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?

  • Dr. Jenkem@lemmy.blugatch.tubeEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    the joys of a 5tb hard drive plugged directly into my TV

    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.

    • VentraSqwal@links.dartboard.socialEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      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.

      • pacoboyd@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        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.

        • VentraSqwal@links.dartboard.socialEnglish
          0·
          1 year ago

          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.

          • pacoboyd@lemm.eeEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            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”