Valve may be developing a “Steam Box” powered by SteamOS
The new kernel designed for “AMD Lilac” hints at possible new hardware
The device seems more of a competitor for Nvidia Shield than an upcoming Steam Deck 2.
I don’t quite understand the appeal of a streaming box in most cases. What is the appeal?
Of course it depends on the OS, but when NVIDIA started showing ads I installed a 3rd party launcher. It also allows me to install apps that block and skip ads on a major streaming platform. And, if I upgrade my TV I’m not entering my info into a new system, I just plug in the Shield.
It turns any TV into a smart TV. Compared to just using the features built into a smart TV, it has a more capable processor, more timely updates with a longer lifetime, and possibly a wider selection of apps. Compared to using something like a game console or PC, it is smaller, more power-efficient, and (if the only feature you care about is streaming) has fewer unnecessary features.
I use a laptop hooked up to my TV which is vastly superior in the most important way for me: ad blocking.
I’d love a shield replacement (even though it’s pretty much fine), but how are you going to get streaming to work properly? Are you going to support all the DRM stuff platforms require to stream reasonable quality video in Linux?
I mean…is it though? I thought they stopped selling the NVidia Shield. So, there isn’t exactly any “competition”.
They still sell them. They made newer models since, though I have no idea if it’s still as popular as it once was.
TIL the Steam Deck isn’t doing the same thing as the Shield.
It’ll primarily be a gaming device but if they did ever push to be a HTPC type box, Roku is more vulnerable than Google and Apple I think. I’d love to see HTPCs get another shot at the living room and get app support from the popular streaming services
I definitely think that’s the last big item steamos is missing, a bar at the top of streaming services.
Edit, that sounded sarcastic but it wasn’t, I honestly want that, it would allow me to convert the rest of the family TV’s to steam