After spending the last few days, tinkering and trying to put together an HTPC for my family, I wasn’t able to get a smooth enough experience to match even our old, ad-filled, laggy, Roku. In particular, every streaming service I tried needed to be controlled almost exclusively by mouse, as everything has been reduced to electron apps/websites with little-to-no keyboard or controller navigation support. As such, I’m looking for other options, although considering how quickly these platforms change and how outdated a lot of the information available on them is its hard to single out the best options.
In particular, I’m looking to be able to:
- Use Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+. Ideally other services too, since we tend to juggle subscriptions.
- Control it with a remote, controller, or similarly simple device
- Be able to cast to it from a phone
Does anyone have much experience with options for this - esspecially if you’ve tried multiple and can compare?
You were on the right track with the HTPC. It just needs an appropriate input device. I recommend:
The best “TV remote” in the world.
I agree, this isn’t elegant, but works great. There are also even smaller options, but this one the battery lasts forever.
The simplest solution is Chromecast + device of your choosing. Followed by Apple TV, but I can’t remember if those can cast.
If youll spend a bit more, you can also get an Xbox one. You’ll get access to a multimedia device that has the Microsoft app store for subscriptions, it’s available as a Chromecast device, unfortunately Microsoft is nose diving hard right now, but I rarely play games on mine anymore.
I still haven’t found something better than Chromecast that can stream obscure video sites (yar-har). Everything else seems to only accept large companies with dedicated apps (Netflix, YouTube, Crunchyroll, etc.). Unfortunately, with Google phasing out their Chromecasts, I might have to go back to a super long HDMI cord connected to my PC.
LG or Sony TV, never connected to the internet, with an Nvidia shield. There is nothing better at the moment.
I am using a Chromecast ultra 4k and I replaced the launcher with one which doesn’t shown anything but the apps I want it to show in a grid: FLauncher
And then I can use it with the remote as usual for Netflix and all the other apps. It’s quite nice doesn’t stutter or anything.
I also replaced the YouTube app with the SmartTube one to get rid of sponsors and advertisements in videos.
I use Flauncher on my Sony Bravia.
