Not sure a good discussion place to post this. I just want some brainstorming.

Looking for ideas on how to set up a faux-TV in the living room using a computer. I want to put an entertainment center across from the couch and have a place to watch media. But I have no interest in paying for cable/satellite/public broadcasts. (Why pay to be advertised to?)

I have a good collection of shows and movies on external hard drives. I figure I could buy a big monitor and plop it up there with a laptop attached. I could do a makeshift mouse using a game pad and Steam.

I just wanted to check if anyone had alternatives in mind. The mouse situation is suboptimal. Having to get another laptop is also suboptimal. The “TV” would also be about 200cm (6.5ish ft) away from the seating area, so I wonder how expensive an appropriately sized monitor would be. But I can’t think of any other way! Any ideas or have I pretty much figured it out?

  • shyguyblue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    12 hours ago

    I blocked my “smart” TV from the Internet and just had a Raspi hooked up through hdmi. Another comment mentions putting your media library on an old laptop and hiding it in a closet, out of sight. Then you can run Plex/Jellyfin/Web browser on the Pi, with whatever keyboard/mouse you want to control it.

    • TimewornTraveler@lemm.eeOP
      3·
      12 hours ago

      Interesting! Never heard of Raspberry Pi before. Wow, these things are so cool. Just tiny computers? So you use a television for a display, and you use Raspi for a simple PC that connects to the TV via HDMI? And all you’ve got on the Raspi is something like Plex?

      • shyguyblue@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        11 hours ago

        Yup. You get the Jellyfin server installed on a "real"computer, hooked up to whatever storage you need, then you install a client app on the Pi, or even use a web browser to connect to the server.

        The benefit of keeping them separate;

        1. you don’t have to look at the server and array of hard drives

        2. you can use any device with a web browser to talk to the server; phones, tablets, even the Amazon fire stick has a Jellyfin client app

        • TimewornTraveler@lemm.eeOP
          2·
          11 hours ago

          oh wow I hadn’t considered that benefit. i have just been hard copying things from my PC to my bedroom laptop. that would really simplify things