Raspberry Pi Smart TV?

WolfLink@lemmy.ml to Linux@lemmy.ml – 107 points –

I want to try to set up a Raspberry Pi I have as a smart TV box and I was hoping I could find some advice.

My main requirements are:

  • can run Moonlight

  • can be controlled from a Bluetooth game controller (that should also work in Moonlight)

What would be nice:

  • can run VLC or Plex or something

  • can support AirPlay

  • can be used for some actual streaming services like Netflix

Any suggestions?

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Honestly, you might be looking at a ShieldTV.

I considered this, but ended up going HTPC instead. The Shield is just too old and now they're loading it up with more ads you can't get rid of. Screw that.

I bought one last year, and even though I was hesitant because of its age, it can handle all the content I throw at it (4k 10 bit hdr h265, etc). As for the the ads, I solved that by installing a third party launcher.

The only issue I have with this setup is that I haven't found a good replacement for YouTube yet. A revanced for android TV would be amazing.

This is what I use for youtube on my android tv. Works mostly great although I recently had some stuttering during playnack that I have yet to find the cause of

One of my requirements was Steam (either locally or Steam Link) and EmulationStation. The Shield cost nearly the same money as the AMD Ryzen mini-pc I'm using, so I just decided to go with the more powerful device so I could run light to moderate Steam games at 1080p in addition to In-Home streaming. I use my gaming PC for WFH, so on days I work my kids wouldn't be able to play games from Steam unless it was local.

I think out the door I spent about $230 for a Ryzen 5000 series APU machine with 512GB of SSD and 16GB of RAM. With the shield at ~$199, I went for the more DIY solution, which isn't for everybody, but I'm an tinkerer.