Submitted 12 hours ago by kapulsa@feddit.org to steamdeck@sopuli.xyz
I’m looking for a combination of gaming and streaming on a smart TV. Because I don’t want the smart TV to connect to the internet and show ads or use AI companions, I’m looking for alternatives. Since small PCs are a good alternative to streaming boxes, I’m wondering, whether SteamOS can also do that? Or is it better to have two separate devices?
If you use stremio + debrid yes
I run my deck in desktop mode 90% of the time. You can intall the browser of your choice and stream. Netflix, hulu, disney, amazon, youtube all work normally. I recommend a wireless keyboard and mouse so you can run it from the comfort of your couch. You also need a dock to comnect the deck to the tv via hdmi but those are pretty plug and play.
I bought a little Bluetooth keyboard for my deck and I use it with my living room TV. It is okay. Pretty powerful for a streaming box. You can also stream games from another PC if you are inclined.
you can add various shortcuts of a browser pointing to a streaming service to your library, but depending on the service you might not be able to watch in HD.
a seperate android box would probably be the more comfortable option to access streaming services.
Thanks! My personal use case would mostly be YouTube (with adblock, maybe in browser or in separate app), some German TV stations, and some stuff from an external drive.
Maybe I’ll try it with SteamOS first and get a separate box if it’s not sufficient. But the question could also be relevant to other people with other needs, too.
I added fire fox as a separate non steam app and it works fine, browser extensions and all.
There is also Televideo that you can use from Desktop Mode or directlty feom Steam after adding it to steam
in that case the browser short cuts should work fine, atleast ard and zdf don’t care about your os and browser, just configure the shortcuts so it launches in full screen and setup a controller profile to use it a controller as mouse and a way to bring up the virtual keyboard.
Yes but I wouldn’t recommend a Deck for streaming. The interface is geared for “on the go”. It’s great for gaming on the TV but it is a little clunky for streaming. You can open a browser and use that for streaming but it’s best done in Desktop mode. You can actually add Chrome as a custom “game” in Gamescope mode and set it up to launch a website like Netflix but I find it a little unreliable on filling the screen in that mode.
I do have a mini PC that I use for both gaming and streaming, and it works well. You can get something more powerful than the SteamDeck (as it doesn’t need a screen nor to be mobile), and put pretty much any desktop on there. I personally use KDE with a remote keyboard and mouse, but if you want prefer a full screen interface, then probably Kodi is your best bet. For streaming you can add a Browser Launcher plugin to launch Firefox or Chrome, so you can run Netflix etc. But a mouse & keyboard is still probably needed as an interface.
HDR viewing is an issue on Linux devices currently though. It’s improving but can be hit and miss depending on hardware and software.
There are also other TV interfaces coming - like KDE Plasma’s Bigscreen; but it’s got a way to go as it’s only recently been resurrected.
Yes and no. Steam Deck runs Linux and no streaming services make apps for Linux. You can run them in the browser but now you’ve got a KBM experience and you’re going to be limited to 720p.
You can also look into stremio. It has a flatpak
Kodi etc.
Shouldn’t that also apply to Kodi (on Linux systems) and LibreElec?
Shouldn’t what apply?
I mean if you’re willing to do keyboard and mouse, Kodi, Stremio, and Jellyfin all run great and would be lovely alternatives
Yes. I use SteamOS and Bazzite (I have multiple TVs with different computers for thus) as my sole streaming interfaces.
Just add those as “non-steam games” and you’re mostly good to go. For some apps, like Jellyfin, you need to enable keyboard navigation (a.k.a. “gamepad controls”)
I have firefox installed on my deck, and added to my library as a non steam game. Then just use the browser as normal.
There are grid, logo, and hero images you can use to make it look fitting for your library at SteamGridDB.com
I’m like 50/50 using a wireless mouse, and using my controller for the browser. They both work fine.
Let’s take raspberry as an example. You would install a suitable OS for multimedia on it. You would place it behind your TV and connect it via HDMI. For convenience, you would not disconnect the raspi but consider it as one setup. So you can also do it with a Steam Deck (you just have to remember that it is immutable before making any changes), but is that what you want?
BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 12 hours ago
If your only streaming “service” is Jellyfin, there is Switchfin, a client that was originally developed for rooted Nintendo Switch that has a pretty good controller-first interface. And once added in Steam, using it is pretty straightforward.