I have a MiTV box with Android that runs apps for Jellyfin, Prime Video and Disney Plus. I would like to replace it with a mini PC, like some N100 box, to have more control over what runs on it. I tried a Pi with Kodi once, but I hate the UI so much. It’s just not my thing.
What other options do I have with self-hosted alternatives? I want a central UI like AndroidTV offers, I need Jellyfin, Disney Plus, Prime Video and some local TV station’s streaming offerings and some remote control.
I don’t think that’s possible, as you can only run Disney and Prime in a browser or their apps. And using a browser on the TV is not nice UX. But maybe some of the great people here have cracked that nut and can help me.
I use a browser on a desktop OS (Linux). I get what you mean that a browser on the tv is not nice UX, but there are some things you can do to improve the experience such as
bumping up the default zoom level (I prefer to do that at the OS level rather than in the browser settings so it also makes menus, buttons and other UI elements bigger)
getting one of those small wireless keyboards with integrated touchpad. The one I use is from Logitech and the batteries last for months.
Not everything is in the browser, I have downloaded a few desktop apps from Flathub (Freetube for watching Youtube, unofficial Spotify client etc).
The level of freedom you get from a desktop OS is so great that I would never go back to a “tv box” like Apple TV and similar things (I tried those and concluded they weren’t for me).