My elderly mum has a Roku Express attached to a dumb 1080p TV, but it’s experiencing ever more frequent “insufficient power” failures and she’s thinking of buying a new one.
I’m wondering if there’s a freer alternative device that would be just as, if not more, user-friendly. Any tips? (I’ve been browsing Temu but no idea what to pick.)
Must haves:
- replaces the Roku
- allows her to watch OTT channels like Netflix and Prime (not pirated, she has legit accounts for those two), Youtube, Haystack etc
- all done with a user-friendly remote control & 3-metre interface
Nice to haves:
- replaces also the laptop (connected to the TV but basically unused)
- can get & watch Bittorrent downloads
- can watch IPTV (nothing fancy like debrid, just IPTV-org channels or some such)
- makes Bittorrent downloads & IPTV a more integral, easier part of the experience so that she actually uses & enjoys them
- reduces/eliminates ads on Prime, Youtube etc
CONTEXT
She uses the Roku for watching mainly Netflix, Prime, Youtube, Haystack (news), very occasionally TheArchive.TV, FreeMoviesPlus, Plex, Roku Channel (just one show).
I also installed IOTV, a Roku app with IPTV-org linear channels, but she never remembers it, and it’s not very user-friendly anyway.
I also set up an old laptop for her, with QBittorrent on it, connected to the TV, but she never actually uses it unless I come round and download/play stuff.
PS I have no experience with “-arr” stack, Jellyfin, VPS, debrid etc.
PPS in case it’s relevant, location is Mexico.
Is there a reason to not just use the laptop? It’s already bought and paid for. I would just setup it up for maximal ease; get a good keyboard and mouse and side table she’s comfortable with, bookmark everything for her, set the TV’s default source to the PC, make all the text 200% size or greater so it’s easy to read from 3m out.
I think she just finds operating the Roku so much easier. No remote for the laptop ATM, but even with, there’s the issue of how to operate/navigate.
If something like Kodi, the couple of times I’ve experimented with it, I’ve rage-quit it within the first few minutes 😂 as (what I thought were) simple actions proved incredibly frustrating. (IIRC my last Kodi experiment 2-3 years ago: just reflexively using the up & down arrows to adjust the video volume brought up some OSD that I could not for the life of me get rid of.)
Has Kodi’s user-friendliness improved? Or is there a better alternative? (Laptop currently has Linux Mint 22.3 Xfce.)