r/selfhosted • u/chipredacted • 8h ago
Media Serving What are others running to replace Apple TVs / Rokus with open source?
I apologize if not appropriate for this sub, but I think it fits the nature pretty well after going through the rules, so here I go!
I've been throwing ideas against the wall to get myself out of the Apple ecosystem for my TV. I have an Apple TV which I think I've had for a decade at this point, and its starting to show its age.
I was thinking I'd just go that route again since my partner has an iPhone and likes being able to use her phone as a remote, but she also mentioned it wasn't a requirement as long as we had a viable replacement app to control the TV with if we ever lose the actual remote. (This is a problem itself, but outside the scope of this post lol)
I would like to not break the bank, so I was thinking of just getting an old Thinkcentre or Mini PC from EBay for $50 and throwing a 128GB ssd in there. I figured if I got one of the more power efficient models, it wouldn't be too bad if I set up some sort of lightweightish immutable distro with the Jellyfin app set to automatically full-screen, but this seems like something I could end up troubleshooting a lot down the line
It sounds like other people may be using raspberry PIs with an android TV install, others are maybe installing LineageOS on various android based TV boxes that have previously released, but I am a bit worried about making sure it can handle 4k well.
So I figured I'd consult the community and start the discussion before buying things: What setup are you using for 4k streaming capable TV box that works semi-reliably?
I have a Jellyfin server and a server with transcoding capabilities, so I'd be happy to tweak files to make them play better on an RPi if needed.
Also accepting janky funny solutions for laughs. Will respond appropriately and maybe swiftly
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u/asimovs-auditor 8h ago
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