A Raspberry Pi and Kodi.
this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
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Raspberry pi kind of sucks ime. I had the 4 and it seemed underpowered. It's more worth it to buy a used minipc if you can spend some more money. Plus you then have fully functional pc to use on your TV that can do anything at all. I used to have mine auto boot kde plasma to a specific desktop with Kodi full screen. Then another desktop with a full screen browser, and another one for steam or whatever. Custom keyboard shortcuts on a rii mini handheld keyboard and a single button would toggle desktops/apps.
Also it's not really an option for people that don't know how do technical computer stuff.
It really depends. For the purpose of "SmartTV" the Pi 4 with 4GB of RAM served it's purpose. If you wanna do more, then yes, it is underpowered. For usual Kodi functions that arent just TV/streaming, you may need something better.
Now that I think back... Some of my issue had to do with streaming from nas.
Kodi is not a replacement for an amazon fire stick, but a replacement for streaming in combination with piracy
You can install Prime Video and other apps on Kodi itself with the right repos.
And being tech savy, spend time on it, and be ready to update when it's needed. Not necessary bad things, but it a completely different solution, not a "European firestick"
You can use your own home theatre PC with Linux, and use a Bluetooth media remote with a web browser to access streaming services. You can also host your own content and use Jellyfin. Kodi can also be used for a good tv interface. And you can even use it to game, pushing it beyond the media sticks.
I have a beelink miniPC in my living room, and I use it for streaming, web browsing and gaming.
Another cheaper alternative is to use a raspberry PI as a home theatre device. It can be a capable media PC.
The biggest issue with both is 4k content and HDR. Many streaming services dont allow content to be streamed at 4k in linux devices. Also HDR support in linux is lacking - no browsers support it, and its experimental in DEs like KDE and Gnome only so far. If you supply your own content then 4k is no issue, and for HDR if you get an AMD GPU you can play with the experimental features in KDE and Gnome.
If 4k/HDR is a deal breaker then Windows can be used but obviously thats american and brings in a whole host of privacy and security issues of its own.
My workplace is giving old mini PCs to the employees. I put a linux distro on that and use it as a media pc. You can get them on ebay or similar for ~30 €, so it's basically the same price as a TVStick. I reccommend getting a bluetooth keyboard as well.
If you want another stick then there's also Roku.
I'll have a look at Roku thank you because it needs to be user friendly for the family.
Roku is headquartered in California. If we're prioritizing user friendliness over location (nothing wrong with this!) I'd go with a Google TV box or something like the Google streamer. Since it's Android based you can (with a little bit of a workaround) change the launcher and ditch the ads. With Roku you're stuck with whatever they give you; and they just "accidentally" tested ads on startup before you even see the home screen.
Stremio with torrentio addon has a simple user experience
Roku is also American though.
Using a browser isn't family friendly enough? :D The only thing that needs fiddling is the setup.
I might think my family are more retarded than they are, I'll test them out on my pc and see how they do. If they do good I might be able to use the raspberry pi someone has suggested.
Roku is the easy way out for sure, even though I (and the other Linux homies) will espouse the Linux way
Short answer: no.
Setting up and connect a whole system is not comparable to 40 euros for a all-in-one usb-pen-like device working out of the box imo
Those devices are subsidised and you end up paying through all the subscriptions to Amazon (for example), lockin to Amazons ecosystem (they push their content and rentals) and the data scraping, and being sold to advertisers. Youre paying much more than that to Amazon in the long term.
Meanwhile you can get a raspberry pi 5 started kit for £82 - including the pi, a case, SD card to put your OS on and a HDMI cable. Then its just a bit of time to set up a system how you want it - lots of guides online. Its even a fun project and you learn a bit about setting up a system how you want it.
Personally I would put a bit more money in and get an 8gb pi plus a case for an nvme card, and a 512gb card. Then you can run the OS off the nvme and have loads of media storage, and a snappy machine with the ram. In that case you'd get the 8gb pi for £76, case for £38 and a 500gb card for £36. £144.
Yes it is more expensive than a fire stick for £60 (often on sale for £45 in fairness). Yes it costs more at the front end and there are compromises with 4k streaming and HDR. But you then have a device that is 100% yours, 100% private and secure and is also very versatile. You have a full linux OS to do with as you wish - including install steam and stream games from your PC or play lower powered games locally or use a huge range of linux tools and apps.
For example my PI runs a Jellyfin Server so I can access content from any of my devices, and it also runs Home Assistant so I can control my home, and Synching so I can transfer files between devices, and more. A media stick can't do any of that.
My point is that like for like is not a fair comparison. Tge media sticks are subsidised and huge compromises to your privacy, plus aimed at locking you in to a corporate ecosystem. It coats a bit more upfront for your own device but you get much more bang for your buck. And you save yourself in terms of privacy - Amazon can't scrape your data to sell you stuff or sell you to advertisers, and you dont have the privacy nightmare of the microphones listening for their Alexa service.
You're totally right but that does not compare to just buying a working device for 40 euros, specially in a place called /buyeuropean, but I concede at least the pi is English
Comment chains like this really highlight that the Lemmy userbase heavy skews towards a tech savvy crowd that enjoys tinkering with stuff. And that this userbase is really out of touch with "normal" people who aren't particularly tech savvy and who want things that Just Work™. Having to set up a whole system just isn't an alternative to a Fire Stick to >90% of people.
For the technically inclined but not quite techies, they can just install LibreELEC on an SBC (which can be but needs not be a Pi) or a Mini PC.
Of course that still won't be simple enough for the vast majority of people out there, but it does lower the barrier somewhat because LibreELEC is all preconfigured to turn the SBC/MiniPC into a media device so people don't need to know Linux (though it is Linux and if you do know Linux you can do in it all the other stuff you can do in Linux).
Agreed. To few people manage to take another perspective and distance from their use case and technical abilities.
I second that. It feels like a lot of people in the Fediverse expect normal people to have intermediate programming knowledge to use things. "Normal" people without technical knowledge are entirely convenience focussed. Stuff needs to work out of the box and controls need to be intuitive. Installing stuff needs to be with a press of a button and not typed out.
Agreed. Plus, I'm too in that <10%. We are just a smaaaaaal niche
I'll have to have a look into this. I think I'm prejudging how bad my family are with technology. I'll have to test them.
I have made one (Raspberry Pi 4+case+memory+remote incl. software) for someone before. If done right, it shouldn't be an issue for the family.
But it should be made by someone with convenience in mind and not by a total IT nerd who expects you to know python or another programming language just to use a device. Had plenty of those before.
You can make a replacement for like 100€ with a Raspberry Pi, a lightweight Linux distro with KDE and Kodi.
I use a 2nd hand thin client with a bluetooth keyboard
That mostly depends on what you're trying to run on it, or rather where your media comes from.
A Playstation can also stream all kinds of stuff but it is much more expensive.
Thomson is a french company. Never used them though.
I‘d complain about it running Google but honestly I’ve not managed to de-Americanise my streaming services yet anyway so this could work well. I’ll try and remember its existence when my firestick dies. Thanks for sharing.
Thomson
A great answer to the question
I have a firetv stick and a playstation hooked up to my TV (which is smart, but horribly slow) and would never choose to stream something on my playstation if it's about usability. Maybe a playstation remote might make a difference but still