• Free Palestine 🇵🇸
    link
    fedilink
    English
    111 year ago

    Am I the only one who sticks to old school solutions like a dedicated HTPC running Linux and Kodi instead of ad-infested Android TV sticks/boxes?

        • Flying SquidOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          71 year ago

          Even learning to broadcast programming from your laptop to your TV has a learning curve. Meanwhile, you can just push a button on the TV and get to Netflix. The problem is that now half the space is going to be taken up with ads, and not even relevant ones.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        01 year ago

        If thats the price of freedom then I think one should definitely become tech savvy.

        Besides, isn’t saying that you’re not tech savvy in today’s tech world kind of admitting that you’re willfully ignorant and only buy tech stuff for show?

        • Flying SquidOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          31 year ago

          You think people only buy TVs for show? That’s a very strange thing to suggest. People buy TVs so they can watch shows. For over 70 years, all they’ve had to do is turn it on and maybe turn a knob or push a couple of buttons and that’s it. Expecting people to learn more than that is too much for many people. And saying you aren’t tech savvy isn’t some shameful thing except to people who are tech savvy. Even if it does mean someone is ignorant, that doesn’t mean they deserve to be taken advantage of.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            01 year ago

            You think people only buy TVs for show?

            Certainly in my country, people who don’t know how to setup a computer still choose to buy one.

            People buy TVs so they can watch shows

            Maybe the boomer generation. I am a millenial running a pihole and subscribing to OTT. This is true of others in my generation and younger.

            And saying you aren’t tech savvy isn’t some shameful thing except to people who are tech savvy.

            Well it’s not shameful in that it requires ridicule. I just think it’s a bit embarrassing for me personally that a lot of people don’t bother learning tech stuff. It’s similar to people declaring that they don’t read books. In this day and age, being tech savvy is kind of required to navigate a lot of society.

            Even if it does mean someone is ignorant, that doesn’t mean they deserve to be taken advantage of.

            I know that, you know that, the companies exploiting the ignorant and elderly know that. So there’s no better cure than for the ignorant to learn.

            • Flying SquidOP
              link
              fedilink
              English
              11 year ago

              Still sounds like you’re blaming the people being taken advantage of because they don’t know things you do.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      71 year ago

      I find a dedicated HTPC is just overkill in terms of hardware these days. I just use Kodi sideloaded onto a Fire stick and point it to my file server for all my media. There are methods to get Kodi to launch on startup or to remap one of the stupid service-related buttons on the newer remotes to launch it instead.

      Ads on the home screen? I don’t give a shit, I’m just there for a second to launch an app. Ads while searching? Cool, I don’t think I’ve ever used the device’s built in search.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        I have a NanoPC-T4 that I use as a server, the thing would in principle make a good set top box – it’s what Rockchip designed the RK3399 for, after all, it can decode 4k h.264 and h.265, and it’s from 2016 (I got it for its pcie lanes, a rarity with arm boards).

        None of those SmartTVs run expensive hardware, any reasonably fresh potato can do what they do.

    • Dran
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 year ago

      If you bought a Vizio TV 4 years ago it now has a “feature” where it switches inputs to the ad-ridden integrated android system if it detects that whatever input you are on doesn’t have a signal for more than 5 seconds. Even if you pull it from the network it still tries to load it anyway. It’s becoming unavoidable even for those of us who roll our own solutions.

      • Free Palestine 🇵🇸
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        Why would you even connect your TV to the network in the first place? I use an LG Smart TV but I never connect it to the internet.

        • Dran
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 year ago

          To use the android-based remote (which was actually pretty cool at the time tbh)

          • Free Palestine 🇵🇸
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 year ago

            I almost never need the remote of the TV. I just use my HTPC running Kodi which I can connect to a remote app on my phone if I want to.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 year ago

      I’m really shocked that this is the Technology community and it’s full of people complaining about ads. We’re supposed to be the geeks who are laughing at the normies for watching those ads while we watch content on our techy solution which is immune to such garbage.

      • Free Palestine 🇵🇸
        link
        fedilink
        English
        21 year ago

        We’re supposed to be the geeks who are laughing at the normies for watching those ads while we watch content on our techy solution which is immune to such garbage

        Many of us are, but some aren’t. We can teach them about it.

      • Free Palestine 🇵🇸
        link
        fedilink
        English
        21 year ago

        The Shield TV is one of the better TV boxes. In fact, the Apple TV and the Shield TV are the only TV boxes I would ever use, if I had to use one. I’m very happy with my custom HTPC though.

        • kratoz29
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 year ago

          I’m very happy with my custom HTPC though.

          Fair enough, although I might add that there is not a better way to run Kodi but HTPC, even when the Shield is more than a capable client, it sucks from time to time, I blame the limited RAM of the device.

          • Free Palestine 🇵🇸
            link
            fedilink
            English
            21 year ago

            The HTPC solution is not for everyone, but I’m really enthusiastic about my setup, so it’s my preferred way of consuming media on a TV. The Shield TV is totally fine though.