I’m interested in trying out OSMC because I’m really tired of my smart TV being well…not that smart. It crashes a lot of we have to reboot it manually because one of the apps isn’t working.
How is it? Is it still pretty easy to use streaming apps? We mostly use Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV. Occasionally some others as well
Does it work well with Chromecast?
I’ve been using OSMC on two of my TVs for years. First on RPis, then on Vero boxes. They connect via SMB to my NAS for content. OSMC/Kodi can play almost anything without needing wasteful transcoding. I use them daily.
For Netflix/Prime it’s either built in on the TV or running on a Firestick. Interestingly one can sideload Kodi on a Firestick, so an OSMC device isn’t necessary in that scenario.
“Smart TVs” usually suck as the manufacturers tend to put in the cheapest internals that have very little future proofing/longevity.
You’re going to be infinitely better off getting some kind of android TV box (the ONN 4k from Walmart runs Google TV and it’s usually around $20) and just using the “Smart TV” as a display.
It’s there anything out there that can pretend to be a Chromecast that’s not a Chromecast? And lets apps like Netflix cast to it?
Why do you need to cast to it? An Android TV device like the one I mentioned can just play that content.
I’ve had my fill of proprietary media boxes. I have a box full of them somewhere. Eventually they fall behind in codecs and protocols and processing power and updates and they become useless.
I guess I’ll bite the bullet and install Kodi in a container…
I’ve been using a Raspberry Pi 400 with LibreELEC installed. Mostly watch 4K HDR Blu-ray Remuxes that I have on another machine with a Samba server. Works really well for me.
Another good option would be to have Jellyfin on a media server and cast to the TV or use the TV directly if it has a Jellyfin app (I know there are official apps for Roku and WebOS (LG)). Jellyfin is similar to Plex but open-source and fully local (no need for an external account).
Of course, this is only works for local media. For streaming, just use a Chromecast.
