I set up a Linux pc to replace my smart TV and add some gaming capabilites. It took some time but I learned quite a lot (Thanks to Debian and Arch wikis). And I haven’t missed any TV functionality.
The launcher is flex-launcher on a labwc environment/compositor on a Debian stable distro. (For testing and easy setup, I also did it on Ubuntu Gnome but I don’t need a full DE in the background that I don’t use. But it’s adaptable to other distros and DEs.)
It’s now fully usable with a gamepad including turning the TV on and off, so I have also fully replaced the TV remote.
I hope some people may find it interesting. It was also quite a lot of fun, actually.
Do you change the channel to the sport that is on? That’s what IPTV is.
How much different is your experience?
IPTV is not a suitable replacement for combat sports viewing as most events aren’t broadcast on linear TV.
To pirate combat sports, you’re mostly looking at streaming websites and torrents, which while doable, are both less than ideal.
Streaming sites frequently crash and freeze mid-fight, and don’t generally support rewinding, or pausing more than a few seconds.
Torrents aren’t terrible for next day viewing, but if I’m not watching it live, I greatly value how the streaming services will break out the event by each individual fight.