Just stay away from Chinese made Android Boxes. Linus did a good video covering those here
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
31 points (100.0% liked)
Privacy Guides
16906 readers
7 users here now
In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.
This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.
You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:
Check out our website at privacyguides.org before asking your questions here. We've tried answering the common questions and recommendations there!
Want to get involved? The website is open-source on GitHub, and your help would be appreciated!
This community is the "official" Privacy Guides community on Lemmy, which can be verified here. Other "Privacy Guides" communities on other Lemmy servers are not moderated by this team or associated with the website.
Moderation Rules:
- We prefer posting about open-source software whenever possible.
- This is not the place for self-promotion if you are not listed on privacyguides.org. If you want to be listed, make a suggestion on our forum first.
- No soliciting engagement: Don't ask for upvotes, follows, etc.
- Surveys, Fundraising, and Petitions must be pre-approved by the mod team.
- Be civil, no violence, hate speech. Assume people here are posting in good faith.
- Don't repost topics which have already been covered here.
- News posts must be related to privacy and security, and your post title must match the article headline exactly. Do not editorialize titles, you can post your opinions in the post body or a comment.
- Memes/images/video posts that could be summarized as text explanations should not be posted. Infographics and conference talks from reputable sources are acceptable.
- No help vampires: This is not a tech support subreddit, don't abuse our community's willingness to help. Questions related to privacy, security or privacy/security related software and their configurations are acceptable.
- No misinformation: Extraordinary claims must be matched with evidence.
- Do not post about VPNs or cryptocurrencies which are not listed on privacyguides.org. See Rule 2 for info on adding new recommendations to the website.
- General guides or software lists are not permitted. Original sources and research about specific topics are allowed as long as they are high quality and factual. We are not providing a platform for poorly-vetted, out-of-date or conflicting recommendations.
Additional Resources:
- EFF: Surveillance Self-Defense
- Consumer Reports Security Planner
- Jonah Aragon (YouTube)
- r/Privacy
- Big Ass Data Broker Opt-Out List
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=1vpepaQ-VQQ
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Awesome bot!
Yeah that was the main reason I posted here, so I can get some recommendations to avoid the full-on spyware!
As far as I'm aware, the only way to get a private streaming box would be to use a RaspberryPi. You could use Google Chromecast but then you get Google, Nvidia have Nvidia Shield but that costs a lot and I'm not familiar enough with it to know if it has spyware.
With RaspberryPi, all you really need is to just install the Raspbian OS (they have detailed instructions on their website) and you basically have a mini PC with an Internet browser and all that. So you could just do that?
There is also this Chromium DRM compliant browser which supports Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. Which you can install on the Pi for streaming support. Here's the link
With RaspberryPi, all you really need is to just install the Raspbian OS (they have detailed instructions on their website) and you basically have a mini PC with an Internet browser and all that. So you could just do that?
The first sentence in the post acknowledges that...
I already have a Chromecast and being able to cast to it from your phone is very convenient, however the unblockable YouTube ads are not. Is it possible to cast from a phone to anything running on a RPi?
Yeah, there is a software you can install on the Pi called scrcpy (which is a terminal utility), you can get a GUI for it with guiscrcpy
Here's the link going over it: here
And for the GUI part here
I haven't use it, so not sure how well it works. There could also be other software to support casting that I'm not aware of.
Oh that's pretty cool, I guess it's only for screen mirroring and not casting video streaming apps though?
Yeah it would be screen mirroring
Fair, not exactly what I'm looking for now but still sounds like a fun project to try out so cheers for the link
If you're asking for a cheap Android TV box that is private, they do not exist, to my knowledge. Not enough people care I guess.
I'm just using a cheap mini PC and accessing services via the browser.
Here is the actual answer you were looking for: The Dynalink TV Box (4K) for $30.
- Unbeatable price
- One of 3 TV boxes supported by LineageOS for best privacy. Only other ones are the Nvidia Shield devices ($100+) and the Google ADT developer devices (can't be easily purchased)
- Possible to use without GAPPS or with GAPPS and a root firewall
- Can use VPN or custom DNS despite regular Android TV limitations
- Full DRM/Widevine support for UHD content even with LineageOS flashes
I've personally used one for months now for GApps-free, Widevine compatible streaming on Netflix, Prime, Newpipe, etc. I used LOS + Mullvad VPN + AFWall + several Xposed modules to hide root and it all works just fine.
As the other commenter says there doesn't seem to be anywhere that sells it. Where did you get it from?
Ok so I took a look at XDA forums and I found this thread for TV box devices. Seems like there is an unofficial build of LineageOS for the Google Chromecast with Google TV which should be available worldwide https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/official-unofficial-lineageos-19-1-for-amlogic-g12-sm1-family-devices.4313743/
Doesn't seem to be available anywhere. Any other suggestions?
I actually just bought mine a few months back. Unfortunate that it is no longer available.
The Google Chromecast one is really good
As in the "Chromecast with Google TV"? Looks like it's full customisable (side-loading, custom launcher, etc), is that the case?
That's the one, I've side loaded SmartTube on it for youtube, but haven't done much else. I would imagine it's customizable since it's a google product, and their pixel phones are very good for that too.
I've done a quick search and it seems you can replace a lot of the stock ad-filled UI etc, so sounds like a good shout, cheers!
I use Xiaomi Mi Box S, as it works with official apps and additionally has Chromecast certificate.
But in places where Chromecast is not needed I use S96 Mini but flashed with https://www.atvxperience.com as it's sometimes 2x cheaper.
Both are cheap but with price come lack of performance compared to Nvidia shield and such.
But didn't test it with SmartTubeNext, as I'm using it mostly for IPTV/Jellyfin.
It's definitely not private, but is cheap-ish - Amazon Fire sticks. They're great little devices, they run Android and apps can be sideloaded without issues.
Not to cheap but I have 7 Nvidia Shield Android TV boxes. I love them and 3 of my 7 are the original ones still going strong.
Yep the shield is the way. Regular updates 4K Dolby etc. JFW.
check out Kodi and Plasma Bigscreen. I am eager to set up plasma bigscreen bc it can work with KDE connect.
view more: next ›