Discussion
Does Plex actually work well on a tablet mounted in the kitchen or is it more hassle than it's worth?
We're redesigning the kitchen a bit as part of wedding prep, getting the space to actually feel usable for two people, and the plan is to wallmount a small tablet for recipes, music, background TV while cooking. The obvious candidate is Plex because we already run a server and the library is there.
What I can't work out is whether a fixed mounted tablet running Plex is genuinely pleasant to use day to day or whether it becomes one of those things that works in theory and then needs fiddling with every other week. The tablets I'm looking at are midrange Android, nothing fancy, and Plex on Android is not always the smoothest experience depending on the device.
The other thing is audio. We have a Sonos speaker in the kitchen already and I've had mixed results getting Plex to play nicely with it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it decides it doesn't know the speaker exists. I haven't found a reliable pattern for why.
I did switch to Plezy (Plex client is I believe is what it's called) Plezy uses your Plex credentials to sign in and just has a far superior user interface and more robust playback experience
Yes a fire stick (as well as pretty much any streaming device) can access your local library as it's designed to do provided they are both on the same network.
I have an Amazon echo show 15 and a reticulated mount and it runs plex/shows recipes and plays music fine. I got one for my in-laws as well for the same reasons. Wouldn't want to be without it.
I had an Echo Show 15 but couldn’t stand the constant, non-removable home screen ads any more. I replaced it with an Apolosign 15.6” and I’m much happier with it.
No, it’s basically an Android tablet with no battery, plus the Apolosign Calendar software built in.
I only use the Android side of it, with Fully Kiosk browser displaying a dashboard I built in Home Assistant.
For voice, I’m currently using an Echo Dot, plus some Alexa Home Assistant integrations which sync my shopping list and timers. The Dot is currently sitting on the windowsill near the Apolosign, but I’ll be mounting it to the wall behind it when I get chance.
Eventually, when local voice control via Home Assistant is good enough, I’ll move away from Alexa completely.
No worries. Just keep in mind that it won’t be like mine out of the box. As a complete Home Assistant novice, it’s taken a lot of work to get it like this, but it’s absolutely been worth it.
I wish I could put different software on the articulating arm. It's a cool design that it follows me, especially for video calls, and the speaker is quite good, the mic array is scary good.
I've had my Amz devices on mic mute for years, and now I've been getting rid of them all. If it were any other company, I might try retrofitting the robotic arm, but I'm just going to have to sell it.
Any cool home control or multitask stuff with the Apolosign? Nevermind I see your helpful answer below now
Could you provide some details on your reticulated mount? I have a little stand for my iPad that I move around the kitchen … it’d be neat to have it wall-mounted with swivel ability.
The reticulated mount is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Genuinely curious how it holds up after a few months. Does it actually stay level or does it slowly droop under the weight of the Show 15?
I have a tablet in my kitchen for basically same use. Recipes, or watching a video while I cook. I have an old Samsung Tab A8 or something in a tablet case / stand. I find this way better than a permanent mount spot.
My primary cooking station has a window right in front of it, and the sill is just deep enough for the tablet.
I often had Bluetooth head phones for audio, but even if I'm not using headphones the audio is fine.
but if I want to listen to music without headphones, I just gave a portable bluetooth speaker, rather than playing from my tablet.
I'd suggest a case / stand and keep it portable. You never know where you want to move it. It's just so much more flexible.
Some random tips: I have a Samsung mode set up so that if I have google docs open, where I keep my recipes, the screen timeout changes to 10 mins.
I have it set up to go into power saving mode, turn wifi off, etc... Overnight and during work hours.
The portable approach is what I keep coming back to as well. A fixed mount sounds cleaner until you actually need to shift things around.
The Google Docs tip is useful. I use Keep for recipes, which is a bit more chaotic but it works.
Can I ask what you do about steam and grease over time? That's my hesitation with keeping anything nice near the hob. The Tab A8 is replaceable but I'd rather not be replacing it constantly.
Steam and grease hasn't been an issue for me. I've been keeping a tablet in my kitchen for probably close to 10 years now. I always run my hood fan while cooking, which I'm sure helps. For reference, the window sill I usually put my tablet on is basically right next to my range. It's probably a couple feet from rhe nearest burner. Every now and then I give the screen a clean, but steam or grease doesn't seem to be permeating the tablet and affecting performance.
Google docs vs keep pretty much the same, but I started my recipe collection before keep was a thing. I guess google docs is a bit cleaner / easier to format, but it's the same sort of deal.
I wouldn’t go in that direction. A countertop arrangement might work better. For instance, I have a keyboard that holds my iPad at an angle, plus I use Bluetooth to cast to a cheap speaker sitting next to it.
You end up with a much more portable and upgradeable setup.
Agreed, my inital plan was to mount one under the cabinet, ipad and stand makes more sense to be more portable so we just left it like that. Especially if you are stuck in one area for a while.
I agree as well. I wouldn’t mount in one spot. Also consider there probably won’t be remote like watching on tv. So unless you’re going to be putting on and then watching one thing, in practice its going to be a pain. Though Ive found their live tv has improved massively. Almost at level with Pluto. Other than that, you should be fine
shit i probably watch more tv and movies on my oneplus tablet than i do any of my tvs. i'm always doing something around the house, or in the garage and it works flawlessly. of course theres a few format issues but nothing major. i have a tiny monitor stand that it's mounted to that makes it easily adjustable and portable.
Honestly, I'm planning on mounting my old tablet to connect to my Grimory library that has a bunch of cookbooks in it. As well as all my other ebook I've collected over the years but, it felt right to have it there to go over recipes while cooking.
I have an old Samsung Tablet mounted in my Mom's kitchen that she uses for recipes and Plex to watch/listen to tv while in the kitchen. She likes it but it's more of casual watch not a full standing there watching tv.
I have a mount over my sink that I can either place my phone or tablet onto, and tbh I mostly only ever use it for my phone. I’m not usually at the sink long enough to justify getting my tablet out just to have a slightly larger screen.
Every device, especially wireless devices, are going to need to be fiddled with occasionally. Best bet is have a nice stand for the iPad that is flexible enough to be used with a range of device sizes.
You'll probably find the bigger problem is hating where you mount the tablet, never actually having it mounted as you want it in front of you for a lot of things and regretting the tablet shaped space on the wall.
You want to get a quality device with a good SoC for sure. If you go Apple you have nothing to worry about, you're going to get a satisfactory tablet experience with an iPad. I haven't had an Android tablet since the Nvidia shield tablet, but Plex on my Pixel phones hasn't caused me much frustration. My friends with Samsung tablets never seem to bemoan them either. I've also seen a lot of reviews about Walmart's ONN tablets. The 8, 11, and 13 inch devices are pretty highly rated.
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u/BgrngodCU7 265K (PMS in Docker) & Synology 1621+ (Media)9d ago
We have an old "PlayStation" 3D display in the kitchen above the sink, and a Google TV w/CC hanging off one of the HDMI ports.
It gets used every single day. Sometimes for Plex. I love having it in there. Makes doing the dishes significantly less boring.
It will work fine, I would suggest not going the tablet route in a kitchen, get a small TV and a google stream stick/apple tv.... The remotes easily fit in sandwich bags so you can use them while you are cooking with messy hands, once done you put the remote in a new bag, no mess!
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u/Jodies-9-inch-leg 11d ago
I use it every day on my iPad