this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2025
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141
Alternatives to Roku/AppleTV for Jellyfin Client (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 week ago by nix98@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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My jellyfin collection has finally become large enough that I have been able to cancel all my streaming services. My issue now is that I want to get rid of my Roku's that are hooked up to each TV.

Is there a good alternative? It MUST be family approved, meaning:

  1. It is not visible (no desktop/laptop hooked up)
  2. It is low power
  3. It has a simple remote control
  4. It supports Jellyfin
  5. It is relatively cheap (< $150)

I am sure I could build something out of a raspberry pi, but:

  1. I don't need another project I have to fiddle with
  2. It MUST support new codecs (h.265/AC1/aac/...) as I want direct play from my server
  3. If it stutters/buffers once, it goes into the trash!

I've generally been mostly happy with my Roku, and my pi.hole blocks most of their analytics, but last week, I pressed the home button on my Roku and it started play a video add with audio. Completely unacceptable (That has happened twice in the last week). And in general, the more of this crap I can get out of my life the better!

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[–] merthyr1831@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago (3 children)

It's surprising how slow open source is on replicating Roku. So many manufacturers could be using Linux to bypass androidTV and RokuOS bullshit. I suppose AndroidTV is good enough even despite that.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

I think it's a chicken and egg problem. A FOSS Roku-replacement needs apps to make get popular, and manufacturers won't port their apps until it's popular. Basically, manufacturers need someone with a big marketing budget to help them feel comfortable investing in a platform, but that's not going to happen with a nice FOSS platform.

Maybe if we collectively raise like $100M or something, we could put together a big enough marketing budget to convince some of the bigger names (Netflix, HBO, etc) to take the risk, and the rest will follow if it's popular enough. Maybe.

[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 4 points 1 week ago

Both use Linux under the hood. You can even install LineageOS on some TVs.

The only reason AndroidTV is bullshit is the manufacturers because casual users want shit like Netflix and Prime preinstalled. Google TV in particular comes with a lot of crap and the ads, which believe it or not some users take as a feature.

But that's not inherent to Android TV as an OS, it's exactly like Android phones and manufacturers preloading a bunch of crap to make an extra buck. If your run AOSP you get none of that crap, and it's fully open-source.

[–] keyez@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

There are a couple of devices, a few months ago during a similar discussion on Lemmy I saved this but doesn't seem to be many videos or reviews out in the wild

https://www.pishop.us/product/vero-v/

https://osmc.tv/about/

[–] nix98@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is very interesting. Do you know anyone who has actually tried these?

[–] keyez@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I don't but searching online there's a couple of YouTube videos. Also there's a couple recent threads on AV forums talking about the device. Seems like it gets plenty of updates and attention but no I haven't gotten a solid recommendation yet. I'll probably give it a shot here in a few months assuming that US store price doesnt go up further