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Comment by TedDoesntTalk | Hacker News Reader

JellyFin or Plex. Personally i just use a Linux Mint desktop connected to the TV instead. Web browser for streaming and VLC for downloaded videos.

But JellyFin and Plex exist for people who don’t want that.

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What the parent is saying is that the desktop versions of those programs are not remote friendly and the interface is not ideally scaled for 10-foot use. What you want are the Android TV versions, running on Waydroid or an x86 build of Android TV. See my other reply.

I just run stock ubuntu with an airmouse, freetube, a browser, and kodi. Works just fine on my projectors and tvs around my house for me and even non technical guests.

Yes, and I have done the same for a long time. It works, and the browser is key when you don't have native apps. But I recently spent some tokens on an Android x86_64 TV build with ARM support and it is far better than a Linux DE with the scaling cranked up. It's all scaled correctly, the UI can be navigated with the D-Pad alone, and all the apps are also designed that way. It's a massive improvement over a UI primarily designed for keyboards and mice.

Jellyfin and Plex cannot stream from major streaming providers. Yes, I know the answer is pirating content but that’s a complete paradigm shift compared to what most people are used to. It’s an absolutely enormous extra requirement when you’re suggesting someone switch their TV to Linux.

Kind of simpler in a way wouldn't it be? One provider vs 8 different streaming providers.

No one seems to have a problem dealing with multiple streaming providers. They’re essentially just different submenus on the TV app.

Compare that to setting up a home server with a ton of storage, setting up torrenting/newsgroups, software to check for new releases and automatically download them, probably a VPN too… it’s a whole different world.

When you tell people they can save a couple thousand dollars a year and never be tracked or watch an ad again on their tv if they learn how to setup a VPN and a seed box, a lot of people are quite happy to learn.

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