You can buy a mini desktop computer for $100 and just plug it in to the TV. Control it with a $10 wireless keyboard, and watch anything that you can watch in a web browser (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.).
Is that really a nice and clean UI compared to Windows which most people are familiar with?
I love my HTPC, but its role has changed over the years in my living room.
But my TV has Roku built-in and it's smooth as silk for the most part. Most of the issues I encounter are app-related. Like HBO Max is really clunky, but Netflix is rock-solid.
I think this speaks to the opportunity ahead for TVs rather than an argument for attaching a PC. Why can't all these HDMI sticks just be virtual devices? Provide an app store that gives you a Roku or Firestick. Why is identifying me and signing into all my streaming services still so difficult and full of friction? There is so much runway for simply a better TV. Start with good hardware. Build up a modern operating system that is smooth and just works. Don't even have a built in remote. Start with the assumption that all my interaction will be with 3rd party remotes and make them all work with zero/one touch. When I start interacting with a remote, the TV should know what I am trying to do (PS4, Xbox, Roku, Apple TV, etc) and simply respond with the interface. The core HW operating system should be nearly invisible. Stay out of the way. No Ads. no app stores. No crap. Build all of that in layers on top.
Imagine a specific example:
1. I purchase a Roku _remote_.
2. I unbox the remote and point it at my TV.
3. My TV downloads the Roku virtual stick and starts giving me the Roku interface. In the background. As a user, I don't care about any of that crap.
4. Roku accesses a touchid or faceid to load my account.
5. Roku installs all my apps I use automatically.
6. The apps on Roku call Roku APIs to identify me and sign me into these apps automatically (Netflix, Hulu, etc).
With the right TV and _hardware_ OS, the TV experience could be so much better.
EDIT: I would also add some "pre" and "post" concept around events. This could hook social media into the TV. Every app from Clubhouse, Twitter, Live podcasts, etc. could plug into a pre or post show for key events they cover.
> 5. Roku installs all my apps I use automatically.
Maybe I'm missing something that should have been implied, but whose Roku is this (and how does it know), and why should your remote have any say about which apps (read: remote code execution) it installs?
- A wireless keyboard and web browser - Ads being mercilessly shoved down your throat
I personally use one with an integrated mouse and its very convenient https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Control-To...
Example: By the time the Netflix app is open in Roku I will have already found the show and have it playing on my Linux desktop in Firefox.
Not only that but the apps are severely limited in functionality compared to what you get on the websites for the same provider. Even just scrolling through shows/movies is a bazillion times faster and good luck trying to find a specific place in the middle of a show using a regular remote control! haha. With a mouse I can just click right in the middle of that progress bar and be done.
Then there's things like Funimation: Their apps all suck so bad that the website seems like a dream in comparison even though the website is so awful it makes web developers visibly gag. The benefit the computer has is that it's trivial to load up those same shows on pirate sites when Funmation stops loading/playing videos again (on any given day you could have about a 5% chance of a Funimation video actually playing).
edit: As pointed out below, Windows is implementing DRM via decoding in hardware, which WideVine (Google’s DRM layer) on desktop Linux doesn’t / can’t do, so there’s no special exemption here.
Edge on Windows also gets HD from Netflix and Amazon, because it uses the same DRM pipeline as the app does (Microsoft PlayReady).
There's no exemption from the DRM rules here, Edge and the app implement hardware backed DRM systems.
I guess Windows streaming is going via PlayReady then.
(Well, Widevine actually is also present for a site to use if you really want to, but other than being too lazy to have two license servers there's very little reason why you would.)
Microsoft have not ported PlayReady to other OSes, so Edge for Mac/Linux does use Widevine and gets Level 3.
I'm running KDE and have it configured to disable the compositor when an app goes full screen. Maybe that's your issue? Try turning off desktop effects and screwing around with your compositor settings.
Edit: I want to point out that since my GPU can't handle 4k the desktop resolution is limited to ~2k (whatever the highest was that it can handle at 60Hz--I forget now haha).
However, Amazon Prime on the same setup gets me 720p at most. (This is a regression because I _know_ I used to watch the first few seasons of The Expanse in 1080.)
Which add-ons allow you to watch Prime in 1080p on Linux? I wasn't able to find them.
At one point I experimented a bit with making an addon myself, and it's possible to intercept the requests and spoof the UA/platform to get URLs for the HD streams, but then it goes to VMP/widevine and is a bit beyond my abilities. Best I could get was for the HD quality option to appear in the UI, but with a complaint that it wouldn't work because I needed to update or use a different browser.
Now pretty much the only time I use Prime video is for the occasional watchparty, and I'll just pirate the stuff I want to see in HD.
The LG C9 processor is quite powerful and extremely snappy. My HTPC is almost always an inferior option on that front. I would rather recommend someone buy something like the nVidia shield instead of an HTPC if they mainly consume content via streaming services. I still like my HTPC for other uses and it is also great for Zoom/Skype calls with friends and family from my living room.
[edit] by "audio" I mean, in particular, sending the right codecs to get surround sound for a particular source, when you ought to have it.
For 30~50 I can get a Fire TV that can plays for all the sources that I use (Netflix, Amazon Video, and Diskey+), and save on the electricity bill.