OK, so school me on these devices. I am been without sat since last summer and would like something. I see there are starter kits for the RP at Amazon.ca and also devices such as AVOV (http://avov.tv/). Is there such a thing as a pvr version of these things? How hard is it to setup these devices? I have no Linux skills at all, so that is a consideration.
I picked up a minix X7 two years ago and it works flawlessly... it's only on Android 4.4 but it handles all i need it for, It basically turns your TV into a giant Android tablet. I'd avoid the pre-loaded boxes. Alot of these add-ons come and go, and if you don't learn how to look for an install different repos and add-ons, you'll soon be stuck with a box full of useless addons. No need for any knowledge of Linux, if you can use a smart phone, you can easily figure out these boxes
Since updating my ATV2 w/ Kodi/XBMC was somewhat of a pain in the ass, and Kodi stopped support for the ATV2,.. I decided to give the Raspberry Pi3 a try. I picked this kit up on Amazon a couple a week ago. You don't need much if any Linux background, as there are a ton of different prebuilt options, and even more tutorials on YouTube that will show how to do it all. The SD card with the kit comes pre-installed with NOOBS which is pretty much a point and click launcher of a Choose Your Own OS. After some reading, I decided to use BerryBoot to dual boot OpenElec/Kodi & RetroPie/EumlationStation (retro game emulation). Honestly, the hardest/most time consuming part of that setup is getting your emulators and roms set up to work, but like I said there are a ton of videos for that too. I looked up some cheap remotes/IR receivers and this one works with my Harmony so I grabbed that as well. And I grabbed two of these USB - SNES style controllers the other month. (RetroPie actually has a bunch of different options for controllers, Xbox360, PS3 etc.) The remote actually has a directional button for mouse control and L/R click so that can come in handy, it also works right out of the box with no driver installs needed; same with the game pads. As for cutting the cable with Kodi, that's a different beast on its own with all the different plugins you can get. But like the rest of this stuff, there are a ton of tutorials on youtube that will show you what to get, and how to do it all. It's pretty simple. If you're looking to take something out of a box and plug in to the TV and start watching, this probably isnt for you and may want to check out the Android boxes, but if you want to be able to customize things and tinker around I'd give the RPie a try.
Have you guys installed the TV Guide yet? Man, this is the best $13 a month I've ever spent haha. I don't know if I'll keep it past hockey and basketball playoffs, but I'll definitely be back on it for regular season sports.
Could get CBC and CTV with rabbit ears ....but couldn't get Global. $40 antenna on the roof fixed that.
I'll probably do that in my next place - this place is way to high off the ground, and I'd have to screw around with holes in the house, running wires down and across the house... meh. The quality is amazing though - I gave mine to my kid, and he can get all the channels from his apartment in Clayton Park and can't believe the clarity.
We just located it next to the old satellite dish and used the existing cables to run the signal to all the TV's. Pretty sweet for a $70 investment.
I'm about to move into a new place and currently just stream stuff on my laptop then mirror it through my tv. I'd like to get a stand alone box so I can watch hockey and stuff though. What should I do? I've never bought one before
Thats actually super smart haha. My only problem would be i think my old Sat dish isn't high enough to get a decent signal
go on amazon and order a box with kodi. they range from 50-150 dollars. they come pre installed with most things
Bascially one is as good as the next? Anyone have a recommendation for a couple of specific units within that price range?
Where are you getting them? I'm looking to pick one up (am more than capable of setting it up myself - just realized my current one is a Pi 1 B+ and as such Kodi is out of date)
i'll have to check this out, i checked my old pi2 and they are running 15.2 kodi. i have a pi 3 but its not hooked up right now.
https://www.tvaddons.ag/ i just install the linux hub wizard and it does the rest itself. Give you their top recommended programs
Finally got off my arse and installed Kodi on my laptop. Installed the Config Wizard on top of it. Not sure why I didn't do this months ago
What are you using to stream? I'm using Exodus as my primary, then 1Channel and Specto. I've tossed in the Trakt.tv addon to keep an eye on stuff. For movies you'll need to see what's actually out there in release world - ie - this great site one of our users gave me: http://www.scnsrc.me/. You would be looking for BDRips, BDScr (in some cases), DVD Rip, DVD Scr (in some cases) and avoid most other sources. I mention sometimes with the SCReeners because around awards season they release a lot of high quality movies that are still in the theatres for award review. Usually they only have a little note in a few scenes saying that it's for awards consideration only, but generally the quality is decent. HD rips are sometimes acceptable - they're usually PPV movies that people have somehow picked up. In a lot of the cases they have hard coded subtitles, but this isn't a guarantee, in other cases they're perfectly viewable. For TV I just tend to take the top one in the list HD, or 1080P whatever it says and it's usually more than watchable and fast.
I was using Exodus. With my usual Torrent methods I have no problem discerning between rip types but I find with Kodi there is not indication of the type of rip it is until you're playing it.
