Smart TV OS Alternative

The main issue for me is not finding a device to play content, but a dumb screen that is not a potatoe. A 4k HDR OLED Screen without any smart features is basically nowhere to be found

You could maybe get an advertisement screen. You know, those you find at train stations and stores.
Maybe, you could even get something like those touch panels McDonald's uses, that would be nice!
- Isn't most digital signage "SMART" too?
- They have a handful of dumb screens, like you're describing, at Best Buy. Somehow they're thousands of dollars for a normal sized TV.
I mean... just don't connect it.
- Some devices will prompt you to upgrade the firmware and won't let you do it without internet access, AFTER you're logged in to their platform.
- Then I still have to deal with the screen not respecting my input choice and having to manually switch to my streaming box
Look into commercial displays. They're dumb TV's.
I also tried finding a dumb 4K TV some time ago and, yeah, they don't exist. 4K TVs were a good tech that came out at the wrong time.
- I guess there's just not big enough of a market there to have a decent selection or reasonable prices.
Do you need 4k oled?
- yes, and next one should be 65"
https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV-category1category73.html
- I won't go back from OLED, but a good source none the less. Thanks
i got a good 55in LG oled screen, connected it to wifi and added a firewall rule to block its access to the internet because i hate how lg forces ads
i negated some of the privacy gains by having my “OS” be an apple TV that has internet access but im willing to live with it, since it allows easy remote access to my home assistant through HomeKit, plus the interface is nice and I have RetroArch installed on it, so yeah
You can replicate the same thing but switch the apple TV for a more private and adequate device for your needs
A TV that isn’t connected to a network is a dumb screen.
- not entirely,
  dumb tv turns on in maybe up to 3s
  while "smart" tv still needs more than 30s
  so now you have crapiest dumb tv on your hands

As others have suggested, OSMC is OK, but personally I prefer having Android so that I can use SmarttubeNext and access native apps for stuff like Jellyfin, Dropout, Nebula, etc. For years I played with various Linux options, but in the end I ditched it all for an Nvidia Shield and I couldn't be happier with the results.

Is there an android box more powerful than Shield? I love my shield TV, but I wonder if it needs an upgrade in a year or two.
- My parents bought Xiaomi TV box (could search for the exact name if anyone's interested), which runs GoogleTV (Which is just AndroidTV, they renamed for some reason) and comes with a remote. It even has hardware acceleration for AV1 playback. Downside is of course that it has all the Google spying shit and ads in the home menu but at least it works well and you can use all the apps you want without issue. Idk if there's something like LineageOS for AndroidTV, that would be great.
I also think Android has the best apps... SmartTube, Tivimate, and S0undTV can't be beat and have no good alternatives on other platforms. I run 4k firesticks that I blocked from updates long ago so I could have my own launcher/home screen instead of the ad riddled default one, but want to upgrade eventually. Been wondering lately how well AndroidTV on x86 runs... couldn't find anything on YouTube.

have a look at OSMC, you write it to the Pi SD card and it gives you Kodi all setup and ready use. you can even use your TV remote to control it

Could it do Plex instead of Kodi? Always found the Kodi UI pretty amateur dev.
- no, its based on kodi. but there are themes you could try
- There's probably a Plex add-on for Kodi. At least, there is for Jellyfin and Emby. If you don't like the UI, try changing it. I prefer the one called "Arctic: Zephyr - Reloaded". You'll need to customize the homescreen a bit to get the most out of it. That way you can make it show widgets of your content, e.g. the latest content added, continue watching, specific libraries, etc. That, at least, works very well with Jellyfin through the Jellycon add-on.

I literally have a rpi4 and just put libreELEC on it

Kodi is a great choice regardless of distro, whether that's libreelec, osmc, or just regular Raspbian.
I installed Kodi on my RetroPie setup, and it works well.

I find having the full OS is useful, and this KDE environment proves great https://plasma-bigscreen.org/

This looks cool but having the shell feel good on a TV is one thing, having apps is another. If I open Firefox on theat thing, am I going to see the same app as I do on desktop... only 10 feet away? I immediately asked this after I saw VS Code in the screenshot there because what is the point in having an accessible 10 foot UI to use it to launch an app where I won't be able to read the menus and navigate around in an accustomed fashion?
Thanks for reminding about this project! Had a look a year back and it looked quite green at the time. Any first hand experience, how did you install it?

I have been meaning to give this a try. https://osmc.tv/store/

Not OP but it looks good. I wanted an alternative to my Apple TV to watch movies from the NAS and it seems to do the trick for a slightly lower price.
- I have the previous model. It does a great job of playing videos from my server in the other room. It technically can do YouTube, but that's a pretty horrible experience. It can't do any other paid streaming services.
  But it does do an amazing job of local streaming. It handles most all of the audio and video codecs, and can direct stream just about any video file without too much playing around. I like mine, and definitely recommend it for anyone who also wants a trustworthy local media player.
- Yeah, I have a mini pc that I use when I travel as most places have issues with Plex unless you use a VPN. But it's just Ubuntu desktop. I want to try this out and see if I would recommend it to less than techno wizard friends as I don't want to be their IT support at all hours.
Found my way to that from other mentions of OSMC and gonna order one of those in the coming weeks. Been looking for an alternative to my Roku Ultra for a while.
Edit: searching more I see Vero V forum posts from this year about things like Netflix and Amazon limiting streaming to 1080p or lower, and YouTube being a lethargic experience. Will save it and probably go the Nvidia shield route for now.
- Damn, thanks for the info. I was hoping someone would make something new to replace the shield l.

As others are saying, OSMC might work. Most difficult part is making it so that the TV turns on when you turn on the computer since ARC isn't a thing for most computers.

I ended up giving up on OSMC and bought an Apple TV since nothing else got the "wife approval" factor. It's better than Google getting my data, has a Plex client, and let's me stream my Steam library.

The RPI has CEC support

It's been years since I've shopped for a TV, but... can't you just not connect it to the internet? I have a little microPC running Linux connected to our TV; it's smarter than any other TV I've seen, but the TV itself is stupid.

Why can't someone just get a smart TV and just never let it get online?

I mean, sure, if I had my 'druthers, I wouldn't be paying for features I don't use, but if it's literally impossible to buy dumb TVs, what's the issue?

I used to do that but it would constantly nag until I connected it
- Mines connected for home automation but can't connect to the internet. Blocking the Mac address from going out.
- Hmm. Just curious: did you try creating a tar pit subnet for it, which it could connect to but not escape from?
They TV companies make lots of money from selling ad space and preinstalled apps. (They likely sell at a loss initially)

If Android is okay, I'd recommend the ONN 4K Pro player from Walmart (if located in the U.S.) with some privacy caveats:

Do as little with Google: Make a throwaway login if Google requires one to get the device started up. Try to avoid Google Play Store as much as possible. If privacy from Google isn't a concern, feel free to use your Google account to download apps from the Google Play Store.
Learn how to sideload apps: There are multiple ways to do this, like a USB drive or FTP server.
Pick an alternate launcher: This will replace the default Android TV OS UI with one that has much more flexability and no ads. FLauncher and Projectivity are ones that I recommend to friends.

The final product is a modern streaming device with much more flexability than any other store-bought device. Building a HTPC with Linux is probably the true self hosted option. Personally, I'm able to afford some privacy sacrifices with Google for something that "just works."

I got one of these recently and it works well. Much smoother than whatever my Smart TV is natively running and it doesn't crash constantly.
If it were just me I'd have set up a small HTPC with Kodi, but my family needs something that works without ever needing my intervention, and it needs to run the 100 streaming services we hemorrhage money to. These boxes are super cheap and let me run Jellyfin too.
The old software versions support Lineage OS. If you can find one that was unlocked before they broke unlocking you are in luck. If not Google is bad for privacy.

Fwiw - I have both an LG C2 and a newer Samsung QLED. Neither have ever been connected to the internet, never pester me to connect, and the both turn on right to to my Apple TV

Currently I'm working on a Plasma Bigscreen build that still gives some privacy and 1080p Netflix/Disney+/Crunchyroll etc by using extensions/WebApps and getting S-Tube and other android apps (including tv web browser) via Waydroid + Flauncher, all controllable through a simple IR controller.

If you pm me I'll set it as a reminder for when I finish to share the package. It's designed for an Odroid C4.

As for dumb tvs or more privacy friendly tvs, you can find them if you know where to look. Here's some options from LG:

https://www.lg.com/us/business/digital-signage

They had a dumb 65" 4k OLED too but it's currently out of stock.

LibreELEC

The option(s) other commenters gave are great! But just to give you more options, I'll give you a few additional ideas.

KDE Connect: You can still use a normal desktop (preferably KDE or Gnome), set your display scale to 150+%, and then use your phone remotely to control the cursor, media playback, and more.
Bazzite: often used to replace SteamOS, it also boots into Steam big picture mode by default, where you can set applications in the start menu. It has a nice console-like interface, and you don't have to maintain anything, e.g. updating. It also supports Waydroid and webapps by default.
An old laptop or mini-PC with Bluefin or Aurora. They are basically like Bazzite, but without gaming stuff. You can set the display scale to 200% and enjoy a worry-free experience. Optionally, you can install Phosh or Plasma Mobile on top, which is made for mobile devices.

Is bazzite couch friendly? I'm expecting to need a mouse and that isnt my ideal setup
- In big picture mode it's couch/ controller friendly. In desktop mode you'll need a mouse. Either way you'll need a peripheral device for any platform.
KDE connect is not coach friendly
- I'm using it for years now to control the laptop from my couch? And it works great.

You could install android on something, and run one of the open source TV launchers

Is it any good?
- I've done that and as long as you don't need one of the mainstream streaming apps, it seemed to work well . Just give it a try. It's not a lot of work.
  Edit: As far as I remember it, it didn't have (the needed?) DRM support
  Edit2: Tested on RPi5

OS ≠ user interface.

Use whatever OS that runs Kodi or some other user interface the best (with privacy also being considered to be best).

A laptop running linux mint.

My alternative is OSMC running on a RPI 3

It isn't going to win any awards but it does work nicely with a Bluetooth remote