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
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.
You might want to upload a cat Pic to soften the shit storm.
Done.
There is also jellyfin as an alternative to plex that I will mention everytime someone mentions plex because I believe jellyfin deserves more visibility and is the better option considering plex’s cons
Fair enough, and if you prefer Jellyfin, then please do enjoy it in good health. For me, I can never get it setup to function reliably, and I do not care for the UI at all.
HOW DA- awwww cute kitty
No hate to apple but I’m trying to make do we what I already have :D Appreciate your comment, and your kitty!
I will pass on your complements to Ahsoka
Just use something like Jellyfin or Plex. Install the server side software on your laptop and the client side on your Android TV
That seems to be the consensus around here :D Looks like I gotta look up how to work with Jellyfin. Thanks for your comment!
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I use Musicbrainz-picard to organize music and clean up metadata. For Shows and movies, it’s pretty easy. I use Plex and it’s pretty flexible with naming conventions
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Jellyfin ftw
Use Jellyfin to stream it. The TV should have an app for it. You can also use Plex, if you want, but I find Jellyfin better in every way.
Jellyfin. V1.9 is a huge leap forward.
Is it? In what way if you don’t mind me asking :)
No, I don’t mind you asking at all!
Thanks!
This is why I love the internet.
I recommend a Plex server. People here will yell jellyfin all day long but while it is good, there is shit that will make you tear your hair out. Plex will literally “just work”.
If your TV is a smart TV, you can install the Plex app and from that point on its mostly set and forget.
Jellyfin certainly has a little bit of wonk to it, but as far as basic functionality I find it just as easy as Plex.
“basic” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.
You’re already familiar with Kodi, so install that on your Android TV. I have an Nvidia Shield with Kodi, and it just plays movies straight from my server. You should be able to use the TV’s remote to control Kodi without worrying about the VPN.
Yeah you’re right. Although I’m not against learning new stuff, and hearing how stremio is more streamlined to interact with, I thought it would be a good choice but I wanna hear different opinions from the community so thanks for your comment :)
A lot will also depend on your personal usage. Whilst I agree wholeheartedly that Stremio UX is much better that Kodi, out of the box, the one thing that keeps me with Kodi is the fact that it has far superior Trakt integration.
I will admit that Stremio is getting better it’s still a far cry from Kodi with Trakt integration and it’s something I rely heavily on.
That said if Trakt is not your thing then Stremio is probably a better option.
Also, if you’re using RD either with Kodi or Stremio there’s no real need to use a VPN as well as traffic is passed over HTTPS so the ISP only sees that you’re connecting to RD not what you’re doing.
True. Guess I’ll have to give it a shot to get a feel for myself. What do you use Trakt for that you feel so dependent on it?
Sorry for the late reploy, but this is what my KODI with trakt looks like on opening the app and the movie section is the same. All widgets are driven by my Trakt account
That actually looks nice… my Kodi is a mess 😅
I use Fentastic skin with Umbrella add-on.
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.
I just use Stremio + RD(Torrentio) on my TV, laptop and phone as they share the same public IPv4 address and I’m definitely not crossing the limit of 32 connections per server. I recommend that setup, gets rid of running a homeserver all time.
If you want to stick with your VPN and homeserver setup, get rid of Kodi and host Plex_debrid on your server, that way you can connect as many devices you want to Plex but only your server will be the one connecting with RD servers, letting you stay within the restrictions.
Stremio and real-debrid is great. I use RD to download my torrents for me, its way faster.
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.
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?
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
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.
Sounds like a lot of potential points of failure but would probably be real nice when it’s working!
Personally, I bought a cheap tower PC and air mouse to be a full time torrent/streaming setup for my TV. I love it!
Hmm how cheap is a cheap tower pc I wonder
I spent up a bit on a refurbished one at $130, but the other commenter is right that they can be in the $60-$100 range
That’s how much I spent on the old laptop too haha
I respect that it’s a pain getting up change it (where I recommend the air mouse) as well as the pain of having to plug it all back in, so it makes sense that you don’t want to move your streaming computer constantly and you don’t want to buy another one. Best of luck figuring out what works for you
Under 60usd for a decent used one that can do that stuff
Just buy an air mouse for $20 and you don’t have to get up to change episodes. Doesn’t help with having to unplug it from the hdmi all the time but that’s less of a hassle if you can just do it once when you start watching and then control everything from the couch.
Torrent.
I mean… you’re not wrong
