Comment by drnick1 2 days ago
It's great to see Android TV mentioned. Has anyone managed to build a freedom-respecting TV box with Lineage? This is a much needed alternative to "smart" TVs and streaming boxes filled with spyware and arbitrary restrictions.
Nate Johnson, one of the devs at LineageOS, maintains some official and unofficial builds. You could go from scratch using a Radxa SBC, or try to get an older streaming device (like one of the previous versions of the Chromecast). Some of these older devices even got Widevine DRM still working after installing LineageOS, if you want to use a streaming service.
https://xdaforums.com/t/official-lineageos-22-for-amlogic-gx...
There's a build for RPi5, I didn't try it yet but intend to do it soonish.
I'd be curious to see how that works out. One of the main advantages of the Pi is that it supports HDMI-CEC. However, I am seen reports that it struggles with 4K playback at more than 30fps. Even 60Hz isn't great if you have a modern TV and want to use SteamLink to play Steam games running on your PC from your couch.
Almost all major streaming services will refuse to work on unapproved devices.
Libreelec is comically limited. Last time I checked the Youtube integration needed an API key tied to a Google account. No thanks. On Android, there is NewPipe and it's far better. Also no browser, so you can't stream from the high seas. Libreelec sucks for anything that isn't local playback. It's much better to run Kodi inside Android or Linux for that.
This!
Looks like LineageOS supports various iterations of the Nvidia Shield device. What I'm wondering is whether this new Catapult launcher is compatible with Android TV that comes with off the shelf Smart TVs. I've grown accustomed to the default screen on my current TV's in-built Google TV (not Android TV, although I'm not totally sure of the difference), but it does enforce at least one additional click to get to the actual functions I, and the family, use it for.
Gonna check out Catapult right now.
Edited to add note: It looks as if the latest Nvidia Shield device requires soldering a USB port onto the mainboard of the device[0]. That probably excludes a decent percentage of people who may otherwise be happy software hacking a device.
[0]: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/sif/install/#usb-port-ins...