I have a $150 N100 Mini-PC with Lubuntu and an always on Kodi for that.
I even got a wireless remote for it - turns out Kodi’s keyboard shortcuts are standard so there are wirelless remotes that just identify themselves on USB as a “keyboard” and just have the remote buttons mapped to the correct shortcut key for that function. The remote looks the same as any other remote (though if you press the power button it switches OFF the PC and then you can’t switch it ON again with the remote).
It works pretty much like a dedicated TV media box and it’s my living room were you can’t really tell it’s a PC unless you know what to look for.
As an upside, it’s also my home NAS and bittorrent server, remotelly managed from my official PC via SSH and web (the bittorrent server has a web interface).
I’ve actually been using TV media boxes for over a decade (long before Smart TVs) and this is the best setup I’ve ever had.
I have a $150 N100 Mini-PC with Lubuntu and an always on Kodi for that.
I even got a wireless remote for it - turns out Kodi’s keyboard shortcuts are standard so there are wirelless remotes that just identify themselves on USB as a “keyboard” and just have the remote buttons mapped to the correct shortcut key for that function. The remote looks the same as any other remote (though if you press the power button it switches OFF the PC and then you can’t switch it ON again with the remote).
It works pretty much like a dedicated TV media box and it’s my living room were you can’t really tell it’s a PC unless you know what to look for.
As an upside, it’s also my home NAS and bittorrent server, remotelly managed from my official PC via SSH and web (the bittorrent server has a web interface).
I’ve actually been using TV media boxes for over a decade (long before Smart TVs) and this is the best setup I’ve ever had.