this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2024
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Ugh, well what are the best Roku alternatives?
To be honest, a mini pc/wireless kb and the internet.
Alternative Question: What the best alternative that can be controlled by a Remote Control.
Nobody except me wants to break out a Keyboard and Type in websites they wanna visit.
A mini PC with a USB IR receiver and whatever old remote you have to spare. It takes a bit of setup to map the remote with something like LIRC, but it works great once that's done.
Pi4 with Kodi installed supports HDMI-CEC (I can use my Samsung TV remote to control media player)
We're a non-iPhone household and went with the AppleTV when my Nvidia SHIELD died.
Ads were getting put on the SHIELD and I definitely didn't want to buy another one because of that and it has been a while since its had a refresh, so went with an AppleTV instead.
The device itself is fantastic, the UI is so smooth and so much nicer. OTOH, I miss being able to cast to the TV more than I expected. It works decently with the Macbooks though (we're a weird household ... like Macs, hate iPhones).
So ... if ya'll have iPhones or don't care about casting, I'd definitely recommend an AppleTV with Plex (the Dropout, Youtube, Disney+ apps are all good too).
ETA: Apple is also making some pretty awesome TV content as well and IIRC you'll get a couple months free with the purchase ... verify that yourself though in case they've removed it, but Foundation, Severance & See are fantastic shows if you're looking for something to watch.
I'm thinking of buying one of these after ditching two Roku TVs. I bought LG OLEDs instead and am just using the apps for now, but who knows how long it'll be before WebOS follows Roku down enshittification avenue?
I quit with apps on LG after whatever I was watching or doing would cut out with an error message saying that the TV was out of memory. It was particularly egregious when I was playing video games. Now I have a Roku sound bar, but look where that’s gonna get me.
My SHIELD would just randomly restart itself until eventually it stopped coming back online.
I definitely got my monies worth out of it, but didn't like that a device with no ads all of a sudden became a device with ads (and this is a Google thing not an Nvidia one, but still)
+1. We are a household of sysadmins/engineers. Sure I or my wife could design a PC for media in an afternoon - but I don't want to deal with it.
An apple TV was a no fuss, no headache media box that can interface with the servers that store my media.
Yeah I used to have a PC and a Harmony remote that would send macros to a custom script and Kodi would do different things or it could switch to Netflix and ... Like, we just want to watch a movie or TV show not have to perform tech support whenever Netflix changed their webpage!
Id say if it's in your budget - get one. We have no other apple products in the house but that. The biggest annoyance was making an apple account (for some stupid reason they require it...)
"ads on shield"
Uhm explain? I use a 3rd party launcher and do not have any ads
You specifically said you use a 3rd party launcher. You know why you specifically mentioned that.
It was a guess. Shield doesn't have ads but the Google launcher does kinda...is that what you are talking about?
Ah, my apologies for the assumption, it's been almost a year but I'm still too used to Reddit apparently!
Yes, the default launcher had ads, the SHIELD itself didn't, but I also didn't like any of the 3rd party launchers I used but I don't remember specifically why. Then, the SHIELD stopped booting so I didn't want to buy another one and went with the ATV instead.
As I mentioned, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone who knows they'd regret not having the cast functionality, but, if you just want a device that works very well and doesn't ever have so much as a hiccup during navigation, it's been great!
I would still recommend the SHIELD for someone that wants cast or who wouldn't have a problem with (mostly) relevant ads being shown on the device (stock).
Oh the SHIELD has been great.
Not sure what other launchers you've tried but this one is best that I'm using..it's worth it for the amount but of simplicity and customization you get
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dxidev.sideloadchannel4
If you don't feel like....paying, the APK is out there. I don't remember where I got mine from
I agree, but you'd be surprised how a mini-PC can be made pretty good. One method is to buy something like this:
expand for picture
I ran a similar setup decades ago when it was more popular. Logitech used to make something like this that was pretty cool.
As a bonus you can sail the seven seas for high-quality live cable feeds from around the country...and basically have free everything forever.
EDIT: This is what I used to have: https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Logitech_diNovo_Mini
You might be able to use something like an LG magic remote with a full computer too, especially if you could figure out how to get it to display an on-screen keyboard.
I still have an "air mouse keyboard combo". Used a dongle to transmit but worked great. One side had arrow buttons, 2 buttos for clicking, I wiggled my wrist to point the cursor, and a keyboard sat on the back. I think I paid like $10 for it. Went from stick pc to Amazon due to specs vs price. Considering migrating back though.
There's also phone apps that do the job and they just hook up via wifi.
Can that easily stream HDR and things like Dolby vision? In research a while ago I thought it was only certain CPUs/GPUs and chrome could play things like Netflix at 4k/HDR
...Viewed on what? A Roku TV?
Commercial viewing board or something like that. Basically what they sell to restaurants and what not for displaying simple things and which don't require an internet connection.
I absolutely botched the term, but thats the general idea.
Signage displays usually
Just never connect the actual TV to the Internet