What would the HN crowd recommend for a good linux streaming box + hardware with decent TV UX and remote?
My LG is completely offline and I'm using an nvidia shield to display any content, but I'm thinking maybe I need to go the extra mile, there nothing preventing an android tv box to do the same.
Raspberry Pi + LibreElec. It supports CEC, so you can control it with your TV's remote. Or you could download Kore from F-droid to control it over Wifi.
I have a "Homatics Box R 4K Plus" with CoreELEC/Kodi installed. The UX is then determined by your Kodi skin or apps. I wouldn't exactly recommend that box for ease of installation, but it works. It only needed to boot once into Android, annoyingly requiring an internet connection for setup. Since then it only runs CoreELEC. Works via HDMI CEC via the TV remote, which is still a bit annoying, because they had space for a dozen branded streaming provider buttons, but pause/forward etc. are on a mode switch button that overloads the navigation buttons.
For far too many options, see this massive sheet for Kodi support, including newer formats like Dolby Vision and HDR variants: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Uyuw_1dADsRw7u1LGW6q...
Overall I am pretty happy with Kodi on my Android box. 90% of the content is streamed from a local Jellyfin server, so I can't comment on how well it works with DRM media. It occasionally [1] seems to hang, requiring a power reset. The next time it does, I will hook it up to a smart plug to simplify that as well. If you are into tinkering, CoreELEC is based on Linux and you have some basic tools already installed with more available from the addon repos. I have SSHed into LibreELEC to debug network issues with iperf and on a previous iteration to kick over Kodi with systemctl restart.
[1] gonna say less than once a month, I don't remember when it last happened
This definitely requires "extra mile" kind of work, but it sounds like what you want: https://youtu.be/nROKp0BpFek?si=msJJrdpq143W3nEf
> My LG is completely offline
Are you sure? They will seek out open WiFi and other neighboring LG TVs as relays.
That is an _incredible_ claim, please back it up.
https://youtu.be/6IFVTcM28KA?t=637
But better watch the whole video. Then get snarky again ;)
"This is a concern broadly and future looking" does not in any way mean LG TVs are doing it now; there would be proof of this if they were, it would be easy to catch.
yeah no open wifi in sight, MAC address is banned at the router level, but I appreciate the concern
Apple TV.
To the risk of contradicting myself, the less time I got, the more tempting it's been to jump into Apple's ecosystem. I love the hardware, I appreciate Apple's apparent care for privacy, but I just love my linux too much both in terms of UX and for what it represents.
Ha, and I completely missed the "Linux" part of your post, sorry. I do enjoy both. Apple, like you say, is a nice default for me because they clearly care about privacy to a reasonable extent.
Plus, the HDMI-CEC "just works".