Ask HN: What is the best streaming device for a Lineage OS user? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What is the best streaming device for a Lineage OS user?

36 pointsacqbu17 comments

I run Lineage OS 18 on my Poco X3 Pro. Have just purchased a cheap, non-smart TV and would like to broadcast stuff from my phone using a streaming device. Which device is most compatible with Lineage OS: chromecast, fire stick, roku etc? What would you recommend (ideally something without ads). Thank you.

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Do you actually want to get content from your phone, or do you just want to watch things on the TV?

If it's the latter, an ASRock R1000M is a NUC-sized computer that can drive a 4K monitor for video. It's far more flexible and powerful than any of the tiny proprietary devices. It costs about $250 plus RAM and storage. You can run Plex, MythTV, a full browser, music servers and anything else you might want in a living room.

But if you want cheap and easy, a Roku plus a DNS adblocker works well.

Thank you. I'd like to be able to do both. That sounds great but I'm afraid it's well outside my budget - I paid less than half that amount for the 50 inch TV.

Roku does appear to be the best option indeed, thanks.

My main TV (1080p) is run by an older Asrock N3700 board. There are options up and down the price spectrum, including old/repurposed hardware. It really depends on the resolution you want, and the codecs built into the GPU. But a general purpose computer is definitely the most flexible solution.

Do these things have to be NUC sized? If you're driving a TV, there's usually plenty of space in the TV 'stand' aka shelf/cupboard, or even behind.

What's the best/cheapest cpu/gpu or igpu for tv/movies currently?

I had been using a thinkpad T430 (broken screen and keyboard) as a 'tv-box', but had to switch to a raspberry-pi 4 recently. Sorry to say, the rasp-pi just doesn't cut it. Sure it can output to 2 4k displays, but it can't decode netflix, youtube, or lan (or even sd-card-local) movies smoothly, even at 1080p.

Nuc sized both increases the spouse approval factor as well as generally putting out less heat and noise.

If you're just playing 4k video, a $60 USD ODROID C4 device will do the trick.

Videos I would go with Jellyfin for self-hosted. Its FOSS (forked from Emby). It has no ads, free to use. Steam client for games. For music, I use Spotify (should work on LOS or jailbroken devices), but if you want to self-host Airsonic or Navidrome or something like that. For YouTube I'd go with Premium (from Romania if you're from EU) or NewPipe.

I really like Roku. I've got as much tracking stuff turned off in the options as possible and I know there's a way to pi-hole telemetry and ads if you want. Although the ads I see are just single poster-style ads for various shows or Roku streaming channels on the home menu. I like being able to browse easily with a remote but also having the option of casting something to the TV from my phone either through the Chromecast button or airplay.

Thank you, that sounds appealing. Also, it appears to be the most affordable streaming device where I live, cheaper than chromecast and fire stick.

Nvidia Shield TV Pro has no ads, and it plays anything you throw at it without a transcode from a service like Plex/Emby/Jellyfin. All subtitles also work flawless without triggering a transcode. For my money it's the best and I've tried Roku Ultra 4800, Apple TV 4k, Fire Cube. Tons of edge cases.

Shield just works.

There's nothing limiting Lineage OS if you have requisite apps installed. Chromecast would be the best though.

If you're OK with wires, USBC to HDMI adapters exist.

Thank you, I wasn't aware of it but it's definitely something worth looking into.

I've found success using Kodi on a raspberry pi using LibreElec distro (or equivalent) on the HDMI port of TV, and using Kore (Kodi remote control app for Android, available on F-Droid)

This gives me youtube videos casting from phone (Newpipe), with API tokens also Twitch.tv. Add an SMB share from NAS/desktop so you can stream your content to the TV over wifi.

Sorry offtopic, how is your battery life?

Battery life is really good. I get about 6-7 hours of screen on time with intensive data (4G) use, several messaging apps, new pipe and spotify 4-5h daily. I charge my phone roughly every other day or every 1.5 days.

Chromecast and a media casting app

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