After spending the last few days, tinkering and trying to put together an HTPC for my family, I wasn’t able to get a smooth enough experience to match even our old, ad-filled, laggy, Roku. In particular, every streaming service I tried needed to be controlled almost exclusively by mouse, as everything has been reduced to electron apps/websites with little-to-no keyboard or controller navigation support. As such, I’m looking for other options, although considering how quickly these platforms change and how outdated a lot of the information available on them is its hard to single out the best options.
In particular, I’m looking to be able to:
- Use Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+. Ideally other services too, since we tend to juggle subscriptions.
- Control it with a remote, controller, or similarly simple device
- Be able to cast to it from a phone
Does anyone have much experience with options for this - esspecially if you’ve tried multiple and can compare?
A computer hooked up to a projector/other display. Smart TVs are an absolutely terrible investment into a locked down proprietary ecosystem you have no control over.
Also, going with a computer+projector is significantly more affordable.
I mean, If I wanted to be controlling everything with a mouse, I’d just sit at my desk. Unfortunately every other input method has near-zero support on PC at this point, even for a lot of the more open seas options. Kodi with a paid, illegal service was basically the only option I found, and I’d really rather not go down that route, esspecially when handing off this device to less tech-savvy family.
That’s a fair criticism, especially if you want to limit what media your kids are consuming. We’ve got a setup like I described above in our house but we’re both tech literate so being able to use a proxy server to access South Korean Netflix is an advantage to us.
There do exist media focused keyboards (even partial keyboards without a functioning keyset) to control play/pause, volume etc - but a lot of the streaming services don’t have good UIs on PC unless you’re willing to use a mouse.
I use a flirc ir receiver in a RPI. Use any remote and bind the buttons to keys to set it up then go. I set mine up about ten years ago and still use the same setup even though I upgraded the pi.
You pay for it in the data they collect from you and the ads they show to you.
I am using a Chromecast ultra 4k and I replaced the launcher with one which doesn’t shown anything but the apps I want it to show in a grid: FLauncher
And then I can use it with the remote as usual for Netflix and all the other apps. It’s quite nice doesn’t stutter or anything.
I also replaced the YouTube app with the SmartTube one to get rid of sponsors and advertisements in videos.
Nvidia Shields are another option, and there are some Bluetooth keyboards with trackpad that could work for these options + the PC
What I’d love to see is a Wii remote style interface. It would be much easier than trying to snake your way over to the thing you want to select
I have a shield connected to a projector through an av receiver. I love the setup for its audio visual fidelity, but I love the simplicity of operation almost as much. The shield remote turns everything on and off and handles all my streaming services + steam link flawlessly. Wonderful user experience.
Does your FLancher start up by default? I have a similar setup on a Shield, and the home button does go to FL. But whenever it comes out of standby it still goes into the Google launcher with ads on it…
Yes it does because as far as I remember I disabled the default launcher with help of adb: https://www.gearrice.com/update/how-to-change-launcher-on-android-tv-and-which-ones-are-the-best/
Chromecast did get better once they added a remote, and they finally got YouTube TV to work well with switching family accounts. I’ll have to try that launcher because I’m unimpressed with trying to find the different apps.
I still find Roku to be one of the simplest to use, but they do seem like they’re starting to turn more evil.
I have never enjoyed the experience with any Amazon Fire TV and they’ve always seemed laggy.
Apple TV is of course the most expensive but seems to do less selling of user data. Everyone else’s devices seem to sell at cost and then make up the difference on subscription sales and seeing user data. The remote is not great, though. My wife is always struggling with it and hitting the wrong thing. I’m more comfortable with it, but still find the touchpad jumping me to the wrong thing at times. I have seen third-party remotes that aim to eliminate the trackpad problem. I’ve considered buying one hoping it will make it easier for my wife, but paying another $20 for a remote for a system that’s already 3x the competition is annoying. Of course, if you have an iPhone you can also use that as a remote.
If you have a gaming console, especially Xbox or PlayStation, it can fill the role of streaming device. You can buy remote controls that are more user-friendly than the game controller when watching media. Of course, buying a console just to watch content is massive overkill.
I’d suggest not connecting your TV to the Internet and using a separate box for content given how much TV makers want to spy. Streaming boxes might not be much better, though.
Sony Bravia, not connected to any network, running in Pro Mode so it’s “just a TV”
Then a PC running plex and the arrs to substitute the streaming services.
I didn’t get into self hosting until after Plex jumped the shark so any time someone recommends it I assume it’s purely legacy.
I have an analogue/digital crossover era Bravia which is literally what a TV should be so it’s good to hear about Pro mode if I ever want to up to 4k.
If you want to escape an ad-filled roku, a smart TV is not exactly an escape. It only bundles all the privacy violations and intrusions in one place.
LG recently released an interesting series of “monitors”. Basically smart TVs without the smart, but sized like big TVs.
That is great news if they stick to it. Ttheir WebOS TVs are becoming slimier and slimier.
