Sometimes we don't need a desktop for daily use. Example: I'm considering a minimal desktop to just run VLC on a file server and display videos to my TV.
Just so you know, LibreELEC might be able to fulfill this need better. It's a JEOS style appliance with just enough Linux to bootstrap Kodi and that includes a file manager and you can use Samba to move files around over the network. Since Kodi (formerly known as XBMC) is a ten-foot interface, it was made for watching videos on your TV. There are also all sorts of skins to make it easy to use and nice to look at, including some you'd be convinced you were using your very own personal Netflix library, curated by you alone.
I know about LibreELEC and Kodi/XMBC because I used them years ago. I didn't know about Emby, suggested in another reply. I'm a little wary about those systems especially if backed by a company. Maybe they'll go fully commercial or shut down and I'll have a system to rebuild and relearn. I don't see much value in those interfaces, I won't pay for one. I prefer a bare file system and VLC. They'll be available forever.
To me it seems that the simpler option is to run VLC directly connected to the tv. Streaming is seamless now and Emby makes it easy but why have all that complexity involved when you can just play in VLC and get a better quality video?
