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Thinking outside the box — 12 Comments

  1. Try Raspberry pi3+ with kodi or plex. You can set it up to use any remote you would like, it’s small economical and above all cheep.
    It can access any remote shares, as well as attached devices.
    It can have a host of features configurable in software and runs on linux.

    • I too use a pi3 with kodi, but use my android phone as a remote.
      You can buy a remote add on for the pi if you prefer a normal remote.
      My other TV has a fantec box but is expensive.

      • I had actually thought about a Raspberry Pi. If nothing else, it would be something for me to play with [and fuck up]. After all – Linux is good!

        • > it would be something for me to play with [and fuck up]

          I use this flavor (I like the BTRFS filesystem, it does filesystem snapshots) :-

          https://xbian.org/

          You can just download an image file, and write it to an SDCard, then plug it in the PI, and away you go.

          But if all else fails just reimage the SDCard.

          If you need to add your own extras, you can just SSH in, and do the usual apt-get stuff.

          • The more I think about the Raspberry, the more I like the idea. I might just get one to play around with, and if I don’t like t as a media player, I’m sure I can find other uses for it!

  2. Not the cheapest, but the Nvidia Shield Tv is an awesome piece of kit. Over spec’ed, so no dreadful lag.
    Otherwise, Xiaomi Mi Tv.

    Both boxes use Android TV.

    • Welcome Adrian! In the course of my investigation I came across the Shield [many times]. It seem like a bit of overkill for my humble needs, and a tad expensive too.

  3. A Bluetooth keyboard/mouse combo could be used as a remote talking to a receiver dongle in the laptop.

  4. I’ve got a Bluetooth KB/Mousepad to talk to the NetTop hanging off the back of my telly. Works fine.

  5. Hokay…. It seems like I need an Android kit judging by the above. I’ll see if I can find something at a reasonable price [and that doesn’t cost more in postage than the item itself!].

    Then there is the Reaspberry Pi. I like the sound of that so I may get one as well just to play with!

    Thanks everyone.

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