That's why I'm a big fan of a linux gaming/home theater PC for the living room. A lot less overhead and upkeep. GNOME + Steam Big picture + Plex/Jellyfin/MPV + Retroarch is a pretty nice "couch experience". The system is very clean and simple, using it is a dream compared to windows, even for normies.
Obviously it's not gonna work for everybody and everything. Depending on what you want to do it might be harder to setup. If you have games from platforms other than Steam you are gonna have a worse time. Also, if you insist on streaming you are gonna be limited to 720p on most services due to DRM (though you can delegate that to a smart TV). And if your hardware isn't quite Linux friendly it will probably end up being more trouble than windows.
Obviously it's not gonna work for everybody and everything. Depending on what you want to do it might be harder to setup. If you have games from platforms other than Steam you are gonna have a worse time. Also, if you insist on streaming you are gonna be limited to 720p on most services due to DRM (though you can delegate that to a smart TV). And if your hardware isn't quite Linux friendly it will probably end up being more trouble than windows.