That's a much more legit use case. I plan on buying the latest RPi and install KODI on it, and hook it to my TV. Complemented with my router using Pi-Hole (RPi-based DNS server that filters out ads and tracking) I am pretty certain that it's gonna be pretty seamless and much better experience than the "smart TV software".

I have the same, Raspberry Pi with kodi pulling from a samba share on an ubuntu server.