I’m looking for the simplest form of UI to launch multiple different programs, including some games.
Currently running Windows 10 and using a FLIRC Skip 1S for launching Jellyfin and watching shows. Anything beyond those basic functions requires the wireless keyboard.
My goal is to not need the keyboard for anything and to launch games and all with the remote *or controller.
I’ve found Android TV to be the most usable TV OS tbh. I use Konstakang’s LineageOS Android TV 15 image on a Pi 5 which is source available (non commercial only licence). And Projectivy Launcher (closed source but is by an indie dev and better than the stock Google one). The Pi is CEC compatible so I can control it with my TV remote no problem, and I use Moonlight to stream games from my PC.
If you already have hardware, there may be an Android x86 TV release somewhere but I haven’t personally tested any, and you have to make sure the apps you want support x86 (all the open source ones like Jellyfin should)
Edit to add: I also personally haven’t found a need to install GApps as all the apps I use are either open source, or were made to work also on FireTV so don’t rely on GApps APIs. (Use SmartTube instead of YouTube, it’s a better experience anyway)
I can attest to projectivy and smarttube, they are great. I went with the internet’s recommendation on the $20 Walmart/onn Google tv 4k box, with projectivy as the launcher instead of the default.
My only gripe so far is that the remote doesn’t seem to consistently turn the box on, I have to go unplug the box every so often to reset it. probably some misconfiguration that’s making it not wake from sleep correctly.
Despite that issue, 10/10 experience: ad free YouTube, fast jellyfin in 4k, fully customizable ui…