I never want to get a smart TV, but I found this exact TV (Toshiba FireTV) on the side of the road and decided it would be a fun project to try enhancing its privacy as much as I can. It did not come with the remote or any other accessories besides the TV, so if there is any way to pair an iPhone/Pixel as a remote that would also be good. Is there any way to replace the software with something open source, and anything else I can try?
Thank you all!
Just dont plug it into the internet and hook up a pi.
I have a similar use case, what do you recommend on the pi for a TV OS?
OSMC (Debian based), if you want to install additional software or LibeELEC if you like to use only Kodi.
I would just use kodi honestly. You can hook jellyfin into it
Why use kodi *and *jellyfin? Jellyfin is its own thing, and without all the awful cruft that comes with Kodi.
It also has native apps for windows, linux and… FireTv.
There isn’t a good way to get the jellyfin app running on a properly open and free os. You need an android tv box, fire tv, Apple TV, the tv os or something similar. You could run it on Linux, but there isn’t a good well supported out of the box works with tv os like Kodi offers with libreElec.
Android may be open source but not the setup to make it work with a tv well. If you want privacy on a tv you need kodi.
So you’re using Kodi as the OS on the TV itself? Not the Kodi App or Kodi backend?
I’m still struggling to understand how that would work, and still have Jellyfin in the mix - could you please explain exactly what you mean?
There are is that a properly open source and free that support Kodi without much configuration.
Nothing like that exists for jellyfin apps. You have to use one of the prosperity operating systems to use the jellyfin app with a tv first os.
You can look into Plasma Bigscreen
You can get an Apple TV, which is an external device you connect to your TV if you’re already in the apple ecosystem. You can use your iPhone as a remote for it.
There is also the Nvidia Shield option, which is a solid Android TV option.
And of course, you can just use any pc as an input device and use that.
The firmware thats actually on the “smart tv” might be tough to replace with an open source solution. Im sure there are some TV modders out there, but its probably very niche. Best to get an external device of your choice imo.
It did not come with the remote or any other accessories besides the TV, so if there is any way to pair an iPhone/Pixel as a remote that would also be good.
Infrared remote control sequences are often shared by multiple models, sometimes even across multiple brands. If you can’t find an exact replacement on ebay, it might be worth trying a remote from a different model released within a few years of this one.
Also, remote codes are often captured for various TVs and preserved as config data for use with projects like LIRC. Someone out there might have the data for this model. Some universal remote controls will even have the codes for popular TV brands pre-programmed into them.
While I agree with you, if OP is spending money on a remote, they may as well try to find an original remote. They’re unlikely to be expensive, and will have all the correct buttons :)
Hence my comment about ebay.
In my defence it’s late at night here 🙈
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