Is the nvidia shield TV still the go-to box for streaming content to your TV?
I don’t really need much, just something that can pick up jellyfin. hulu/HBO/etc. is a bonus
I just can’t recommend anything with Android anymore. The enshittification is real. They’re already rolling out full-screen video ads in the OS. Even Plex lived long enough to become the villain.
I’ve just been plugging in my laptop. Super inconvenient but that’s where we are now.
I’m back to a full computer again too, and if you don’t have a laptop handy, the new little mini PCs are surprisingly affordable too. If you don’t want to build a raspberry pi.
Which mini-pc would you recommend? RPis are not sold here officially and thus very expensive.
RPi’s probably not a great option anyway. Too low-powered for streaming video.
I’d probably recommend one of the used USFF office PCs w/ X86 processors commonly for sale on eBay for cheap. Bonus: These are the same ones people will recommend for low power homeservers so you could have it running those as well.
What about a chromebox flashed with some linux os? Nice and cheap mini x86 pc. Just picked one up for 35 bucks with an i7 6th gen, just hoping it uses sodimm and isnt integrated on the mobo.
Not sure what you mean by a “Chromebox”?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebox
Basically a small form factor pc running ChromeOS by default, but still a pc usually with multiple USB slots, ethernet, and display port(s)
Oh, I would look into that first. Big problem with Linux is driver support and while you would think ChromeOS = Linux = same support, it unfortunately doesn’t work that way.
That doesn’t look like it would have SODIMM either…
I’m thinking about running WayDroid on mine…
The Dell Optiplex micro form factor might be a good option. You can get them cheap on the second hand market (at least here in the US).
Emby gang
A Shield TV is probably overkill for you and the recommendations of a pi would do just fine, but if it’s in budget I say go for the Shield TV. Mine is nearly 8 years old and I haven’t had a single issue, streams 4k HDR, and runs so much better than any of the crap that comes with even the newest of TVs.
I’ve been very happy with roku tvs at home and a roku stick “to-go”. Very simple interface with minimal ads that you can block.
I second the roku, they are economically priced, they perform very well, minimal ads. My friends and family use them to stream from my jellyfin server over the internet to their homes.
If you go the android route turn on Apps Only Mode in the settings. It gets rid of the home screen ads for the most part and disabled a lot of the “features” that Google tries to push.
Might as well load a 3rd party launcher gets rid of the rest of the ads. Not using the extra features at that point anyway.
Given the recent issues with ads, I wouldn’t recommend anything Android/GoogleTV based. A USFF PC will give you better performance for less money, especially if you buy used. You can find 1L X86 boxes for $30-60 on eBay that are perfect for the job.
I’ve been using an Nvidia Shield TV Pro for a while, and hardware-wise it’s still amazing. But with the way the OS is going, I can’t recommend it to anyone anymore, not for that price. I basically had to stop updating any of the system stuff so it doesn’t plaster my TV screen with ads.
IIUC you can flash LineageOS on the shield (if you try, let us know how it goes)
Why not use a pi or some other sbc?
I’ve done this in the past. I was mostly interested to see what others have done
Maybe something running Kodi? I don’t use streaming services but I do use Kodi on a single board computer.
Stay away from cheap Chinese TV boxes. They are full of malware
I have Xiaomi TV stick 1080p (android) and I’m happy with it. I know its not popular solution, but its cheaper and I had 0 issues so far
I’ve tried a lot of different things before settling on a old (windows) laptop with a wireless mouse and keyboard… I just cba with any of the streaming boxes anymore, and the laptop will always be compatible and performant.
if i was to build one, i would go for a thinkcentre. easy to get for cheap and perfectly able to stream video (with linux, of course).
I’m kinda new to the scene so take what I say with a grain of salt. I have jellyfin running on a laptop and I use a roku stick to stream through. Not perfect by any means however it does what I need to do. I’ve been told using a raspberry PI would be a great budget option with more feature.
A kodi distro, such as LibreElec would be my vote, but I don’t believe it does streaming services very well, if at all.
I am so done with streaming services.The local library has more TV and films than I’ll ever have the time or inkling to actually watch.
Kodi / LibreELEC has add-ons available to most of the most popular streaming services. The trouble is that it hasn’t the necessary licenses for playing content in the best resolutions (the same goes with most browsers). I myself have a Homatics R 4k Plus (which is a licensed box) and installed CoreELEC. When using Android I can stream my content in the highest resolutions (Star Plus, HBO Max and Disney Plus) but when using CoreELEC I can’t.
Thanks for clarifying. I recalled seeing something about 720p caps for certain streaming services when using non-DRM platforms, but I wasn’t sure which.
Just get a firestick
Are firsticks bad? (Genuinely asking)
No, but Amazon decides what you see on the top half of the main screen unless you install a custom launcher. You can use your own photos for the screen saver. You can side load android apps. I use one called “smart YouTube tv” which blocks YouTube ads and has sponsor block built in.
OSMC makes some good Kodi boxes under the Vero name if you don’t need proprietary streaming services. I use the jellyfin plugin to read from my JF server, works great. Supports 4k, HDR, audio passthrough, many codecs, all the good stuff.
Between that and my PS5 it covers all the bases
Gotta be careful with osmc. It has so much choice that breaking is entirely possible to do accidentally. I absolutely love my little 4k box.
