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?
I wonder if the work on waydroid for the steam frame will translate into being able to easily run Android apps like SmartTube from big picture mode.
Edit: Apparently there is an unofficial waydroid installer, and it adds all Android apps to the big picture mode UI. So I would just install that and use the Android TV Jellyfin app and SmartTube.
https://github.com/ryanrudolfoba/SteamOS-Waydroid-Installer
Abandon “legal” streaming, it doesn’t work because of DRM.
If you mean standard streaming apps the answer is “sort of”. You can run them in a browser with significantly reduced quality, but that’s it. All the streaming services now require Widevine certification (Android) or the Apple equivalent and might list in the locked down Roku store. They themselves do not support anything better than minimally OK anywhere else.
significantly reduced quality
Is it that significant?
It depends how much you like 720 video with stero audio. You might get lucky and get 1080 video. I personally pay for and actively use the 4K Dolby Vision video with surround sound, but that’s actively blocked by the streaming services in a browser, even though I can stream it in a browser from my Jellyfin instance while traveling to another country on hotel WiFi without much of a problem.
4k to 720p is what I’d call a significant reduction.
Oh wow, never knew that. This is some proper bullshit
When plugged into a TV, yes.
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.
If you use stremio + debrid yes
This is the way.
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 directly from Steam after adding it to steam
That looks great, thank you.
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 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 install Android apps via Waydroid but they’ll still be limited to 720p due to DRM.
You can also look into stremio. It has a flatpak
Kodi etc.
Shouldn’t that also apply to Kodi (on Linux systems) and LibreElec?
Only for streaming. For local files through Kodi, you can get full resolution.
Shouldn’t what apply?
I meant the limit to 720p.
Yes it should
Yes. I use SteamOS and Bazzite (I have multiple TVs with different computers for this) with Steam Big Picture mode as my sole streaming interface. Here are some decent Linux apps for various streaming services:
- Jellyfin Media Player
- Crunchyroll
- Multi-launcher for proprietary crap like Netflix, Hulu, etc.. I don’t use these services because they suck, but I tested the Netflix app, and it appears like you’ll likely need a keyboard and mouse for this one, rather than keyboard/gamepad controls. I hope I’m wrong.
- YouTube with SponsorBlock and ad-blocking
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”).
Get yourself one of these if you’d like a mostly seamless remote control experience (depending on how well each streaming app/wrapper works with keyboard/gamepad navigation). Easily the best $25 I ever spent.
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.
The Steam Controller is going to be an amazing way to navigate a desktop environment via the couch. I’m honestly as excited for it as the other hardware. The track pads are amazing.
Of course, in regards to streaming, you will be limited to 1080p or 720p because DRM. I might mention that one might consider other means of viewing ones content if doing so legally isn’t an option.
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.
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.
I mean if you’re willing to do keyboard and mouse, Kodi, Stremio, and Jellyfin all run great and would be lovely alternatives
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 ( maybe + pihole etc ) 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?
