2024-08-30, 12:43 AM
In my case, I have been very very happy with the firestick TV 4k (tv version has infrared for volume /power control if you cant CEC) up until April. You get a lot of bang for your buck with Amazon fire and echo products, but theyre locking them down tighter constantly, (It is now quite challenging to load custom launchers and apks, and they have announced they're moving off of android for linux in the future device releases).
These things i could overlook for the hardware benefits, but in april they started autoplaying ads covering 60% of the screen every time the tv is turned on. This is loud and annoying and completely unacceptable to me. AndroidTV devices like chromecast and sheild apperantly now do the same, though i think its easier to load custom launchers on them. Roku has just filed a patent to scream ads at you anytime you pause a video, so thats a nogo as well.
So Ive reverted to my pre-firestick habits (I honestly buy about 3 jellyfin only devices a year for friends and family) and go with shifty-android-boxes-which-will-absolutely-steal-your-goolgle-credentials-and-launch-DDOs-from-your-house so use a disposable google account and/or flash good firmware - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vpepaQ-VQQ But honestly, those risks are not as much of a headache (to me) as living under constant ad bombardment. My last 3 device purchases for clients this summer were android boxes on the RK3566 or later chip. They've been inexpensive & solid. Stay away from the Cortex A53, its based on an older RK chip and cant handle modern encodes even though they say it can h265
These things i could overlook for the hardware benefits, but in april they started autoplaying ads covering 60% of the screen every time the tv is turned on. This is loud and annoying and completely unacceptable to me. AndroidTV devices like chromecast and sheild apperantly now do the same, though i think its easier to load custom launchers on them. Roku has just filed a patent to scream ads at you anytime you pause a video, so thats a nogo as well.
So Ive reverted to my pre-firestick habits (I honestly buy about 3 jellyfin only devices a year for friends and family) and go with shifty-android-boxes-which-will-absolutely-steal-your-goolgle-credentials-and-launch-DDOs-from-your-house so use a disposable google account and/or flash good firmware - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vpepaQ-VQQ But honestly, those risks are not as much of a headache (to me) as living under constant ad bombardment. My last 3 device purchases for clients this summer were android boxes on the RK3566 or later chip. They've been inexpensive & solid. Stay away from the Cortex A53, its based on an older RK chip and cant handle modern encodes even though they say it can h265