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Roku and TCL are being sued for allegedly bricking smart TVs with bad updates
(www.androidauthority.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Everyone wants to access Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, etc through their TV interface and I just don't get it. The best experience is when you hook up a PC to your TV... not some TV-centric Android OS or Roku's thing.
Install Kubuntu on some old PC with a GPU that can handle 4K @60Hz and you're good to go. KDE and Firefox let you crank up the zoom so everything's easy to read and it even has HDR support (though I prefer going without it... Old person eyes).
It's such a vastly superior experience. Not only do you get the usual stuff, you can use a real keyboard to type into that search bar. You can also access all those pirate streaming sites and do normal PC stuff like play games.
I'm sorry, but that's a terrible setup for 99% of the people. I don't want a big loud box near a tv. How would you even control it ? If all you are going to do is launch those apps, most people would be better off with apple tv. You can even install jellyfin there if you have your own home server and stream to it.
With mATX or ITX you can make a shockingly small and attractive computer; examples include this mATX case or this ITX case. People have even designed 3d printable cases, plans for laser cut/CNC acrylic and metal, etc.. If that's not small or classy enough, the miniPC market has really taken off and depending on how modest your needs are, you can get by with things like Zimaboards or go all the way to something like the MINISFORUM AI X1 Pro - a very capable machine that has an Oculink port that allows you to connect an external GPU if you need even more power.
Generally speaking you're never driving a media PC hard enough for the fans to ramp up, but if you somehow are, just buy quality fans and/or watercooling. I can speak for Noctua fans not just being a meme; they are actually very quiet.
I have a small keyboard with a built in trackpad. It's a bit bigger than a TV remote but not obnoxiously so, but given you get the ability to actually write stuff in instead of using an onscreen keyboard with an IR remote it's a worthwhile trade.