I have spent around 4 years and around £300 trying to get something that will do what my old faithful WD TV live box did, until some of the “apps” were blocked.
I have a non “smart” large TV.
I have totally given up on DNLA from my phone = just too flaky 
I have tried Raspberry Pi direct into the TV via wireless keyboard with touch pad.
Despite spending hours customising font and icon sizes, trying to type stuff into a YouTube search box, or a path to local media is impractical.
I have tried Kodi on both the Pi and a dedicated Linux PC.
I HATE Kodi. The GIU / interface is just so poor imho. I cannot navigate it easily at all and setting up “add-ons” for the likes of YouTube is a real pain, then you have to activate YouTube with an “APK” and the “how to” is about a thousand pages long.
I DON’T want Kodi 
What I WOULD like is a simple (almost) plug n play device (or Linux software) that will do the following =
- = Connect to my TV with HDMI (any Linux box will obviously do this)
- = Have a simple large, easy to use from a distance, interface (via wireless keyboard with touchpad).
- = Be able to browse and play my media from my NAS box.
- = Be able to play media from YouTube and the “OldTimeMovies” website, plus similar (note - No Netflix required)
Anyone got any thoughts?
Oh, and finally, WHY ON EARTH did WD kill this product and / or produce an up to date version. I LOVED my old box until YouTube (etc) apps were killed off 
it’s DLNA … but i digress … most serious people already know it’s the worst protocol to use
Blame Youtube for that
They couldn’t compete anymore … so, they went back to focus on their primary business ie. hard drives.
I just use my TV Remote Control which controls the Rpi via HDMI CEC 
Disagree … i LOVE Kodi easy to use and interface is excellent
If Youtube is a priority for you … buy a Smart TV or an XBOX or PlayStation console, they all have Youtube and can stream in the highest quality up to 4K if you upgraded your old “Dumb TV” (no offence to your TV)
Thanks for the input Joey 
I take on board most of what you say, and I suppose I already knew some of it
However, I still HATE Kodi. I was having another go at it yesterday on my Linux PC.
Jeez, I can’t even figure out how to get back to the “Home screen” after navigating to the files section, or the Add Ons section etc
Then there is all the faffing about to get certain things working (such as YouTube and Old Time Movies). I understand one can get a remote control for it, but I am reluctant to spend money and then find I still hate it.
Talking of spending money, I would buy a replacement equivalent to a WD TV Live box, but I don’t want an X-box or Playstation and I cannot justify spending £1000 on a more modern “Smart” TV. My TV is a few years old Panasonic that was very expensive (but no CEC ).
Looks like I will have to pursue my current best solution, my Raspberry Pi 4b 8gb running Ubuntu, and look into making it more usable from the couch (fonts and zoom etc).
I do find it odd that there does not appear to be anything on the market that does what the WD TV Live box did, but up to date and in a comparable price bracket.
Take a look at the Vero 4K+ that runs Open Source Media Center (OSMC) as an alternative to the aging WD TV.
It’s what I replaced my three WD TV units with and it’s robust hardware that is updated by the open source community to keep up with the times. You can also run OSMC on a Raspberry Pi 3 if you want to take that route at a reduced cost. OSMC has been out a long time with many iterations and refinements and is pretty solid. It plays anything I throw at it and an intuitive GUI with easy setup. My only complaint is once you power down, you have to cycle power to power up. There is no power on.
Best of luck
Thanks for the heads up on this one.
I will for sure be trying it out
