Just noticed that lineage is has an android TV build for the odroid c4, which is USD $54 (way cheaper than a pi) and you can get an ir remote for $5 and a case for $5.

Couple that with f-droid and the jellyfin android TV client, and that seems like it should be good, no?

top 12 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] x2Zero7 4 points 4 days ago

It seems like it should be, you just may want to test various encoding settings for your media - for example i have all my stuff in m4v containers with h264 and h265 encoding bc i know for certain that directly plays on my apple tv without needing to transcode.

I'm sure that will be fine, but just watch out for any media incompatibilities that may require transcoding (unless your server can handle it just fine)

[–] Codilingus 3 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I have their N2+ and its a fantastic device. I use their CoreELEC for Kodi though, which I then use Jellyfin's add-on that syncs with Kodi's library for all the info and watch progress.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Identical setup here, N2+ running CoreELEC with the Jellyfin add-on.

No complaints here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I've been fiddling with libre elec on the pi and have not liked it very much.

[–] Codilingus 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Don't like Kodi? Or problems?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (3 children)

I didn't like the way JellyCon integrated into kodi. I need to try the library sync plugin. But jellyfin has all my media, so why not just use a jellyfin client?

[–] synestine 3 points 4 days ago

For me, it's because the Kodi clients work better than the Jellyfin clients. I run a few Elec boxes and theyre always faster than Android clients, use less resources and have at least as many capabilities. And they trip transcode less often than Jellyfin clients. I do use the "jellyfin" plugin, not Jellyfin. It integrates as well as a library sync I used to use, while letting me use JF to keep all my metadata updated

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

so why not just use a jellyfin client?

Depending on what you are playing and what setup you have, the Android players are just not good enough.

With the default web player, you lack audio passthrough and have to transcode most subtitles, with ExoPlayer you lack many codecs in passthrough, when using an external player like VLC you lack proper progress tracking.

Kodi/CoreELEC does it all: plays most video codecs, passes through every audio codec in existence, automatically switches resolutions and refresh rate, has no issues with high bitrate 4k, switches HDR on the fly and syncs watch progress to Jellyfin.

The Kodi sync plugin is essential though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That is for the feedback, I will give the jellyfin plugin a go.

[–] Codilingus 1 points 3 days ago

Reading their reply reminded me:

When you first install Jellyfin's repo, and then addon, the initial setup starts. It will ask you if you want to use it Native mode or Plugin mode. Chose Plugin, Native has been deprecated and won't work. Plugin mode now basically just points Kodi to where the video files live on the server with Jellyfin. For me it still eliminates ALL transcoding, including HDR, subtitles, and Dolby Atmos/DTS-X.

Then the extra addon Kodi Sync makes Kodi play nicely with Jellyfin's internal database, and makes progress and newly added media sync instantly and in the background.

Their documentation is very good, just remember Native Mode is deprecated and Plugin Mode now does the same thing.

[–] Codilingus 1 points 3 days ago

Did you use the addon where you have to access Jellyfin from the Addons menu and then use the weird UI with way too many sub-menus? Their own addon where you add their repo is the best IMO, it adds all your jellyfin media (except live tv) to Kodi's native UI/categories. So all the movies show up under Movies, get their own card, can be opened to see all the scraped online data, like actors, plot, and posters. Same for music and shows.

I personally just love Kodi. It's UI is probably the most intuitive UI I've ever used. It's just so clean and simple, and CoreELEC makes it fast and efficient. The only media format it can't play is Dolby Vision, but all my media that has DV has other HDR fallbacks.

Then if I wanna watch something not on my TV with N2+ everything is synced with Jellyfin, so all my progress is saved and I can for example, pick up on a show where I left off watching it on my tablet with their app. A best of both worlds setup for me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

Probably fine. I find the experience of JellyFin on Android isn't great, but it's not due to lack of processing power.