Ahoy!

I recently got a new TV and I need some advice on how to best take advantage of my setup.

My current setup: I have an old laptop as my homeserver. I have Pihole on it. I also have setup a VPN with Gluetun that other docker containers are using. To watch movies I have a Kodi + Real Debrid setup on my actual laptop and I would use that with an HDMI cable to watch movies on my old TV.

What has changed now is that I have an Android TV, and to be perfectly honest it was a bit of a hassle to use the laptop to watch stuff especially TV shows because between each episode I would have to get up and use the laptop to play the next episode, and I have to set up my laptop each time because it’s my main device and I need to take it with me everywhere. I have the Kore app on my phone but that wouldn’t work if my VPN is running on either my phone or laptop, which usually is the case.

From what I read, the simples solution would be setting up stremio on the TV with RD and ditch the VPN. However I would prefer if there was a way to route the traffic through VPN. Do you guys know any better solutions?

Thanks in advance for your help. P.S. Cat pic for your troubles

  • Dem BosainEnglish
    3·
    5 months ago

    You’re already familiar with Kodi, so install that on your Android TV. I have an Nvidia Shield with Kodi, and it just plays movies straight from my server. You should be able to use the TV’s remote to control Kodi without worrying about the VPN.

    • assassassin@lemmynsfw.comOPEnglish
      3·
      5 months ago

      Yeah you’re right. Although I’m not against learning new stuff, and hearing how stremio is more streamlined to interact with, I thought it would be a good choice but I wanna hear different opinions from the community so thanks for your comment :)

      • dalë@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        5 months ago

        A lot will also depend on your personal usage. Whilst I agree wholeheartedly that Stremio UX is much better that Kodi, out of the box, the one thing that keeps me with Kodi is the fact that it has far superior Trakt integration.

        I will admit that Stremio is getting better it’s still a far cry from Kodi with Trakt integration and it’s something I rely heavily on.

        That said if Trakt is not your thing then Stremio is probably a better option.

        Also, if you’re using RD either with Kodi or Stremio there’s no real need to use a VPN as well as traffic is passed over HTTPS so the ISP only sees that you’re connecting to RD not what you’re doing.

        • assassassin@lemmynsfw.comOPEnglish
          2·
          5 months ago

          True. Guess I’ll have to give it a shot to get a feel for myself. What do you use Trakt for that you feel so dependent on it?

          • dalë@lemm.eeEnglish
            2·
            5 months ago

            Sorry for the late reploy, but this is what my KODI with trakt looks like on opening the app and the movie section is the same. All widgets are driven by my Trakt account

            alt text