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media-pc: add JellyCon, display server, and HDR decisions
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Decided on Kodi + JellyCon with NFS direct path for media playback,
Sway/Hyprland for display server with workspace-based browser switching,
and noted HDR status for future reference.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Torjus Håkestad
2026-02-21 00:08:19 +01:00
parent 8a5aa1c4f5
commit b578520905
1 changed files with 39 additions and 6 deletions
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docs/plans/media-pc-replacement.md
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@@ -145,14 +145,47 @@ A mini PC running NixOS with a lightweight Wayland compositor, launching Kodi fo
- Natural fit alongside the other 16 NixOS hosts in this repo
- Dedicated devices lose the browser/keyboard workflow
### Twitch/YouTube in Kodi
### Display Server: Sway/Hyprland
Several approaches, can mix and match:
- **sendtokodi** addon + yt-dlp — paste/send URLs, plays via yt-dlp backend. Supports Twitch and YouTube.
- **Kodi web browser** — launch a full browser from within Kodi (falls back to keyboard input)
- **Tube addon** / YouTube plugin — dedicated YouTube browsing within Kodi UI
Options evaluated:
The browser fallback with the wireless keyboard means streaming sites will always work even if Kodi addons are flaky.
| Approach | Pros | Cons |
|----------|------|------|
| Cage (kiosk) | Simplest, single-app | No browser without TTY switching |
| kodi-gbm (no compositor) | Best HDR support | No browser at all, ALSA-only audio |
| **Sway/Hyprland** | **Workspace switching, VA-API in browser** | **Slightly more config** |
| Full DE (GNOME/KDE) | Everything works | Overkill, heavy |
**Decision: Sway or Hyprland** (Hyprland preferred — same as desktop)
- Kodi fullscreen on workspace 1, Firefox on workspace 2
- Switch via keybinding on wireless keyboard
- Auto-start both on login via greetd
- Minimal config — no bar, no decorations, just workspaces
- VA-API hardware decode works in Firefox on Wayland (important for YouTube/Twitch)
- Can revisit kodi-gbm later if HDR becomes a priority (just a config change)
### Twitch/YouTube
Firefox on workspace 2, switched to via keyboard. Kodi addons (sendtokodi, YouTube plugin) available as secondary options but a real browser is the primary approach.
### Media Playback: Kodi + JellyCon + NFS Direct Path
Three options were evaluated for media playback:
| Approach | Transcoding | Library management | Watch state sync |
|----------|-------------|-------------------|-----------------|
| Jellyfin only (browser) | Yes — browsers lack codec support for DTS, PGS subs, etc. | Jellyfin | Jellyfin |
| Kodi + NFS only | No — Kodi plays everything natively | Kodi local DB | None |
| **Kodi + JellyCon + NFS** | **No — Kodi's native player, direct path via NFS** | **Jellyfin** | **Jellyfin** |
**Decision: Kodi + JellyCon with NFS direct path**
- JellyCon presents the Jellyfin library inside Kodi's UI (browse, search, metadata, artwork)
- Playback uses Kodi's native player — direct play, no transcoding, full codec support including surround passthrough
- JellyCon's "direct path" mode maps Jellyfin paths to local NFS mounts, so playback goes straight over NFS without streaming through Jellyfin's HTTP layer
- Watch state, resume position, etc. sync back to Jellyfin — accessible from other devices too
- NFS mount follows the same pattern as jelly01 (`nas.home.2rjus.net:/mnt/hdd-pool/media`)
### Audio Passthrough