Advice on replacing smart TV with Nvidia Shield or similar (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by OneNot@lemmy.world to c/jellyfin@lemmy.ml

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So I've been using Jellyfin for a while now. I have a NAS running with a jellyfin server and I watch stuff on my PC or on my TV. This is concerning the TV... As is often the case with these low-to-mid tier smart TVs, the OS is slow and the UX terrible. The network adapter is also bad. Jellyfin and everything else about the UI and OS in general, is slow. The jellyfin client occasionally crashes, and some files sometimes stutter or otherwise struggle when streamed, despite working just fine when streamed on the same network on my PC (wired both).

I was thinking of doing a bit of a brain transplant on my TV here by running my TV needs through Nvidia Shield or similar. Now, as I understand it, of the common options, Nvidia Shield is more or less the ultimate option for this. However, it is somewhat expensive, and I don't really care about anything other than having a responsive UI, support for all the usual codecs, HDR, 4K and preferably also Dolby and Atmos. I also want to be able to use my soundbar. I don't need any of the gaming features, storage space etc. that the Shield also markets...

Are there other cheaper alternatives that would do just as well, or should I just get the Shield?

Update in the comments.

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[-] splendoruranium@infosec.pub 2 points 9 months ago

Then I installed Kodi, along with the Kodi Jellyfin add on. The add on syncs the Jellyfin database to the Kodi one, so you use the Kodi interface to browse the Jellyfin content. This seems to work great!

Which Kodi theme are you using? I haven't really found a satisfying fire-and-forget solution that could deal with 6+ different kinds of libraries and also didn't require me to manually set up every menu option over the course of 3 hours.
Have you found an elegant way to manage multiple different users?

[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 9 months ago

I haven't branched out much, I'm afraid. Using the default Kodi theme, only split by TV/movies, and I just created a new jellyfin account specifically for Kodi.

However, this page says that you create Kodi profiles for each user, then you can log each one in to jellyfin under their own profile. This lets you use the native Kodi users for switching between jellyfin users. But it does sound like a bit of work to set up.