Hi and hope all are well today. First, thanks in advance for any / all responses. Second, apologies if this isn’t the best place to ask this question.

I’m curious if anyone, has moved completely from using an AppleTV to something else. Current use case for the ATV is a few streaming apps (Crunchyroll / HiDive, Tubi, etc.) and Apple Arcade (a few casual games).

If you did completely switch, what did you decide on using? Did you go back to buying movies / using a DVD/Blu-Ray player, setup a mini PC and stream from websites / rip music and movies, use a gaming console instead, etc.?

Exploring options and entertaining thoughts for right now. Again, thanks and have a good day / evening.

Edit - 2024/01/01 - Just wanted to thank everyone for the lively discussion and resources (links, recommendations, etc.) related to my question.

  • [email protected]English
    25•9 months ago

    Keep your Apple TV and use it as a streaming client for whatever you stand up on the backend. Personally I have a Synology NAS that I love and I use the net to get all my content. Use the net. 😉

    • @[email protected]OPEnglish
      1•9 months ago

      Appreciate your comment, and that seems like a common setup. If you didn’t have the ATV, what would you front end the Plex server with? I have a Synology router and would probably buy a Synology NAS, if I went that route.

          • dontwakethetrees (she/her)English
            1•9 months ago

            If you keep using your Apple TV and switch to Jellyfin as a backend, the Infuse application has been amazing. It’s free with a premium version (that does offer a lifetime license).

            • @[email protected]OPEnglish
              1•9 months ago

              Appreciate the details on Infuse. Still looking at all the options, thanks for the response!!

      • [email protected]English
        2•9 months ago

        Actually with a Synology NAS you don’t need Plex, they have a built in equivalent called DS Video with apps for Apple TV, iOS, Android, etc!

        I’ve had an Nvidia shield in the past as well and it works reasonably well, but the video experience is definitely better on the Apple TV. The Android boxes make more sense if you want a place to install emulators that also occasionally streams.

        • @[email protected]English
          1•9 months ago

          DS video is much worse than Plex in my experience, it’s not even close. The only upside is getting hardware transcoding for free, but that’s about it.

        • @[email protected]OPEnglish
          1•9 months ago

          Thank you for this! I’ll look more at the Synology NAS devices and see what that’s all about. I’m probably the other way around, stream more, and emulate once in a while.