[off-topic] TV or not TV, that is the question

[gavinwc]

Thanks, Blake. That looks like a second win gained by reaching out to this
list! Had a quick look at that site and there are some good mini PC
prospects there.

Best regards,
Gavin

On Sat, 30 Dec 2023 at 20:56, Blake Munro <blake.munro at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Gavin,
>
> If you do go down the route of a mini PC, I highly recommend having a look
> at a small form factor 'refurbished' PC. These are essentially ex-lease
> office machines and they're dirt cheap. I have a Dell SFF running Proxmox
> with a bunch of virtual machines and Linux containers, with a USB HDD
> hanging off it for storage. They'd make a great home theatre PC and are
> much cheaper than buying something like an Intel NUC.
>
> Here's one company I have purchased from before, but there are others.
> Worth checking eBay as well.
>
> https://www.untech.com.au/collections/desktops-and-workstations
>
> Good luck!
>
> Regards,
> Blake Munro
>
> On Sat, 30 Dec 2023 at 20:03, gavinwc <gavin.chester at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Brilliant! Thanks, Dan.
>>
>> I had such devices completely off my radar and had been searching
>> fruitlessly for a cheap external TV tuner in a dongle form rather than a
>> set-top box. When I expanded my search to your suggested "set top box" I
>> found several such devices under $50 and available in-store locally. Thank
>> you. That's a "dah" to me and why I knew asking others would help :-)
>>
>> BTW: Your setup you describe is not alien to me and have done that myself
>> before. And, while I like the simplicity of what I've had for about 10
>> years (a fanless raspberry-pi running libreelec for kodi dedicated to the
>> TV), my most recent thoughts are to also have a setup with computing
>> activities available on a much more powerful i5 or i7 miniPC to also lie
>> back in bed with my wireless keyboard and wall-mounted 43" screen rather
>> than balancing a 17" laptop on my lap.
>>
>> Hope everyone has a safe 2024.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Gavin Chester
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, 30 Dec 2023 at 16:48, Dan Buzzard <dan at danscomp.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I just have a Ubuntu PC plugged into my TV with wireless keyboard and
>>> mouse and just use it to watch media like I would on a laptop or at my desk.
>>>
>>>  I don't watch TV. But if I did then a TV set top box would be the way
>>> to go.
>>>
>>> https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/blaupunkt-btv3stb-full-hd-set-top-box
>>>
>>>
>>> These devices are meant to allow old TVs to receive modern digital
>>> broadcast and from what I've seen most of them haven't gone "smart" yet.
>>>
>>> -Dan
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, 30 Dec 2023, at 3:44 PM, gavinwc wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi People,
>>>
>>> Season's greeting to you all, even non-Christians and atheists like me
>>> :-)
>>>
>>> This is a very pedestrian question from someone who has been quietly
>>> lurking for nigh-on 25 years now with very little to say over that time,
>>> but I respect your collective experience for a source of good advice -
>>>
>>> Problem: I abhor any "smart" device, phones, fridges, TVs, etc. But, we
>>> have decided to be decadent and get a new TV. Our existing dumb TV is long
>>> in the tooth and faulty, but I have long augment its features with
>>> streaming services via a raspberry-pi/kodi setup. All I really want to do
>>> is upgrade that sort of system, maybe substituting the pi box with a more
>>> powerful mini-PC like an Intel NUC, or something similar so I can also lie
>>> back and do a bit of web browsing occasionally.
>>>
>>> But, where are all the "dumb" TVs these days!?
>>>
>>> I know this dilemma is the stuff of many wasted bytes and pixels online,
>>> but my searching for solutions is proving very time-consuming with many web
>>> pages outdated. I know I can supposedly not activate the TV's smart
>>> features, and have done that in the past, but other family members soon
>>> couldn't cope and activated them anyway. Besides that, I don't trust that a
>>> deactivated smart TV is just sitting there as a fully passive receiving
>>> device of free-to-air broadcasts.
>>>
>>> At this stage, because I'm also looking to do some computing operations,
>>> I'm looking at a cheap IntelNUC mini-PC mated to a BIG UHD monitor (eg,
>>> Dell 43"), but such a setup lacks a TV tuner for free-to-air reception.
>>> External TV tuner dongles also seem to be a dying thing these days and web
>>> pages are mostly outdated. What to do?
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>> Gavin Chester
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