Tv box recommendations?

I just can't recommend anything with Android anymore. The enshittification is real. They're already rolling out full-screen video ads in the OS. Even Plex lived long enough to become the villain.

I've just been plugging in my laptop. Super inconvenient but that's where we are now.

I'm back to a full computer again too, and if you don't have a laptop handy, the new little mini PCs are surprisingly affordable too. If you don't want to build a raspberry pi.
- Which mini-pc would you recommend? RPis are not sold here officially and thus very expensive.
I will have an OG Xiaomi Mi Box and it's absurd how over the years it went from a purely functional media device to a complete shit show covered ads. Genuinely disgusted me every time I turned the TV on. I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to tear out the launcher with ADB and replace it with FLauncher.

I wish Kodi wasn't such a pain in the ass to deal with, especially for YouTube. We really need a new FOSS media center application. Until then, at least FLauncher works for now as a simple app switcher for a handful of Android apps.
What exactly is your problem with Plex? I've used it for years and there's not even a hint of ads. They bow offer their own content as well, but you can simply remove that (or just not add it in the first place) from your start page. Other than that?
- All kinds of problems. Most recently they're sharing your friends recent activity to you via email and vise versa, without your consent. Also I have removed their own content from my dashboard several times but they keep rearranging it and re-adding it.
- Interface is riddled with stuff that isn’t on my local network.
  
  I just want something to manage the stuff on my local network!
  
  Anyways… I now use Jellyfin a lot for the above reasons .. until it doesn’t work lol.
Emby gang

If you go the android route turn on Apps Only Mode in the settings. It gets rid of the home screen ads for the most part and disabled a lot of the "features" that Google tries to push.

Might as well load a 3rd party launcher gets rid of the rest of the ads. Not using the extra features at that point anyway.

I've been very happy with roku tvs at home and a roku stick "to-go". Very simple interface with minimal ads that you can block.

I second the roku, they are economically priced, they perform very well, minimal ads. My friends and family use them to stream from my jellyfin server over the internet to their homes.

A RaspberryPi with a Flirc case is silent

What os/frontend would you recommend?
- I use LibreELEC, it's great.
- FYI everyone here is going to recommend running stuff to stream your own self-hosted pirated content.
  
  If you're looking for something to stream Netflix, HBO, Disney, etc., forget it. Just run that shit in the browser. And even that will only be half-assed unless you go out of your way to install an invasive browser like Edge that supports their shitty DRM.

Given the recent issues with ads, I wouldn't recommend anything Android/GoogleTV based. A USFF PC will give you better performance for less money, especially if you buy used. You can find 1L X86 boxes for $30-60 on eBay that are perfect for the job.

A Shield TV is probably overkill for you and the recommendations of a pi would do just fine, but if it's in budget I say go for the Shield TV. Mine is nearly 8 years old and I haven't had a single issue, streams 4k HDR, and runs so much better than any of the crap that comes with even the newest of TVs.

I've been using an Nvidia Shield TV Pro for a while, and hardware-wise it's still amazing. But with the way the OS is going, I can't recommend it to anyone anymore, not for that price. I basically had to stop updating any of the system stuff so it doesn't plaster my TV screen with ads.

I use the shield with an alternative front end/launcher.
- Yes, there are (so far) ways to get around it for more technically skilled people, but you also have to sacrifice some features like the home screen channels (or updates). But you shouldn't have to do that on a device in that price-segment, and I don't want to support a product that employs such anti-consumer tactics with my recommendation.
IIUC you can flash LineageOS on the shield (if you try, let us know how it goes)

Why not use a pi or some other sbc?

I've done this in the past. I was mostly interested to see what others have done

Just get a firestick

Are firsticks bad? (Genuinely asking)
- No, but Amazon decides what you see on the top half of the main screen unless you install a custom launcher. You can use your own photos for the screen saver. You can side load android apps. I use one called "smart YouTube tv" which blocks YouTube ads and has sponsor block built in.

Maybe something running Kodi? I don't use streaming services but I do use Kodi on a single board computer.

Stay away from cheap Chinese TV boxes. They are full of malware

If you have Apple users in your household, the current generation of Apple TV 4K 128GB is a solid device that’s going to offer the best integrated experience, along with capability of Thread. If not, it’s probably a bit overpriced compared to the other solutions.

I have Xiaomi TV stick 1080p (android) and I'm happy with it. I know its not popular solution, but its cheaper and I had 0 issues so far

I'd vlan anything cheap and Chinese. It's pretty much guaranteed to phone home and send as much info about your environment as possible.
- Yeah it's not like Roku/Chromecast/fire stick do that too, only the Chinese ones, right?

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters	More Letters
Plex	Brand of media server package
RPi	Raspberry Pi brand of SBC
SBC	Single-Board Computer

2 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 5 acronyms.

[Thread #305 for this sub, first seen 27th Nov 2023, 07:25] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

if i was to build one, i would go for a thinkcentre. easy to get for cheap and perfectly able to stream video (with linux, of course).

OSMC makes some good Kodi boxes under the Vero name if you don't need proprietary streaming services. I use the jellyfin plugin to read from my JF server, works great. Supports 4k, HDR, audio passthrough, many codecs, all the good stuff.

Between that and my PS5 it covers all the bases

Gotta be careful with osmc. It has so much choice that breaking is entirely possible to do accidentally. I absolutely love my little 4k box.

A kodi distro, such as LibreElec would be my vote, but I don't believe it does streaming services very well, if at all.

I am so done with streaming services.The local library has more TV and films than I'll ever have the time or inkling to actually watch.

Kodi / LibreELEC has add-ons available to most of the most popular streaming services. The trouble is that it hasn't the necessary licenses for playing content in the best resolutions (the same goes with most browsers). I myself have a Homatics R 4k Plus (which is a licensed box) and installed CoreELEC. When using Android I can stream my content in the highest resolutions (Star Plus, HBO Max and Disney Plus) but when using CoreELEC I can't.
- Thanks for clarifying. I recalled seeing something about 720p caps for certain streaming services when using non-DRM platforms, but I wasn't sure which.

I'm kinda new to the scene so take what I say with a grain of salt. I have jellyfin running on a laptop and I use a roku stick to stream through. Not perfect by any means however it does what I need to do. I've been told using a raspberry PI would be a great budget option with more feature.

I've tried a lot of different things before settling on a old (windows) laptop with a wireless mouse and keyboard... I just cba with any of the streaming boxes anymore, and the laptop will always be compatible and performant.