I’m in the same boat as you and have tried time and time again to make it work using standard PC stuff. And yeah, it works but having to faff about with Kodi, torrents, or drivers got really annoying very quickly. If you actually want to use any of the big streaming providers (think Netflix, Prime, Disney, etc) you’re at best going to get 720p, if anything at all on linux, without extensive tinkering. Running Windows or getting a cheap M4 Mac Mini are also valid choices but I frankly just want to sit down and watch something and not have to wait for Copilot or any updates, aside from the rather clunky desktop experience.

For me the easiest compromise to make was to get an Apple TV. It — mostly — just works. All the big streaming apps work without hassle and I’m still able to watch my media collection through Jellyfin.

The way I see it, if you want to use any streaming apps, you have to play by their rules — DRM and all — no matter if it makes any sense.

Powertop

Personally I host a private Invidious instance for my partner and I. We both use the iOS version of Yattee. It’s not great and there are quite a few bugs, both in Invidious and Yattee, but it works well enough for the occasional video. Invidious doesn’t support ads and Yattee has build-in SponserBlock, which works well.

That’s sadly where it’s at. I’ve been lucky and managed to convince most of my friends to give Signal a go and in the end we stuck with it. But we’re all technically minded people so YMMV.