• dangblingus@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Have a regular PC hooked up to the TV. That’s my smart machine. I control every aspect of it. Fuck Smart TVs.

    • CoderKat@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      When I completely replaced my PC, I intended to use my old PC as a media box. But in reality, I’ve basically used my Chromecast for everything. One of these days I’ll probably want to watch something that isn’t on one of my streaming sites, but I’ve been surprisingly resistant to that so far.

      Chromecast is the ideal smart device so far, for me. No ads or anything. I use my phone as a remote and basically every video app supports it easily. Open app, press cast, select what I want to play. Exactly what a smart TV should have been like.

      • blipcast@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        What type of Chromecast do you use? I recently bought a Chromecast Ultra for a new TV after being happy with a secondhand one for years (3rd gen, I think). The difference in UI was such a disappointing step down. I don’t want a home screen with apps and ads, I just want something I can stream to from my phone! And I can’t say for certain, but it also feels like I get more ads on YouTube compared to using the older Chromecast.

        • ArdMacha@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No you bought a Chromecast with Google TV. A Chromecast ultra is just a 4k version of the original. I used my CCwGTV for 8 months then sold it and got a CC ultra instead. I hate the promoted content from networks and apps I would never use.

    • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Raspberry pi with Kodi hooked up to a projector and a NAS serving files works well for me.

      • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        This is the way, although the pi is to slow for me at this point and I replaced it with shields.

        Also why the are people connecting tvs to their networks…fuck that noise.

      • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I mean that’s nice but can you run Netflix/Hulu/AppleTV/HBO through that thing? Or can you only play media that you illegally downloaded?

        • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          I haven’t tried. Through a Web browser, maybe. There’s a Kodi netflix addon, I know that. It’s just a Debian box, so any solution that’d work on a Linux machine would probably be okay.

          • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            any solution that’d work on a Linux machine would probably be okay.

            I don’t think there is a Linux solution. That’s the problem.

            • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              What do you mean? I gave you a couple of Kodi plugins that cover most of what you mentioned, plus, you could probably just use a Web browser.

              • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                That’s not really a “solution” so much as a “workaround”. It’s unofficial community-maintained software with complicated installation, limited features, and that the service providers can break at any time. And even if that weren’t the case, that’s only 2 providers.

                If I need to use a web browser, why wouldn’t I just skip Kodi altogether and just plug in my laptop?

                There’s a reason Google TV is an entirely different operating system from Chrome OS.

    • ramble81@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Careful though, some smart TVs actually list in the ToS where they’ll take screen captures of what you’re watching for “informational purposes”, make sure you have all data collection turned off anyway even if you don’t use it as such.