So what did I do? I replaced them and at a very low cost.
I purchased a few Raspberry Pi (Model 3B+) and SD Micro cards (16GB).
I also purchased a FLIRC USB for the remote control.
Respectively, they cost ~ $35 + $6 + $20
You’ll also need a $10 USB SD card reader/writer to write the OSMC image to the SD card after you download it from the internet.
I downloaded and installed the OSMC image (free) from osmc.tv onto the SD card and inserted it into the Raspberry Pi single board computer. Attach your drive containing videos to a USB connection on the Pi, an HDMI cable from your TV and power it up. Configure the FLIRC controller for whatever remote control you want to use and you’re on your way. OSMC reads any video on a USB drive and it has the latest codecs and decoders to stream anything I throw at it. It will also stream from wireless or ethernet or a NAS. The Pi can also run the Kodi operating system if you prefer it over OSMC and Kodi is up to version 18.7 , so all the gremlins have been worked out after many years of versions and iterational fixes.
OSMC and Kodi are both modern free open source operating systems with a well developed GUI and a lot of functionality.
Total cost ~ $60
