Just want a decent TV box... bit of a rant.

[AB_IT]

Right so let me start off by apologising in advance but I am very frustrated that no matter what I do I can't get a TV Box such as AppleTV, Fire Cube, Shield etc... that ticks every box that I want to do with it. One way or another it fails me and I'm getting more and more stuck. Maybe I have a very unique use case but there must be others out there like me and I don't understand why it's been so hard to find something.

 

I'm hoping that maybe one of you guys can go "Aha, this is what you need" because after days of research it's driving me insane.

 

Currently I need the following from the box itself:

- Compatible with all UK Streaming services, iPlayer, ITV, All4, My5. I also need it to work with Netflix, Plex, Smart Tube (Youtube Advert Blocker) and Prime video

- Needs to be compatible with an Xbox Bluetooth controller

- Need to have Moonlight/Steam Link applications

- Needs to have 1Gbit Ethernet Port in order to stream games from my gaming PC upstairs without latency. I've streamed over Wi-Fi and on my Smart TV which is 100Mbit port and it makes a huge difference

 

Now this is so far what I've found looking into all the options:

 

Fire Cube (2022):

This I thought was going to be the saving grace, based off android it allows me to sideload SteamLink, SmartTube if necessary, has native support for all UK apps and full Xbox Bluetooth Controller support...

 

Oh wait the Ethernet port is 10/100mbit! IN 2022, WHAT IDIOT DESIGNED THIS THING! It has Wi-Fi 6E which is great, this mean cabling the thing up would be slower than Wi-Fi so don't bloody include an Ethernet port then you ABSOLUTE F@$%&(£

 

*Happy Thoughts, Happy Place, Calm* So now that my dreams have been dashed onto the next one...

 

AppleTV (2022):

I'm in the Apple EcoSystem anyway, have a MacBook and iPhone so that's fine. Spec wise looks pretty good a 1Gbit Ethernet Port and good processing power.. Also supports all applications I want to run natively from the App Store including the Game Streaming apps.

 

Think we've found it lads and lasses this is the one...

 

NOPE no way to sideload apps and no SmartTube support *okay breatheeee* I'll just buy YouTube premium at £11.99 a month which will natively remove the ads from videos and maybe I can justify it by remvoing my Amazon Music subscription.

 

NOPE YouTube Music doesn't work with Amazon Alexa, why you may ask because F^*&$^@*^£^$* YOU THAT's WHY!

 

It wouldn't be so bad but I watch a lot of YouTube and the amount of adverts is beyond insanity so I do my best to avoid them at all costs as it puts me off watching them.

 

*Bangs head on wall*

 

Shield:

Now I currently have a Shield and the reason for me looking for another device is because I recently got an email from Nvidia stating they're phasing out the use of GameStream, idiots. Anyway so this means I now have to use Steam Link/Moonlight & Sunshine which is available on other devices. Literally the only reason I put up with the Shield not having All4 support for some stupid reason is because it had GameStream but it's always been a frustration of mine. Now GameStream is gone, it'd be nice to do away with the Shield and get one box that does it all.

 

There are workarounds such as casting from my phone but this works 10% of the time properly and is very buggy. It'll play all the adverts and then give you an "Oops" message when actually about to watch the thing I was trying to watch. I can also use a browser such as Puffin to browse to the All4 website and watch it via this but it's a bit clunky still and isn't a nice experience.

 

This is the reason why I'm looking at switching as that's always been a pain in my butt and is so frustrating, I use All4 often. ITV can do one I'm not interested in Love Island or whatever clickbait rubbish Good Morning Britain is spouting out nowadays, Iplayer and All4 are the one's I like the most. Can't sideload either from an android app, it used to work but now says I have no internet connection when I come to stream a video.

 

Raspberry Pi Setup:

All looks great until you get to the fact it won't work with Xbox Bluetooth Controllers as the driver has never been developed for it.

 

Kodi/HTPC:

Again it's just clunky, no way in order to nicely manage catchup apps using a remote control rather than a mouse and keyboard. But everything else is fine I guess but it wouldn't sit well with my partner who'd get confused. I need some software that has a nice interface.

 

 

Conclusion: I get that the streaming market is a bit hit and miss, streaming services have access to certain shows and you have to buy multiple, some apps have deals with hardware makers such as All4 which prevent their software being licensed. But all this I can overlook if someone will make me one piece of hardware that'll do it all. My laptop can, hell so can my phone.

 

I feel the solution to all this would be to design a Kodi alternative that allows me to simply map shortcuts to websites to all catchup services and open desktop applications such as SteamLink or Moonlight or Plex from within the app. It'd just be a pretty interface that utilises Windows ability to access everything. Why hasn't this been done!?

 

Anyway I'm tired and done with all the nonsense. If anyone can help me on this journey or knows of someway I can achieve the above it'd be most appreciated, until then I'll stick with the Shield and moan thrice a week that I can get All4 to work and then give up.

[Steve21]

Just as a note, but regarding your cube/pi, there should only be a 100mb requirement for Steamlink as it's capped at 100mb (or at least was last year when I last looked), even the unlimited option actually means 100mb so you shouldn't notice any difference between the two, unless it's the hardware of the smartTV causing the problem

 

Pi wise, there is an xbox bluetooth driver for it (xpad is the generic one but that's also xboxdrv and then joystick on top as another addon), takes some work getting sorted but should work for your requirements and would be worth checking out

 

Overall though, yes I think it's your requirement list you're after a computer really rather than a TV box!

 

Steve

Edited December 18, 2022 by elsiegee40

[LeMarchand]

Kodi/HTPC:

Again it's just clunky, no way in order to nicely manage catchup apps using a remote control rather than a mouse and keyboard. But everything else is fine I guess but it wouldn't sit well with my partner who'd get confused. I need some software that has a nice interface.

 

Get a partner-friendly box. SilverStone do some "media player" style cases or you could go down the NUC/micro type route if you want it more hidden. Get a suitable remote; I have something like https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Techta-Wireless-Raspberry-Presentation-Computers/dp/B08QV6L476 but "OK" works as left mouse rather than "highlighted option". I haven't investigated to see if this is changeable (probably not). If your TV remote has spare relevant buttons or you have an "All in One" type remote you could also fit an IR receiver and use a decoder to enable the PC to accept commands. I have tried this and thought it was more trouble than it was worth, YMMV. There's probably a phone app that might be of use here - possibly even more configurable.

 

I've had a Plex lifetime sub for years, so I don't know if "Discovery" is paid, but searching and clicking will take you to the web page for a show if you don't mind using your browser to view. If nothing else, you will at least know which app to use. So maybe set Plex start full screen with Windows? I gave up on Kodi when it was XBMC so it may well do the same stuff; idk.

 

Otherwise, interface wise there is the much-maligned W8 fullscreen start page (can be reinstated in 11) or, possibly less flexible, use large icons on the desktop with a neutral background. If your OK with using web apps for content you could also knock up an html page as a homepage with logos and links to the relevant sites (this definitely works in Firefox, as that's what my "home" homepage is). There are probably extensions that will do this for you. Not sure if you can launch exes/apps this way, but possibly worth looking into.

[AB_IT]

Just as a note, but regarding your cube/pi, there should only be a 100mb requirement for Steamlink as it's capped at 100mb (or at least was last year when I last looked), even the unlimited option actually means 100mb so you shouldn't notice any difference between the two, unless it's the hardware of the smartTV causing the problem

 

Pi wise, there is an xbox bluetooth driver for it (xpad is the generic one but that's also xboxdrv and then joystick on top as another addon), takes some work getting sorted but should work for your requirements and would be worth checking out

 

Overall though, yes I think it's your requirement list you're after a computer really rather than a TV box!

 

Steve

That's interesting, didn't know it was capped at 100mbps, just did my own research and you're still correct. Slight issue though is that Moonlight isn't and I stream at 4k 60FPS gaming-wise so like to ensure I have all the bandwidth I can get.

 

Also my internet connection is 900mbps download (I know I'm lucky I have FTTP) but I'd like it to be able to utilise as much of that as it can to future proof it. There's also the case that I don't want to have a orange 100mbps logo on my Unifi Console.. I like it to be all green lol!

 

Get a partner-friendly box. SilverStone do some "media player" style cases or you could go down the NUC/micro type route if you want it more hidden. Get a suitable remote; I have something like https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Techta-Wireless-Raspberry-Presentation-Computers/dp/B08QV6L476 but "OK" works as left mouse rather than "highlighted option". I haven't investigated to see if this is changeable (probably not). If your TV remote has spare relevant buttons or you have an "All in One" type remote you could also fit an IR receiver and use a decoder to enable the PC to accept commands. I have tried this and thought it was more trouble than it was worth, YMMV. There's probably a phone app that might be of use here - possibly even more configurable.

 

I've had a Plex lifetime sub for years, so I don't know if "Discovery" is paid, but searching and clicking will take you to the web page for a show if you don't mind using your browser to view. If nothing else, you will at least know which app to use. So maybe set Plex start full screen with Windows? I gave up on Kodi when it was XBMC so it may well do the same stuff; idk.

 

Otherwise, interface wise there is the much-maligned W8 fullscreen start page (can be reinstated in 11) or, possibly less flexible, use large icons on the desktop with a neutral background. If your OK with using web apps for content you could also knock up an html page as a homepage with logos and links to the relevant sites (this definitely works in Firefox, as that's what my "home" homepage is). There are probably extensions that will do this for you. Not sure if you can launch exes/apps this way, but possibly worth looking into.

 

This is interesting, a simple webpage with links to the web apps and exe files I need. Including a remote like that should make it all fairly easy. I have read though that some web apps are limited to 720p and I have a 4k TV I'd like to utilise.

 

It also still feels slightly clunky like the fact if I'm watching a YouTube video it's going to be a pain having to click the little 'Full Screen' video button in order for me to watch it in full screen everytime. It'd be nice to have a GUI that's not going to cause my partner frustration lol.

[LeMarchand]

This is interesting, a simple webpage with links to the web apps and exe files I need. Including a remote like that should make it all fairly easy. I have read though that some web apps are limited to 720p and I have a 4k TV I'd like to utilise.

 

It also still feels slightly clunky like the fact if I'm watching a YouTube video it's going to be a pain having to click the little 'Full Screen' video button in order for me to watch it in full screen everytime. It'd be nice to have a GUI that's not going to cause my partner frustration lol.

 

Re the web apps, it's possible to create shortcuts for "Store" apps - https://windowsloop.com/create-desktop-shortcut-for-any-store-app-in-windows-10/ - you'd have to see if these would work as a web link or go for the Full Screen Start Menu option. If the limit is a DRM thing, this solution may help: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250815951

 

Not familiar with SmartTube, but you could use the Windows Subsystem for Android (if you have W11 on a decent machine) to sideload it and see if it works that way. IIRC the "installed" apps just show as standard Start Menu shortcuts. You'd also need this method if you want the Apple TV+ app which, for some reason(!), isn't on the Microsoft Store.

 

Mind you, if you need to go down that route, what about an Android TV box? I've never researched them, so they may not meet your criteria.

[TechMonkey]

Would configuring the Pi to be a PiHole to filter all adverts work? That way you could use AppleTV and not worry about SmartTube

[slugshead]

Compatible with all UK Streaming services, iPlayer, ITV, All4, My5. I also need it to work with Netflix, Plex, Smart Tube (Youtube Advert Blocker) and Prime video

- Needs to be compatible with an Xbox Bluetooth controller

- Need to have Moonlight/Steam Link applications

- Needs to have 1Gbit Ethernet Port in order to stream games from my gaming PC upstairs without latency

]

My old Samsung Smart TV does all of this natievley without needing an external box... Other than the bluetooth xbox controller, the USB one works just fine though.

[DGardiner]

The new firetv cube has a usb port, wonder if a usb gig ethernet adapter works.... looks like its 2.0 but may still get more than 100?

[Dos_Box]

ETA Prime on YouTube often covers very small form factor PC's which would be more than up for the task (dependant on budget), but as @AB_IT and pthers say, it's not much help unless you have the software to run a good front end that will allow for multiple streaming apps + other sources.

I made quite a few media PC's back in the day, but once smart TV's, PVR's and other set top boxes came along then it all went a bit quiet on the media PC front, which is a shame as they were great fun to setup.

 

I'd love to get one of these, but I have no idea what I'd do with it now that my TV provides all that I need media wise.

 

[Norphy]

Amazon do a USB to ethernet adapter which will work with the various FireTV Devices but it's still only fast ethernet iirc. Probably because of the aforementioned USB 2.0 limitations.

 

It makes a certain amount of sense if you think about it, these things use ARM SOCs which are essentially for mobile phones and other mobile devices. Things like that generally don't want and/or need ethernet ports so they're not built into the SOC like a wifi adapter would be. You therefore have to have to use an external chip and the only bus that's going to be available to attach it to is going to be USB, and most likely USB 2.0 at that as low cost SOCs probably aren't going to have USB3

[flyinghaggis]

I currently have a (non-smart) TV with an original Google Chromecast I use for streaming services. However, I've decided to buy an Apple TV 4K for Xmas to replace it as the Chromecast is a few years old and doesn't support more recent codec's like x265 plus it's not great at streaming content over a local network. Looked at a couple of options but I have an iPhone/Mac so it seems liked the obvious goto choice. Though I can appreciate that it's a bit limited as it doesn't support local USB storage and you're restricted as to the apps it supports via the Apple Store.

 

Likewise, I've also recently gotten rid of Sky TV so contemplating buying a Freeview recorder of some kind just so I have the option to record broadcast television if there's something on I want to keep. If anyone has any recommendations let me know!

[Zoom7000]

You could alwys get YouTube Premium for dirt cheap via the hotukdeals method using a Turkish VPN.

 

But on the whole, I agree with you that the whole Smart TV, streaming box options are an utter minefield with no one product solving all the requirements.

 

I currently have a 2 device set up on my main TV:

 

Chromecast with Google TV - This does pretty much almost everything I use (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, YouTube Premium etc) The one thing it doesn't do, and thus what I need the PC for...

Lenovo Tiny PC - Sky Go. I got the PC for cheap from @ICTDirect_Dave, but it is getting on a bit and the Windows "decay" and Sky Go being so horribly coded really doesn't help matters! It works, but it's just so horribly clunky and convoluted.

 

Interestingly enough, Sky have just released the Sky Go app for Apple TV. I'm really tempted to buy one, but I'll be forking out £149 just to use Sky Go on a big screen with a remote on the go. I just wish they would release it for all streaming devices! But no, they'd rather charge for Sky Glass and Sky Stream instead!

[AB_IT]

Re the web apps, it's possible to create shortcuts for "Store" apps - https://windowsloop.com/create-desktop-shortcut-for-any-store-app-in-windows-10/ - you'd have to see if these would work as a web link or go for the Full Screen Start Menu option. If the limit is a DRM thing, this solution may help: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250815951

 

Not familiar with SmartTube, but you could use the Windows Subsystem for Android (if you have W11 on a decent machine) to sideload it and see if it works that way. IIRC the "installed" apps just show as standard Start Menu shortcuts. You'd also need this method if you want the Apple TV+ app which, for some reason(!), isn't on the Microsoft Store.

 

Mind you, if you need to go down that route, what about an Android TV box? I've never researched them, so they may not meet your criteria.

Yeah this is my problem with it all though really is that it requires a lot of faff to try and get it all setup and ensure you give it enough of a pretty GUI so that people other than techy me can actually use it easily. It's such a shame that Kodi didn't get much more development from the big names as the actual front end implementation of that is very pretty and easily navigated.

 

I think it's too much of a step back to go with a HTPC nowadays and it's just to janky for my needs. Like I say if it was just me then yes I could make it work but even getting apps to work with a remote would be finicky especially if I need to use Web Apps.

 

Would configuring the Pi to be a PiHole to filter all adverts work? That way you could use AppleTV and not worry about SmartTube

Already got a Pi-Hole and unfortunatley it doesn't block YouTube ads, if it did then an AppleTV would be my choice I think but for the amount of YouTube I watch and the recent uprise in YouTube ads it would drive me insane lol!

 

]

My old Samsung Smart TV does all of this natievley without needing an external box... Other than the bluetooth xbox controller, the USB one works just fine though.

 

Unfortunatley, been there, done that. Bought a Sony TV with Android TV built in thinking it was the answer to an all in one solution without the need of setup boxes but after about 2 years and lack of updates etc it started to lose it's overall responsiveness and then certain apps have been updated alongside the latest version of AndroidTV so I ended up losing that functionality. Now it's at a point where I never even use it. My partner had the same, she had a Samsung TV with all the apps on it and everything she ever wanted and then after a couple of years services just started to go missing.

 

I don't buy a TV based on it's smart features anymore as a result.

 

 

ETA Prime on YouTube often covers very small form factor PC's which would be more than up for the task (dependant on budget), but as @AB_IT and pthers say, it's not much help unless you have the software to run a good front end that will allow for multiple streaming apps + other sources.

I made quite a few media PC's back in the day, but once smart TV's, PVR's and other set top boxes came along then it all went a bit quiet on the media PC front, which is a shame as they were great fun to setup.

 

I'd love to get one of these, but I have no idea what I'd do with it now that my TV provides all that I need media wise.

 

Watched a bunch of his videos and they are helpful but as I went through all the solutions he'd reviewed and things it was just making it more clear that there isn't a box that could tick all of my needs, except for the AppleTV but then I lose Ad blocking or the Shield again but then I have to make do without All4. Both are so close but no cigar.

 

Amazon do a USB to ethernet adapter which will work with the various FireTV Devices but it's still only fast ethernet iirc. Probably because of the aforementioned USB 2.0 limitations.

 

It makes a certain amount of sense if you think about it, these things use ARM SOCs which are essentially for mobile phones and other mobile devices. Things like that generally don't want and/or need ethernet ports so they're not built into the SOC like a wifi adapter would be. You therefore have to have to use an external chip and the only bus that's going to be available to attach it to is going to be USB, and most likely USB 2.0 at that as low cost SOCs probably aren't going to have USB3

 

Yeah it's just a bit frustrating especially when you're dropping around £150 on a smart TV box you expect a bit better. I could understand the 100mbit limit on say a Fire Stick that's £40-50 but I think it's a bit mis sight to only provide the fire cube with 100Mbit broadband for the price, if Apple can do a 1Gbps link so could Amazon. It's a way to increase profit margins in my opinion.

 

I need the 1Gbps link as I want it to last me a few years into the future and as game streaming becomes more popular and more of a thing I want to ensure I have a TV box that's capable.

[AB_IT]

I currently have a (non-smart) TV with an original Google Chromecast I use for streaming services. However, I've decided to buy an Apple TV 4K for Xmas to replace it as the Chromecast is a few years old and doesn't support more recent codec's like x265 plus it's not great at streaming content over a local network. Looked at a couple of options but I have an iPhone/Mac so it seems liked the obvious goto choice. Though I can appreciate that it's a bit limited as it doesn't support local USB storage and you're restricted as to the apps it supports via the Apple Store.

 

Likewise, I've also recently gotten rid of Sky TV so contemplating buying a Freeview recorder of some kind just so I have the option to record broadcast television if there's something on I want to keep. If anyone has any recommendations let me know!

The one thing my TV did right was that you could connect a external Hard Drive to a USB port and record live TV through the TV itself without needing an additional add-on box. My TV was expensive though at £1,000 but that was about 8 years ago. I thought most TV's must have this functionality now?

 

I have a 4TB Hard Drive connected up and record only really at Christmas times on the HD channels and still haven't touched 1TB use yet.

[AB_IT]

You could alwys get YouTube Premium for dirt cheap via the hotukdeals method using a Turkish VPN.

 

But on the whole, I agree with you that the whole Smart TV, streaming box options are an utter minefield with no one product solving all the requirements.

 

I currently have a 2 device set up on my main TV:

 

Chromecast with Google TV - This does pretty much almost everything I use (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, YouTube Premium etc) The one thing it doesn't do, and thus what I need the PC for...

Lenovo Tiny PC - Sky Go. I got the PC for cheap from @ICTDirect_Dave, but it is getting on a bit and the Windows "decay" and Sky Go being so horribly coded really doesn't help matters! It works, but it's just so horribly clunky and convoluted.

 

Interestingly enough, Sky have just released the Sky Go app for Apple TV. I'm really tempted to buy one, but I'll be forking out £149 just to use Sky Go on a big screen with a remote on the go. I just wish they would release it for all streaming devices! But no, they'd rather charge for Sky Glass and Sky Stream instead!

Did some research with YouTube premium over a VPN. They're cracking down on it hard and apparently can cause you all sorts of problems including the fact you have to give them now a fake address and then your YouTube reccomended becomes all Turkish or Indian speaking. This also effects your ability to search. Basically YouTube being greedy gits. I'd pay full price as it comes with the YouTube Music app also but can't justify it if it doesn't work on Alexa.

 

It's frustrating isn't it, I think there should be much more competition and no company should be able to strike an exclusivity deal with a streaming service. It completely messes up the market. I also think we shouldn't have so many different streaming services Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Disney+ etc... what a faff! But that's another rant for another day

[Davit2005]

Same here, AppleTV 4k (just for iTunes) , Amazon Firestick 4K for Prime both support Emby which I use, both support Netflix and iTunes but I'm only a single household. If I'm in bed I watch iTunes on an iPad if I am up I watch mostly YouTube, Prime, Netflix or Emby content on a 4k monitor.

 

A few virtual instances of PiHole for redundancy cause everything I have goes through them if I have a choice but they don't block out all YouTube Ads. Not frustrated with the ADs on YouTube enough to forkout for YouTube premium although now I think they have put the 4k stuff behind a pay wall might not be long.

 

But an absolute minefield.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Davit2005

[LeMarchand]

The OP inspired me to take a look at my HTPC set up as, although I'm planning on a new TV soon, we all know how long the apps on such things stay functional. Like @AB_IT it's the need for something that the rest of the family will be able to turn on and just use a remote to access. So, front end solutions if going down the HTPC route. HTPC currently W10, but I know the Start Menu can be reinstated on W11. HTPC is set to auto log in, has a "PC remote/keyboard" and yes, I do have seasonally themed wallpaper slideshows.

 

Start Menu.

 

ff you can force Tablet Mode even better as it will autolaunch the Start Menu. I used WinTiler 2 (<£3) to create a couple of "large" tiles to match the others, though I did see other apps including one that claimed you could do "live tiles". Advantages: Quick and easy. Disadvantages: Bit dull - though if you varied the sizes and threw in some Live Tiles probably OK, constrained by limitations of Start Menu layout limitations, only exes with WinTiler 2 - though I guess you could script a "launcher" and use something like bat2exe for pretty much anything, or find something more flexible for the tiles.

 

 

Rainmeter.

 

I found a skin called Spectrum v3 that is basically a launcher. Obviously there are many, many, more skins. I did think that this was particularly suited to HTPC use. Advantages: Very customisable and (IMHO) looks great, with a bit of work will launch pretty much anything you have access to via your machine. Disadvantages: Unless you're familiar with Rainmeter it's a bit of a learning curve.

 

After log in, you get the main panel. You can customize pretty much everything as it's Rainmeter. Each panel has a mouseover graphic that if/when I have time I may change (favourite Netflix show behind Netflix etc):

 

 

After you close the open app it takes you back to the desktop and mousing/waving the remote (if you have a suitable remote as mentioned earlier) near the top of the screen will bring up the "full" launcher. Again, this should be customisable; I think I'd prefer this to be the default and I may look into seeing if I can keep the skin active on the desktop. Anyway, as you can see, there are 4 built-in launch panels allowing for up to 24 apps/whatevers, possibly more with tweaking, and a few other buttons. I'll probably get around to hiding some of these.

 

 

Quite pleased with the Rainmeter setup, though getting the Store apps to launch was a PITA and the syntax for launching exes seems to have changed since the skin was created. Gonna test it on Mme LeMarchand next time we need something via Plex or Disney. We currently use the Virgin box for most things as it's power draw is quite low (I suspect that the HTPC is a fair bit higher - must get around to testing it) but it's always good to have a backup device. The Virgin interface is ugly, but if it saves on the leccy these days it's a big factor to take into account.

[Localtechie]

https://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/freeview/humax-aura-4k-android-tv-recorder.html

 

Would something like this work (yes it's a longshot)

[Zoom7000]

This looks great. Do you have a remote control that is compatible with this?

 

The OP inspired me to take a look at my HTPC set up as, although I'm planning on a new TV soon, we all know how long the apps on such things stay functional. Like @AB_IT it's the need for something that the rest of the family will be able to turn on and just use a remote to access. So, front end solutions if going down the HTPC route. HTPC currently W10, but I know the Start Menu can be reinstated on W11. HTPC is set to auto log in, has a "PC remote/keyboard" and yes, I do have seasonally themed wallpaper slideshows.

 

Start Menu.

 

ff you can force Tablet Mode even better as it will autolaunch the Start Menu. I used WinTiler 2 (<£3) to create a couple of "large" tiles to match the others, though I did see other apps including one that claimed you could do "live tiles". Advantages: Quick and easy. Disadvantages: Bit dull - though if you varied the sizes and threw in some Live Tiles probably OK, constrained by limitations of Start Menu layout limitations, only exes with WinTiler 2 - though I guess you could script a "launcher" and use something like bat2exe for pretty much anything, or find something more flexible for the tiles.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]67594[/ATTACH]

 

Rainmeter.

 

I found a skin called Spectrum v3 that is basically a launcher. Obviously there are many, many, more skins. I did think that this was particularly suited to HTPC use. Advantages: Very customisable and (IMHO) looks great, with a bit of work will launch pretty much anything you have access to via your machine. Disadvantages: Unless you're familiar with Rainmeter it's a bit of a learning curve.

 

After log in, you get the main panel. You can customize pretty much everything as it's Rainmeter. Each panel has a mouseover graphic that if/when I have time I may change (favourite Netflix show behind Netflix etc):

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]67595[/ATTACH]

 

After you close the open app it takes you back to the desktop and mousing/waving the remote (if you have a suitable remote as mentioned earlier) near the top of the screen will bring up the "full" launcher. Again, this should be customisable; I think I'd prefer this to be the default and I may look into seeing if I can keep the skin active on the desktop. Anyway, as you can see, there are 4 built-in launch panels allowing for up to 24 apps/whatevers, possibly more with tweaking, and a few other buttons. I'll probably get around to hiding some of these.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]67596[/ATTACH]

 

Quite pleased with the Rainmeter setup, though getting the Store apps to launch was a PITA and the syntax for launching exes seems to have changed since the skin was created. Gonna test it on Mme LeMarchand next time we need something via Plex or Disney. We currently use the Virgin box for most things as it's power draw is quite low (I suspect that the HTPC is a fair bit higher - must get around to testing it) but it's always good to have a backup device. The Virgin interface is ugly, but if it saves on the leccy these days it's a big factor to take into account.

[LeMarchand]

This looks great. Do you have a remote control that is compatible with this?

 

I've got this one: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XJZTPTD

 

I just use the provided dongle in the HTPC and it does for navigating and the odd bit of keyboard use for searching. As mentioned above, "OK" is a "left mouse click" rather than "activate highlighted" in Plex (though flipping it to use the "Enter" key on the keyboard works as expected).

[AB_IT]

I've got this one: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XJZTPTD

 

I just use the provided dongle in the HTPC and it does for navigating and the odd bit of keyboard use for searching. As mentioned above, "OK" is a "left mouse click" rather than "activate highlighted" in Plex (though flipping it to use the "Enter" key on the keyboard works as expected).

Looks fab and a good idea! Thank you for sharing I might look into it all and see if I can make my own flavour!!

 

I was also thinking about maybe a Steam Deck as these are essentially computers and have the added benefit of being a handheld gaming console. As it runs Linux you can install most things including Chrome which will let you browse to all the catchup services websites and use it from there. You can also add the websites into Steam Big Picture mode with all pretty logo's and things and make it seem like an app.

 

Obviously it has support for SteamLink and Moonlight too and the docks come with a 1Gbit port and HDMI to connect to a 4k @ 60Hz TV.

 

I thought if I plugged in the controller you use into the docks USB port this might work also to browse the apps. Looking into it though currently.

[AB_IT]

Just discovered even a HTPC won't suit all my needs. iPlayer is not in 4k, Prime Video doesn't allow 4k playback either on a PC... Seriously!

 

I suppose the closest all in one solution is the Apple TV I'll just miss out on ad-free YouTube. Such a shame there's literally not one device that can do it all.

[andy_b]

Given the general lack of 4k content from the BBC, how much of a problem is it really?

 

Admitedly there is more on Prime, but then not sure how much of it I'd actually be watching.

[AB_IT]

Given the general lack of 4k content from the BBC, how much of a problem is it really?

 

Admitedly there is more on Prime, but then not sure how much of it I'd actually be watching.

 

More so about future proofing though and ticking all my needs rather than invest in a box and then come to find a year later all of iPlayer's shows are being released in 4k and then thinking I can't utilise that.

 

I know I'm being a bit stinky but seriously I just want one box that ticks all needs and is the latest and greatest!

[LeMarchand]

Just discovered even a HTPC won't suit all my needs. iPlayer is not in 4k, Prime Video doesn't allow 4k playback either on a PC... Seriously!

 

Are they in 4k on Android? Would the subsystem work?

 

Also found this skin (Gamepad 2) that might be adaptable for non-games).