My elderly mum has a Roku Express attached to a dumb 1080p TV, but it’s experiencing ever more frequent “insufficient power” failures and she’s thinking of buying a new one.
I’m wondering if there’s a freer alternative device that would be just as, if not more, user-friendly. Any tips? (I’ve been browsing Temu but no idea what to pick.)
Must haves:
- replaces the Roku
- allows her to watch OTT channels like Netflix and Prime (not pirated, she has legit accounts for those two), Youtube, Haystack etc
- all done with a user-friendly remote control & 3-metre interface
Nice to haves:
- replaces also the laptop (connected to the TV but basically unused)
- can get & watch Bittorrent downloads
- can watch IPTV (nothing fancy like debrid, just IPTV-org channels or some such)
- makes Bittorrent downloads & IPTV a more integral, easier part of the experience so that she actually uses & enjoys them
- reduces/eliminates ads on Prime, Youtube etc
CONTEXT
She uses the Roku for watching mainly Netflix, Prime, Youtube, Haystack (news), very occasionally TheArchive.TV, FreeMoviesPlus, Plex, Roku Channel (just one show).
I also installed IOTV, a Roku app with IPTV-org linear channels, but she never remembers it, and it’s not very user-friendly anyway.
I also set up an old laptop for her, with QBittorrent on it, connected to the TV, but she never actually uses it unless I come round and download/play stuff.
PS I have no experience with “-arr” stack, Jellyfin, VPS, debrid etc.
PPS in case it’s relevant, location is Mexico.
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Not sure if prices ever dropped but I love my shield and shield pro. Very powerful / flexible but still can be easy to use. Some nice ad free launchers available.
I see Amazon MX showing the Shield for MXN $4,300, which is maybe 2~3x what she’s hoping to spend. And the Shield TV for $3,200. Still pretty pricey.
I use a Mi TV Stick 4K it works as it should.
Not quite, and believe me, I’ve been looking.
Your best bet is probably LineageOS Android TV on a Raspi 5. From there you can install Kodi too. My issue here is that CEC does not work. Meaning you need a second remote.
I probably don’t recommend LibreELEC on a Raspi, because despite install being seamless, Kodi these days is essentially a real-debrid frontend (which might be what you’re looking for if you want integral torrent downloads!). The normal streaming apps for Kodi are not maintained even PlexJellyfin don’t work out of the box.
Something else I’m keeping an eye on is Plasma Bigscreen but that’s probably 2 years out minimum of being user friendly enough for someone not experienced.
Lastly if you have a Samsung TV, Tizentube will get you YouTube without ads (and other perks).
Kodi these days is essentially a real-debrid frontend (which might be what you’re looking for if you want integral torrent downloads!). The normal streaming apps for Kodi are not maintained even PlexJellyfin don’t work out of the box.
XBMC has fallen quite far from where it originally started.
I blame sketchy entities reselling Raspberry Pi/Android TV/etc boxes loaded with Kodi and all the pirating plugins to the moronic general public.
Thanks for the info, I’ll look into Raspbi with Lineage Android TV.
Who or what is KonstaKang? Exploring the site & a quick web search have proven fruitless.
I’ve got an older laptop running Debian with Kodi. I affixed it to the wall behind my main TV. It was definitely a chore to setup Kodi how I like it, but now I love it.
- Ads blocked on YouTube.
- IPTV included - I have Pluto channels plus 100-200 random channels found online. It can get complicated with EPGs, but I wrote some scripts for cron to update.
- I use Qbittorrent for downloading. It’s a separate program but it’s great and the downloads are included in Kodi automatically.
- I never used PlexJellyFin. I don’t know why that would be one addon. I’ve used the Plex addon and it works fine… Ultimately I just moved my files to Kodi laptop so I don’t use Plex anymore. Similarly I’m not sure why anybody would use JellyFin and Kodi at the same time.
- I’m pretty sure there are addons for Netflix and Prime but I haven’t used them. It seems like the Netflix addon is pretty legit at least.
- Weather - Kodi as a cool weather setup.
- Music - Kodi is great for personal library as well as many addons.
- Remore - I use a FLIRC with a GE universal remote. It works great.
From what I can gather KonstaKang is the guy who makes these Raspberry Pi-specific versions.
I ask because it would eventually involve things like handing over Prime login details to the Prime app on that OS. Have there been any security issues with these KonstaKang OSes? (Or am I being paranoid?)
Paranoia is good.
That said, I’ve run his build for a year or so without any issues.
Thanks for the info.
Not the guy to ask about that, sorry. I’ve seen it recommended elsewhere which is good enough for me. If you make a post about it I would definitely be interested. I’m not using it myself but I do keep an eye on the updates.
Ok, understood. And thanks for that link.
I do really hope Plasma Bigscreen works out, but it is already over 6 years old.
There’s been some new progress and you love to see it, but we’ve been waiting on this one for a bit.
Me too. The original devs abandoned it and it was picked back up by new devs in 2025
The way I see it, if someone eventually makes a Bazzite-styled distro that “just works” with a Plasma-Bigscreen UI on a Raspi it will become the clear and obvious choice for anyone. But we’re far from that still.
you want a onn tv box from walmart. it’s $20. $40 for the pro version (which does perform better). combine that with stremio and projectivity launcher and that will give you pretty much everything you’re asking for.
Projectivy? I see Projectivity in places, is that an autocorrect error?
I paid for Projectivy when my NVIDIA box started showing me ads for Target. Very nice.
It’s geolocked to the U.S., so it’s important to note that they would need to use a VPN to bypass it during setup.
@moshbit@lemmy.dbzer0.com & @zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Thanks for the info.
- VPN would be an additional ongoing cost to consider.
- Looking into Stremio & Projectivity Launcher now, hopefully they can be used on non-geolocked devices available here in MX.
Having set three of them up in Europe myself, as far as I can tell the VPN is only needed one time to set up the Onn 4K Pro (or any of the other Onn Android TV boxes). After that, a VPN shouldn’t be needed unless the device is reset.
Note that Stremio, SmartTube, and Projectify Launcher work on any Android TV device (versus Amazon Fire TV, which blocks Projectify Launcher), so you can get a non-Onn brand one to avoid the initial setup hassle. I personally preferred spending a bit more to get 3GB of RAM and 32GB to ensure a smooth experience, but the same apps will work on 2GB RAM devices too (like the similarly geolocked $US20 Onn 4K and $US30 Onn 4K Plus).
Ah, I misunderstood. Thanks.
- Re reset: does every power disconnection (blackout; unplugging) count as a reset, with an ONN requiring VPN to re-setup?
- Could a free VPN be used for ONN setup?
Unplugging and replugging them doesn’t trigger the location check, only if you perform a factory reset.
As long as the free VPN has a U.S. IP address, it should work. Proton VPN has the U.S. as an option on its free tier, for instance. To use it on the Onn 4K device during setup, you’d either need a router that sends all traffic through the VPN, or to tether the VPN from another device.
Since the Onn 4K Pro has an Ethernet port, I tethered the device to my Windows laptop to share its VPN signal (requires configuration of the Ethernet settings). An alternative for the non-Ethernet devices seems to be via a hotspot, either with Windows or rooted Android. Should rooting Android not be an option, this post claims it’s possible to do without rooting.
While something that runs Linux would probably be more free, in terms of usability, I would recommend a Google TV box paired with Projectify Launcher to have a UI with just apps and wanted channels rather than preinstalled bloatware. Lets you use all the regular streaming apps, with Stremio + a debrid service + Torrentio as a streaming option for additional movies and shows, SmartTube for ad-free YouTube + SponsorBlock. You can also remove unnecessary menu options in SmartTube to simplify things further.
I don’t use IPTV services—perhaps someone else could chime in to help with that—but I’m sure they would work on Android TV too.
In the U.S. the Onn 4K Pro from Walmart is the best specs-per-dollar option (US$50 for 32GB storage and 3GB RAM), but as a VPN is needed to bypass the U.S. geoblocking during setup, you might need to get a different one.
Thanks for the info.
Can Google TV devices be flashed with something like LineageOS Android TV to remove the spyware nature (IIRC) of Google TV? And could those apps like Projectivity Launcher etc still work on that?
It would seem that it’s possible. Some devices are listed as having official builds and other unofficial builds, the Onn 4K Pro being in the latter category. Most streaming apps would also require Widevine L1 to stream in HD, which would be another step.
Reading this thread would indicate that Projectify Launcher works too. Note that Dolby Vision apparently won’t work.
Is there a reason to not just use the laptop? It’s already bought and paid for. I would just setup it up for maximal ease; get a good keyboard and mouse and side table she’s comfortable with, bookmark everything for her, set the TV’s default source to the PC, make all the text 200% size or greater so it’s easy to read from 3m out.
I think she just finds operating the Roku so much easier. No remote for the laptop ATM, but even with, there’s the issue of how to operate/navigate.
If something like Kodi, the couple of times I’ve experimented with it, I’ve rage-quit it within the first few minutes 😂 as (what I thought were) simple actions proved incredibly frustrating. (IIRC my last Kodi experiment 2-3 years ago: just reflexively using the up & down arrows to adjust the video volume brought up some OSD that I could not for the life of me get rid of.)
Has Kodi’s user-friendliness improved? Or is there a better alternative? (Laptop currently has Linux Mint 22.3 Xfce.)
