I have been using kodi but it just so limited and clunky. Android TV is better but that is a major challenge since Android TV is very tied to Google with not much existing outside of Google.
What I am looking for is a device that can work with mostly Jellyfin. I don’t use any streaming services. It would need to work flawlessly with a remote and I am looking for something that maintains itself mostly.
Use the jellyfin kodi addon works very smoothly. I’ve been using it for two years and love it. I replaced all my chromecasts with kodi. It even has the approval of my wife.
It even has the approval of my wife.
He is the chosen one! Hail him!
even though Microsoft clearly wants to push Windows 10 users to Windows 11
does it still require a pointless hardware upgrade? then no, they clearly fucking don’t.
Because they want to make money. The get a licensing money for big OEMs. It probably was the OEMs who were pushing Microsoft to make everyone upgrade. They want to continue selling computers at a high rate.
with the death of Moore’s law they will find it much harder to add enough value to hardware to make upgrading worth it.
I’m ready for the Linux switch but for many this kind of bullshit will strong arm them into buying new shit they don’t need.
RPi with minidlnad, all devices at home from computers, phones, tablets, video projector, even VR HMD, can play content with e.g VLC.
Very quick to install (basically have a media directory with your videos inside) and still very flexible, e.g new content is added simply by copying from any other device with access, e.g scp which itself can be a script after downloading something.
Jellyfin + Apple TV + Infuse = Bliss
Apple TV only works on Apple hardware and isn’t great for privacy or freedom. No thanks.
The “Apple TV” is Apple hardware.
Exactly. It is locked down and does not respect your freedom
What can you do on your android tv that you can do on an Apple TV?
Install F-droid and not be locked into Apples ecosystem. Also there are privacy issues as well as it connects to Apples servers
Does fdroid even work on android tv?
Yes
I use a raspberry pi with LibreElec/Kodi. It works with the HDMI-CEC, meaning I control it with the TV remote.
Jellyfin can be used as a source for movies and stuff with a plugin.
Awful UI and my TV remote only has on off with CEC. I have a Bluetooth remote but the select key code is higher than 255
Yeah, fair enough. Did you try kodi with a different hardware? Might be a bit easier on the clunkiness. But besides AndroidTV, which I hate because it doesn’t do what I want, I have no alternative.
I haven’t dabbed in it, what does the select keycode being higher than 255 do?
Select
Kodi just have a awful menu system everything is buried under menus.
As far as Android TV goes it is pretty sure friendly and works out of the box
Yeah, it does need a lot of getting used to, especially if you want to change some settings.
With AndroidTV I have the same problem as with Windows: More and more of the “features” seem to be against my interests. That might be a view tainted by the SmartTVs, but it’s the only experience I have with it.
We really need a foss TV is that’s modern with modern apps
I really dig my tcl roku tv. Ultra cheap and has plex/jellyfin. Has 1 ad on the main screen that can be easily blocked but can also be setup to insta launch an app on boot. These tvs also have decent latency in game mode too (my most important requirement).
The ad on the right side of the home screen always shows up for me, even with a pi-hole setup at home. I actually ended up factory resetting my roku tv and disconnected it from the inyernet entirely a couple years back for that exaxt reason. Except roku OS 10+ actually gas built-in ads on the right side that show up even if you’re offline.
…so how did you get rid of the ads entirely? Because I’d love to do that myself.
You have to disconnect the internet for a while. Think a month or two.
Weird, I’ve had it disconnected since the factory reset.
Maybe I should connect it, let it load new ads, and then cut it off again?
Humm. How long has it been disconnected? I wouldn’t reconnect just in case it starts a timer back over or something.
A couple of years now. I messed around with the Secret Menu settings today and I might have solved it; my guess is that there are some “default” ads cached forever on certain settings.
I remember that roku TVs refuse working until you connect it to the internet. their values/intentions are clear, I wouldn’t give money to them
Not true at all. Yes you do have to do an initial setup connected to the internet (and making a roku account), but after that you can disconnect it from the internet completely. It even looses its initial ad after a certain time.
So it is true. Why do you call it not true?
oh that was it, the account requirement was what I wanted to remember but couldn’t! was sure it was something even worse, thanks for the help.
yeah if I would buy such a TV by accident, I would bring it back within the return period and tell that it was faulty, because it is.
Nvidia shield is an option you should check out.
We’ve been using an Apple TV. From memory, there’s a Jellyfin client.
Apple isn’t exactly my go to company especially for privacy and freedom
I use a steamdeck with jellyfin installed. It’s not its main purpose but works well enough
Hdmi cable to a laptop
Dedicated mini pc running vlc and retroarch with a network link to my 18tb file server schwing schwing
Good choice, I’ve been tempted to set up something similar myself
+1 that’s what I do at home with my desktop and what is IMHO the best solution.
Yet on vacation I use an old android box with Android Tv (SlimTv) and I have to say it’s nice to have a dedicated interface allowing use of a remote.Okay, but then the TV is still running all the same spyware.
Don’t connect it to the internet
That doesn’t guarantee 100% privacy on a densely populated area anymore. Nowadays you’ve stuff like Amazon Sidewalk and who knows who’s partner and what devices are in it.
Iirc that’s specifically for amazon devices, this was regarding Samsung TVs
Not specifically for amazon devices, they’ve opened up the network to “selected partners”, I believe Samsung isn’t on the list but that may happen at any point and to be fair did you read the ToS to know if they don’t have something similar already? What are their plans?
All I know is that I’ve never connected my TV to the internet and never gotten ads on it
Not saying more sinister things aren’t possible, but for my TV to connect to some kind of mesh net, it would probably need a firmware update, which its not going to get, because again, its not connected to the internet.
Pihole is your friend.
Deny it wifi credentials and it has nowhere to send the stuff it’s spying on
That doesn’t guarantee 100% privacy on a densely populated area anymore. Nowadays you’ve stuff like Amazon Sidewalk and who knows who’s partner and what devices are in it.
ONN tv from walmart with all the bloat removed by adb and projectivity laauncher. you will not find a better option for under $30
I have one but the bootloader could not be unlocked. I’ll just reuse the remote as it was pretty cheap.
is there a good tv focused android rom you know of that would justify unlocking it? i havent found any that dont act like a phone and require a mouse to use. i like the stock ONN over others because it was so easy to debloat without needing a new rom but i def understand wanting to have full control over everything too.
You can debloat an NVIDIA shield android tv box, replace the default launcher, then install whatever else you want. It’s probably not perfect but it’s pretty darn good. That’s what I use and it can be updated without losing any of my customization.
I don’t own one but I agree, it ist very good. But it’s too expensive for what it is nowadays. A second hand one or maybe the next generation might be worth it again
Yeah we looked into a shield recently because we know someone who has one and we really liked it, plus I’ve heard it can be locked down and side loaded decently
But then we saw the price of one and are not willing to spend more than half the cost of a brand new 4k tv on a little box to stream from our media server and Netflix…
I’ve been using a Chromecast with Google tv, and have deprived my tv my WiFi credentials. 90% of what I watch is from my Plex server, 9% other streaming services, 1% digital antenna.
It’s not an ideal situation but as you know because you asked the question, the privacy situation in TVs is dire. Otherwise you’re doing ridiculous shit like plugging computers into it or whatever.
Put them behind a firewall in the guest network.
Who?
I’m looking for a TV desktop environment
I use an amazon fire tv 4k, I only use it to start jellyfin. It’s perfect.
If you don’t want it to phone home, put it behind a firewall, and block all but your domains