I don’t know that there’s good solutions right now, at least for people like you and me; I had some android tv boxes from bestbuy but they are region locked to the US so I had to use my laptop with a VPN as a hotspot for the boxes to be able to set them up, and they have lost that configuration before causing me to do it again.
Right now I don’t have TVs but at this point I think I’d be more compelled to try and make an HTPC running Linux and using KDE’s TV mode. I’m not too versed on the tech but I’d guess that lack of… CEC (?) Would be the biggest hurdle to overcome, right? But a machine of your own design would probably handle many more codecs and games, and at better performance, than any tv box would… And a steam machine does have that tv tech, although its… a bit too expensive.
I’d love nothing more than an affordable little box that wasn’t a complete violation of your privacy or a forfeiture of your freedom to use the hardware how you see fit, but I think the high price of an HTPC or a steam machine is the literal price of our right to own our shit in this day and age.
I don’t know that there’s good solutions right now, at least for people like you and me; I had some android tv boxes from bestbuy but they are region locked to the US so I had to use my laptop with a VPN as a hotspot for the boxes to be able to set them up, and they have lost that configuration before causing me to do it again.
Right now I don’t have TVs but at this point I think I’d be more compelled to try and make an HTPC running Linux and using KDE’s TV mode. I’m not too versed on the tech but I’d guess that lack of… CEC (?) Would be the biggest hurdle to overcome, right? But a machine of your own design would probably handle many more codecs and games, and at better performance, than any tv box would… And a steam machine does have that tv tech, although its… a bit too expensive.
I’d love nothing more than an affordable little box that wasn’t a complete violation of your privacy or a forfeiture of your freedom to use the hardware how you see fit, but I think the high price of an HTPC or a steam machine is the literal price of our right to own our shit in this day and age.