2012-07-17, 19:10
I had been a long time MythTV user (almost from the begining) but a couple/few months ago shut down the Cable/Cable Box (Saving 50-60/month). I had purchased a LifeTime sub to PlayOn (1.5 months of canceled cable covered that) and was using the Free Roku box I received from them in the bedroom and Xbox 360 in the living room for my TV/Entertainment needs.
The problem with both is, movies in MKV don't play, and PlayOn struggles with 720p rips from BluRay to stream it. I also recently came across Sickbeard/Sabnzdb (which BTW are amazing, I haven't watch HD TV in months, kinda nice and Astraweb at $20/3months canceled the Hulu+ and I'm up a buck a month). I decided I needed to get a frontend going. I got my Revo gen 1 out of storage (don't throw many computer stuff away esp small things like that, you never know) from mythtv days and threw XBMC on there. I had never really gotten into XBMC, but it was pretty cool. Wish I had checked it out during my MythTV days def a much better frontend, IMO anyways.
Now I had an ATV1 (found on clearence years ago for $60) but replaced it with the Revo so that was also in storage. I picked up the Broadcom 7012 for $8 (yes I know 15 is better, don't watch much flash and $40 was cheapest I could find, 8 bucks is cheap, can always replace later) and MythTV had always been a bit sluggish on the ATV (my recordings were always SD so never needed the crystal card), but XBMC is pretty smooth. Sure sometimes when jumping ahead in a movie it takes 1.5 seconds to unstutter start playing smooth, but for a small/already own device in the bedroom it's very nice.
My only complaint is no Netflix but I know that's a netflix issue with Linux and not an XBMC issue. Would be nice to get rid of xbox Live and be able to give roku away to someone. (yes PlayOn can, but not HD and the Wife thinks the Playon Folder system sux for browsing Netflix, and many of us know the WF is key to a happy life)
Anyways, just a very nice product. Slick frontend. Very responsive even on crap hardware like the ATV1. I'm very impressed. Keep up the good work. I'll try to get a donation in next month as I already budgeted for this month.
The problem with both is, movies in MKV don't play, and PlayOn struggles with 720p rips from BluRay to stream it. I also recently came across Sickbeard/Sabnzdb (which BTW are amazing, I haven't watch HD TV in months, kinda nice and Astraweb at $20/3months canceled the Hulu+ and I'm up a buck a month). I decided I needed to get a frontend going. I got my Revo gen 1 out of storage (don't throw many computer stuff away esp small things like that, you never know) from mythtv days and threw XBMC on there. I had never really gotten into XBMC, but it was pretty cool. Wish I had checked it out during my MythTV days def a much better frontend, IMO anyways.
Now I had an ATV1 (found on clearence years ago for $60) but replaced it with the Revo so that was also in storage. I picked up the Broadcom 7012 for $8 (yes I know 15 is better, don't watch much flash and $40 was cheapest I could find, 8 bucks is cheap, can always replace later) and MythTV had always been a bit sluggish on the ATV (my recordings were always SD so never needed the crystal card), but XBMC is pretty smooth. Sure sometimes when jumping ahead in a movie it takes 1.5 seconds to unstutter start playing smooth, but for a small/already own device in the bedroom it's very nice.
My only complaint is no Netflix but I know that's a netflix issue with Linux and not an XBMC issue. Would be nice to get rid of xbox Live and be able to give roku away to someone. (yes PlayOn can, but not HD and the Wife thinks the Playon Folder system sux for browsing Netflix, and many of us know the WF is key to a happy life)
Anyways, just a very nice product. Slick frontend. Very responsive even on crap hardware like the ATV1. I'm very impressed. Keep up the good work. I'll try to get a donation in next month as I already budgeted for this month.
