I have been meaning to give this a try. https://osmc.tv/store/
this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2025
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Not OP but it looks good. I wanted an alternative to my Apple TV to watch movies from the NAS and it seems to do the trick for a slightly lower price.
I have the previous model. It does a great job of playing videos from my server in the other room. It technically can do YouTube, but that's a pretty horrible experience. It can't do any other paid streaming services.
But it does do an amazing job of local streaming. It handles most all of the audio and video codecs, and can direct stream just about any video file without too much playing around. I like mine, and definitely recommend it for anyone who also wants a trustworthy local media player.
Yeah, I have a mini pc that I use when I travel as most places have issues with Plex unless you use a VPN. But it's just Ubuntu desktop. I want to try this out and see if I would recommend it to less than techno wizard friends as I don't want to be their IT support at all hours.
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As others are saying, OSMC might work. Most difficult part is making it so that the TV turns on when you turn on the computer since ARC isn't a thing for most computers.
I ended up giving up on OSMC and bought an Apple TV since nothing else got the "wife approval" factor. It's better than Google getting my data, has a Plex client, and let's me stream my Steam library.
The RPI has CEC support
My alternative is OSMC running on a RPI 3
It isn't going to win any awards but it does work nicely with a Bluetooth remote
You could install android on something, and run one of the open source TV launchers
Is it any good?
I've done that and as long as you don't need one of the mainstream streaming apps, it seemed to work well . Just give it a try. It's not a lot of work.
Edit: As far as I remember it, it didn't have (the needed?) DRM support
Edit2: Tested on RPi5
I don't need or want DRM so I can't comment on that.
What I can say is that the RPI5 is way overkill. I originally ran Kodi on a RPI4 but it was constantly running hot so I switched to a RPI3 and it is much better.
The option(s) other commenters gave are great! But just to give you more options, I'll give you a few additional ideas.
- KDE Connect: You can still use a normal desktop (preferably KDE or Gnome), set your display scale to 150+%, and then use your phone remotely to control the cursor, media playback, and more.
- Bazzite: often used to replace SteamOS, it also boots into Steam big picture mode by default, where you can set applications in the start menu. It has a nice console-like interface, and you don't have to maintain anything, e.g. updating. It also supports Waydroid and webapps by default.
- An old laptop or mini-PC with Bluefin or Aurora. They are basically like Bazzite, but without gaming stuff. You can set the display scale to 200% and enjoy a worry-free experience. Optionally, you can install Phosh or Plasma Mobile on top, which is made for mobile devices.
Is bazzite couch friendly? I'm expecting to need a mouse and that isnt my ideal setup
In big picture mode it's couch/ controller friendly. In desktop mode you'll need a mouse. Either way you'll need a peripheral device for any platform.
I would like a controller. I'll give bazzite a better look when I get to a home theater PC. Thanks for the input
A laptop running linux mint.