If it was just as capable, then people would buy Raspberry Pi's.

The problem isn't hardware capability, it's the ecosystem on top of it. Pi doesn't have a robust tv platform and app market system that is built around a remote control. Sure, you can run plex on it but even plex has long abandoned its streaming app platform and decided to roll its own TV service instead... Part of me wishes that Plex would have stuck with it but i guess they realized the Streaming TV problem isn't a software or hardware problem to begin with...

> The problem isn't hardware capability, it's the ecosystem on top of it.

The parent comment stated that the $100 doesn't cover the cost of the hardware. I disagree.

I do think it is perhaps a more reasonable statement to say $100 doesn't cover the cost of the hardware and the software platform on top of it.

I don't think it's right to shove ads down customer's throat on a product that they've paid money for. Whether that's money to buy the hardware and the software platform or whether that's money paid to the subscriptions; in both cases advertisements are the wrong solution to revenue. If software costs money then make that cost up front. Sell the software. Sell updates to the software. Sell a subscription for the software. But don't put ads on it!

I think the comment you're referring to is incorrect in that regard - of course $100 pays (or at least paid pre-chip-shortage) for the bulk-purchased chips and boards in the products, but people buy it because of the streaming services on the box, not because it has a Cortex-A55 in it (although that plays into choosing it over the 1080p model).

I have to chuckle because Google's entire existance has been based on advertising revenue so if you don't like ad supported "Fremium" or "discounted" services, this really is a moot discussion.

It's actually getting quite difficult to buy Raspberry Pi's at the moment, they are out of stock in most places. So people are buying them, but I know that's not what you meant in the context of this conversation.

A raspberry pi will do 4k, HDR AV1 and h265, and includes a remote, case, storage, power supply and HDMI cable?

A raspberry pi 4 will, and the accessories are relatively cheap: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/build-the-ultimate-4k-home-...

Will it? I didn't know that rpi had any HW support for AV1.

Last I checked, there wasn't any player capable of doing HDR10 HEVC either, but maybe that has changed.

I like the rpi but I don't think its as capable as people are making it out to be.

And it doesn't have any hardware backed DRM, so service compatibility is low and those that do are generally in limited resolutions.

Anyway AV1 for streaming isn't a thing for now because Qualcomm refuses it.

I'm still seeing $65 for the Pi, then adding up everything else you need takes you over $100 easily.

These accessories are sold in quantities of one, to consumers, and made in relatively smaller batches. All of that gets a lot cheaper if you can injection mold a plastic housing and buy things in hundreds of thousands or millions.