Regular Member
Joined: 15/04/2016
Location: AustraliaPosts: 81
| Posted: 12:32am 07 May 2025 |
Just pick up an old PC from Gumtree or Marketplace. I got a 4000 series i3 a few years ago for $100 and connect to the TV using HDMI and use a Kodi style remote as a backlit keyboard and mouse. This is capable of doing anything a smart TV does, but much better. If you want 4k get a newer computer, but I can't tell the difference from where I sit and my old Plasma TV is only 1080p anyway but still looks better than anything that isn't OLED.
If you use the DuckDuckGo browser, its YouTube ad blocker works extremely well. I use VLC for videos. All the TV networks work very well from any browser so we never use the antenna connection these days. These probably work on Linux including the Pi, but I am reasonably confident I will get browser updates for many years to come.
Smart TVs often have PCs equivalent to old phones inside them and you rely on the manufacturer to provide updates. They rarely have good browsers so you are limited to content available through their apps. You are dependent on them updating their software.