So I’ve been torrenting for over a year now (just in time to get attached to RARBG and get my heart broken) and mostly loving it. Now that I have access to actual high quality files I’ve been looking to improve my home setup. I was wondering what setups people have and what I should aspire to.
In the old days I would just stream with chromecast and then I got into the Laptop to HDMI cable setup but now I know the joys of a 5TB hard drive plugged directly into my TV and I don’t think I’ll ever go back. My TV isn’t all that big (only 45") and it’s only 1080p. It’s an older TV too so it can’t play HEVC files which limits what I can play in this setup. I’d love to be able to access the 4k HDR content out there. Does anyone have any advice on what kind of TVs are out there that would work well with this or other potential setups?
You’re missing out on the joys of a Plex or Jellyfin server with a quality streaming device plugged into the TV. No way would I waste time manually transferring files around like that. With Sonarr and Radarr I don’t even waste time manually downloading stuff.
I use a Nvidia Shield Pro to stream to, it works great for my 4k BluRay Remuxes. I personally hate using the built-in TV features because the quality and codec support can be a total crapshoot.
Yep, as far as I know, at this time the Nvidia shield pro is the best for playing pirated content, either directly or streaming. It does all the audio and video standards you need (including Dolby Vision) and has enough power to do it without stuttering (with the right player)
I’m guessing you have to plug a separate hard drive into the Nvidia Shield Pro to stream files that large? I’ve been thinking of going that route since Netflix has started being sucky. I don’t want to support them, but I miss their 4k Dolby Vision/Dolby Atmos/5.1 content for my own basic, little home theater.
Nope, just cat6 ethernet.
Nvidia shield makes a decent Plex server in a pinch. You can use an external NAS or plug an external HDD in directly.
Almost everyone that runs Plex also runs some sort of NAS though. Personally I run mine off TrueNAS and have an unRAID backup.
I think you can run a Plex server right off the Shield.
…that’s what I said, right?
Oh sorry somehow I misread that.
Damn, Nvidia Shield Pro is kind of expensive, $200. And so are some of the NAS’s I’ve seen pop up on google. Trying to get both sounds like this will end up being a long-term project over a couple paychecks lol.
Well that is kind of the premium way to do it.
If you have a computer of some sort the cheap option is to just run a Plex or Jellyfin off that. Maybe get an external hard drive if you need more storage.
Then just get a cheap streaming device that has the Plex/Jellyfin apps. Even some TVs will support them natively.
You could potentially get everything up and run for free if you already have a computer with enough storage and a TV that supports the apps.
Sure you might be limited on some formats without some transcoding.
Sometimes you can pick them up used for $100 or so. It really is the best smart TV device short of a mini PC. Basically it’s responsive and “just works”
Will HDR work as well with Plex/Jellyfin? TV does support that reading files directly off the NAS, but I agree it is high maintenance
HDR works just fine in both, yeah. Obviously, avoid transcoding if you can. Shouldn’t be a problem if everything is on your local network.
Yup, HDR works as well. Can’t speak on Dolby Vision though as my TV doesn’t support it.
EDIT: Specifically, I use Plex. No clue how it all works for Jellyfin.