I currently use an Apple TV 4K, which is - as far as I’m aware - more or less the best streaming box you can buy. However, it’s the version without ethernet, and Steam Link has become a dog over wifi for some reason. So I figured I’d look around to see if there’s an alternative solution.
Hardware-wise, I have a Dell Optiplex 3020 or a 2014 Mac mini (running Debian), to choose from, but have no real idea where to go from there, beyond the vague notion that KDE have put big screen mode back into beta. I did have a play with that a few months ago in a VM, but was struck that there were (obviously) no applications that made any real use of it.
Does anyone out there run anything they’ve built themselves? If so, what?
I was using Nvidia Shields but wanted to get away from Android. Over the summer i bought some Dell mini pcs, put the Plasma Bigscreen OS on them and got some USB remote controls.
These have been working really well and is nice to have them running linux. The tv interface is really good and for the few apps that didn’t have linux versions i just made my own.
I use mine mainly for plex (which has an app) Youtube (vacummtube) and made my own apps to access tube archivist, odysee archivist and stash. So i guess it depends what you watch on it.
How are you getting over 720p from streaming apps?
depends on the apps vacuum tube (youtube 4k) plex 4k, also discovered a new use for it too. Wanted to play some ps1 games but can’t find the power lead for it, so after searching fruitlessly installed duckstation plugged in a usb controller and it works great. Best £60 i have ever spent such a versatile and reliable thing.
Okay so you aren’t using streaming services
That’s the issue with htpc they limit to 720p if not using their apps which they’ve removed from pcs and now only mobile
Yeah i am trying to go as open source as possible to avoid this kind of crap, plex is the only closed source thing i still use and that will be replaced by Jellyfin soon.
I tried jelly fin but have had plex for so long with lifetime pass it’s hard to swap
This is my white whale. There is a guy making LineageOS versions of Android TV that seem to work well for some people but in my experience are buggy and I couldn’t get CEC working no matter what I tried.
Libreelec (kodi) works fantastic and CEC is flawless with every device I tested, but Kodi these days is really only good for local media (not Plex, Jellyfin, Youtube or streaming services) and real-debrid.
KDE Bigscreen is my last hope, but it’s probably going to be a while before it’s ready, not even including the inevitable wait for TV-interface versions of streaming apps that can run on ARM (if you’re using a raspi).
I setup Plasma Big Screen recently. Added Moonfin, a Jellyfin client that actually works properly with a tv style USB remote. Steam Link runs on Linux just fine, so just add it. Favorite those apps in Big Screen, and you are set. Do the same for any other apps you want. Works with TV remote, game controller, mouse keyboard. Anything you need really.
I’m just going to wave the MythTv flag and wave it around a little.
Self-built box which is under clocked to run cool with a passive CPU cooler so it’s quiet
A few Hauppage TV tuner cards to record programs and then lots of torrents stored locally as I want to download / stream once.
No issues for years, decent TV UI for TV, films and music… and it just works.
It’s just not in vogue at the moment.
Plasma Bigscreen. If you haven’t tried it, TRY IT.
It’s any Linux distro with KDE, plus one installed package and you get a tv interface on a computer. You can use Jellyfin with any “Air mouse” you want, and Plex htpc, plus waydroid for android apps. And worse case, is something doesn’t work, you’ve always got a normal web browser.
Gonna bash Debian on my 2014 Mac mini tomorrow, install Bigscreen and see what’s up.
You don’t need an air mouse, Jellyfin has a TV mode. It has to be selected in the settings.
I don’t understand why people like AppleTV so much, we have one too.
It had the worst interface by far of any streaming or video player we use. Its like Apple went out of their way to make it unintuitive.
I feel you… AppleTV is probably the worst Apple product and OS ever made… Don’t even try to tinker arround with that stuff.
Apple products in general are horse shit… Probably even worst than Windaube ! I’m always pulling my hair out when going near that stuff and help my parents out.
