• itsraining@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    70
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    1 year ago

    That’s why you should build your own media center from an old machine. Much safer and more private.

      • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        38
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        1 year ago
        1. Connect old PC to TV. Both can be 15 years old.
        2. (optional) For better performance, get a small SSD alongside the big HDD (a 64GB / partition will do), maybe have a homemade NAS ready too
        3. Install Lubuntu, Mint XFCE, Puppy Linux or any other distro of choice
        4. Set up KDE Connect, qBittorrent and VLC
        5. Enjoy
        • SEND_NOODLES_PLS@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          Cheers, I’m using this as a jump off point for a weekend project maybe. Would anything change if I was interested in casting content too?

          • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            I think Kodi does some casting… Not 100% sure.

            Make sure TearFree is enabled in the graphics configuration (google it).

            The hardest part in my project was recalibrating the colors because my TV in HDMI-RGB mode (as opposed to YCbCr) displays everything below 10% brightness as black. The rest was done very quickly. I don’t even need a sequential-chunk torrent software because I use FreeRapid Downloader and ulozto.net (can download fast enough to play while downloading at reasonable 720p/1080p bitrates, otherwise ulozto-downloader and a 10min wait is needed).

          • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            10
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            You can use a relatively cheap Pi as a NAS (network-attached storage - there are ready-made solutions but expensive and don’t get updates for nearly as long), and possibly add Kodi media server capabilities (useful for smart TVs). Check if that model supports a sufficiently fast disk interface (USB 3.0, SATA etc.) and Ethernet (100 Mb/s or better if 4K is required). Boot from an SD card and use a 2TB+ HDD (1TB could be enough if you barely store anything). Most disks from the past 10 years will be good enough to play 4K video from if no OS is running from them. Go for a lower-end one but not ridiculously cheap, and check that people aren’t frequently complaining about the model or product line.

            I don’t know which Pi models can smoothly play HD video without overheating, I don’t own any. But those that can are likely a lot more expensive than old PCs you could use otherwise. I would just get a cheap one for a NAS and probably some other common network use cases (web server, Pihole etc.)

            • Karyoplasma
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              My RPi 2B plays HD vids without stuttering or overheating. 4K doesn’t work tho, so if you want that, get a newer model. I don’t think they even sell the 2B anymore because it’s so old.

                • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 year ago

                  Yes, I’m using libreelec, I and friends control the display from our phones using the Kore app. Makes searching and typing easy, works great on my Pi. Fun game, which of you will select a movie first on your phones lol.

                  Note: pi3B can do 1080p but it struggles a little if the codec is anything other than h264, because Kodi decided to stop supporting closed source drivers. If you’re playing anything above 1080 and anything other than h264, go for a pi 4 or better.

          • danque@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yes just research how to install Plex or Kodi on your pi. I just did it this evening for an update. For that I used docker with Linuxserver/Plex. It takes some time to get all the settings but there are good YouTube tutorials on how to do it.

          • Lupara@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            You’d be better off with a used office pc, something with a 4. Or 6. gen Intel CPU is usually cheaper than a RPI and way more versatile. Only thing you lose on is size and power consumption.

        • Limit@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          OK I’ve tried in the past to make a decent streaming box from both windows media center edition and various Linux distros. But I need something that is simple, can be controlled entirely from a remote, and has the major streaming apps (Netflix, disney, etc). I haven’t really found any solution that’s easy enough for non techie people to use. I have a standalone roku box that works ok we also have a roku TV which is a giant piece of garbage, and I’m considering buying an external roku or nvidia shield as a streaming box instead, I do have a couple of raspberry pi 4s I could use one but again I’m faced with the same issues.

            • Blackmist@feddit.uk
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              8
              ·
              1 year ago

              Yeah, it’s free and open source. I just pointed it at a few folders of TV, movies and music that I downloaded years ago, and it catalogued them all, downloaded all the blurbs and posters.

              Like a mini Netflix that you host yourself.

                • ___that_old_polish_guy@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  There are jellyfin, Plex and emby shares you can subscribe to for cheap, try it out before blowing money and time on a set-up that needs constant tinkering, it’s easy to just download an app and connect to your remote library somewhere that someone else spends time on. I use a shield I got 6 years ago, but now also the Amazon fire stick 4k max on another TV and everything is just easy and seamless while using a Plex share that’s 9 euro per month.

            • smiletolerantly@feddit.de
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              10
              ·
              1 year ago

              What are you talking about. First time I set it up, had it running on my local network in less than 5 minutes. 5 more minutes for external (granted, already had the infrastructure for that in place).

              Then maybe 20min going through the settings to personalize my account? And maybe another 20min looking if there are any plugins I wanted to use.

              • PlexSheep@feddit.de
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                1 year ago

                It’s true, the setup with docker is easy and reliable. However, sorting and taking your media takes very long.

                • smiletolerantly@feddit.de
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Not even docker, I just pulled it from the aur, lol.

                  And yeah, that’s fair. Though not really Jellyfins fault if it’s not sorted already. Same goes for Plex.

              • sebinspace@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                People pull shit out of their asses to feel superior about things they don’t actually know anything about.

              • Redditiscancer789@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                I don’t think it’s a year to setup the software. Rather a year to load it lol. I’ve spent probably close to 4 years loading content into my Plex server and I don’t see any end in sight.

        • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          It’ll only take a few minutes to setup. Once you get hooked you’ll spend a lot more time automating everything and adding more storage.

    • danielfgom@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      The problem is that YouTube app and F1 app are Android only so having a Linux media box won’t help. It needs to run Android to run Android apps.

      Plus I like to use Chromecast, we use it all the time to send YouTube videos from our phones to the big screen.

        • danielfgom@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 year ago

          Can’t control it from my phone. Would need a mouse. At least I’m tech minded. My wife isn’t and there is no way she would stand for using a mouse and browser on the TV.

          • CeeBee@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            Get a media centre remote. Works great.

            And if you have an Android phone use KDE Connect. There’s a Windows version now also, and you can do just about everything with it.

          • hikaru755@feddit.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Ah, right, makes sense. I’m using a steam controller (or any other controller with steam, honestly) instead of a mouse, which works well enough

      • itsraining@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I don’t know about apps like F1 and Chromecast, but I can see that it could be a problem. But YouTube has worked fine for me with the MPV player. Maybe you could try Android-x86? (is that thing still alive? 😅)

    • 👁️👄👁️@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      25
      ·
      1 year ago

      I swear shit like this is why Lemmy is so incredibly out of touch with the real world. I can’t take the community seriously anymore.

      • itsraining@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        So my home media center is not real world enough? I only expressed an opinion; you are free to ignore it. Also, there is nothing that keeps you here. Please kindly keep in mind that most Lemmy users right now are interested in technology, you can’t take that away from them and there is nothing wrong with it. If you want to stay away from “shit like this”, then, with all respect, you probably should not be in a technology sub in the first place.

        • Copernican@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          I think the difference is folks confuse the general public with the general lemmy user. And I can’t tell if the fediverse and lemmy are supposed to be attempting to be a front page for general folks or lemmy early adopter folks.

      • smileyhead
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Because something is not popular and not available in typical electronic store doesn’t mean it’s not real.

        I know having a private life may seem unreal in recent ~10 years, but it surely can be done without giving up modern life. All it takes is a little time for research and saying “no” sometimes. The hardest part are always areas where more people like that are needed to say “no”.

      • CeeBee@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        People have been using old computers as media centres for decades at this point. Not sure what you’re on about.

          • CeeBee@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Legally would be DVDs, Blurays, and DRM-free sources.

            I’ve torrented movies I have physical copies of before. It’s faster than ripping and encoding it myself. And notice I didn’t say “pirated”?

            You can’t pirate something you legally own a copy of. That fast was a major factor in some of the high profile lawsuits against individuals. If the person being sued owned a copy of the movie/song then they dropped it from the list.

      • Copernican@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I agree. Too many comments and threads are hijacked or over represented by the pro piracy crowd. I wish more communities would just ban the shit post of “yar, time to sail the high seas” that seem to be the top comment on any media related post.

    • Maximilious@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      18
      ·
      1 year ago

      You’re going to build your own smart TV that can handle new HDMI and Displayport advancements too?

      • dustyData@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        This is going to come as a shock to you, but HDMI has been a thing since 2004. You can find 15 year old dumb TVs with HDMI. If the TV had HDMI, it can handle any format that the screen can physically show and newer versions are backwards compatible.

        • BigT54@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Or you could just use a new tv with smart features and never connect it to your network. It’s what I’ve done with all the TVs in my house and I simply use an external device I trust to stream.

          • piecat@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            1 year ago

            This is going to be such a nightmare as smart devices become the majority.

            Didn’t connect your TV to the Internet? Don’t worry, it’ll spy on you by connecting to the neighbor’s tv. Or the built-in WiFi in the modem. Or the power company’s smart meter via powerline-networking.

            Products are going to be engineered to sell backdoor access at a hefty price, if they aren’t already.

            Things are going to get scary.

            • aphonefriend@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Just like anything with technology though, there will be people in the other side too. Does that magic TV with a mind of it’s own have a USB port? If they take away the USB , they will have to add some way to maintenance it. There will always be a way to get at the kernel if you know what you’re doing.

              • piecat@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                It’s going to become this horrible game of cat and mouse, for anyone who actually values privacy.

                Sure, you could open the device up, remove any antennas. You could add powerline filtering. You could find the jtag or debug ports. You could find a way to hack it. Jam a signal. Make an ultrasonic white noise machine. Wrap the thing in foil. Cover the cameras.

                The individual has to block every channel of “attack”. The data miners only need to get lucky once.

          • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.one
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            Newer “smart” sets, particularly from Vizio and a couple other brands, will not let you exit the setup or use the inputs without an internet connection

            • BigT54@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              Wow, I would immediately return any TV that pulled that bs. I have used Sony TV’s for a very long time and have never encountered this issue, I even bought a new one in summer 2022 and it did not require Internet connection to function.

            • planish@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              LTT reviewed a Roku one like that recently and for some reason didn’t recommend immediately binning it.

      • agent_flounder@lemmy.one
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Pff sure. How hard can it be? Few resistor thingies and some capaci-whatsists, and Arduino, done.

      • Sethayy@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        Almost any ARM SBC and a dumb TV will do, install linux/a minimal wayland compositor and waydroid and youre laughing

        Any time there’s a advancement you just update the board, instead of the whole TV (which its not like normal smart TV’s update their ports anyways?)