Yeah, it’s free and open source. I just pointed it at a few folders of TV, movies and music that I downloaded years ago, and it catalogued them all, downloaded all the blurbs and posters.
There are jellyfin, Plex and emby shares you can subscribe to for cheap, try it out before blowing money and time on a set-up that needs constant tinkering, it’s easy to just download an app and connect to your remote library somewhere that someone else spends time on. I use a shield I got 6 years ago, but now also the Amazon fire stick 4k max on another TV and everything is just easy and seamless while using a Plex share that’s 9 euro per month.
I don’t know about apps like F1 and Chromecast, but I can see that it could be a problem. But YouTube has worked fine for me with the MPV player. Maybe you could try Android-x86? (is that thing still alive? 😅)
Legally would be DVDs, Blurays, and DRM-free sources.
I’ve torrented movies I have physical copies of before. It’s faster than ripping and encoding it myself. And notice I didn’t say “pirated”?
You can’t pirate something you legally own a copy of. That fast was a major factor in some of the high profile lawsuits against individuals. If the person being sued owned a copy of the movie/song then they dropped it from the list.
So my home media center is not real world enough? I only expressed an opinion; you are free to ignore it. Also, there is nothing that keeps you here. Please kindly keep in mind that most Lemmy users right now are interested in technology, you can’t take that away from them and there is nothing wrong with it. If you want to stay away from “shit like this”, then, with all respect, you probably should not be in a technology sub in the first place.
I think the difference is folks confuse the general public with the general lemmy user. And I can’t tell if the fediverse and lemmy are supposed to be attempting to be a front page for general folks or lemmy early adopter folks.
Because something is not popular and not available in typical electronic store doesn’t mean it’s not real.
I know having a private life may seem unreal in recent ~10 years, but it surely can be done without giving up modern life. All it takes is a little time for research and saying “no” sometimes. The hardest part are always areas where more people like that are needed to say “no”.
I agree. Too many comments and threads are hijacked or over represented by the pro piracy crowd. I wish more communities would just ban the shit post of “yar, time to sail the high seas” that seem to be the top comment on any media related post.
This is going to come as a shock to you, but HDMI has been a thing since 2004. You can find 15 year old dumb TVs with HDMI. If the TV had HDMI, it can handle any format that the screen can physically show and newer versions are backwards compatible.
Or you could just use a new tv with smart features and never connect it to your network. It’s what I’ve done with all the TVs in my house and I simply use an external device I trust to stream.
Newer “smart” sets, particularly from Vizio and a couple other brands, will not let you exit the setup or use the inputs without an internet connection
Wow, I would immediately return any TV that pulled that bs. I have used Sony TV’s for a very long time and have never encountered this issue, I even bought a new one in summer 2022 and it did not require Internet connection to function.
This is going to be such a nightmare as smart devices become the majority.
Didn’t connect your TV to the Internet? Don’t worry, it’ll spy on you by connecting to the neighbor’s tv. Or the built-in WiFi in the modem. Or the power company’s smart meter via powerline-networking.
Products are going to be engineered to sell backdoor access at a hefty price, if they aren’t already.
Just like anything with technology though, there will be people in the other side too. Does that magic TV with a mind of it’s own have a USB port? If they take away the USB , they will have to add some way to maintenance it. There will always be a way to get at the kernel if you know what you’re doing.
It’s going to become this horrible game of cat and mouse, for anyone who actually values privacy.
Sure, you could open the device up, remove any antennas. You could add powerline filtering. You could find the jtag or debug ports. You could find a way to hack it. Jam a signal. Make an ultrasonic white noise machine. Wrap the thing in foil. Cover the cameras.
The individual has to block every channel of “attack”. The data miners only need to get lucky once.
That’s why you should build your own media center from an old machine. Much safer and more private.
How?
Look into Plex servers, that should keep you busy for the next six months till you get it up and running.
Or Jellyfin. Because free.
Is jellyfin a better alternative?
Yeah, it’s free and open source. I just pointed it at a few folders of TV, movies and music that I downloaded years ago, and it catalogued them all, downloaded all the blurbs and posters.
Like a mini Netflix that you host yourself.
Sounds great. I’ll just need to take the time to actually do it
There are jellyfin, Plex and emby shares you can subscribe to for cheap, try it out before blowing money and time on a set-up that needs constant tinkering, it’s easy to just download an app and connect to your remote library somewhere that someone else spends time on. I use a shield I got 6 years ago, but now also the Amazon fire stick 4k max on another TV and everything is just easy and seamless while using a Plex share that’s 9 euro per month.
Yeah I have been meaning to look into it. It’s just another massive time and money sink.
The Android TV app seems better too.
That will keep you busy for a full year.
It’ll only take a few minutes to setup. Once you get hooked you’ll spend a lot more time automating everything and adding more storage.
The problem is that YouTube app and F1 app are Android only so having a Linux media box won’t help. It needs to run Android to run Android apps.
Plus I like to use Chromecast, we use it all the time to send YouTube videos from our phones to the big screen.
I don’t know about apps like F1 and Chromecast, but I can see that it could be a problem. But YouTube has worked fine for me with the MPV player. Maybe you could try Android-x86? (is that thing still alive? 😅)
I swear shit like this is why Lemmy is so incredibly out of touch with the real world. I can’t take the community seriously anymore.
People have been using old computers as media centres for decades at this point. Not sure what you’re on about.
but where does the media come from? and how do most folks get their media legally?
Legally would be DVDs, Blurays, and DRM-free sources.
I’ve torrented movies I have physical copies of before. It’s faster than ripping and encoding it myself. And notice I didn’t say “pirated”?
You can’t pirate something you legally own a copy of. That fast was a major factor in some of the high profile lawsuits against individuals. If the person being sued owned a copy of the movie/song then they dropped it from the list.
So my home media center is not real world enough? I only expressed an opinion; you are free to ignore it. Also, there is nothing that keeps you here. Please kindly keep in mind that most Lemmy users right now are interested in technology, you can’t take that away from them and there is nothing wrong with it. If you want to stay away from “shit like this”, then, with all respect, you probably should not be in a technology sub in the first place.
I think the difference is folks confuse the general public with the general lemmy user. And I can’t tell if the fediverse and lemmy are supposed to be attempting to be a front page for general folks or lemmy early adopter folks.
Because something is not popular and not available in typical electronic store doesn’t mean it’s not real.
I know having a private life may seem unreal in recent ~10 years, but it surely can be done without giving up modern life. All it takes is a little time for research and saying “no” sometimes. The hardest part are always areas where more people like that are needed to say “no”.
I agree. Too many comments and threads are hijacked or over represented by the pro piracy crowd. I wish more communities would just ban the shit post of “yar, time to sail the high seas” that seem to be the top comment on any media related post.
You’re going to build your own smart TV that can handle new HDMI and Displayport advancements too?
This is going to come as a shock to you, but HDMI has been a thing since 2004. You can find 15 year old dumb TVs with HDMI. If the TV had HDMI, it can handle any format that the screen can physically show and newer versions are backwards compatible.
Or you could just use a new tv with smart features and never connect it to your network. It’s what I’ve done with all the TVs in my house and I simply use an external device I trust to stream.
Newer “smart” sets, particularly from Vizio and a couple other brands, will not let you exit the setup or use the inputs without an internet connection
Wow, I would immediately return any TV that pulled that bs. I have used Sony TV’s for a very long time and have never encountered this issue, I even bought a new one in summer 2022 and it did not require Internet connection to function.
LTT reviewed a Roku one like that recently and for some reason didn’t recommend immediately binning it.
This is going to be such a nightmare as smart devices become the majority.
Didn’t connect your TV to the Internet? Don’t worry, it’ll spy on you by connecting to the neighbor’s tv. Or the built-in WiFi in the modem. Or the power company’s smart meter via powerline-networking.
Products are going to be engineered to sell backdoor access at a hefty price, if they aren’t already.
Things are going to get scary.
Just like anything with technology though, there will be people in the other side too. Does that magic TV with a mind of it’s own have a USB port? If they take away the USB , they will have to add some way to maintenance it. There will always be a way to get at the kernel if you know what you’re doing.
It’s going to become this horrible game of cat and mouse, for anyone who actually values privacy.
Sure, you could open the device up, remove any antennas. You could add powerline filtering. You could find the jtag or debug ports. You could find a way to hack it. Jam a signal. Make an ultrasonic white noise machine. Wrap the thing in foil. Cover the cameras.
The individual has to block every channel of “attack”. The data miners only need to get lucky once.
Pff sure. How hard can it be? Few resistor thingies and some capaci-whatsists, and Arduino, done.
The correct answer is usually Raspberry pi + github.
Although I have no idea what those mean
You can easily configure those with block-chain based AI.
Almost any ARM SBC and a dumb TV will do, install linux/a minimal wayland compositor and waydroid and youre laughing
Any time there’s a advancement you just update the board, instead of the whole TV (which its not like normal smart TV’s update their ports anyways?)