What other devices can serve the same purpose? I only really need to be able to run Playlet, Netflix, and Plex.
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NVIDIA shield
The bought more ownership but they still owned a chunk of it the whole time
Recommend Jellyfin over Plex if you have the ability to switch.
I tried to switch to Jellyfin a long while back but didn’t get far because I couldn’t get it to keep the folder-based organization structure I already had in place for my library. Is it still the case that Jellyfin doesn’t allow folder-centric navigation?
I believe it’s possible? It’s not something I use but it could be worth looking into again if you prefer that.
first i’d look into if there are any jailbreak options for the device you already own
Android TV boxes are the way to go IMO. Lots of replacement launchers and ways to remove all the baked-in ads and the like, even if you can’t root the device.
If you’re stateside, Walmart’s ONN brand devices are the absolute best bang for your buck you can find. They’re not locked down, so you’re able to get into the proper Android system menu and disable apps and so on (including telemetry). You can even activate ADB and tinker that way, though you don’t need to if you just want to install a more simple (read: ad-free) home screen and turn off all the tracking garbage.
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/dopinder/
It supports LineageOS too, if you find the right one.
This is what I was looking in the thread for.
A simple launcher replacement and debloat is not enough for me to feel like I actually own a device, I still wouldn’t trust it.
Yeah, fair. That’s how I feel about most of my devices. If I don’t have root access at a minimum I don’t feel comfortable.
Even for the units you can’t install a CFW on though you can still get in via ADB and exercise a lot of control. You can’t run apps as root but you can disable and purge any of the even remotely undesirable apps and block any of the paths used for forced updates and the like.
I am incredibly annoyed that I tried to get one of those and actually ended up with a patched YOC (2411A).
I don’t suppose anybody (or any clanker) has figured out a root exploit for those yet?
Seconded. Rocking an Onn 4K TV box that used to cost $20 when it was manufactured.
I ended up getting a mini computer with Linux and getting a Rii keyboard remote. Then I can browse to any streaming service with a browser or kodi.
What I liked so much about the Roku is that they were really cheap, mostly worked w/o too much bother and you could opt out of any “subscription” bullshit. I mostly just want the hardware, maybe if it offers firmware updates, fine, but other than that, I don’t really want to hear from the makers of the hardware.
I might opt for buying something really small like mini or sbc or the like when I need to replace the Rokus I have. Some of them are many, many, many years old and have kept on chugging, though.
Might hold off on buying new hardware since anything computer has gone up in price and/or is backordered…
I’m thinking of doing this. Which distro is most suitable for this?
LibreELEC takes the win for me almost every time. Extremely efficient. Kodi has the bare minimum but there’s an add-on for your niche needs & Article Fuse 3 is insanely polished now & hands down THE best Kodi skin ever.
I run the official Jellyfin add-on for TV + series but still have Elementum for p2p streaming & I could also use Jellyfin’s music library but Kodi can just access the shared Navidrome root folder. I prefer multiple ways of accessing the same folders than leaving it all to Kodi or Jellyfin.
But I digress. LibreELEC can be the powerhouse you want or the barebones you need.
Depends on the specs of the minicomputer you get and what you want to do with it. It really doesn’t take much processing power to run just streams. As long as the distro runs smoothly on the machine it will work just fine.
I came here to suggest exactly this, down to the Rii mini keyboard touchpad remote.
The mini PC brand that I use is Beelink. I have two of them (living room and bedroom), and they are great for this purpose. I even used one as my main PC for a while.
Its all 720p though. No 4k or even 1080p Netflix,Disney+,paramount+,HBO,peacock, Amazon prime etc
You’re doing it wrong. Only service I pay for is a VPN.
To quote Gabe, its a service issue
Use Kodi with a Debrid service to pirate everything for a fraction of the price and high res and audio
I’m on an Onn 4k plus with projectivy launcher which itself is so much better but also with a few remote buttons remapped, some sideloaded apps like smarttube and it’s such a better experience from my old Roku.
I have one of these in my liv8ng room and one in my office. Irs so easy to use that I gav3 one to my 75-year-ole mom snd my nephe2 with cerebral palsy. Theyre the nest bang for your buck in streaming boxes.
Do you need a Google account do use this?
What launcher do you use? The regular one simply refuses to stay connected to my wifi
Plenty of other great launchers mentioned (Projectivy is damn good) but I thought I’d put in a vote for FLauncher. It’s blood simple: here’s a screen listing your apps. THE END.
You can change the background wallpaper, make different sections for different apps, hide/show specific apps and sort them as you will, but that is it. Perfect if you only plan to go back to the home menu when you’re switching between apps (like me).
Projectivy Launcher is quite good. I’d also recommend these ones:
https://apt.izzysoft.de/packages/com.leanbitlab.ltvL
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.luncher.launcher
I’ve been working on a setup similar to this. I’m not sure if I’m going more this route or Plasma Bigscreen. I got a bit into it and then the decade old laptop I was repurposing started having bios issues, so now I’ve got to update bios to the latest version for that hardware and if that doesn’t fix it, I’ll harvest it for parts and build something with its corpse.
Apple TV. Though I admit I’m unfamiliar with playlet
It’s an app for Youtube on the Roku. I think it uses Invidious backends.
Playlet is like NewPipe but a Roku app
I must have some sort of danger sense, I kicked my tv off my wifi yesterday.
I use an Nvidia Shield. If that breaks I’m planning on replacing it with a pi or other SBC, rockpi maybe
