1y ago

"TV box" reccomandation

I'm looking for a privacy friendly device to use as TV box which can play 4K HDR ~90GB movies without problem, do you guys think the orange pi 5 could handle this type of files?

33 comments

I've been very happy with my Nvidia Shield. It's powerful enough for all 4k HDR media and runs Android so it's customizable but I don't have to think about it.
- NVIDIA Shield is generally considered the best.
  It can also side load other apps like ad free YouTube or custom launchers that won't display ads on your home screen.
  
  The non-tube version though.
- I like my Shield but it was a real bummer that I couldn't just plug in a USB drive and play movies on it. It's annoying that I have to setup Plex or Jellyfin or whatever to serve movies to the Shield
  
  You can use VLC if you want a simple video player. And XPlore if you want a better file browser
  
  Why?
- I'm also happy with it, but when selecting a media player today, I'd get one with hw AV1 decoding.
  Maybe a next-gen chromecast, if there will be a version with an ethernet port.

There are definitely more economic options, but I lucked out with a cheap i7 Intel NUC a few years ago that's had no problem running any of my Plex streams. Might be worth checking out

Verso 4K+ is good, there is a new one as well that supports av1, but it’s not that cheap.
- Verso 4K+ is good...
  Vero V is here
  
  This device seems really interesting.
  Since I also want to use SmartTube and S0undTV can I ask you if is it simple to emulate android app with OSMC?

Well Walmart sells TV boxes for like $20. I'm just waiting for custom ROMs
- I have a few of them. Not bad with projectivy launcher. I added wired Ethernet, storage, and audio out with otg cables.
  
  Not great for privacy though
- https://wiki.oddsolutions.us/devices/dopinder/

For remuxes, from all cheap tv boxes i have tested all of them have some issues. only shield pro 2019 give me peace of mind. The only bad thing is it can't with av1.
For privacy, you can bypass google account and debloat all google spyware, for apps aurora store and sideload are your friends.

Pi4 with Kodi

I'm currently looking into Plasma Bigscreen as a desktop environment for an open source smart TV, it looks promising.
- Thanks, this looks really interesting

If price is no option get a NAS install jellyfin, jellyseerr, radarr, sonarr. Hell you could even use an old laptop and upgrade the storage if you want a cheap start option.
- Shouldn't there be two devices? One NAS in the closet and a box at every TV to connect to it? What's the simple box to connect to the NAS streaming service?

I was looking at the $20 onn from walmart but it doesnt have a fucking usb port

Maybe. The newest Rpi can I believe.
- Raspberry pi's are never worth it compared to most other things.
  
  Agreed. But, my old 3B is still kickin so I won't be too harsh.

The Pi's aren't very powerful, mini PCs are very cheap these days, I do just that with Jellyfin for years and it's been great.

33 comments