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Specifically I'm wondering about the TV frontend UI. Presumably most people are going to be using an android tv box like fire tv or chromecast? Something else?

I recently picked up a new chromecast 4k that has the "Google TV" OS on it and... I'm having a hell of a time coming up with a UI that looks similar to the stock one (with movie recommendations, up next, my watchlist, etc) but that hooks into piracy streaming services.

For launchers I found projectivy, but I noticed that the "channels" feature which pulls in that sort of thing is remarkably limited. Streaming-wise I've got stremio and cloudstream, and only stremio lets me pull in my library into projectivy. Which is okay but I can't get that synced with trakt or getting recommendations; it all has to be managed from stremio.

whereas cloudstream doesn't really have any connectivity at all. There's a few streaming services that somewhat pull things in but it's not great. Netflix doesn't seem to hook into it, nor plex. It ends up being better to just use the stock home and manually launching into stremio/cloudstream when I want them.

Surely there has to be a better way to do this? The stock home screen is nice with free live tv, movie recommendations that link into various paid streaming services, etc. I'd just like to hook in something like stremio, plex, etc. instead, but that seems impossible?

What exactly do y'all do for your setups? Trying to manage my google play watchlist/likes independently of trackt, and then also managing my stremio library separately from both just feels like hell. I end up having to take mental note of the stuff I see on the home screen and manually searching it up.

The live tv channels that the stock homescreen has is seemingly not replicated anywhere else which is a bit disappointing. I saw the old android tv menu get really close to what I'm after, but I can't manage to get it working on my newer chromecast. The menu installs, but the channel feature doesn't work, making it pointless.

Is there a better way?

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[-] slym@lemmy.ca 26 points 10 months ago

Running jellyfin and *arr servers on promox running on a small form factor . For the tv i’m using a roku stick with jellyfin channel.

[-] jasep@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Similar but I'm running either Nvidia Shield or Google TV. I use Kodi with the Jellyfin for Kodi plugin as the front-end. It's great.

[-] brian@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

Has the Jellyfin app improved for Roku in recent years? Last I tried it, maybe 2 years ago, it was near unusable from a UI perspective

[-] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

It is certainly usable. Though for whatever reason the series "invasion" from apple tv gave it fits. But everything else I have watched on it was fine. I've only had mine setup for a few months though. Roku in one room, tivo stick (android) in another. The tivo stick handled invasion. Both needed some minor tuning though.

[-] Elkenders@feddit.uk 2 points 10 months ago

Yeah it's the weakest part of the setup on a Chromecast TV running the android app. Works really well mostly though the interface could look slicker. There must be hardware deciding unavailable for some stuff because the odd bit of media is ultrasluggish.

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[-] pureness@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

thanks, do you have any guide or additional info on setup?

[-] slym@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

You will have to install proxmox on a computer ( that is an os you will have to create a bootable USB key for that ) here the website to check that out : https://proxmox.com/en/ And all my server are lxc, i launch all the lxc’s with those open source script : https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/

Just search for the jellyfin one ans the *arr that you think you will need .

[-] sylverstream@lemmy.nz 2 points 10 months ago

What is the advantage of running proxmox vs install eg Ubuntu, Docker, and manage it via ssh and Portainer?

[-] slym@lemmy.ca 4 points 10 months ago

Well it depend of what you want to do with it. Proxmox is an hypervisor so is job is to manage VM and in the case of proxmox also lxc container . So with proxmox you will be able to manage multiple machine with any OS that you would like and need. For lxc’ i’m pretty much new to it but if i can explain the difference with docker is that lxc are container at the kernel level and docker is at the software level. Also proxmox bring a lot of fonctionality with convenience like snapshot, firewall at the hypervisor level, backup of yours vms and containers, vlan and more . I know that some of it can also be emulate with docker but i find it easier to do with proxmox with the limited that i have to play around my local infrastructure.
If you want there’s a lot of tutorial and explaning about proxmox that are very interesting on YouTube i think it would be the best way to understand everything that proxmox could bring you and you will be able to make your own opinion on it.

Welcome in the rabbit hole of selfhosted enthousiast.

[-] sylverstream@lemmy.nz 2 points 10 months ago

Welcome in the rabbit hole of selfhosted enthousiast.

Haha yes looks like it. I only have 1 server (to be bought) and a RPI, which should be sufficient. Proxmox seems overkill for that scenario; I'll just run Docker. Thanks.

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[-] Clent@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

Plex with Apple TVs. This requires a lot of transcoding but I have dedicated hardware.

I've tried many alternatives over many years but they all eventually annoy me. I've been doing this long enough to know eventually something better than Plex will come along but that day has yet to come.

I don't have any streaming services. They are all terrible and I prefer to put that money towards more hardware, mostly hard drives since my library is of the data hoarding style, ever increasing.

My setup is entirely automated via various watch lists.

IMDb watch lists and Plex watchlists as well as various lists setup to retrieve based on cast / director involvement that feed into Radarr and Sonarr allow titles to be added from my phone.

The added benefit of a my automation setup is that I can lose a hard drive and the system will self heal.

[-] CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Would you mind providing a bit of detail about the Apple TV transcoding thing?

I’m new to the plex server space and I’ve been working with a bit of a similar setup, hosting off of an Nvidia shield but streaming it to an Apple TV.

So far I’ve had some stuttering problems in plex that seems to have existed for awhile with HDR content. What gives?

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[-] Froyn@kbin.social 12 points 10 months ago

Stremio + torrentio + Real Debrid
Works like a champ on Chromecast

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[-] Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 10 months ago

I like how nobody bothered to read the post and actually answer OP's question...

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[-] rambos@lemm.ee 9 points 10 months ago

Jellyfin + arrs

[-] Drinvictus@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 10 months ago

Chromecast with Google TV Stremio + Torrentio with real debrid

Changed the button for Netflix on the remote to open stremio and now I just hit one button and boom... everything I want to watch is in front of me. All for $3/month.

[-] Greyfoxsolid@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

I would also like to know how to remap the buttons.

[-] Drinvictus@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 10 months ago

It's an app called button mapper

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[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

I'm old school. Qbittorrent on the computer, hdmi lead running to the TV

Python for the search function on Qbittorrent

Though, reading this thread, I do pay for realdebrid and I clearly don't have a clue how to use it

[-] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Shield Pro on the TVs, but they're starting to show their age. If no one puts a powerful chip into a new Android box in the next year or so, I'll probably move to AppleTV units. I wish there was an alternative, but nothing else has the horsepower that they do.

[-] vulgarcynic@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago

I have super high hopes we'll see a 3rd gen Shield TV around the time of the new Switch launch. IIRC, the og Shields and Switch share the same Nvidia Chips.

[-] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I really hope so. We've been extremely happy with ours. And, IIRC you're right. I think the Switch has a slightly newer revision, but it's almost entirely the same chip.

[-] s38b35M5@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Show their age how? My 2015 pro is still awesome on GF Experience v8.x with GFN, Kodi and SmartTube. Installed an SSD a few years back and breathed new life into it.

[-] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

The chip struggles at higher bitrate files particularly when there is a more complex audio codec and HDR video. I'm surprised you haven't noticed, it's an extremely common complaint from owners online.

[-] s38b35M5@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Maybe because I only bother with 1080 for the past year, but I used to regularly watch my 30GB 4k 10-bit files with no trouble, even streamed from my NAS.

[-] crossover@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

It’s a shame that AppleTV doesnt support TrueHD atmos. That seems to be the one feature that the Shield stands apart on, although the new model Firestick now support it, too.

I tried Kodi on Firestick 4K and the whole experience is super clunky compared to the AppleTV.

[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Jellyfin on my Synology NAS with all the extensions to get me subs and metadata

Using on Findroid changing media playback to MPV in settings and using respective Jellyfin native desktop clients on Ubuntu and Arch

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[-] parallax@local106.com 5 points 10 months ago

I have an Nvidia shield on the TV. The main media app is Kodi.

Backend I have Plex (also used for remote and and phone access)

For getting content I use the *arr stack

[-] Otome-chan@kbin.social 2 points 10 months ago

Ah, this is what my brother is doing I think. I used to be into kodi but it's so clunky. The plex+*arr stack seems cozy for delayed streaming (mark what to watch, watch it later) but does it end up working for streaming? I was also under the impression it's not that great if you lack usenet?

Does it do recommendations? Every time I've tried getting into kodi it was pretty clunky/slow/etc. Hence my desire to get my setup on home screen then launch directly into a stream. Kinda sounds like everyone just launches into an app first.

[-] vulgarcynic@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago

For recommendations I use Overseerr. It provides a great web front end for requesting to Radarr and Sonarr as well as provides links to what's trending on the major streaming platforms and TV networks.

[-] parallax@local106.com 2 points 10 months ago

Kodi is fine for speed on LAN, I just use the Plex app to stream my content out side of the network.

I have Usenet but also augment with torrents. The setup works great.

[-] n3m37h@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

I have a shit spyware android box with Emby installed, use Emby server (lifetime sub) i use it on my phone too. Have been usingn Emby for about 5 years with 0 issues. Have even brought my server across 3 or 4 installs

My Emby server is also my main PC so to preserve my SSD's i use a ram disk to store the transcoding data

Emby has lots of plugins for statistics so I dont bother with Trackt but does have a telrackt tv pkugin for auto syncing

Jellyfinn is the same base software as Emby but ive never used it

[-] crossover@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

AppleTV 4K + Infuse app.

Streaming from my local media server.

[-] YaksDC@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Beelink mini PC running windows with Kodi and real debrid with a VPN. Outputting 4k through my receiver. Wireless keyboard and a Sofabaton U2 remote.

[-] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Synology NAS ---> Plex Media Server VM ---> TV, Chromecast, Roku TV (which supports a lot of formats w/o encoding), Other devices

Yes I know Plex is getting a lot of crap but it still works and the encoding support is better than Jellyfin. I have Jellyfin ready to go if this ever changes but I am a happy Plex Pass customer.

[-] Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Someone is gonna bust my balls but whatever. We have an Alienware R8 hooked up to a 20 year old Sony flatscreen tv and an LG sound bar. No fucking about at all.

[-] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 10 months ago

I use a small form factor PC running Linux with KODI as my media player. I have a wireless keyboard and mouse to control it as well as an IR media center remote.

[-] Codilingus@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

Odroid N2+ with CoreElec/Kodi

[-] HamSwagwich@showeq.com 3 points 10 months ago

100% Roku. Best Plex interface.

Android Plex interface sucks, and don't even get started on the abortion that the IOS Plex interface is.

[-] Otome-chan@kbin.social 2 points 10 months ago

I have a roku tv and it's kinda the reason I ended up buying a chromecast. Other than paid apps and plex it seems entirely useless for convenient piracy streaming. It also doesn't pull anything into the home menu, and sticks to app launching. Not really great.

Plex is nice but I haven't leaned into it entirely yet. I'm not sure it can end up replicating the streaming experience? But it's nice as a media server.

[-] averyminya@beehaw.org 4 points 10 months ago

We have a Hisense Roku TV and it's extremely slow compared to the external Roku device, which is super snappy. What I do instead for the TV is just have it plugged into the downstairs computer. My partner uses the Roku TV as normal (mostly she uses YouTube) and for everything else I just have it set to the computer input or it's a different device on my AVR (Steam Deck, Switch, record player). Whenever I want music or media playing I just open Plex in browser or with the Plex program with either the mouse or the Steam Controller. On the upstairs TV we have the Roku Express and the Plex UI is nice with a couple extra options that aren't always available on other TV UI's.

I'm curious though, what about Plex do you think wouldn't replicate the streaming experience? Get it set up, get your hard drives pointed to the *arr services and set up a watchlist hook, something like Ombi or Overseer. I'm pretty sure you'd find it to be pretty much indistinguishable from HBO/Netflix/Amazon outside of the fact that each of those shows are now in one spot?

Once those 4-5 programs are set up, (Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, Jacket or Prowlarr, and Ombi or Overseer) your downloaded content is viewable on Plex, anything you watchlist on Plex is set to be downloaded.

If it's the "browsing through junk until you see something interesting" that you don't think will be replicated, there's various ways to do exactly that. Personally I went from looking at useless title cards and frivolous 1-2 sentence descriptions about the show to looking at the cast of shows and movies I already have, then adding whatever else they are in to the watchlist. But it's entirely possible to just point a "top viewed in last month" list via IMDB or trakt.tv and have those automatically downloaded. That should effectively solve the new/upcoming/popular media.

I find Plex to be far better than the streaming experience. I like to put together smart collections, like the Star Trek/Star Wars series, any new movies coming out would automatically be added to it - and their respective TV shows are shown in "related collections", like the Marvel movies and shows. Or if you want TV shows of a certain era, like an 80's specific playlist that you play in order or randomized. You can also set up other services like DizqueTV which allows you to create channels, so rather than putting your 80's playlist on random you just "change the channel" and some show is a few minutes in - the good old TV experience. It also has far better details about the media, from the actor list to showing panels for featurettes. It's like the better parts of Amazon Prime's information (although Plex doesn't have the trivia details).

Compared to self hosting other services, Plex is trivially easy to set up and to run on older hardware (sub $100 used). It is a little bit of overhead to get it set up, but from there it is only as much tinkering as you want it to be - I've personally had my server running for over 3 months now without restarting it just because I haven't felt like "maintaining it" (keeping it updated, tinkering by adding other services etc.). And when I used it with the Raspberry Pi it never went down until I took it offline.

Overall I think the most unreliable aspects of Plex are user error, subtitles, and then the online authentication.

User error is easy to avoid because Plex itself is so simple. For subtitles, as long as you provide your own you're probably golden. If you don't, Plex does have a very good way of adding subtitles easily however for niche content it can be hit or miss, also you need the "version" of the media it's subtitled for. So if you happened to get a movie with a movie production company cip that wasn't cut out suddenly your subtitles are a good 5 seconds off and * likely all of the ones you download will be like this because you have a different movie file*. Luckily this is also pretty easily avoided by using movie files you own cough getting a different edition cough. In reality this doesn't happen often, but it can be annoying when it presents itself and is just a byproduct of non-official sources.

And finally, Plex's online authentication. I've actually had Plex pass since 2013, I got it on one of those $79 deals in college and I can honestly say in all the years of reading about people's issues with online authentication I've personally never had it happen to me even during times where it's genuinely down for everyone.

I don't know if I changed the setting that's supposed to fix it and I don't remember, or if it's because I've always had my Plex server running over my local network or what. But whether my internet is up or down and Plex servers are working or not, I've pretty much always had Plex able to access and play my media locally (I rarely use remote streaming, which may be a factor). That's not to say I don't understand the frustration, I'm just very thankful for not having to deal with this particular one.

Also, much of the positives are true for Jellyfin as well, though I don't think there's smart collections to the same extent and it's a little more manual to get the networking aspect. Other than that though it's a serviceable program, I just don't use it actively.

If it's something else about Plex that you think won't scratch the streaming itch I'd be curious to hear about what it is.

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

Stremio on firestick with torrentio addon (and optional debrid)

[-] spacemanspiffy@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Jellyfin running in Firefox on ArchLinux ARM on a Radxa Rock5b SBC.

[-] retrieval4558@mander.xyz 2 points 10 months ago

*arrs / Jellyfin on a custom NAS running unRAID

For my daily driver tv, it's an android TV with the projektivity launcher (maybe spelled that wrong, but I'm pretty sure there's a k in there). It is a huge improvement over the stock launcher.

I'm also working on a media TV for my wife that's actually a NUC running mint. Suboptimal distro choice but I want her to be able to use it as a desktop if she needs. On top of that is flex launcher to launch Jellyfin, YouTube, steam link, etc.

I had tried to make KDE bigscreen work but just could not get installed for the life of me.

[-] dfc09@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

I went on a deployment, got a nice gaming laptop for that. When I got home back to my desktop, I basically had no need for it so I hooked it up to my living room TV. At first I just played some controller friendly games on it, but now I use it as the entire media center with Stremio and qbittorrent and the likes. I use unified remote to have my phone as the remote.

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this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
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