nixos-servers/docs/plans/media-pc-replacement.md

Media PC Replacement

Overview

Replace the aging Linux+Kodi media PC connected to the TV with a modern, compact solution. Primary use cases are Jellyfin/Kodi playback and watching Twitch/YouTube. The current machine (media, 10.69.31.50) is on VLAN 31.

Current State

Hardware

• CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K @ 3.50GHz (Haswell, 4C/8T, 2013)
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GT 710 (Kepler, GK208B)
• OS: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS (Jammy)
• Software: Kodi
• Network: media.home.2rjus.net at 10.69.31.50 (VLAN 31)

Control & Display

• Input: Wireless keyboard (works well, useful for browser)
• TV: 1080p (no 4K/HDR currently, but may upgrade TV later)
• Audio: Surround system connected via HDMI ARC from TV (PC → HDMI → TV → ARC → surround)

Notes on Current Hardware

• The i7-4770K is massively overpowered for media playback — it's a full desktop CPU from 2013
• The GT 710 is a low-end passive GPU; supports NVDEC for H.264/H.265 hardware decode but limited to 4K@30Hz over HDMI 1.4
• Ubuntu 22.04 is approaching EOL (April 2027) and is not managed by this repo
• The whole system is likely in a full-size or mid-tower case — not ideal for a TV setup

Integration

• Media source: Jellyfin on jelly01 (10.69.13.14) serves media from NAS via NFS
• DNS: A record in services/ns/external-hosts.nix
• Not managed: Not a NixOS host in this repo, no monitoring/auto-updates

Options

Option 1: Dedicated Streaming Device (Apple TV / Nvidia Shield)

Aspect	Apple TV 4K	Nvidia Shield Pro
Price	~$130-180	~$200
Jellyfin	Swiftfin app (good)	Jellyfin Android TV (good)
Kodi	Not available (tvOS)	Full Kodi support
Twitch	Native app	Native app
YouTube	Native app	Native app
HDR/DV	Dolby Vision + HDR10	Dolby Vision + HDR10
4K	Yes	Yes
Form factor	Tiny, silent	Small, silent
Remote	Excellent Siri remote	Decent, supports CEC
Homelab integration	None	Minimal (Plex/Kodi only)

Pros:

• Zero maintenance - appliance experience
• Excellent app ecosystem (native Twitch, YouTube, streaming services)
• Silent, tiny form factor
• Great remote control / CEC support
• Hardware-accelerated codec support out of the box

Cons:

• No NixOS management, monitoring, or auto-updates
• Can't run arbitrary software
• Jellyfin clients are decent but not as mature as Kodi
• Vendor lock-in (Apple ecosystem / Google ecosystem)
• No SSH access for troubleshooting

Option 2: NixOS Mini PC (Kodi Appliance)

A small form factor PC (Intel NUC, Beelink, MinisForum, etc.) running NixOS with Kodi as the desktop environment.

NixOS has built-in support:

• services.xserver.desktopManager.kodi.enable - boots directly into Kodi
• kodi-gbm package - Kodi with direct DRM/KMS rendering (no X11/Wayland needed)
• kodiPackages.jellycon - Jellyfin integration for Kodi
• kodiPackages.sendtokodi - plays streams via yt-dlp (Twitch, YouTube)
• kodiPackages.inputstream-adaptive - adaptive streaming support

Example NixOS config sketch:

{ pkgs, ... }:
{
  services.xserver.desktopManager.kodi = {
    enable = true;
    package = pkgs.kodi.withPackages (p: [
      p.jellycon
      p.sendtokodi
      p.inputstream-adaptive
    ]);
  };

  # Auto-login to Kodi session
  services.displayManager.autoLogin = {
    enable = true;
    user = "kodi";
  };
}

Pros:

• Full NixOS management (monitoring, auto-updates, vault, promtail)
• Kodi is a proven TV interface with excellent remote/CEC support
• JellyCon integrates Jellyfin library directly into Kodi
• Twitch/YouTube via sendtokodi + yt-dlp or Kodi browser addons
• Can run arbitrary services (e.g., Home Assistant dashboard)
• Declarative, reproducible config in this repo

Cons:

• More maintenance than an appliance
• NixOS + Kodi on bare metal needs GPU driver setup (Intel iGPU is usually fine)
• Kodi YouTube/Twitch addons are less polished than native apps
• Need to buy hardware (~$150-400 for a decent mini PC)
• Power consumption higher than a streaming device

Option 3: NixOS Mini PC (Wayland Desktop)

A mini PC running NixOS with a lightweight Wayland compositor, launching Kodi for media and a browser for Twitch/YouTube.

Pros:

• Best of both worlds: Kodi for media, Firefox/Chromium for Twitch/YouTube
• Full NixOS management
• Can switch between Kodi and browser easily
• Native web experience for streaming sites

Cons:

• More complex setup (compositor + Kodi + browser)
• Harder to get a good "10-foot UI" experience
• Keyboard/mouse may be needed alongside remote
• Significantly more maintenance

Comparison

Criteria	Dedicated Device	NixOS Kodi	NixOS Desktop
Maintenance	None	Low	Medium
Media experience	Excellent	Excellent	Good
Twitch/YouTube	Excellent (native apps)	Good (addons/yt-dlp)	Excellent (browser)
Homelab integration	None	Full	Full
Form factor	Tiny	Small	Small
Cost	$130-200	$150-400	$150-400
Silent operation	Yes	Likely (fanless options)	Likely
CEC remote	Yes	Yes (Kodi)	Partial

Decision: NixOS Mini PC with Kodi (Option 2)

Rationale:

• Already comfortable with Kodi + wireless keyboard workflow
• Browser access for Twitch/YouTube is important — Kodi can launch a browser when needed
• Homelab integration comes for free (monitoring, auto-updates, vault)
• Natural fit alongside the other 16 NixOS hosts in this repo
• Dedicated devices lose the browser/keyboard workflow

Display Server: Sway/Hyprland

Options evaluated:

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

Kodi on NixOS supports HDMI audio passthrough for surround formats (AC3, DTS, etc.). The ARC chain (PC → HDMI → TV → ARC → surround) works transparently — Kodi just needs to be configured for passthrough rather than decoding audio locally.

Hardware

Leading Candidate: GMKtec G3

• CPU: Intel N100 (Alder Lake-N, 4C/4T)
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 512GB NVMe
• Price: NOK 2800 ($250 USD)
• Source: AliExpress

The N100 supports hardware decode for all relevant 4K codecs:

Codec	Support	Used by
H.264/AVC	Yes (Quick Sync)	Older media
H.265/HEVC 10-bit	Yes (Quick Sync)	Most 4K media, HDR
VP9	Yes (Quick Sync)	YouTube 4K
AV1	Yes (Quick Sync)	YouTube, Twitch, newer encodes

16GB RAM is comfortable for Kodi + browser + NixOS system services (node-exporter, promtail, etc.) with plenty of headroom.

Key Requirements

• HDMI 2.0+ for 4K future-proofing (current TV is 1080p)
• Hardware video decode via VA-API / Intel Quick Sync
• HDR support (for future TV upgrade)
• Fanless or near-silent operation

Implementation Steps

1. Choose and order hardware
2. Create host configuration (hosts/media1/)
   • Kodi desktop manager with Jellyfin + streaming addons
   • Intel/AMD iGPU driver and VA-API hardware decode
   • HDMI audio passthrough for surround
   • NFS mount for media (same pattern as jelly01)
   • Browser package (Firefox/Chromium) for Twitch/YouTube fallback
   • Standard system modules (monitoring, promtail, vault, auto-upgrade)
3. Install NixOS on the mini PC
4. Configure Kodi (Jellyfin server, addons, audio passthrough)
5. Update DNS - point media.home.2rjus.net to new IP (or keep on VLAN 31)
6. Retire old media PC

Open Questions

• What are the current media PC specs? — i7-4770K, GT 710, Ubuntu 22.04. Overkill CPU, weak GPU, large form factor. Not worth reusing if goal is compact/silent.
• VLAN? — Keep on VLAN 31 for now, same as current media PC. Can revisit later.
• Is CEC needed? — No, not using it currently. Can add later if desired.
• Is 4K HDR output needed? — TV is 1080p now, but want 4K/HDR capability for future TV upgrade
• Audio setup? — Surround system via HDMI ARC from TV. Media PC outputs HDMI to TV, TV passes audio to surround via ARC. Kodi/any player just needs HDMI audio output with surround passthrough.
• Are there streaming service apps needed? — No. Only Twitch/YouTube, which work fine in any browser.
• Budget? — ~NOK 2800 for GMKtec G3 (N100, 16GB, 512GB NVMe)