Is the nvidia shield TV still the go-to box for streaming content to your TV?
I don’t really need much, just something that can pick up jellyfin. hulu/HBO/etc. is a bonus
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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.
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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.
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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)
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The Dell Optiplex micro form factor might be a good option. You can get them cheap on the second hand market (at least here in the US).
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?
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Is this via social / account stuff within the plex ecosphere ? Ive never used any of that (wittingly) including seperate user accounts in my household. Is it between such accounts you’re referring to, or more insidious than that ? Ive been plexing for some years but always have one eye on jellyfin. If theyre doing anything dodgy with data I will jump. Need to have another look at their policies and settings - its been a while. Good to have a headsup.
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Wow. Thanks for the link. Makes me wonder if the whole thing could be seen as a honeypot opportunity for lawyers of evil corps and others. Also makes me wonder what their business end game is - get acquired by Amazon or another streaming giant ? In which case, yikes again. I was suspicious enough with the mere fact it was a hybrid streaming, live tv, and self host media solution. Conflicts of interest. A Shame. Theres alot of good aspects to using it. Hello Jellyfin.
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Jellyfin still has a ton of issues. Can’t easily fixed mismatched episodes (at least I couldn’t find it), crashes on some media well plex doesn’t. Apps crash enough to be noticeable.
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.
Jellyfin has no shareholders to push the enshittification
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.
Might as well load a 3rd party launcher gets rid of the rest of the ads. Not using the extra features at that point anyway.
A RaspberryPi with a Flirc case is silent
What os/frontend would you recommend?
I use LibreELEC, it’s great.
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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?
Firefox supports the DRM and has for awhile.
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.
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.
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.
I use the shield with an alternative front end/launcher.
Yes, there are (so far) ways to get around it for more technically skilled people, but you also have to sacrifice some features like the home screen channels (or updates). But you shouldn’t have to do that on a device in that price-segment, and I don’t want to support a product that employs such anti-consumer tactics with my recommendation.
IIUC you can flash LineageOS on the shield (if you try, let us know how it goes)
I use a beelink nuc, put on Linux and just connect it via HDMI to my tv, this way I have no real restrictions and I can keep it up to date easily.
What ui do you put on? Kodi? Or do you just run a full fat deskop environment?
I just run a full desktop and either use a browser for things like youtube and I have jellyfin media player for other media
I do the same. I have Debian with KDE and Kodi autostart on boot. Use Kodi most of the time but can tab out if needed.
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.
It doesn’t offer AVC1 decoding; so if that matters to you, skip it. If it doesn’t (and it absolutely doesn’t for the vast majority of users) then it’s not only best-in-class, it’s alone in its class. The nVidia Shield Pro is the only other device with as much power in it and that’s been eclipsed by the newest AppleTV iteration. They’re really just that good.
What’s the state of apps like kodi or other methods of local streaming on Apple TV?
I use infuse for local streaming to the ApleTV from my Jellyfin server. It works well but you have to subscribe to get the good features
That’s annoying. Part of the reason for local media is reducing the amount of monthly bills
You can buy a lifetime license for Infuse. Alternatively the Jellyfin app is available too (as Swiftfin on the Apple TV App Store, but displays as Jellyfin on the Home Screen).
Not sure how but I’ve missed Swiftfin and was using Infuse on my Apple TV for past few months. Made a quick test and it seems that Swiftfin suffers from the same issue as Plex does - crappy connection makes crappy experience. Don’t know how Infuse makes it but with the same network settings movies looks way better.
Can’t say I’ve noticed video differences, but Infuse has had the fewest audio sync issues for me. However the Plex layout simply fits my brain better. Especially the ability to reorder media and use collections, and integrate my OTA antenna.
Is it still true that only the Shield Pro does Atmos for my own media?
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
You can grab an Onn Google TV 4k Streaming Box from Walmart for about $20.
Did it have Google TVs home screen that has a bunch of ads on it? The breeder l newest version is atrocious.
You can put Google TV in apps-only mode, which helps significantly. It’s not a perfect fix, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Thank you so much!
For anyone else:
Turning on Apps only mode requires you to navigate to the Settings page from the home screen of your Chromecast or other Google TV device, then select Accounts & Sign In. From there, tap your profile and enable Apps only mode.
From: https://www.androidpolice.com/google-tv-apps-only-mode-visual-tweak/
It has the same basic UI as the Chromecast
I saw one of these. Have you used it? Does it work okay?
I’ve got a couple of them. They work great. I actually got a Chromecast with Google TV as well, but have since quit using it because the Onn works better in my opinion.
It works pretty good but every once in a while it’ll hard lock and blast loud static out of my speakers until I unplug it and plug it back in
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.
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.
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.
