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?

  • slym@lemmy.ca
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    5 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
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      5 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
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      5 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
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        5 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
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          5 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.

          • Sethayy@sh.itjust.works
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            5 months ago

            Depends on the hardware you give it I’m pretty sure, a later gpu will support all codecs but older ones might not be able to encode/decode even h256

            • Elkenders
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              5 months ago

              I’ve got the 4k one with Google TV and it still doesn’t have hardware deciding for some of my collection. Not much, maybe 1%.

              • Sethayy@sh.itjust.works
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                5 months ago

                Whoops, I read your original comment wrong, I meant server hardware - but that’s real weird its not transcoding right to whatever your Chromecast supports

                • Elkenders
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                  5 months ago

                  Yeah what’s with that? It’s still stuttery even after I downsample. And only on specific files.

          • 1hitsong@lemmy.ml
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            5 months ago

            Works really well mostly though the interface could look slicker.

            Our first priority is stability and functionality. Roku’s built-in UI components aren’t the prettiest, so if you want anything “slick” it has to be a custom element and you’ll need to custom code all the behind the scenes logic yourself. That’s a ton of work just for a UI change, so we’re focusing on functionality first.

    • sylverstream@lemmy.nz
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      5 months ago

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

      • slym@lemmy.ca
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        5 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.

      • slym@lemmy.ca
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        5 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 .

  • Clent@lemmy.world
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    5 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
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      5 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?

      • alcyoneous@midwest.social
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        5 months ago

        I’ve had the same issue sometimes, usually switching the video player to “Use Old Video Player” (or vice versa) solves it. Sometimes the HDR tone mapping is a bit off then, but as another commenter recommended, Infuse works well for that.

      • crossover@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Are you using the Plex app or a third party app such as Infuse? Infuse can handle more codecs and things like image-based subtitles that I don’t think the Plex app can handle, which should reduce transcoding requirements.

      • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        I use an AppleTv4K with Plex and I have never had any transcoding issues since I upgraded to the M2 Mac Mini. When I was trying to run it off of my 2011 iMac I had transcoding problems up the wazoo for 4k content.

    • Otome-chan@kbin.socialOP
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      5 months ago

      They did, albeit indirectly. It seems the answer is “no one has done this” which means it’s likely not possible with the software that’s currently made lol.

      Seems most people just go through plex/jellyfin/emby with their usenet *arr setup. Which is no doubt cozy, but it doesn’t quite grant the experience I’m after lol. I think most people are just used to launching into a streaming app to see what’s on there since that’s how most paid streaming stuff works too for the most part. The google tv/amazon fire tv homescreen setup is fairly new and apparently unused by basically everyone lol.

      I might have to look into just coding my own launcher to get the features I want lmao. seems like a huge endeavor though. Right now I just have my remote set to be able to instantly jump into my preferred streaming apps, and single/double press home to switch between stock launcher and projectivy. It’s not great lol.

    • janabuggs@beehaw.org
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      5 months ago

      My Chromecast won’t stream anything with a high quality codec, such as HD mkv files. Are you running into this issue at all?

      • Froyn@kbin.social
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        5 months ago

        Not since I replaced my router. 1.8Gbs is so much smoother than the 100mbs I was getting from the ISPs device.

        • janabuggs@beehaw.org
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          5 months ago

          Hm. I’m with a fiber* based ISP that requires use of their router. It sucks, but it’s that or Comcast which is indescribably bad in my area.

          • Froyn@kbin.social
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            5 months ago

            Google the model number of the modem/router and it should tell you the speed of the Wifi built in. I’m using the ISP modem/router, but I’ve disabled the router portion and installed my own.

        • janabuggs@beehaw.org
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          5 months ago

          Last year’s G454V HD. I end up handbraking to shitty mp4s because MKV and HD avi files cannot stream without lagging. I have tried streaming from VLC, emby, and plex

  • Drinvictus@discuss.tchncs.de
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    5 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.

  • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
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    5 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
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      5 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
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        5 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.

    • crossover@lemmy.world
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      5 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.

    • s38b35M5@lemmy.world
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      5 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
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        5 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
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          5 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.

  • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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    5 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

  • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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    5 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

  • parallax@local106.com
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    5 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.socialOP
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      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
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        5 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
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        5 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.

  • YaksDC@lemmy.world
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    5 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.

  • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de
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    5 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.

  • Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.world
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    5 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.

  • kingthrillgore@lemmy.ml
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    5 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.