What is everyone using as a HTPC?

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨ScreaminOctopus@sh.itjust.works⁩ to ⁨selfhosted@lemmy.world⁩

I have a couple of TVs that I use HTPC appliances with. One’s a shield TV and the other’s a roku. I’m not super happy with either of them. The shield lags like crazy and apps crash constantly. The Roku is stable, but can’t decode h265 or av1. Both at riddled with ads. Does anyone have a solution they’re happy with? I mostly watch content from major streaming services and stream media from my NAS. I have a raspberry pi 4 that’s not in use right now, I tried to get it working as a set top box, but couldn’t get DRM content to work so I went back to the shield.

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paf@jlai.lu ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Not the answer you are waiting but there is something wrong with your shield, I have a 2015 and 2019 Shield and both are just very good even if the first one has nearly 10 years

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- ScreaminOctopus@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Yeah I’m not super surprised… It used to work well when I bought it back in '17 but it’s become worse and worse with updates.
  
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  - paf@jlai.lu ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Have you tried a Factory reset?
    
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Cobrachicken@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Some 2nd gen Intel Acer Aspire (?) SFF with an older gen NVIDIA card. Last Windows machine in the household due to WAF.

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- lka1988@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  What is WAF?
  
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  - tab@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    wife accepance factor :)
    
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  - Shimitar@downonthestreet.eu ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I guess Wife Acceptance Factor, the number one parameter in home self host.
    
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robolemmy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I’m using a Shield TV Pro with the default launcher disabled, replaced with FLauncher, and the netflix and voice search buttons disabled via button mapper.

I’m 1000% happy with it and absolutely would not go back to an actual HTPC.

Oh, I also uninstalled youtube and replaced it with SmartTube Beta

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- xodoh74984@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  [deleted]
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  - pirat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Yes, you can cast from the official YouTube app (or Revanced). You need to generate a code for connection in the SmartTube settings, then connect your phone through the cast menu. The option in the cast menu on the phone is called something like “Connect with code” IIRC.
    
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  - robolemmy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Not that I’ve been able to find. I rarely notice but when I do it’s quite frustrating.
    
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bobsuruncle@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I sue an appletv. I have the version with a Ethernet port. It plays wverything I’ve thrown at it so far and down have to endure commercials. The downside is you have to create an Apple account to install apps in it and not all apps are available. It’s also expensive.

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