Hello sailors,
as a long time FireTV stick un-enjoyer, I finally decided that the time has come to get rid of this piece of crap I was baited into buying because of the low price. The number of streaming services keeps increasing (splitting content among different servives) and each and every one of them is demanding for an increasing amount of money for a monthly subscription; “buy this movie only” services dont actually give you shi except for the right to stream it for as long as it stays in their library, even though af course you pay 13,99 as if it was a physical copy of a movie. In addition to that, the FireTV is now completely filled with ads. I am tired of this shitty customer treatment, im sailing.
I am not experienced into local media-sharing and management, so I am looking for advice… What’s my best move to replace it?
I thought a good idea would be to buy an unexpensive MiniPC that i can put behind the TV? Is that overkill? But what OS would i put into it? A linux distro I am guessing or Android TV? Is there a way I can interact with it using a remote? Are there instead “better” FireTV sticks (no ads and let users install and watch what they want)?
Gimme advice or share your secret setups please :)
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Before you throw it away, you can sideload Kodi onto it, and stream local content, IPTV, and other (not super legal) entertainment sites.
That seems like a good piece of advice, maybe I will use this temporarily while I figure if I want to get a dedicated device.
a fire stick is just an Android TV device with Amazon branding. anything else that you buy is also going to be an Android TV device
Stuff is legal as long as you aren’t getting caught.
Be your own streaming service, and keep using the FireTV stick with the Jellyfin app.
I personally prefer Plex (I got the lifetime PlexPass before Jellyfin was even a thing) but I agree with this 100%. Set it up on a spare computer (or even a RPi,) and toss it in a closet. Then you can use the *arr suite to automatically download new titles.
FileBot will help you automatically rename downloaded files for easy media detection; Historically, the big complaint with Plex/Jellyfin has been the files need to be named very specifically. But FileBot takes care of that, and even downloads subtitles and posters/box art/etc automatically (though with OpenSubtitles API change, that may not be the case anymore?)
FileBot isn’t really necessary, the *arrs can handle renaming just fine with custom rules and formatting. It’s just turned off by default. The only thing you’d need to add is subtitle downloading, and Bazarr does a better job of that anyway.
Definitely agree with this recommendation! Jellyfin is quite awesome
Jellyfin on the firestick. Remove internet access from the stick (LAN only).
Alternatively, DNS block amazon communications (Pihole, adguardhome, etc).
Edit: you can also install adguard, or other ad blockers directly onto your firestick.
Edit 2: there are also a number of ad preferences burried deep in the settings. My fireTV has no adblocker, but only displays static banner ads on the homepage.
Jellyfin on the firestick.
Yeah, but you have to install Linux on it first 😂. Easier said than done 😂.
It’s in the app store. You don’t have to do that. If you’re talking about the server, that’s pretty easy.
Yeah, I was talking about the server and you probably can’t install it on that thing by just clicking away or doing a few terminal commands 😂.
Jellyfin client on the stick.
If you’re going to watch right from the stick, external HDD and VLC or something.
Why is nobody talking about stremio? The user interface and experience is very close to netflix (better at times) but it plays torrents instead.
If you pair it with a real-debrid subscription after you first try it solo it takes it to the next level.
It’s just amazing
And you don’t have to buy anything. Stremio can be installed on your firetv stick
EDIT: forgot to mention that you need the torrentio or torrrentio lite add on for stremio.
Stremio + Torrentio + Real Debrid is the smoothest piracy experience I’ve ever had. I even coached my dad on how to set it up through chat, it’s that easy.
Could not recommend this more - so much easier than managing multiple other streaming services (and cheaper than a VPN for torrenting)! Also recommend launcher manager (1.1.9) to make the home button go to Stremio (so you don’t ever have to see the adverts anymore, though it did take some playing with settings) and Trakt (+ Stremio add-on) for a watchlist.
lol forgot to mention torrentio, the most crucial part of the recipe 😂
This is the magic recipe.
real-debrid subscription
uh, what’s that? honest query
Real-debrid is like a “cache” for torrents. Instead the torrent been streaming direct to your device, it will be downloaded to the real debrid server, and then streaming it from real-debrid to you. The good thing is that if you start a torrent that is already in the real-debrid it will start streaming instantly. It is payed but I think it is totally worth.
TYVM for the details!
it just downloads the torrents in real time for you and gives you a single link. It removes all the torrent quirks - except of course of the fact that you need seeders and the download speed depends on them.
FireTV stick, yo mama’s so fat, she brought a spoon to the Super Bowl.
Intel NUC for $50 from eBay and smarthomebeginner was all I needed for this
Look into Jellyfin and the *arr suite for automating downloads. If this seems too complicated for now, just get a cheap 1 TB external SSD, a VPN (check out mullvad), a torrent client (i suggest qBittorrent or Transmission), bind the torrent client to the VPN to prevent leaks and off you go!
The simpler method has some drawbacks, not all TV’s support all codecs and formats, you have to move the external drive from your computer to your TV for example. Getting Jellyfin setup will give you a more streaming service type of experience and if someone else than you might want to watch something, start with Jellyfin.
If the Jellyfin experience is horrible and you just really wanna watch a movie to relax on a saturday, maybe take a look at Plex.
If you already have the MiniPC just lying around then great, just use that! If you don’t have it, you can also host Jellyfin + the *arr suite on your PC (unsure about Windows compatibility) and start them when needed or have them run in the background when your computer starts.
I’m still looking for a justification of the arr suite. It’s not hard to find files and I like being able to choose.
I also still need to figure out how to use docker to sandbox my qbit+ VPN.
keep the fire stick and install Plex on it. my Plex servers are about 20tb and it’s 90% of what I use my fire stick for
Raspberry Pi 5 + Debian + KDE bigscreen
Is KDE bigscreen usable now? Last time I checked it was just a concept that was super difficult to install.
If you’re looking for a decent setup but maybe not the cheapest- Nvidia shield with an external hard drive would work very well.
You could always build or buy a nas and just run Plex as an app through either your current fire stick or get a cheap Roku stick (although now you’re back in the same ad garden for a player but Roku is minimally invasive imo- especially with a pi-hole for dns)
Mhhhh the Nvidia shield does not really seems like a bad idea… Its price is actually not that bad (even though you need the Pro to have USB ports so i can plug an hard drive into it).
You say that plex on my current FireTv can see and play media from a NAS/other server in the local network?
Once you get Plex setup you can have all your videos, photos, and music with you wherever you are. You can stream via the Plex app on the firestick, Chromecast to any supported device with the help of your phone, or download media for offline viewing from your phone via a USB to HDMI adapter. The firestick Plex app is basically just a client, but the Plex app on an nvidia shield can additionally act as a server whose library resides on a USB drive connected directly to the shield or any samba/windows share the shield can see on your network.
Has ads by default by you can side load an ad free interface easily.
Is there a way I can interact with it using a remote?
I was surprised at the number of remotes that sell on AliExpress that have an actual keyboard on the back of it, covered with a plastic seal, that sell for dirt cheap like $5, and are meant to be used (and recognized as by the OS) as an actual keyboard.
So, yes, regarding this option, is an actual minipc a solution and can I interact with it properly, yes, you sure can ☺️.
Oh, and some even had a little touchpad on the front 😂. So cute 😂.
I suggest Air mouses. Just like a wii controller.
Edit: This for example. Rudimentary IR TV remote + air mouse on the front, keyboard on the back. Also nice for servers or other Raspberry applications.
Yep, exactly like that on AliExpress 👍 (guess they stole the design and idea 😂… great, at least we can get them for next to nothing 😂). I just called them keyboards cuz they recognize as a keyboard in the OS 😂.
I’m also interested in this. I’ve seen that used mini PCs can be found for under $100, which is still pretty pricey for this need imo, but I’m sure it’s a good choice for setting up a Jellyfin server and maybe some general home management type stuff like security cameras or smart lights or something. If you already have a PC, you might be better off using that to grab media and then throw it onto a drive that you can connect to the USB of your TV if it has one. Alternatively, maybe run a long HDMI from PC to TV? Or maybe something like a Steam Link could get that done? Combine that with a phone app to control your PC from another room and you’re in business. It really depends on the volume you’re looking to watch though because that would be a headache to do more than just a few times per week. I wish I could be more helpful to you, but I’m just some spitballing idiot who also doesn’t know until somebody with more experience chimes in lol.
I myself am flirting with the idea of building a gaming desktop that could fill this role as well as serve as a modern Steam Machine running Chimera OS. I bought a used Steam Deck a while back and fell in love with the UX, but while it’s amazing for a handheld it’s a little underpowered for gaming at home. I have built a few Windows PCs about ten years ago, but any nuggets of wisdom regarding differences today, Linux tips, etc would be greatly appreciated. I’ve done a bit of homework, but people on Lemmy seem to be super knowledgeable about this kind of thing.
Netgear router + 2tb thumb drive + makeMKV 👍🏼
Holy shit. A 2tb thumb drive? I didn’t know those existed.
Just don’t buy them off Amazon, Walmart, Newegg etc… buy straight from the manufacturer. There’s a lot of counterfeits about
I have a 2,5’ 1tb hdd connected to my router and Kodi on Xbox and Firetv. You only need some website to download content from to your hdd.
I just installed SmartTubeNext on mine for ad free youtube and it turns out I can pair it with and cast from YouTube Revanced on my tablet, and it carries over all the skips for SponsorBlock as well. Don’t even have to be logged in to SmartTube, works fine with the default anon view. You don’t even have to keep them connected. Once SmartTube receives a playlist, you can disconnect the cast and SponsorBlock sections still work.
https://troypoint.com/smarttube/
At this point all I have on it is Kodi, Twitch, SmartTubeNext, the free Roku app for old tv series, and RetroArch for pre-N64 games.(edit: it may very well play n64 games etc as well, it’s more an issue of storage space for me. My Kodi library is pretty big.)
Pair it with a pihole and Twitch is also ad free.
Don’t get rid of it, install Kodi and/or Plex on it
