I just can't recommend anything with Android anymore. The enshittification is real. They're already rolling out full-screen video ads in the OS. Even Plex lived long enough to become the villain.
I've just been plugging in my laptop. Super inconvenient but that's where we are now.
I'm back to a full computer again too, and if you don't have a laptop handy, the new little mini PCs are surprisingly affordable too. If you don't want to build a raspberry pi.
Which mini-pc would you recommend? RPis are not sold here officially and thus very expensive.
RPi's probably not a great option anyway. Too low-powered for streaming video.
I'd probably recommend one of the used USFF office PCs w/ X86 processors commonly for sale on eBay for cheap. Bonus: These are the same ones people will recommend for low power homeservers so you could have it running those as well.
What about a chromebox flashed with some linux os? Nice and cheap mini x86 pc. Just picked one up for 35 bucks with an i7 6th gen, just hoping it uses sodimm and isnt integrated on the mobo.
Not sure what you mean by a "Chromebox"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebox
Basically a small form factor pc running ChromeOS by default, but still a pc usually with multiple USB slots, ethernet, and display port(s)
Oh, I would look into that first. Big problem with Linux is driver support and while you would think ChromeOS = Linux = same support, it unfortunately doesn't work that way.
That doesn't look like it would have SODIMM either...
I'm thinking about running WayDroid on mine...
I will have an OG Xiaomi Mi Box and it's absurd how over the years it went from a purely functional media device to a complete shit show covered ads. Genuinely disgusted me every time I turned the TV on. I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to tear out the launcher with ADB and replace it with FLauncher.
I wish Kodi wasn't such a pain in the ass to deal with, especially for YouTube. We really need a new FOSS media center application. Until then, at least FLauncher works for now as a simple app switcher for a handful of Android apps.
Emby gang
What exactly is your problem with Plex? I've used it for years and there's not even a hint of ads. They bow offer their own content as well, but you can simply remove that (or just not add it in the first place) from your start page. Other than that?
All kinds of problems. Most recently they're sharing your friends recent activity to you via email and vise versa, without your consent. Also I have removed their own content from my dashboard several times but they keep rearranging it and re-adding it.
Interface is riddled with stuff that isn’t on my local network.
I just want something to manage the stuff on my local network!
Anyways… I now use Jellyfin a lot for the above reasons .. until it doesn’t work lol.
I've been very happy with roku tvs at home and a roku stick "to-go". Very simple interface with minimal ads that you can block.
I second the roku, they are economically priced, they perform very well, minimal ads. My friends and family use them to stream from my jellyfin server over the internet to their homes.
If you go the android route turn on Apps Only Mode in the settings. It gets rid of the home screen ads for the most part and disabled a lot of the "features" that Google tries to push.
A RaspberryPi with a Flirc case is silent
What os/frontend would you recommend?
FYI everyone here is going to recommend running stuff to stream your own self-hosted pirated content.
If you're looking for something to stream Netflix, HBO, Disney, etc., forget it. Just run that shit in the browser. And even that will only be half-assed unless you go out of your way to install an invasive browser like Edge that supports their shitty DRM.
They could add the popular streaming services to Kodi and log in.
Edit: Well they say the steaming services are a bonus but the focus is Jellyfin. Does Kodi have an integration with Jellyfin?
A Shield TV is probably overkill for you and the recommendations of a pi would do just fine, but if it's in budget I say go for the Shield TV. Mine is nearly 8 years old and I haven't had a single issue, streams 4k HDR, and runs so much better than any of the crap that comes with even the newest of TVs.
Given the recent issues with ads, I wouldn't recommend anything Android/GoogleTV based. A USFF PC will give you better performance for less money, especially if you buy used. You can find 1L X86 boxes for $30-60 on eBay that are perfect for the job.
I've been using an Nvidia Shield TV Pro for a while, and hardware-wise it's still amazing. But with the way the OS is going, I can't recommend it to anyone anymore, not for that price. I basically had to stop updating any of the system stuff so it doesn't plaster my TV screen with ads.
IIUC you can flash LineageOS on the shield (if you try, let us know how it goes)
Why not use a pi or some other sbc?
I've done this in the past. I was mostly interested to see what others have done
If you have Apple users in your household, the current generation of Apple TV 4K 128GB is a solid device that’s going to offer the best integrated experience, along with capability of Thread. If not, it’s probably a bit overpriced compared to the other solutions.
Maybe something running Kodi? I don't use streaming services but I do use Kodi on a single board computer.
Stay away from cheap Chinese TV boxes. They are full of malware
I have Xiaomi TV stick 1080p (android) and I'm happy with it. I know its not popular solution, but its cheaper and I had 0 issues so far
I'd vlan anything cheap and Chinese. It's pretty much guaranteed to phone home and send as much info about your environment as possible.
Yeah it's not like Roku/Chromecast/fire stick do that too, only the Chinese ones, right?
The cheap Chinese ones have malware installed.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| Plex | Brand of media server package |
| RPi | Raspberry Pi brand of SBC |
| SBC | Single-Board Computer |
2 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 5 acronyms.
[Thread #305 for this sub, first seen 27th Nov 2023, 07:25] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
I've tried a lot of different things before settling on a old (windows) laptop with a wireless mouse and keyboard... I just cba with any of the streaming boxes anymore, and the laptop will always be compatible and performant.
if i was to build one, i would go for a thinkcentre. easy to get for cheap and perfectly able to stream video (with linux, of course).
I'm kinda new to the scene so take what I say with a grain of salt. I have jellyfin running on a laptop and I use a roku stick to stream through. Not perfect by any means however it does what I need to do. I've been told using a raspberry PI would be a great budget option with more feature.
OSMC makes some good Kodi boxes under the Vero name if you don't need proprietary streaming services. I use the jellyfin plugin to read from my JF server, works great. Supports 4k, HDR, audio passthrough, many codecs, all the good stuff.
Between that and my PS5 it covers all the bases
Gotta be careful with osmc. It has so much choice that breaking is entirely possible to do accidentally. I absolutely love my little 4k box.
A kodi distro, such as LibreElec would be my vote, but I don't believe it does streaming services very well, if at all.
I am so done with streaming services.The local library has more TV and films than I'll ever have the time or inkling to actually watch.
Kodi / LibreELEC has add-ons available to most of the most popular streaming services. The trouble is that it hasn't the necessary licenses for playing content in the best resolutions (the same goes with most browsers). I myself have a Homatics R 4k Plus (which is a licensed box) and installed CoreELEC. When using Android I can stream my content in the highest resolutions (Star Plus, HBO Max and Disney Plus) but when using CoreELEC I can't.
Thanks for clarifying. I recalled seeing something about 720p caps for certain streaming services when using non-DRM platforms, but I wasn't sure which.
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