Yeah, most of the off-the-shelf stuff will phone home in one way or another. The second you sign into Netflix, etc, that phones home and sells your data in the same way.

If you're running a Sonarr/Plex set-up anyway, maybe just a tiny htpc and you're done.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The difference with Netflix is it's limited in it's data collection as it runs in the browser. A hardware device pretty much has free rein.

I've got a PC attached to the TV, I was looking for an alway on option (as the PC fan is noisy) that doesn't need keyboard mouse, it's just kinda there and you use a remote with it. I was considering Kodi, though others seem to think it's a headache to work with so I might install it on my laptop and have a play as a low-stakes way of trialing it.

[–] shartedchocolate@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've also heard the Nvidia shield does a great job

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I've seen this come up a lot, it seems it's Android TV with decent specs so it isn't slow like some others. People are pretty happy with them.

I'd prefer to avoid Android TV if I can, so first I'm gonna set up Kodi on hardware I already have and order a cheap remote to see if it will do the job. If not, I'll have to make a call between Apple TV and an Android TV based one like the Shield. But I'll try the almost-free option before spending hundreds 😆

[–] shartedchocolate@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm usually very hands on with tech, and at some point I found a lot of happiness in just letting go and getting off the shelf stuff that just works. Apple TV has been ideal for me after fucking around with everything else out there. Plex watched what I watch and serves up suggestions, at some point I just don't care haha

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm still in the phase of being very hands on and enjoying it! I'm sure it won't last forever but for the moment I get a lot of pleasure out of doing stuff myself.

[–] shartedchocolate@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

All the power to ya Dave