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Pick up a Nvidia Shield Pro 2019 on ebay. Connect an external hard drive through one of the two USB ports and run Kodi as your library manager. That should be all you need. Supports HDR, 4k, upscaling.
If you go that route, run a launcher for a more streamlined home screen. I’m running Projectivy Launcher because it was easy to install and does what I need it to, but there are other options out there.
Why is a 5 year old device still the best bet? It's frustrating that nothing better exists on the market.
The Android market sort of split into cheap streaming sticks vs more expensive but niche boxes (like the Zidoo or Dune players). The former are meant for streaming but lack power. The latter are more capable players but often can’t stream from legit services due to DRM.
The Shield sits in this weird middle ground where it’s actually good for a variety of use cases….but unlikely to get an update due to small market demand.
Although I’d argue that unless you need atmos audio passthrough for Bluray rips…the AppleTV 4K is the best option these days. Super fast processor, no ads or bullshit in the OS, reliable frame rate matching, good track record of software updates and vendor support, and apps like Infuse which is a superb Plex and Jellyfin client. It’ll do 4K REMUX playback with lossless 7.1 audio, and the UI never lags…ever. Just a shame about no audio passthrough which prevents it from being an enthusiast player.
Hey hey, check your facts, the Shield did get an update recently. They did in fact add ads to the home screen./s But I assume you mean a hardware upgrade.
But on a serious note I don't see a reason why I need anything else than the Shield. It has flaws and bugs but generally plays everything. Combined with my Plex home server the experience is great. Can take the shield anywhere I go and stream content from my home server.
I play everything in 4k blueray remux without any problems (except for a memory leak every few weeks).
That's not on Nvidia but the fault of Google tho (they use stock Android TV) you can just use another launcher and set it to auto start ( not like the Fire Stick where they barred that option with updates sigh).
Most of what these devices do is fairly light compute-wise. There's no real need to have the most powerful hardware when all it will really do is add to cost. Are there use cases for more powerful hardware, of course but for most people what we have is good enough. That said, I would love an updated Shield or competitor.
Even my Shield TV Pro 2019 lags a lot when using Kodi (With Umbrella, TMDBHelper and a nice skin with not too many widgets) I can only imagine how thrash it would be to attempt to do that setup with worse hardware.
Which version, pro or tube? My 2015 pro is a champ, including in Kodi. Adding the Samsung SSD a few years back was a game changer though. Boot time dropped to 7 seconds, and no trouble with h.265 and even 1080 AV1.
Edit: To OP, I currently host my files on the shield local drive and watch with Kodi. I used to have a NAS, but am living leaner lately, and local works fine. Can easily move files to it over the network
Nvidia Shield TV Pro 2019, no tube, and I even downgraded it to 8.2.3 but Kodi is the heaviest app by far and using it as a streaming client has always given me headaches, as a media player is top notch shit though.
Because it's good shit.
Much less than the $150 for the smaller shield and you don't have a lot of margin for a decent chip in there.
I use the 2017 edition and it works great. Has the same SoC AS a switch Lok but supports 4k
i'm still running a hardware steam link for our in home streaming (and have another one as backup should it die). the shield and the SL were the best options back then, and everything afterwards kinda sucked
Wait, hardware steam link? Please tell me more. Mine is collecting dust. Can I throw Kodi on it?
I just looked it up and yes, you can install kodi on it: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/steam-link-install-kodi/
the latest kodi release for steam link is pretty old tho, dating from 2019. https://github.com/garbear/kodi-steamlink/releases
i personally just stream my desktop and then use jellyfin/plex or my browser for whatever media i need.
I'll have to check it out. I would love to replace my fire stick. I am trying to get jellyfin setup.
It's going to be cheaper and fulfills OP's need. I don't know what else you'd want, what better things were you looking for?
Old hardware is cheaper, and these devices don’t need to be expensive.
Even when newly manufactured they’ll still use ancient CPUs because nobody wants to spend $500 on an android TV stick.
Even the latest shield pro uses a CPU from 2015 and it’s $200 brand new.
Or even better flash LineageOS on it!
Where do you currently store the video? You could get a cheap Chromecast with Google TV (the one with a remote) and use Jellyfin on your computer to make the video files available over the network.
I store them on my pc but I think my internet connection is too bad for that
It doesn't depend on your Internet, it all works through your local network.
The router is far away from both devices so I think connection might be bad. But I guess I can try with my phone on the spot where the TV is. Will do that tommorow. Thank you for the advice!
You don't need the one with the remote. Jellyfin will cast to google devices from the client.
I know but I prefer to get the one with the remote, since you can also cast to it, and having a remote for guests is nice.
At that price point shopping used and local might be the best move. I see these devices come up pretty cheap as people switch to "jailbroken" firesticks, smart tvs, or other smart device ecosystems (ex. Google to Amazon).
If you haven't seen it already you might want to check out the LTT video on Android boxes. It basically talks about cheap Android boxes containing malicious materials and advising people not to connect them to their home networks.
I've owned four different android TV boxes from AliExpress over the years, from different manufacturers, different sellers, and different versions of Android. None of them ever came with malware. I'm a member of the CoreElec community forums where thousands of people own android TV boxes, hundreds of different models and hundreds of different firmware versions, and nobody ever once talked about having malware on their device. That LTT video is ill-informed and out of proportion. Anyway, nobody ever buys the Android TV box to use whatever crappy old version of Android they include, they immediately wipe the partition and install CoreElec on it, with kodi and all the plugins you'd ever want.
I have two of them running CoreElec for my media centres, and one with Armbian OS with HomeAssistant installed, running my home automation. They're the best bang-for-buck ARM powered Linux hardware you can get, miles better than a raspberry PI.
I do agree it's out of proportion. Most people are just them to stream content after all not do their taxes and send corporate emails. I mentioned it because the possibility is there for something malicious and some people consider that due to security or privacy concerns.
Anyway, nobody ever buys the Android TV box to use whatever crappy old version of Android they include, they immediately wipe the partition and install CoreElec on it, with kodi and all the plugins you’d ever want.
I feel like the average consumer uses their Android TV boxes the way that they come. This is the first time I've even heard of CoreELEC despite using LibreELEC. Thanks for mentioning it. I have doubts every obscure cheap Android box is supported though.
This is the first time I've even heard of CoreELEC despite using LibreELEC. Thanks for mentioning it. I have doubts every obscure cheap Android box is supported though.
LibreElec reduced official support for SBCs with Amlogic Cpus (like the Odroid C2, Odroid C4, and Odroid N2) in 2018, that spawned the fork called CoreElec. Then LibreElec removed Amlogic support entirely in 2019 (they wanted to just focus on Raspberry Pi SBCs). That caused a mass exodus of users and most moved to CoreElec. That was around the same time cheap TV boxes started appearing on AliExpress, and a lot of them happened to have Amlogc CPUs like the s905X, s905X2, s905X3, and s922X, these are the same CPUs in Odroid C2 and Odroid C4 and Odroid N2, so CoreElec was able to add support for most of them.
CoreElec remains tied to LibreElec upstream, receiving the same updates.
They have a comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date hardware compatibility list. They don't support all Chinese TV boxes, but if it has an Amlogic CPU, there's a high chance it is supported. If you're unsure, just look at any one of the hundreds of "will this cheap TV box work?" threads on their forum.
Thanks for the heads up. I was trying to install LibreELEC on some SBC a while ago but support for ended before hand so I ended up using some old computer. I might have to give it a go.
I feel like the average consumer uses their Android TV boxes the way that they come.
The average consumer doesn't buy android TV boxes from AliExpress. They use a Google Chromecast or a NVidia shield, or Amazon Fire TV.
The people who buy these devices from China are those deliberately looking for specific hardware to use for a specific application.
I would say they are buying them from Amazon, not Ali Express. From what I've seen they've become less common as smart TVs have become more popular but people still buy them instead of Chromecasts, Fire TVs, and Nvidia Shields. It might have to do with them falling for the marketing claims of a 6K resolution and being great for gaming but a majority of the time it seems like they just need a burner device to add some kind of additional feature to their TV.
They'll plug in an external hard drive and watch movies, use them for emulation, or use it for Netflix because they have an older "dumb" TV.
I don't typically see people going through the effort of installing another OS. Maybe we are just in different circles.
Can I chime in for another question? What is the cheapest way to watch physical 4K UHD blueray?
If you already have a PC the cheapest way would be to get one of the 4k drives that can be flashed (https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19634)
You can then either rip your blu-rays via MakeMKV directly or play them in VLC/Kodi via libmmbd.
PlayStation 3?
I don't think the PS3 has a UHD drive (or can output 4k).
Hmm, you seem to be right. I haven't used mine in a long time but knew it has a blu ray drive.
Why not just get a big monitor and connect it to your computer as a secondary display?
I already have a big pc monitor but I prefer watching movies on my TV. But your comment got me the idea to just buy a very long hdmi cable 🙂
Make sure it's a 2.1 one
This is my preferred setup, would recommend. If you route the HDMI through an AVR you can also get lossless surround.
What about a Xiaomi TV Box S?
Go Av1, much better support: all recent amazon fire sticks support it, I am am using one and loving it.
Jellyfin ofc
H264 is great, but h265 is basically feels like a dead end. Av1 instead is picking up lots of steam. I am betting on it instead of h265.
Thank you for your comment. This made me reconsider. I already bit on ebay for an nokia stream box 8010. If I loose I might then go with the orbsmart s 87 plus since it has av1 :) Edit:
Nvm 8010 has av1 too. I previously bit on the 8000 which doesn't but I thankfully lost.
The ps3 still gets updated to be able to play the latest blu-rays. You could probably find one for under 100 at your local ebay/craigslist pretty easily.
The PS3 doesn't support 4K resolution I suppose.
I'm probably going to do something similar soon, I've made a few attempts at stopping my Fire TV cube from updating.
Somehow it still is, and Amazon are really doing their absolute best to wreck it to the point that if I don't kill background apps after a reboot it will crash within 5 minutes or so.
Google made it mandatory for any box past 2022 to be able to play av1. There are a lot of boxes that can play x265. There are boxes from chinese sellers for 15 bucks that can play 265
I wouldn’t recommend most of the cheap Android boxes. Most of the are full of malware. LTT did a video comparing most major Android boxes: https://youtu.be/sdLnieL90d0?si=6nAX8E0d9c4OZXqM