I currently use an Apple TV 4K, which is - as far as I’m aware - more or less the best streaming box you can buy. However, it’s the version without ethernet, and Steam Link has become a dog over wifi for some reason. So I figured I’d look around to see if there’s an alternative solution.
Hardware-wise, I have a Dell Optiplex 3020 or a 2014 Mac mini (running Debian), to choose from, but have no real idea where to go from there, beyond the vague notion that KDE have put big screen mode back into beta. I did have a play with that a few months ago in a VM, but was struck that there were (obviously) no applications that made any real use of it.
Does anyone out there run anything they’ve built themselves? If so, what?
I setup Plasma Big Screen recently. Added Moonfin, a Jellyfin client that actually works properly with a tv style USB remote. Steam Link runs on Linux just fine, so just add it. Favorite those apps in Big Screen, and you are set. Do the same for any other apps you want. Works with TV remote, game controller, mouse keyboard. Anything you need really.
I was using Nvidia Shields but wanted to get away from Android. Over the summer i bought some Dell mini pcs, put the Plasma Bigscreen OS on them and got some USB remote controls.
These have been working really well and is nice to have them running linux. The tv interface is really good and for the few apps that didn’t have linux versions i just made my own.
I use mine mainly for plex (which has an app) Youtube (vacummtube) and made my own apps to access tube archivist, odysee archivist and stash. So i guess it depends what you watch on it.
This is sort of the route I was considering, so it’s cool to know that someone has tread the path before me.
Well honestly I have been using them for a few months now and they have worked flawlessly.
What kind of services do you tend to want to watch through them?
There really isn’t one.
Trust me. I’ve worked for WBD for 4+ years specifically on the video playback component for Android devices - so my day job was literally testing streaming boxes and smart TVs.
That job made me switch from EVERY single other TV smart box, to Apple. Why, you might ask? Well, it’s because ALL streaming oriented boxes suck ass. Apple is the only one who puts appropriate hardware into their products.
Lets start with Android, my field. The ONLY usable box is the Nvidia Shield, which, to date, costs upwards of £200. For hardware that was already kinda dated in 2019, when it released 7 years ago. Even Google’s options lack RAM, and focus too much on the codec of the SoC instead power. This means nice playback, but awful user experience in menus and any other non-video functionality.
Your best bet, if you want to hand-roll a solution, is to buy a more expensive, high end SBC and hope for good support. You’ll lose DRM, though, which means no official streaming apps (or, for the ones that do work, low resolution/fidelity playback only).
If it’s Steam Link you want, get dedicated hardware for that. Even a Pi4/5 will do. Use it for Steam Link only, and keep the Apple TV for media.
If it’s Steam Link you want, get dedicated hardware for that. Even a Pi4/5 will do. Use it for Steam Link only, and keep the Apple TV for media.
This is probably the route I’ll ultimately take. Gonna toss KDE Neon on my 2014 Mac mini and see how it rolls.
Steam Link on old hardware won’t probably go well.
Game streaming benefits greatly from hardware video decoding — to the point where it’s practically required for smooth streaming.
Mac Mini’s CPU and iGPU might support that to some extent, but you’d be most likely limited to H.264 and 1080p — no newer codecs and no 4K.
Similar experience here. Plus the airpod pairing feature is a must have for parents and warching content after the kids go to bed.
https://jellyfin.org/ seems recommended. I would also look at OSMC which sells a box to use with their software (and it’s open source): https://osmc.tv/vero/
I hooked my laptop up to the TV yesterday and learned that the Jellyfin app (on a phone) can remote control a web browser session. It was great. Utterly seamless.
Interesting, never heard of the Vero! I’ve been a Plex and JF use for a long time thinking HW options were limited to big box. Or buy a couple year old device and load LineageOS.
Plasma Bigscreen. If you haven’t tried it, TRY IT.
It’s any Linux distro with KDE, plus one installed package and you get a tv interface on a computer. You can use Jellyfin with any “Air mouse” you want, and Plex htpc, plus waydroid for android apps. And worse case, is something doesn’t work, you’ve always got a normal web browser.
Gonna bash Debian on my 2014 Mac mini tomorrow, install Bigscreen and see what’s up.
If you go that route (which I recommend, just finished my own install, happy with it), I recommend Waydroid-ATV.
There are even cheap Air mouses which can learn your TV remote commands, so you can throw that in a drawer and have only one remote 👍
Investigate your WiFi , try to change channel or upgrade your Ap , Apple TV max speed on WiFi is 1,2 Gbit
The trouble you’ll quickly run into is that with a non-iOS/Android/Windows platform your streaming sites won’t go above 720p, and your attempts to run sandboxed Android apps will pretty much all fail. Now if all you mainly do is serve local content from e.g. Jellyfin that’s not much of a problem, but as you already own an AppleTV that’s probably not your only use case.
I probably should have laid out my uses in the OP, shouldn’t I?
We primarily watch TV from a friend’s Plex server, or my own Jellyfin. We don’t have Apple TV+/Netflix/Amazon, or anything. Not these days. The only legit streaming service we do occasionally use is BBC iPlayer.
Other than that, it’s a Steam Link / Moonlight machine, plus sometimes playing tunes from Apple Music.
A nicety would be to be able to AirPlay to it, so my wife can show me videos that she’s saved to show me, but I’m not sure how feasible that is outside of Apple devices.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters LTS Long Term Support software version NAS Network-Attached Storage Plex Brand of media server package SBC Single-Board Computer
4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 12 acronyms.
[Thread #150 for this comm, first seen 30th Oct 2026, 15:20] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
I don’t understand why people like AppleTV so much, we have one too.
It had the worst interface by far of any streaming or video player we use. Its like Apple went out of their way to make it unintuitive.
I feel you… AppleTV is probably the worst Apple product and OS ever made… Don’t even try to tinker arround with that stuff.
Apple products in general are horse shit… Probably even worst than Windaube ! I’m always pulling my hair out when going near that stuff and help my parents out.
I searched for this as well, but my conclusion was the same: Apple TV is the only viable option to me, at least if you want to use any streaming services. Based on what I’ve seen Android tv (or whatever it’s called) feels like a non starter, and while the FLOSS options that have already been mentioned in this thread range from promising to legitimately great all of them become iffy when DRM enters the mix.
My main hope is SteamOS and its Android compatibility, honestly. Made for the big screen, mature controller support, backed by a big company that might have the pull to resolve the DRM issues. Though if I step back I might just be overly optimistic, since Valve hasn’t really shown any steps towards non-game media support.
I have a couple ShieldTVs (AndroidTV) that have worked for me for years. They have worked with streaming services as I needed, but the main use case for me is Jellyfin for movies/tv and a good YouTube client that filters ads out. The shield has done a good job of passing the correct audio stream to the receiver and it looks good. There have been a few issues here or there with some codecs, but if I fall back on Kodi it usually works.
I haven’t tried an AppleTV despite being a mostly Mac/iOS household. It is difficult to find out how well the Jellyfin clients work on it, and last I checked there was no “official” client, just pay-for apps that may or may not do what I need.
just pay-for apps that may or may not do what I need.
We use Infuse with Plex and Jellyfin, and yeah, we pay a couple of quid every month to it (for the higher definition codec support), but it’s pretty much spot-on for our needs.
This is my white whale. There is a guy making LineageOS versions of Android TV that seem to work well for some people but in my experience are buggy and I couldn’t get CEC working no matter what I tried.
Libreelec (kodi) works fantastic and CEC is flawless with every device I tested, but Kodi these days is really only good for local media (not Plex, Jellyfin, Youtube or streaming services) and real-debrid.
KDE Bigscreen is my last hope, but it’s probably going to be a while before it’s ready, not even including the inevitable wait for TV-interface versions of streaming apps that can run on ARM (if you’re using a raspi).
idk. kodi with the emby addon it plays all my stuff very well. the pm4k for plex addon let’s me watch my buddies server for stuff i don’t have yet.
slyguy has a bunch of addons that work well if one still uses those godforsaken services
recently released navidrome addon is amazing, audiobookshelf addon is amazing
snapcast server or client addons.
drivers for my preferred universal remote (control4 off ebay)
all this with the new arctic zephyr skin and we are rocking over here
needs a pbs passport addon and I’ll be golden.
