this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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Have a regular PC hooked up to the TV. That's my smart machine. I control every aspect of it. Fuck Smart TVs.
Raspberry pi with Kodi hooked up to a projector and a NAS serving files works well for me.
This is the way, although the pi is to slow for me at this point and I replaced it with shields.
Also why the are people connecting tvs to their networks...fuck that noise.
I'm waiting for the Raspberry Pi 5 to set up as a media PC behind my tv. There are really good, reliable, and high quality sites that let you stream any movie or TV show. No need to vpn or torrent. Firefox with ublock origin streaming anything I want in 1080 for free.
I should add I have a RP4 and it's not beefy enough to stream 1080p full screen from a browser to my 4k tv.
Just get a micro desktop, better airflow and has all the ports you may need.
Intel Nuc, Dell Optiplex are really cheap secondhand. And you can run 4K content on them.
I love rpis but damn did the 4s get sold out and then spike in price almost instantly. I'm not holding out much hope for the 5 to be much better.
Better or worse than Ps5s
I use an RP4 and it's fine with streaming 1080p h.265 stuff off my NAS drive, though it did struggle a bit with serving up the Planet Earth videos. It claims to be able to decode 4k, but probably not very well.
Yea, the 3b was struggling hard for larger mkv videos in even 1080p. The 4s while much better seem to not be able to handle 265 at all in 4k.
Good to know, I'll probably hold off upgrading my projector to 4k until the next-gen raspi then, or some other platform.
We call it the pirate box and use it all the time. OSMC FTW!
Y'arrrrrr! Blessed be thee who take to the sailing the seven seas!
I mean that's nice but can you run Netflix/Hulu/AppleTV/HBO through that thing? Or can you only play media that you illegally downloaded?
Of course they can.
Without any regard as to veracity:
https://koditips.com/install-hulu-kodi-addon/ https://howtomediacenter.com/en/install-netflix-kodi-addon/ https://koditips.com/install-the-amazon-prime-video-kodi-addon/
What about the rest of them?
Do your own googling, I got bored after 3 :p
I haven't tried. Through a Web browser, maybe. There's a Kodi netflix addon, I know that. It's just a Debian box, so any solution that'd work on a Linux machine would probably be okay.
I don't think there is a Linux solution. That's the problem.
What do you mean? I gave you a couple of Kodi plugins that cover most of what you mentioned, plus, you could probably just use a Web browser.
I also use my pc as a TV with a big monitor. I can watch Netflix/streams through Firefox and control the pc with my PS5 controller connected through bluetooth.
You can do all of those things, but it's not remotely the same. The browser is limited to 720p, the interface isn't couch-friendly, and now your PC is connected to a TV instead of a proper gaming monitor.
On windows you can just install the Netflix app or use Edge and it's not limited to 720p, and you can just use a long hdmi cable and have your pc plugged into a normal monitor as well.
That is all true. It just saves me money not buying a TV 😅.
When I completely replaced my PC, I intended to use my old PC as a media box. But in reality, I've basically used my Chromecast for everything. One of these days I'll probably want to watch something that isn't on one of my streaming sites, but I've been surprisingly resistant to that so far.
Chromecast is the ideal smart device so far, for me. No ads or anything. I use my phone as a remote and basically every video app supports it easily. Open app, press cast, select what I want to play. Exactly what a smart TV should have been like.
What type of Chromecast do you use? I recently bought a Chromecast Ultra for a new TV after being happy with a secondhand one for years (3rd gen, I think). The difference in UI was such a disappointing step down. I don't want a home screen with apps and ads, I just want something I can stream to from my phone! And I can't say for certain, but it also feels like I get more ads on YouTube compared to using the older Chromecast.
No you bought a Chromecast with Google TV. A Chromecast ultra is just a 4k version of the original. I used my CCwGTV for 8 months then sold it and got a CC ultra instead. I hate the promoted content from networks and apps I would never use.
Aha, thank you for clarifying. It's easy to overlook the difference between "Chromecast" and "Chromecast with Google TV". ~~Unfortunately, it looks like if you want 4k you are stuck with the Google TV interface. :/~~ [Edit: I was wrong, see below]
Well no the Ultra has 4k
Thanks! Looks like I still had it wrong. Corrected above.
How are you crome casting I suppose it doesn't help that I only ever Chromecast when I'm at my parents and want to show them a yt video but I've found that sometimes my phone is able to make the connection and other days the option is either gone or my phone became blind
Casting is dependent on sharing a network, so maybe on the days it didn't work you were using the cell data network instead of your parent's wifi?
Even then you can just set up Jellyfin on that old PC and stream to your Chromecast from it.
Can you Chromecast Jellyfin from a PC? I thought it only worked from the Jellyfin Android app right now.
My only beef with Chromecast is I feel like they are designed to die after 2 years. I've gone through three now; it always seems like right around the 2-year mark, it starts having issues staying connected to the network. But I keep buying them because, like you said, it's basically the ideal smart device.
Did you try getting the chrome cast ultra that has the ethernet port on the power adapter? I've had a lot less trouble with connectivity on that one vs the original wireless only.
Every 4 months or so it will lock up and require a power cycle. So I do still have some of the problems you describe.
I did not even know that was a thing. Maybe I'll get it when my current one shits the bed in 8 months or so.
I wouldn't be able to use the Ethernet though since the router is upstairs.
Ethernet over power devices are surprisingly good.
They are designed to die, almost everything is now a days. Why build a robust system that lasts forever when you can build a cheaper system that breaks every couple of years and charge as much as you would for the robust system? It's not like consumers can choose an alternative that doesn't use the obsolescence model.
I've had a couple that died after a year but still have some gen2 and gen3s running fine.
You are better off sticking with the Chromecast and setting up the old pc as a Jellyfin/Plex/Emby server with a playback app on the Chromecast. You can even run a pi-hole on it too.
this has been an absolute game changer for me. i run an HDMI thru OBS so if i'm watching sports, i can crop out the distracting awful score ticker / now permanent ad space. and an even bigger game changer, i got a USB foot switch that i set as the mute keystroke, so instead of scrambling to hit the right key or find the remote while i'm busy, i can just stomp on the pedal to mute. it's bliss.
That sounds wonderful especially the mute if you actually have a peddle connected just for that.
Yeah, I just plug in my laptop when I want to use a TV.
Careful though, some smart TVs actually list in the ToS where they'll take screen captures of what you're watching for "informational purposes", make sure you have all data collection turned off anyway even if you don't use it as such.
The ethernet cable goes to the computer, not the TV.
The Nvidia Shield is a very solid sub-pc option. This said, they do still shove ads in your face in the form of a scrolling banner with new shows on it.
It doesn't bother me too much, though, and you might be able to disable it. Every blue moon it's useful is the thing.
I'm gonna get a rPi for this purpose I think.
I do something similar with an Nvidia Shield but inevitably I get regular giant reminders that I need to connect my TV to the internet (for my benefit, surely).
This is what I did for a long time, and I still have a PC permanently connected to the TV (it doubles as the home server).
But once I got a decent smart TV, a WebOS based LG that lets you disable or avoid ads, I’ve been happy to use the TV’s apps with the remote control’s voice or wiimote-like pointer.