Hello, thank you very much for the Big Screen. Not a bug report, but a real brainstorming session. A TV’s home screen shouldn’t have apps as its main feature; the TV’s primary purpose isn’t to launch applications. What we want, what a normal family wants, is to turn on the TV and click play, whether to continue an episode or movie, or even scroll through various series, movies and TV Channels watch them, or even better, a system that tries to guess the best movie/series for the occasion. Of course, Big Screen can continue to be an application launcher, and Kodi or others will play that role, but then it loses the charm and convenience of a TV UI. With NFOs and the artworks, it should be possible for Big Screen to leverage this information and present something more attrative content oriented than just apps on the home screen, with a play button, for example, with (embedded) MPV. I’m thinking about local media and IPTV.
Cleaner and customizable version on the picture presented here:
I can see the appeal, but I guess this would require access to information from inside the app. This would require a rewrite/feature implementation in each app to make it work well (in order to export what big screen wants)
I am not saying it is not possible, but you can see why making an application launcher is a much easier task that a whole rewrite.
Side note: the name “Plasma Big Screen” implies to me that it is just KDE Plasma but for a big screen, which matches its current state of being an application launcher (and system settings) rather than a full TV UI
That rewrite seems to be necessary, i cant imagine my 3 yr old kid browsing these apps just to play paw patrol. Well, i don’t think being just plasma for big screen means that the system can’t be tweaked to fit the use case, which is the driving factor here.
So I think we’re facing a dilemma here: Do we keep plasma as it is and retain enthusiastic users, because I can’t imagine a child navigating that menu looking for the app to play their favorite cartoon? I gave the example of a child, but now I remember a case I know of a couple who can’t put on a movie or change channels because of the various apps that smart TVs put on the home screen, complicating the simple experience of returning from work, changing channels, or clicking play on a series or movie they paused. For us enthusiasts, this seems ridiculous; I thought it was crazy that that couple couldn’t find anything to watch, but we have to step out of our comfort zone and put ourselves in the shoes of the average user of the Big Screen.