Comment by lunias 2 days ago
I don't understand Netflix's decision, but I'm long past caring about things like this. I've had PCs hooked up to all of my televisions for the past 15+ years because of how limiting and frustrating using any other device to play media from can be.
problem is Netflix deprecated perfect UWP app and made it bloody PWA.
That's also rather shit, unless you're using a prescribed browser and operating system.
We've rebuilt cable boxes, but somehow they're even shittier than before.
The hands-down best DVR experience I had was a TiVo Slide remote (the top slid back to reveal a small but fully functional keyboard) paired to a PC running Windows 7 Media Center with a four-tuner InfiniTV Cablecard adapter. Obviously it's been a few years, but that was just smooth all around once I got it set up. Very high WAF.
But Windows 7 is gone, and so is the TiVo Slide remote.
Maybe they're not handing them out any more, but I've still got one and it still works in the TiVo (Edge?) that I have. It replaced that WMC DVR because WAF. Her genuine preference was for our old ReplayTV and its interface, but they didn't live long enough to make HD DVR's.
Turned out after I had already bought all that stuff due to flakiness that it was just some bad RAM that, really, was overkill - I could have just taken out the bad sticks and kept on rocking, in which case it probably would still be our DVR.
Not even those dirt cheap bluetooth devices with a trackpad and mini keyboard? Those are great and it just works.
Or what about the Steam Controller? It's UX is similar to some nicer smart TV interfaces.
The real solution is you build an app that is nice for your family to use and just tells the boxes what to play. Sure hope your family doesn't use iPhones!
If you're using Firefox or run Linux, you won't be getting the stream quality you have paid for.
Always assuming every single thing can be improved - and expecting huge corporate entities to do it - seems like a recipe for failed expectations.
Cable TV wasn't perfect, of course, but it was pretty damn good, especially in allowing everybody to have access to just about every show that was produced.
That the "replacement" model is disappointing and a worse experience, really shouldn't come as a surprise.
It's interesting to hear your perspective, but I totally disagree about Cable TV. It's the worst paid service I've ever seen. 100+ channels of almost pure garbage that insults my intelligence at every turn. 1/3 of the time was ads, and of the remaining 2/3, much was taken up by "when we return..." and "before the break...". Plus most of the content was targeted towards morons.
These days, you'd have to pay me $20+ per hour to watch cable TV.
I did have basic cable for a few years in the early 2000s, and I did enjoy watching Star Trek TNG reruns. Because there wasn't any good alternative back then in the dark ages.
Modern streaming is the same thing, except it's hidden under the illusion of choice.
Many of the most popular streaming shows were originally aired on broadcast TV (which most people watched via cable) - The Office, Friends, West Wing, Big Bang Theory, etc. Or originally for cable channels - Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Suits, etc.
Netflix has produced a few decent shows but most of its stuff is "targeted towards morons" or "pure garbage that insults my intelligence" - Love is Blind, Is it Cake.
Commercials arent great but they are passive - easy to ignore. Much rather have a 3-minute commercials break where I can go to the bathroom or check my phone than having to actively scroll for 90 seconds switching from app to app and navigating their awful interfaces to get back to the show I was watching the other day.
But that's just me - glad you like our new television overlords, they certainly love anyone bashing cable tv!
I have a server that runs a bunch of containers (bittorrent client on a VPN, Home Assistant, etc.) and hosts SMB shares. I acquire content that goes on the shares which then get consumed by various devices.
- Kodi on a TV that has been stripped of as much of Google as I could find, streams from the shares
- VLC on my PC, streams from the shares
- VLC on my phone which is always VPN'd to my local network and streams from the shares
- VLC on iPads on which I usually drag and drop some shows/movies ahead of time so I am not wifi-dependent
IINA on Mac, free & open source, has been perfect for everything for years:
While traveling I was so pissed with the Apple TV player's performance on less-than-lightspeed internet connections, I ragecancelled my subscription and just yo ho ho'ed the last couple episodes of Severance
It's not about paying them $100.
They aren't dumb. They've realized that a large section of people will not bother, and aren't capable of sailing the high seas. Hostile behaviors won't change until it hits their bottom line, and because they are an extremely profitable company, it won't happen for a very long time.
There is nothing at all to be gained by advertising piracy, especially to the streaming companies.
Let them enshittify their apps and just tell your friends and family offline how to have a sane video viewing experience.
What OS do you run? I was thinking of doing this with SteamOS.
If it's going to be primarily a gaming device then that makes sense, but if not, what do you gain from SteamOS? And why do you want Steam to start on boot?
I use Fedora for this purpose, used to use Debian. You really just need a system with a web browser, file browser, media player and torrent client, and some way to remote control the computer from the couch (ideally from a phone).
Sadly, I don't know of any nice off the shelf solution for that last part. KDE Connect is an option but it kinda sucks. I've always had my own Remote Desktop web interface service type thing running on the machine (though Wayland has kinda thrown a wrench into that for now...)
> some way to remote control the computer from the couch (ideally from a phone)
If you use Kodi then you could try Kore (their remote app). I tried it once a long time ago and it was alright, but it's hard to beat a keyboard. I think similar apps exist for VLC and other media players, but I haven't looked into a solution that allows controlling the entire computer via a phone.
The huge problem with Kodi is that it requires playing media from within Kodi. The advantage of using a PC for this is that it works with anything you can play from a PC, regardless of whether someone has made an app for it for Apple TV or Samsung's smart TV stuff or Kodi.
You need to be able to provide keyboard and mouse input from a phone. Not just control Kodi or VLC.
You can add any applications to Steam's Big Picture mode and the UI is relatively couch friendly. Yes, you could install Steam on any distro and do this but SteamOS is pretty nice out of the box if you want a TV friendly solution.
I use a Logitech K400 BT keyboard+touchpad for remote control of a PC I have connected to my TV. But, it's not used as a streaming device - it's a file share + home automation hub, so the keyboard makes sense.
I used to use arch linux, but I've been using windows in recent times for simplicity and usability by non-technical people. Windows is starting to piss me off though, so I might move back to some linux distro in the near future.
I don't do any live TV / DVR stuff. Most of the time I just use the browser or VLC.
Only Windows app and Mac give more than 720-1080p on Netflix
> How is anyone getting proper 1080p+ streams from Netflix using a Linux device?
Piracy
> The change was first spotted by users on Reddit and confirmed in an updated Netflix support page (via Android Authority), which now states that the streaming service no longer supports casting from mobile devices to most TVs and TV-streaming devices. Users are instead directed to use the remote that came with their TV hardware and use its native Netflix app.
My guess is that adblock became too easy on smartphones, so by forcing people use the app on the TV it makes harder for people to bypass the ads.
That's pure speculation, as I don't have any subscription from netflix. But I've used this method with the HBO app and it works 90% of the time, so I'm assuming netflix has the same issue.
> My guess is that adblock became too easy on smartphones
Not within native apps. Your only option is essentially dns/hosts based on both platforms however this can also be done on the router. On Android there is ReVanced I guess. But these are almost as technical as a pihole. What is the percent of people who know of DNS based adblock but not pihole?
Edit: And DNS adblocking can be done on android tv.
Sure, but I've never had a 'standard router' with support dns blocking. I know you can do this with something like pfsense, but that's not that common.
You also have the option to put a piehole in your network. It is pretty easy if you have some technical knowledge but I would say that it is generally out of reach for the general population(non-tech folks).
But on android you just open the settings, search for 'private vpn' and paste an url. This is way easier to do for someone with no technical background. Even chatgpt should be able to correctly guide you through these steps.
Sounds probable to me... This is a great example of why I am by default anti-app unless there's a demonstrable benefit to the user (e.g. Offline mode or something). If the web version of Netflix goes away then I will never access it again. I will also never buy a "smart" TV. I leave the ball in Netflix's court.
Same - I've been using an Intel NUC with Windows 10 for many years. It does everything I want:
- Netflix
- Youtube without ads via Firefox+uBlock Origin
- Ripping DVDs and converting to .mp4
Those Small Form Factor PCs have only gotten cheaper over time - the most powerful PC I've ever owned in 30+ years is a $300 Minisforum (16 Cores, 16GB RAM) that's doing similar duty in the garage.