result was the ROKU shines over the Chromecast in many ways.  Couldn't get the Chromecast to do anything unless the WIFI was up and connected to internet, a biggie for my purposes.  I was able to Miracast screen share to both the Roku 3600 and 3800 while the WIFI network was down completely AND I could also Miracast to both these Roku's with WIFI operating and internet connection disabled.
There's something afoul with my DLNA router (ReadyDLNA) so can't blame ROKU for issues as this router also exhibits problems with other devices (Issues beyond DLNA connectivity),  This router is funky and probably causing issues for the ROKUs as it does the other devices.
So for the foreseeable future, I'm a happy camper with either the ROKU 3600 or Roku 3800 as long as Miracast remains working in the absence of WIFI LAN.
So for now, Big Thumbs-up for Roku, and not so hot for Chromecast (aside from Chromecast works with some apps that don't support Roku protocols)
Thanks a bunch for all your helpful suggestions Dan, I'll be keeping them in mind going forward! :<)

[atc98092]

Cool, glad you found a solution! 

[Chicken]

"atc98092" wrote:
Cool, glad you found a solution! 

I don't believe it, one of my extenders had a bad power supply so now I get to repeat some of my testing again (with a focus on DLNA).  Chances are the network will be considerably more stable, I expect.

[Chicken]

Turns out now the power supply issue is resolved, the DLNA (and everything else) works beautifully.  This power supply was running the router responsible for handling the internet connection, it wasn't the DHCP or DLNA router, so the problem has been around for a while, undetected, until the router completely died and it became obvious.

[atc98092]

Nice troubleshooting!  

[Chicken]

Roku is rockin' now, what a difference!  Again, thanks for all your help and advice, I was pulling my hair out all b/c of router issues.