What is everyone using as a HTPC?
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An old Dell workstation that I stole from a corporate job I used to work. I stole a few of them, actually, and used the parts from the others to upgrade one of them. For a computer that would probably not be able to run Minecraft, I now have a headless home server that uses the Servarr suite to fetch and stream media from Usenet to all the devices on my network. It works so well, I have it running an Audiobookshelf server as well, loaded up with books I get from MAM.
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2x previous gen of these.
Man, I love them!
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Looks very nice. Also looks very pricey.
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NGL, that's true. But they are quite small, support HDMI-CEC, and run cold.
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The biggest question is, are you looking for Dolby Vision support?
There is no open source implementation for Dolby Vision or HDR10+ so if you want to use those formats you are limited to Android/Apple/Amazon streaming boxes.
If you want to avoid the ads from those devices apart from side loading apks to replace home screens or something the only way to get Dolby Vision with Kodi/standard Linux is to buy a CoreELEC supported streaming device and flashing it with CoreELEC.
List of supported devices here
CoreELEC is Kodi based so it limits your player choice, but there are plugins for Plex/Jellyfin if you want to pull from those as back ends.
Personally it is a lot easier to just grab the latest gen Onn 4k from Walmart for $50 and deal with the Google TV ads (never leave my streaming app anyways). Only downside with the Onn is lack of Dolby TrueHD/DTS Master audio output, but it handles AV1, and more Dolby Vision profiles than the Shield does at a much cheaper price. It also handles HDR10+ which the Shield doesn't but that for at isn't nearly as common and many of the big TV brands don't support it anyways.
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wife acceptance factor
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I was tempted by these n100 mini PCs, but worried about the no-name components. I saw many people on reddit/lemmy recommending Dell, Lenovo, HP micro form factor PCs. You can pick them up used from eBay as companies clear out "old" computers. The advantage of the known brands is ongoing firmware support.
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just a normal PC? Streaming should work in a browser.
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Is there any way to fling YouTube videos to SmartTube from a smartphone?
That's the one thing locking me into Kodi.
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Used workstations are great for home theater purposes. I've got a Dell SFF on one TV and a Lenovo 1L machine on another.
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I use a Beelink with an N100. Runs PopOs. I use Plex HTPC on it. Hardware decoding isnt working at the moment but it plays everything fine except HDR content so I'm avoiding that at the moment. Pass through audio work perfectly. I also stream sports on it, play mini games and roms with my kids using Lutris, and Moonlight for the more demanding games.
I used to use Kodi/LibreElec on it but that was such a miserable experience. Constant crashing and (3 or 4 times per day) inconsistent glitchy audio passthrough. The plex integration does mostly work but would also occasionally crash resulting in my stuff not syncing back to the server for days. Playback worked perfectly though.
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Not that I've been able to find. I rarely notice but when I do it's quite frustrating.
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I use a Radxa Rock 5B running an Android TV ROM. Sits in a 3D printed case and has a silent little Noctua fan keeping it cool. Could be better - the ROM has a little jank to it - but it has taken everything I've thrown at it so far.
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I use a Radxa Rock 5B running an Android TV ROM. Sits in a 3D printed case and has a silent little Noctua fan keeping it cool. Could be better - the ROM has a little jank to it - but it has taken everything I've thrown at it so far.
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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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At that price I’ll buy an AppleTV and run plex / Emby / jellyfin.
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Actually some browsers also have issues with 4k and certain codecs.
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Two Shield TVs because there's not really anything else.
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My old desktop, a Ryzen 3600/GTX-1080 mini-ITX build. After using a Pi 4 with Kodi for awhile it's nice to have a media machine that can run Crysis.
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Ryzen 1200/GTX 960 small build running Linux Mint. There's a UHD blu-ray drive in it as well with the custom firmware to rip disks. Media is stored on my NAS that handles Plex and transcoding. The parts were mostly old extras I had lying around, just needed the case, blu-ray drive and boot SSD. Oh and the like $20 wireless Logitech keyboard/track pad combo for control.
