Ahoy!

I recently got a new TV and I need some advice on how to best take advantage of my setup.

My current setup: I have an old laptop as my homeserver. I have Pihole on it. I also have setup a VPN with Gluetun that other docker containers are using. To watch movies I have a Kodi + Real Debrid setup on my actual laptop and I would use that with an HDMI cable to watch movies on my old TV.

What has changed now is that I have an Android TV, and to be perfectly honest it was a bit of a hassle to use the laptop to watch stuff especially TV shows because between each episode I would have to get up and use the laptop to play the next episode, and I have to set up my laptop each time because it’s my main device and I need to take it with me everywhere. I have the Kore app on my phone but that wouldn’t work if my VPN is running on either my phone or laptop, which usually is the case.

From what I read, the simples solution would be setting up stremio on the TV with RD and ditch the VPN. However I would prefer if there was a way to route the traffic through VPN. Do you guys know any better solutions?

Thanks in advance for your help. P.S. Cat pic for your troubles

  • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    122·
    6 months ago

    I use Plex to stream to my AppleTV 4k. I am prepared for the inevitable comments shitting all over Apple, however this is very easy to setup and is very reliable and very easy to use, so the haters can kick rocks.

    EDIT: Please everyone enjoy this cat picture, and allow it to calm your internet rage where applicable.

  • akilou@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    5·
    6 months ago

    Just use something like Jellyfin or Plex. Install the server side software on your laptop and the client side on your Android TV

  • theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    4·
    6 months ago

    I use a hacked fire stick but pretty sure the exact same setup is achievable on android TV.

    You can use stremio + torrentio and utilise your current realdebrid subscription then just install your preferred vpn as well.

    Fire up the VPN and connect so that all your traffic is going through that VPN connection and then load up stremio.

    I used to use kodi and debrid and this stremio setup is night and day better and easier to use, my gf would refuse to use kodi but this operates so much like Netflix etc that she uses it all the time now as well.

    • assassassin@lemmynsfw.comOPEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      Thanks for your comment. Yeah I hear the UX on stremio is so much better that’s why I was leaning more towards doing that. I spent hours to make Kodi UX smoother but at the end of the day it’s a slug for the average user.

      Do you know how I should route the TV traffic (Stremio) through the VPN on my old laptop tho? Or should I just give up on that part

      • theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        It absolutely is, I even set up stremio on a fire stick for my sister and she is absolutely technologically illiterate and would never have understood kodi but with stremio she is doing just fine!

        I’m not really sure what you are asking in the second part though. If I’m running stremio on my laptop then I have my airvpn connection running in the background so everything is going via that connection.

        On the fire stick I use the proton VPN app and open that up, connect there then all the traffic on the fire stick is forced to go through there.

        Using either method the stremio traffic has to go via the respective VPN. Maybe I’m missing something with the question though so if I’m being stupid please say and I’ll try and help further :)

        • assassassin@lemmynsfw.comOPEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          Thanks for elaborating! Not at all, my bad for not explaining! So what is happening is that I’m using Mullvad, and there is a limit on number of connections I can have. I’m already using them all so I can’t just connect my TV to it as well. However my homeserver (a.k.a. my old laptop) is using one of the connections so I thought maybe it would be a good idea to make the TV traffic go through that too.

          I gotta mention I’m new to all this so if I’m talking outta my butt feel free to laugh at my comment and correct me :D

          • theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            2·
            6 months ago

            Ah OK, im with you now. If there is a way to do that then I don’t know how I am afraid. I would personally just change up the connections so you could use the TV as one of them purely for the ease of it as I like to make my life as easy as possible xD

            Sorry I can’t help any further with that but good luck with your endeavours, if you choose to go stremio I think you’ll be impressed compared to kodi :D

    • Irelephant@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      Firesticks and android tv both run android, something your run on a firestick will almost definitely run on android TV.

  • retrieval4558@mander.xyzEnglish
    4·
    6 months ago

    However I would prefer if there was a way to route the traffic through VPN.

    It would almost certainly depend on what VPN and what TV you have, but I believe I’ve heard of native VPN apps that can be installed on Android TVs.

  • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    3·
    6 months ago

    Damn you. You had me with that beautiful tuxedo. Where are the mods? This isn’t even fair.

    I’m an old school plex user and think it would serve your purposes well, but I know jellyfin is the more popular option around these parts. Being comfortable with plex and reading about jellyfin, I’ve felt that jellyfin seemed a bit more fussy to implement but I assume that comes with greater customizability.

    • assassassin@lemmynsfw.comOPEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      Hehehehe >:3

      Hmm I heard plex and jellyfin both suffer from file duplication and storage management issues that’s why I was leaning more towards stremio. That and how easy it is to set up. Do you have to download movies first to watch them with Plex?

      Follow-up question: Do you use that with RD?

      • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        6 months ago

        Isn’t stremio just an aggreagator for streaming services you pay for?

        I use plex for streaming downloaded media yes, but it does have a free streaming service with incredibly bad movies, like almost watchable because they are comically Bad. No issues with storage or file duplication that I’ve ever experienced.

        I don’t know what Rd is

        • assassassin@lemmynsfw.comOPEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          So to my understanding, the Stremio + RD (Real-Debrid) + Torrentio is working in such a way that, Torrentio is the aggregator, then Real-Debrid will work as direct download for the torrent, and finally Stremio will play the content from the link. So technically speaking you don’t need to deal with downloading stuff.