Yeah my CCwGTV is what died, so I ended up with their streamer. Hopefully locking sideloading is not something that will happen yet, but they are fighting hard to control how we use the internet these days.

Give me a AppleTV with sideloading and I’d pick it up in a heartbeat. It just works so well.

You could buy a small NUC and format to Linux, but you’d be stuck with either a keyboard or some small keyboard-like remote in the living room.

Let’s hope for better offerings in the future!

Honestly, if YT didn’t up their prices for Premium over and over I would have gone with Apple TV in a heartbeat.

Right now it’s a bloody principle to not pay for that shit, but I live with tiny tiny humans who use it a lot more than myself.

I ended up with the streamer, but not entierly happily. If Valve or Nvidia drops something proper, it will be sold fast.

Thanks for your input!

Never seen this, pretty cool!

It still needs to be app based for the family to approve sadly, so it’s either Android og Apple. Super advice for those with less stringent “rules” though, hehe. Cheers!

In that case, I stand corrected!

I still couldn’t justify the price tag for a new one, but I will if they release something with the Switch 2 SoC !

Makes sense. If my CCwGTV wouldnt have needed rebooting several times a week, I would have held out a lot longer too.
I just can’t justify shelling out $250+ for the Shield now that it’s this old. Found nothing used nearby.

Just picked up the Google Streamer. It’ll do for now and at least I know it works for what I need

Yeah I just came home with one. I dislike the small upgrade from the CCwGTV, but I needed something now to keep the peace.

I’ll stick with it untill something much better turns up. Cheers mate

Yeah it’s been suggested by others and I’d love it myself, but it won’t fly having a keyboard in the living room.

The server is a N100 running Proxmox and working like an absolute champion! Love these things.

Thanks for the input anyways. We totally agree, I’m just not in charge anymore

Hehe yeah, if I could choose we’d have a NUC in the living room, but I’m outnumbered in this house. Apps and remote control are must-haves

I was dumb enough to suggest the same. You are obviously the smarter of us.

Cheers mate! Enjoy your weekend

Yeah, I’m not an Apple-man myself, but I know several who are and I get that once you’re in the ecosystem, it’s a very comfy place to be. And functional, of course. I just generally try to avoid walled gardens unless I “have to”.

Personally, paying for Premium is not an option. It’s $17 here, which is just absurdly overpriced IMHO.

Strange about the volume controls…
Is the soundbar/amp connected via HDMI Arc?
If yes, it sounds like some settings with HDMI CEC is messed up. Usually these things can be set manually on the TV or device itself.
If you’ve tried everything, then ignore my uncalled for advice and enjoy the day.

Appreciate the input as well, mate!

I think the product is really exciting, but I’d have a very hard time convincing by better half and kids that it’s an upgrade, sadly.

I’ll do some more reading on it before I purchase anything else though, so thanks a lot for the input!

I think our partners could be sisters, tbh…

My conclusion is pretty much the same as yours, but I still wanted to double check for fresh inputs: I’m stuck with Google for now, unless I want to test a Chinese product.
I just have this feeling that the moment I purchase the TV Streamer, Nvidia or Valve will release something awesome that blows it out of the water.
Maybe that means I should buy it to help everyone else on the fence…

Yeah the ads are crazy, but at least with Android devices you can often have a different launcher.

The Apple TV is tempting me more and more and would be the perfect device, had it only supported side loading or SmartTube. It’s a deal breaker for me, pushing me towards either Google with Projectivity launcher or trying to wait out a new Shield device.

Glad to see your happy with it though. I think I’ve yet to talk to anyone who isn’t, which says a lot about it as a product.

I don’t know why it wouldn’t be, as they are great products out of the box.
A bit pricy, but worth it. I’d give the same recommendation as you for anyone wanting to dabble a little and have room to grow and play with VLAN’s, ACL’s and expandability in the future.

I’m using a Chromecast with Google TV, simply because that’s what I had when I started.
Hoping a new Shield will come before it dies, alternatively I need to find something else.

After I migrated to a N100 that does all transcoding for me, the media device itself is more about codec support, a nice UI and response times and less about raw power.

Cool, well then I can at least share what I went with that has worked really well: GMKtech N100 NUC from Aliexpress with 16 GB of RAM.

It’s hosting Jellyfin with transcoding, PiHole, Home Assistant, Heimdal, a Valheim server and loads of other small LXC’s in Proxmox.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it break a sweat.
The NAS holds the .arr stack and Qbit, but that’s it.

I cannot speak to the longevity of it, but I repasted the CPU once I got it and it’s chilling below 45 degrees all day long, so I expect it to last for many years. I also enabled C-states to get idle consumption as low as possible, around 7-8W.

Best of luck with whatever setup you end up with mate!

I run a 4 bay and a N100 NUC.

The Synology is almost a pure storage machine. Works really well with Proxmox on the side. Not a single file has made it kneel yet, and I’ve thrown some high bitrate badboys on it.

Is not upgrading the drives an alternative?

I feel like you sacrifice a lot of practicality removing the NAS, such as automatic backup from phones and very easy remote access.
Personally I also prefer separating data and software, so I don’t lose it all if a component fails.

Just my .02

That would be a mirror of my setup. GMKtec N100 with 16 Gb of RAM doing all the heavy lifting with Jellyfin (transcoding), game servers, HomeAssistant and so forth. Not once has it had a hickup.

It’s a brilliant little thing for really very little money.

Remember to activate C-states in BIOS to achieve the super low idle TDP people talk about, around 6-8W.

Good luck on your journey!

I did the same.

Jellyfin and all “fun” containers to a N100 NUC and let the NAS be a NAS. It’s only running the .arr stack and qBit. Works really well and the NUC has power for days to expand.

Yeah it makes no sense, yet it’s so much fun when stuff finally works like it should!

Everybody loves using Jellyfin at home, but they think I’m mad for spending countless hours setting up everything the first time, then a second time to improve, then a third time as I migrated HW.

Keep having fun with it mate! The possibilities are endless