im using a chromecast right now and i want a similar experience to that, just more privacy friendly
although i have set up a google account just for my chromecast with its own email, it still doesn’t feel like its enough
im in the eu btw
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It’s appletv unless you’re willing to use a custom sbc with a taped together third party android version.
I don’t recommend the latter option because it fucking sucks and you seem like a psycho to others who may use it or watch stuff with you.
You can just host jellyfin from your pc (or a server in your closet) if you wanna get away from streaming services and it works good with either option.
I want to be clear as day that you cannot get a privacy friendly experience from any Android streaming device unless you load it yourself and make sure it’s something like the lineageos Android tv stuff linked by another user.
It’s probably worth it for you to put into words what you’re trying to accomplish, being as clear and explicit as possible.
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I use a Linux machine that boots to a big picture interface with these apps:
- Jellyfin Desktop client (pirate everything)
- VacuumTube (YouTube TV interface with adblocking)
And I use a Flirc receiver so I can use a remote for all of it.
When you mention big picture mode, are you talking about Bazzite’s big picture mode or just any distro w/ Plasma Bigscreen, or something else?
I’m currently using Bazzite with Steam’s Big Picture mode, yes. I’d like to switch to Plasma Bigscreen, but I’m not sure it’s ready just yet. I keep trying it on my laptop every few weeks, but there are some crashes I keep running into.
I can’t wait to switch away from Steam Big Picture mode though, as it’s pretty tedious adding shortcuts and having to use a Decky plugin to download art for them. It’s very apparent that Steam isn’t meant to be used this way (even though once you set it up, it’s not bad). Plasma Bigscreen just reads the .desktop entries, which is a lot better.
ill check it out, thanks
I’m using my Steam Machine partially for the same purpose, but this is the first I’m hearing about this receiver. I got a shitty little PC remote that kind of works but isn’t great, I might give this a shot
The Flirc receiver is the best $25 I’ve ever spent. You can use it with basically any TV remote and turn it into a decent PC input device.
You can map any app with decent keyboard navigation support to work with up, down, left, right, enter, etc. and get a pretty seemless TV experience.
If you are looking specifically at commercial ones only, I read that AppleTV is the least evil. https://www.tomsguide.com/tvs/apple-tv-4k-is-still-the-best-streaming-box-when-it-comes-to-privacy
Obviously there are better opensource options out there.
On the spectrum of convenience vs privacy I think this is closest to the sweet spot on the side of convenience. Use a commercial “monitor” (TV that doesn’t require smart features to work). The closest to the middle on the side of privacy is setting a PC up with your TV logged in to all your streaming services.
Uah not a big wife approval factor or kids approval or people visiting.
There is a guy making LineageOS Android TV builds for Raspberry Pi and other devices.
Its quite nice on a pi5. Paired it running VPN, and control d private dns (set using adb) for tracker/ad blocking. Side note, over 50% blocking shows how much spyware crap going on with tv apps. Add in a cheap Bluetooth air mouse and its very workable & solid.
For clarity, I only run Pluto TV, tubi, pipepipe and Fred TV. And its NOT for those looking for the smoothest experience, may not be family friendly . But been using a few years now, couldn’t be happier
2nd hand mini PC running Linux?
https://plasma-bigscreen.org/ looks nice, though I haven’t used it.might get some hate here for this one but my parents hooked me up with vseebox. Just don’t log any info into it. This is coming straight from a tech illiterate person so I don’t fuck around with Linux or anything
That Chromecast watches every damned thing you do down to the last click. I’m using the same thing and have maybe 50 or so rule blocks for it on the PI hole. I was thinking of making a generic Android tv box from scratch. Hell you wouldn’t need more than a used nuk or mini pc and a drive. Everything else you can setup how you like including adding plugins to help de- Google and get some privacy back with YouTube . Course the cost of that has gone up a lot since I planned. Try the Nvidia Shield Pro if you want a lot more power and less stuttering. It’s at least not made by Google.
FYI, the Nvidia Shield can run LineageOS. it’s great!
Had no idea and love your username. Thanks
I tried finding the same thing recently. The best I have found is a device running legion OS. It has critics about bit being perfect, but comparatively it’s a lot more privacy focused.
My current solution is also a mini pc behind the TV. Set up a script to shut down the computer after x minutes and use the TV timer when I’m watching too late. It works but it’s cumbersome.
I can’t speak from personal experience, but I’d suggest looking into Kodi. It’s an open source OS designed for DIY stream boxes, meaning I believe you would need to install it on a mini PC or similar. Since I haven’t used it myself, I can’t provide you much specific advice on it, but depending on your use cases, it might be worth a shot.
Kodi is basically just a real-debrid frontend these days. There isn’t even a decent YouTube app for it.
There’s no such thing, unfortunately
