Basically title. How does one go about pairing third party services like streaming services to a mini PC so that you can stream it on your dumb / degoogled TV? I don’t really know how TVs work, much less mini PCs, so if anybody could dumb it down for me I’d appreciate it. What does your setup look like, if you have a dumb TV (e.g running kodiTV without network connection)?

  • pandapoo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    First you should ask yourself what your technical knowledge is, relative to the advice you’re receiving here, and how comfortable are you bridging that gap.

    If you are, then no need to get a new Beelink device, unless you don’t mind spending the extra cash. If you want to save money, you can get a used ultra small form factor (USFF) PC like a Lenovo Tiny off eBay for a fraction of the price.

    Regardless of what you go with, just look up whatever the popular Kodi distros are e.g. LibreELC. There’s no shortage of tutorials for that, or for installing just Debian and adding Kodi to it.

    However, I will say that as someone who is extremely comfortable with tech in general, including daily driving Linux as my primary OS… You can’t beat the convenience of an Nvidia Shield TV* or Apple TV.

    And if you are using services like Netflix, or HULU, etc., the offical apps are so much better than using jerry-rigged third party Kodi add-ons, Linux apps, or web apps.

    I genuinely don’t care about whatever data my Android TV can report back on regarding my TV viewing habits. Surveillance capitalism is already so omnipresent, that I pick my battles e.g. Linux desktop vs Windows or Mac, but as far as my TV habits are concerned, they can sell those to whoever, as I already don’t use any advertising supported services.

    *If you go with any Android TV box, make sure it’s Play Store Certified, and then just install Projectivy Launcher.