Looking for a simple mini device that I can plug into TV for streaming stuff via browser/jellyfin and similar, with hdmi and control via bluetooth keyboard/mouse. What do you guys recommend?
Would this be powerful enough for example? https://www.komplett.no/product/1323029/pc-tilbehoer/stasjonaer-pc/acer-revo-box-mini-pc
EDIT: lemmy is awesome, thanks to you I’ll save myself a ton of work and/or costly mistakes
Old i5 Lenovo laptops.
I use a Pi running LibreElec…basically packages OSMC.
Plug it into a smart TV with HDMI and your tv remote can control the Pi OSMC Interface…no need for a separate remote…I was pleasantly surprised at that.
deleted by creator
Some of these words I recognize…
Look up “raspberry pi kodi”. That may or may not help depending on which words you understood
I’m running MythTV front/back on a Pi4 with one of those generic handheld keyboards. Power consumption is important to me because I live off solar power in a campervan.
If the Pi4 died tomorrow I’d probably replace it with a ~NUC.
I use RPi4, it works well except with some h265 where it really sucks, laggy video, maybe it is because of the software (I use raspbian+vlc). Otherwise its great, silent, Low consumtion, etc
Had a client who wanted me to setup a geekom mini PC. Very good and reliable. Easy to unscrew and upgrade if needed. Had a crucial memory module and samsung ssd.
@OP: Which option did you decide on in the end? Reading through the comments as someone in a similar situation, going for a NUC(-like) with Intel n150 and installing fitting Linux distros/software seemed the easiest choice. What was your take-away? :)
my old laptop😅 and a bluetooth keyboard/touchpad. If it is not too noisy and performs well enough, I might make that a dedicated tv device (but then I will have to buy a new laptop lol, I’ve been drooling on framework for a while).
Alternatively one of the n150 options, like you say. In which case I can update this post
I have been using this since 2020. https://www.amazon.com/Dell-E6430-Processor-Professional-Refurbished/dp/B06Y1FJNYP Not powerful by today’s standards but still does the job. It is running Almalinux. For the keyboard, I am using this https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Multi-Touch-Touchpad/dp/B005DKZTMG
Hot take, just get an old Chromecast HD
https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-m1s-with-4gbyte-ram/
I’ve been using the original m1 running a lineage OS based android TV for a couple years. It’s perfect. I added a nvme drive for a “DVR” in tivimate, but we rarely use it. I use a cheapo 2.4ghz remote from Amazon.
deleted by creator
A laptop.
Your old laptop & a generic bluetooth keyboard/mouse combo unit.
That is my setup. :)
Cool, using this setup now.
Thinking of ways to make it more friendly for my SO and guests coming to visit or babysit etc, who are not used to linux (gnome). Any tips there?
Top of mind is auto open browser on startup with fixed tabs for relevant streaming services. But could also be a simple wrapper of some kind, with UI similar to kodi, plex, jellyfin etc - but for accessing content on web.
The problem with a wrapper as you put it, specifically one running on Linux, is DRM. The only way I know of to achieve the desired Widevine encryption level is running the service in a tab in Chrome. Not any other browser, not even Chromium.
Of course you could just bypass all that nonsense by pirating your media, and have a nice easy interface consolidating titles from all streamers - even retaining a network badge so they can see where a given popular show is airing - like what I’ve set up in Kodi for myself as well as boomer relatives.
Other than that I’d recommend Flirc for input via remote (or LIRC if you have a supported remote already and don’t mind some extra configuration)
Of course you could just bypass all that nonsense by pirating your media
And this is precisely why piracy is on the rise. People will pay for convince/features, as we see with steam and music streaming.
The video industry has yet to figure this out.
Oh they figured it out alright, that’s how the current players were handed the keys to the industry and why they take the more insidious DRM approach to controlling the content they own. They understand it’s less likely to cause customer to revolt than the fundamental problems with the movie/tv show distribution business model that came before. And tbh they’re right - yeah I pirate, but mostly because that’s what I’ve done for 30+ years at this point. People have been saying the most recent anti-consumer decision by Netflix will finally be their downfall for like a decade - their stock is now at all time highs.
You aren’t wrong that people will prioritise convenience/features highest but make no mistake, these companies are fully aware of the impact of their shitty practices. It’s all calculated.
i use stremio, nice and easy setup. i pay for a debrid service with usenet to get a better experience though.
The Kodi add-on I’m using uses torrentio in the backend, but has way more customisation than the stremio app + trakt integration, autoplay using preset quality filters etc
Stremio app is more seamless experience when there’s no hits for the title already in debrid cache but that’s pretty rare these days even on torbox
i have torrentio, usenet, and other backups, autoplay, trakt integration etc. it has been getting even better recently. i also use torbox.
what customisation does it have? i use aiostreams to bundle my addons and it has a ton of customization for catalogues, filtering, searching etc. i can usually click on the first stream and its the best.
i didnt like kodis ui when i used it, felt like navigating folders
A custom skin with widgets on the home screen pulling from Trakt, TMDB, IMDB etc lists - here I have the “New” category set to “Trending Recent Shows” from Trakt to highlight actually new stuff, whereas “Trending” category is set to “Trending This Week” from TMDB to cover returning shows. This approach inevitably leads to duplicates but at least covers everything important without the perpetual The Office, Breaking Bad etc results. When a title is highlighted, network badge is shown where available. The categories that point to individual episodes autoplay upon selection, the ones that point to series go to the ‘folder’ type browser
Search page overriding default kodi search, categorised by movie / tv show, also includes trakt lists.
Heaps of navigation and backend customisation, too much to show or mention but some notable things being the play next dialog including display prompt being based on end of subtitles track (with time-based backup), customised context menu including option to play trailer (displayed via long press on remote, requires youtube API key for HD trailer playback), codec prioritisation/blacklist, overriding local watched/unwatched status with trakt, partial playback resume including auto resume option
FWIW these examples are on a minimally configured proof of concept instance, when I set this up for family I need to test and tune it a bunch to ensure codec compatibility with the device/display, auto resume if that’s the behaviour they want etc. Base Kodi also allows to prefer non-hearing impaired subtitle tracks, audio tracks in a specific language or original language etc. The end result being they get what they want spoonfed to their home screen the vast majority of the time, and otherwise can find it easily with the search without hassling me lol. In the worst case scenario I need to show them how to rescrape/source select from the context menu, but that’s only happened once where an older title’s only cached release had russian-only audio. The rest of their time they can just choose an episode/movie without having to understand any specifics about whether the top result is the best stream or not. It’s enough that I’m still finding more UX improvements to add, years later.
I’d love to have this set up for usenet but don’t have any issues using torrent cache on torbox essential so just can’t really justify the cost difference
seems effectively the same for the end user, i have stremio set up with most of those but i had to use aiostreams for most of it. i dont have autoplay after subtitles end but my autoplay works well.
my scrapers have found a stream from usenet a few times now that werent available anywhere else, and usenet caches super fucking fast. i also dont have to rescrape for anything but that seems trivial.
the ui looks way nicer than what i tried and the in app settings seem pretty nice. i just have like 20 lists that get updated every once in a while from trakt and mdblists. i like having all of the categories be custom, much better than streaming services. ai search also works a lot better than other search depending on what you type.
Are there any better options for keyboard trackpad combo than the Logitech k400 yet?
Looks at lap
Logitech K400 still kicking it! (No clue if there is a better one, but it’s going to be hard to beat the classic)
I’ve been clinging to my 10 year old Logitech diNovo Mini, but when this thing kicks the bucket dunno how I’m gonna replace it. Trackpad has been pretty good, and I like the fact that it turns off and is protected when the clamshell is closed so I don’t accidentally press stuff when it gets lost in the couch. We really need an open source mini keyboard so people can make their own and customize buttons, etc.
The K400 is everywhere. I have one; my friend has one - I can mention it to fellow geeks, and everyone knows what it is.
I use a Raspberry Pi 5 with LibreELEC
That is pretty expensive nowadays, if OP wants to go that expensive, getting a mini PC with the latest intel N150. The pi 5 doesn’t even have hardware AV1 decoding. By the time you have all of the pi accessories, it is not much of a price difference, but defi itely a performance difference.
Plus you get benefits like actual storage instead of a separately bought SD card, more RAM, 2.5G ethernet, and HDMI2.1 & USB–C displayport.
Then you slap Linux on it (and also hope that plasma bigscreen is a success in the near future) and you have a very reliable 4K HTPC that can decode anything you throw at it. It has enough horsepower to be a home server at the same time, unlike a pi while also having just a bit higher idle power usage (2W or so).
same here, with NVMe-Board
Thx for the tip!
Honestly I’ve got the kids bedroom tv on a Pi 3 running LibrElec just fine. Kodi isn’t that resource intensive so it works great. But if you’re feeling fancy setting up a db to hold all your info so you can share it on multiple end really is nice. I love being able to stop a movie in the living room because I’m getting tired and pick it up in the bedroom at the exact same spot.
The shared backend db with MariaDB was always janky for me. I switched to using Jellyfin for the backend, which tbf could be overkill if you just need the watch states synced.
If you ever want to buy raspberry pi, don’t forget to get a cooler either passive or active. Those things gets hot quickly without a cooler.
Literally anything can be a streaming target. You don’t need a full on PC. RPi works well.
I use RPi5 for this and have it hooked up to steam link.
can stream at 4k with no issue.
Been using Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB of RAM, and swapping between Android 16 (KonstaKANG’s AOSP fork) for Grayjay and NewPipe, and some random Linux distro for Kodi and other offline stuff.
So far working nicely.
Thx for the tip!
BTW you can use Waydroid to run Android apps on Linux
(Thinking aloud) Wonder if it works in ARM devices and with programs that require constant connection… 👀
Thanks! Will be cooking something now =D
It works on ARM and it can run in the background if you want it to.
