Can I just reiterate, get a cheap Chromecast, and see what you miss afterwards. ( And I mean one actually Google produced, they have the best support and are reference devices)
Smartphone as useful remote is hard to get away from once you tried.
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There are android tv boxes for just over half the price of a chrome cast, they allow me to install apps and not need my phone or computer to watch anything. Why would I go for a chromecast then? Android TV is perfectly controllable from a phone as well.
Casting is a nice feature but not my main priority. Something like the Xiaomi Mi S would be preferably over a Google Chromecast as wellā¦ it contains the chrome cast ultra, android tv and itās cheaper.
-update- I just see some chromecasts at similar prices so price is not an issue. But Iād like to be able to use it in standalone, without needing any other devices. Phones are not always charged, computers not always available to stream, ā¦ just additional headaches I donāt need. And then thereās the issue of not being able to record on a chromecast too.
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A second gen Chromecast is 10usd from eBay. The Xiaomi box is a good choice though, and I believe it has good Chromecast implementation. Just saying that out of my Amazon TV and my second gen Chromecast, I use the casting functionality way more.
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In case anyone reading this isnāt fully up to spec on what in the hell weāre talking about, or at least what I was talking about in regards to NAS. Itās all about the transcoding IMO.
https://www.synology.com/en-global/support/nas_selector
Home based heavy hitter showdown.
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I was reading one of the NAS articles posted above and saw this add for Mi box. Commenters say you can put Kodi and other stuff on it to. That sounds pretty good.
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Thanks. I know about the box ā¦ still exploring the field a little
Black Friday coming soonā¦ but thatās already a really good price. Too bad we donāt have any walmarts here ;(
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Nvidia Shield. Can run Plex Media server on it, play games with Geforce Now, IPTV, Netflix, Amazon Prime etcā¦
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Yes, itās a nice piece of equipment but also quite pricey. For that money I think Iād rather get a system that has a full open-source OS that lets me do a bit more than just what Nvidia wants me to do. Gaming is nice to have but not the top priority.
Unless of course they start throwing these things out for cheap on Black Friday, I think iāll pass on that solution for now. Maybe later.
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The Shields really donāt come too much down in price during the holiday sales unfortunately. The 2015 and 2017 models basically have the same hardware as the new ones so EBay may have them at more reasonable prices if you are ever interested in one.
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Hereās an interesting list of whatās compatible with Plex, together with some useful info (for people considering NAS as a media station)
That being said, a cheap NAS in combination with a separate device (even a cheap raspberry pi or similar) works just as well and probably offers more capabilities than relying on the OS and processor speed of your favorite NAS.
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