In any digital media network, hardware budgets are always under pressure, and the tendency is to choose the cheapest PC option that’s available. However, a careful analysis of the ongoing costs of supporting inferior hardware, the cost of replacing failed units in the field and the possibility of having to upgrade the system prematurely due to advances in video formats or additional requirements from the client, will quickly reveal that it does not pay to deploy hardware that is sub-standard.
In addition, choosing hardware that only just meets the specifications is also a short-sighted strategy. Even though digital media networks are not mission critical systems, it makes sense to choose a player PC that has a bit of overhead so it can cope with unexpected events.