Streaming 4k and Dolby sound

[TheDreadPirate]

The client will always have to decode, period. Newer codecs are more complex and require more computational power to decode. Adding to that, higher resolutions require even more compute.

The GPU in the media PC does not have any decoders, and the CPU doesn't have a modern enough iGPU to support modern codecs. So any decoding of HEVC, the likely codec for 4K HDR content, is happening on those old CPU cores.

Your options are to force transcoding on the server to simpler codecs and lower resolutions (1080P H264) or upgrading your media PC.