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 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.
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.
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/30081
Oh wow, never knew that. This is some proper bullshit
When plugged into a TV, yes.