Huh, that’s interesting. I would have thought that a TV running Linux would be called ‘smart’.
I’m with you though, it’s better to be more ‘modular’ and have your playback device- be it PlayStation, media server, heck even television receiver, seperate from the display itself.
I think the key here is integrating loading into the gameplay. The old Metroid trick of having the player traverse a basic hallway while the game loads the next area in the background is a good, if basic, example.