There's a reason why self-hosted media servers like Jellyfin and Plex are popular. There's a reason why some people would rather buy Blu-rays and rip them rather than stream. And there was a reason why I attempted to build my own streaming box with Android TV on a Raspberry Pi: The smart TV market is one of the most aggressively monetized product categories in consumer tech.
But the prospect isn't as hopeless as it seems. There's an OS built specifically to serve TVs, and almost no one knows about it.
I plugged a Raspberry Pi into my smart TV and it changed how I watch everything
An old TV, a Raspberry Pi, and a setup that beats every streaming box on the market.
Meet Plasma Big Screen
KDE does for TVs what it did for desktops
The OS mentioned in the title of this article is Linux. But it wouldn't be a TV OS without KDE Plasma Big Screen, and that's what I want to talk about….