Title says it all, I’m looking for something as user-friendly as a chromecast but not made by a company like google. I’m familiar with linux and if some open source software exists that can do this I would love it.
Ideally it would be able to stream things like Netflix and Disney+ using a smartphone. Would be great if it can also play local files from an external hard drive, but I have a raspberry pi with Kodi for that so that’s not a hard requirement by any means.
Price range: preferably under €/$/£100 but for something truly excellent it can be a bit more than that.
I recently made a comment going over the best options currently here, I’d recommend reading that for more detail.
In short:
If you want a TV box with great performance that just works out of the box with no tinkering, and is reasonably private, at the cost of freedom and control, get an Apple TV.
If you want an all-around great streaming box for the best of all worlds, including great codec and format support, plus great performance, etc, then I recommend getting an NVIDIA Shield TV, and either debloating it and removing Google apps + other garbage with ADB on Stock, or installing LineageOS if you’re fine with the downsides it brings (You lose Dolby Vision, AI Upscaling, + the App Switcher (Can no longer double press to switch apps). This device is my recommendation for most people and what I personally use. I leave mine on Stock debloated through ADB.
If you want a more affordable option than the Shield, you can get a Dynalink TV Box and install LineageOS on it, at the cost of the device being nowhere near as strong or overall compatible as the Shield is, plus losing out on features compared to the Shield like Dolby Vision & AI Upscaling.
If you want the most control possible, you can get a Linux PC or something like a Raspberry Pi. Requires the most tinkering and time to set-up and configure, and has some downsides like no Dolby Vision for instance, but may be preferable for some people.
I wouldn’t bother with any other box or option outside of these, all the other options are pretty much privacy nightmares and generally not worth using.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !technology@beehaw.org
A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
I recently made a comment going over the best options currently here, I’d recommend reading that for more detail.
In short:
If you want a TV box with great performance that just works out of the box with no tinkering, and is reasonably private, at the cost of freedom and control, get an Apple TV.
If you want an all-around great streaming box for the best of all worlds, including great codec and format support, plus great performance, etc, then I recommend getting an NVIDIA Shield TV, and either debloating it and removing Google apps + other garbage with ADB on Stock, or installing LineageOS if you’re fine with the downsides it brings (You lose Dolby Vision, AI Upscaling, + the App Switcher (Can no longer double press to switch apps). This device is my recommendation for most people and what I personally use. I leave mine on Stock debloated through ADB.
If you want a more affordable option than the Shield, you can get a Dynalink TV Box and install LineageOS on it, at the cost of the device being nowhere near as strong or overall compatible as the Shield is, plus losing out on features compared to the Shield like Dolby Vision & AI Upscaling.
If you want the most control possible, you can get a Linux PC or something like a Raspberry Pi. Requires the most tinkering and time to set-up and configure, and has some downsides like no Dolby Vision for instance, but may be preferable for some people.
I wouldn’t bother with any other box or option outside of these, all the other options are pretty much privacy nightmares and generally not worth using.