We currently have Roku’s on our tvs to connect to streaming services and servers but they are infested with advertisements.
Some other comments mentioned Walmart’s $20 ONN 4k boxes, but these are android and I don’t have the time or knowledge/patience to go through the flashing process on one of those; if there is even a working custom ROM.
Basically we just want a functioning (libre) streaming box. The closest I could find was OSMC’s Vero V (just released a few months ago), although it’s a little pricey at $160 usd. Are there any other options out there or does anyone have any experience with the Vero V?
You did not say what kind of streaming services.
For anything self-hosted or torrents/debrid, just get a Raspberry Pi with LibreELEC.
If you use Netflix and the likes, you will likely want something officially supported. My partner likes Netflix for some reason and after years of using the unofficial addon by CastaginaIT, I gave up and got her a Firestick this winter (having set up a separate VLAN for it and ripped out the microphone, of course).
The unofficial Kodi addon is an amazing piece of reverse engineering work, but it’s not really great that you have to log in using your computer every month or two, and occasionally download a 2GB binary, before you can watch a movie on Netflix half-asleep.