this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2024
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I recently got rid of my TV box from my ISP (around here it tends to be bundled, but I found a cheaper data only ISP) and of a separate media box I had to play my collection of videos in digital files that were stored in a NAS and even the old NAS setup (which was just improvised with some external HDs connected to my router and used the older SMB v1 protocol which is much slower than more recent versions) and brough everything onto a single device which is a Mini PC with Lubuntu and Kodi which even has so additional stuff in it like an always on VPN and web controlled Torrent download server.
I never had a this good and this well integrated home entertainment setup before.
That's basically a "make your own" version of LibreElec, but I didn't recomend it above because that Mini PC was $150 and you do need to know your way around Linux to set something like that up yourself (plus the added value to make it worth it is in being able to hand more server services in that machine, such as Torrent downloading over that always on VPN) whilst LibreElec is a pre-assembled full solution and is also available for much cheaper devices.
But yeah, it's actually pretty amazing how far open source home entertainment solutions have come in just a decade (which is how old my setup with a dedicated media box and NAS was before this restructuring of the whole thing to modern tech).
PS: Oh, and by the way, it's possible to get a wireless remote control (about $4 from AliExpress) that works absolutelly fine with Linux and lets you control Kodi by remote just like you would control a dedicated TV Box.