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Chromecast alternatives
Gen 2 Chromecast devices all got struck by a certificate issue today, which is a firm reminder that they are another thing in my house that I don't actually control. They are also one of the very few google things that I still use.
I want to kill both of those points.
Fire Sticks, Roku whatevers, Chromecast, they all have to phone home to some central server to authenticate and feed information. I don't want that. I have servers, I have raspberry pis, I have like 6 random old laptops that need a use.
Is there any self hosted project that emulates the functionality of a Chromecast?
Three questions first:
Setting up a local media server takes a lot more tinkering than just buying an Nvidia Shield, for example. It's best to first understand your needs before making a direct recommendation.
1 - correct, mostly Jellyfin
2 - Sure, if I can run it without third party authentication
3 - I have a Jellyfin server already, I just want a local thing for the button to cast to
Are you dead set on using your phone to browse your Jellyfin library and "cast" it to your TV?
If not, you can put Kodi on an old laptop or Raspberry Pi and set it up with the JellyCon add-on. This will give you a decent 10-foot UI that lets you browse and watch your library on your TV.
There's also a standalone jellyfin client that has become a pretty solid option for most OS. It at least feels more polished and integrated with the server than the Kodi addon.
I use Kodi on an Rpi4 to play my Jellyfin library, if all you need is 1080p a pi3 would work as well. You can still use your phone as a remote to control it (Kore or Yatse on Android) but it will also be navigable with your TV remote via CEC, which is handy.
That is the ideal state, yeah. Is there any project to emulate that behavior?
I've been out of the game on this for a while, but the pro version of the Yatse app will let you select something on a Jellyfin server using the app on your phone, and then play it on a Kodi installation as just a receiver for Jellyfin, so that's probably your closest thing. There might be something you can do with VLC if your Jellyfin App lets you play to an external player, and then you could throw that to another VLC, but whatever I recommend would have to pass the sniff test for you and adapt to your workflow. Down this path lies madness and all.
Is there an option to have the Jellyfin display on the phone, and be able to select it to display on the TV? If Kodi has a client for Android, seems easy enough to figure out, and there's probably a more streamlined way than that.
The Nvidia Shield (pro) is a costly but solid all-in-one option. It has a built-in Plex server & client, and you can plug an external hard drive (and set it as a network drive). You can even use it for remote gaming.
I was surprised to see the Shield still available for purchase, since I remembered it going out of support a few years back. I looked at the spec sheet and it said it's running Android 11 - does that matter?
The original Shield came out in 2015, the one you can buy today is a revision (more of a refresh, actually) that came out in 2019. It's "old" hardware but it does not need to do more than what it already did 10 years ago: stream video up to 4k.
For what it's worth, there has been a firmware update a few weeks ago. It's the first one in 2 or 3 years, so it's obviously on life support at this point, but IMO it's still the best box you can buy.
I think I may have become the resident « Apple does software updates better than anyone else » person. But let’s go for it anyway.
Apple TV HD, which is the third generation Apple TV, is still fully supported on the latest version of tvOS. As the name implies, it doesn’t support 4k, but it is still a very usable device.
That being said, if I didn’t really like the Apple TV, I would probably own a shield TV.
I agree with this. It fills its role so perfectly and it's shockingly flexible. It does several things that went beyond my expectations like controlling the TV over HDMI and having built in infrared in the remote that lets me control my Edifier speakers (would've needed two or even three remotes otherwise). Hosting the Plex server is seamless and I've never had to reconfigure or troubleshoot its connection to my NAS. Another awesome feature is playing games from my desktop PC on my living room TV with <10ms latency but that one is a little more buggy.
The shield is rather cleverly built around the same internals as the Nintendo switch which is probably the only reason it's viable from a business perspective. For that reason, it's not unreasonable to hope for a refresh using switch 2 internals. A man can dream.
Define "functionality of a Chromecast" for your use cases. I know of some people that use them as smart sticks to run Netflix, Hulu, etc. instead of having a smart TV, some that just use them for screen mirroring, etc.
The former - using it as a way to play media to a dumb TV.
I accept that I probably won't be able to get the Netflix app to have a "cast to Deacon's TV" button without a google device, so screen mirroring would be fine.
You can't screen mirror Netflix without severe impacts on quality. They might allow screen capture on 720p or lower streams with stereo. You will need a device that supports Widevine DRM. This really limits you to the big 3 unless you're willing to jump through hoops regularly: Roku, Apple, or Android devices. You could in theory use Windows, but there's no all in one interface tying together all of your services with a remote. You'll need a keyboard and mouse fairly often.
There are hacks to playback with Kodi on Linux, and some Android devices. Maybe something like CoreElec running on an Ugoos Am6b+ would be worth looking into for you. But I sincerely doubt the interface will be anywhere near as simple as what you're used to. My family really dislikes when I mess around with those apps.
I've been thinking about this a bit recently. Seems like the only thing stopping most folks from plugging in an old laptop/computer is a killer UI built for remotes. Plus maybe lackluster keyboard navigation on websites and positioning of the device so the remote can be used reliably. Am I missing something else? These problems don't sound insurmountable
This is basically the entire raison d'etre for kodi.
This is the only thing keeping us from using an old laptop with a dumb tv. I would love to not give Roku more of my "phone home" time. If I had a remote that could reliably work with my laptop, I would turn it into its own "smart tv device" as I don't particularly care about stream quality more than I care about having background noise while I do things like craft or clean, or exercise.
This is the reason I ended up getting a secondhand Chromecast box — I wanted to get something working with my laptop, but getting something that worked well was too much of a pain.
My plan was an old laptop that would boot directly into Firefox, and have the homepage be an HTML file with a bunch of links to different services (Netflix, Apple, Jellyfin if I ever get round to setting that up properly, etc). I sort of figured out how I would get that to work (although I didn't actually get it working before I gave up). I didn't figure out the remote thing though.
In retrospect, using an App on my phone could work pretty well. There must be "use my phone as a mouse and keyboard"-type apps, right? The really killer feature would be some sort of way to cast directly to another browser, but casting is so locked down that that's difficult.
AppleTV doesn’t really need to ”phone home”, and it just keeps working.
The nvidia shield (pro) is the ultimate solution, BUT it’s multiple years old hardware wise. It still works though.
On the other end is a cheap N97/N100 miniPC with your favourite media player on it.
It looks like the certificate issue has been fixed.
Also, here’s a review recommending the $20 Onn 4K Google TV (from Walmart) as a Chromecast replacement. I might have to get that since I’m using an original Chromecast and compatibility is getting spotty - for example, when I tried Disney+, it didn’t work. (It doesn’t answer the question since it’s not self-hosted, though.)
I did notice that the certificate issue was fixed the other day. I have looked into the Onn thing but none of the solutions in this thread have really been an alternative that fits the real niche I am looking for (and it doesn't seem like one exists).
Depending on whether or not your TV supports Miracast, or can get to a browser, Web Video Caster might be an option for you, specifically the web client.
No complaints though with Kodi, as mentioned earlier. Matt Huisman has put in a lot of work getting a lot of services working. Netflix is going to be tricky though, because of the mentioned Wildvine issue.
Roku has a native Jellyfin client that I used for a long time and was pretty happy with it. It is (or was) kind of buggy with text-based subtitles though, so I ended up switching back to Plex (which also works pretty great on Rokus). I have network-wide ad and tracker blocking through NextDNS which prevents the Roku from calling home, and also keeps the home screen clean of ads and other cruft.
I think if I didn't have to support commercial streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, Max, etc.) for my wife and kids I'd probably just plug a bunch of Raspberry Pis running something like RasPlex up to all my TVs, and either control them via the web or figure out a decent LIRC compatible remote to use with them.