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Full Version: Is XBMC a good solution for me?
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I am looking for a way to be able to see the exact same thing when I turn on every TV in my house. Basically, I want an HTPC server and several clients (or extenders) that combine the functionality of a set top box, a whole-house DVR, a blu-ray/DVD player, and the types of apps you would find on a Roku (Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, etc) - but all in one device, operated by a single remote and using a single input on each TV. Can XBMC accomplish this, and what equipment would I need to do it?
Are you looking to watch and record live TV?
That is a very loaded question.

You can do everything you asked above but requires lots of configuration and know-how.

XBMC does not record live TV but can interact with a back end like MythTV or NPVR and others to setup recordings and watch them as well as watch live TV as well as pause like Comcast or FIOS provides.

XBMC is not a server client system its really just a client.

Most larger installs have a NAS as a central location for media storage that all XBMC clients can access.

NetFlix is supported on windows platforms and recently a Linux option has become available but is bleeding edge.

There are many addons available for XBMC like Roku with Video, Audio, Picture and many other addons as well as 3rd party addons that are not supported in these forums but are available online.

You can also setup MySQL to sync all libraries so that you can stop a show in one room and resume in any other room like Comcast multi room DVR and other provides call it follow me service.

What equipment is really a hard question to answer, I would say sit down layout what you want to accomplish and figure out what you need to support your install which might include a NAS a TV Recording back end and some XBMC clients.

If you are technical enough you can accomplish everything you asked for.
HDBaseT will very simply accomplish everything you're asking for.

Too bad it's only just now making a breakthrough, and stuck on 100Mb network speeds for now, and no one has Valens's chip installed yet.

But soon!

As for using a single remote for every room in your place, what would be the point? You're going to carry the remote into every room with you? Why not use the remote that goes to the TV in that room?


To do this as cheaply as possible

-- Stuff you're going to need --

HTPC (obviously)
RJ45 splitter
Spool of Cat6 cable - Be sure to get solid core, do not get the copper clad aluminum ( This link is just an example.)
USB over Ethernet extender 1 set per each tv you're going to
HDMI over Ethernet extender 1 set per each tv you're going to
FLIRC 1 for each tv you're going to
USB Hub


-- Setup --
Run usb and video/audio to each room via ethernet cable ( 3 strands of ethernet cable)
Have a FLIRC in each room to pick up the remote signal and send the commands back to your single machine.



-- Note --
You can go with an HDMI splitter since you will need a set of extenders for each room anyway, but going with RJ45 splitters will allow you to only have to use 1 HDMI extender over Ethernet at the source, instead of having 1 for each room. Plus they're cheaper.
(2013-09-05, 05:28)tomvalois Wrote: [ -> ]I am looking for a way to be able to see the exact same thing when I turn on every TV in my house. Basically, I want an HTPC server and several clients (or extenders) that combine the functionality of a set top box, a whole-house DVR, a blu-ray/DVD player, and the types of apps you would find on a Roku (Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, etc) - but all in one device, operated by a single remote and using a single input on each TV. Can XBMC accomplish this, and what equipment would I need to do it?

Yes it is possible. It's whether you want to take the leap to do it or not and whether you have the technical knowhow to do so.
Also, it's whether you want to take the upfront cost to do so.
There will be a large upfront cost to do so but you make the whole user experience better assuming everything works well. So it all depends on if this large upfront cost is worth it for what you can accomplish. I will say that now that I have an HTPC server, it's great. If I want to watch something now on this PC, I just can do it. If I want to view something on my phone I can now. But that 1k start up cost to build my server (it costs much less by my server doubles as a gaming machine as well as another client, etc.) was a LOT and I can't afford to get clients.
My guess though is it could cost up to 2k for a basic server setup, some clients, some of the hardware youl'l need (Ceton Quad Tuner, etc.).

You just have to decide if it's worth it for you. If you have an automatic downloader setup like some of the posters on here though, I think it's definitely worth it. I really wish I could fill my 10 TB of HDD space quicker lol.
(2013-09-10, 21:47)tential Wrote: [ -> ]I really wish I could fill my 10 TB of HDD space quicker lol.

That makes one of us, lol. I have 2TB of space, I just started getting into this a year ago. I have filled 14% of it and am constantly adding to my collection. TB of storage is WAAAAYYY too much space, especially with H.265 coming along! LOL
TB of storage is never too much space, lol.
I have 8TB, 4 on one and 4 as a backup. I will never not have a backup again. I used to have power problems where I lived and it killed a drive in my HTPC once. I had to redo the entire collection on that drive. Luckily I had the rest on another drive.
Yeah, you're right.


ANYWAY, it sounds like you'd be better off using Plex Media Server, than doing some crazy shit like we're talking about.

What CLIENT you use from there is up to you.