[NoHesitation]

Hi guys, I am new here, and new to the concept of an all-in-one solution, which is what I am hoping to achieve with XBMC. I currently have a WMC PC right now, but it is only used for movies, and other video files, but I would very much like to get rid of my cable boxes, though I am not ready to completely cut the cord, since the girlfriend still wants tv... That being said, I have done some research, and XBMC looks like it does almost everything I want it to do, but I wanted to ask here to see if it does the rest as well, so here is what I am looking for my HTPC to be able to do, in order of importance:

- Stream Live TV to any TV in the house (I have 3 TV's, XBMC PC would sit on the main TV)
- Stream recorded TV to any TV in the house
- Stream DVD/BluRay discs to any TV in the house
- Stream ripped Bluray/DVD files (mostly mkv files, a problem with WMC and Xbox)

Those are the major items I would like, and I know that XBMC does some of them very well, what I do not know, is will it support MKV natively, and surround sound with it? Also, the top 2 items are what I have a hard time finding answers for. I understand that DRM can be an issue (I am on FioS, so I think it is less of one). Also, it would be great if anyone happens to know the answer to the following 3 questions:

- Can I use a Raspberry Pi board as a suitable extender for the 4 items above? I would want 2 of them to do this
- Can I wake an extender, and the main PC with a remote control, like I can with a STB from Verizon?
- If a recording is scheduled (assuming the PVR builds do what I am hoping they do), will my HTPC automatically wake up in order to record, and will it wake up early enough to boot up and not miss any of the recording?

I apologize for the wall of text, and am really thankful to anyone that can help me out!

[Ned Scott]

an XBMC PVR set up should be able to do most of that. The only part is streaming actual DVD/Bluray discs. It might be possible, but it's not something I've done before. XBMC would also need some kind of helper program for retail bluray discs, since those contain encryption.


For the most part, the Raspberry Pi should make a suitable extender for those things now that you can get mpeg2 (used a lot in live TV streams) and VC-1 (used in some Blurays) codecs for the R-Pi (it used to be restricted to h.264).

You can wake various HTPCs, though it wouldn't be necessary with the R-Pi because it doesn't sleep (not much of an issue since the unit uses only a few dollars worth of electricity for an entire year when on 24/7).

I believe the PVR backend HTPC will need to be awake for scheduled recordings. Technically speaking, your set-top-box probably isn't going into a "real" sleep either. Remember how I said R-P's use very little power? You can use one of those as a PVR backend too.


The exact details on how to do all this is something I myself am still researching for our official PVR guide. Unfortunately I haven't learned a whole lot yet, so I'll have to yield to someone else for how to actually set it up.

[Malosar]

XBMC will play MKV files and Dolby Digital / DTS. The nightlies includes the new Audio Engine which also supports HD formats (TrueHD, DTS-HD MA).

For DRM copy-once flagged TV, your only option is WMC with a CableCard (as long as your FioS is capable of it). No other software is able to interact with copy protected content. WMC also allows you to achieve your other requirements. I'll give you a breakdown of my setup as I have similar needs.

Main Living room - A6-3650 HTPC Windows 7 with Ceton Cable Card running off Comcast Cable TV
This is my main central TV system which allows me to record up to 4 HD shows at once. I have a primary SSD and a secondary 2Tb green HDD for the actual recording storage. I also run XBMC on this for watching any movies and TV shows I have ripped or downloaded.

Basement - Windows Home Server v1
This stores all my data and streams everything to the client for XBMC. It also stores any recorded TV I have flagged for moving to the server. Having the Home Server Connector installed on any PC in my house allows me to access any recorded TV shows done by the main HTPC which were moved to the WHS. Running PHP/MySQL for storing the main XBMC library database all other clients connect to.

Various PC clients
I have my main desktop, basement entertainment center PC, laptop and wife and daughter's desktops, all Windows 7 with WMC and XBMC. I'm also currently playing with a Windows 8 tablet (on an Acer W500) which I can achieve exactly the same as my desktops. I also have one of the Tuners from the Ceton allocated to my laptop so I can watch live HD TV anywhere I want over wireless-n.

I have the XBMC launcher plugin installed in WMC so I don't need to quit out of that to go into XBMC. It closes down WMC for me, goes into XBMC then when I'm done, goes back into WMC. Remember that WMC doesn't need to be open for TV to be recorded.

It would be nice to be able to do everything within XBMC only, but that is not going to happen as long as I want to access Cable TV and protected content. WMC also plays really nicely with WHS and other clients for portability on recorded TV and for sharing tuners.

[NoHesitation]

Thanks for the response Malosar! So just for clarification, I have been trying to find the info out for sure, but from what I have been reading, FioS channels are all copy freely, with the exceptions of the premium channels (HBO/Sho/Starz/etc), which I do not subscribe to. If that is indeed definitely the case, would I then be able to possibly use XBMC for everything? I like WMC, somewhat, though a lot of the technical limitations are irritating, and a hybrid solution would work, though it is definitely less than ideal, given that I don't particularly want to pay for all the licenses to set up new boxes for all my WMC needs, as well as wanting to use the Rasp Pi boards, since they are nice and cheap, and I don't think that a non-hosting machine should have to be all that robust and $35 is tough to beat...

[NoHesitation]

Thanks Ned! Appreciate the response. Looks like I have some more research to do, as this sounds like an extremely attractive solution. The Bluray streaming is not absolutely necessary, though it would be a "nice to have". Realistically, I could always rip them and store them that way. You said the RPi could be used as a PVR backend. Could I use an RPi for only that purpose? As in, only to record, but to actually store the recording elsewhere? Or would a NAS be a better option for that idea? I could make either way work most likely, but I am trying to avoid both power costs, and the excess heat that is generated by having devices run at all times. Is there a sort of "hibernation" mode that a XBMC/PVR backend PC can be sent to, that it would automatically "wake up" from if a recording was scheduled, or if one of the client RPi's sent a WoL packet or some other sort of idea? Alternatively, would it be possible to house the channel recording schedule on a RPi, and when time comes for the show to record, it would then send a WoL packet to the main box, which would then wake up, and begin recording?

[Ned Scott]

You should be able to use an R-Pi for just recording and have it save the files to a network share.

Some NAS devices might actually be able to run the backend software as well, but I don't know of any off hand. When I do, I'll update the PVR (wiki) guide with that info.

It should be possible to have an always-on device that has the scheduled of the recordings that can then send a wake packet to the backend server/box, but I'm not sure how complicated such a set up would be. Totally possible from a technical standpoint, though.

It's probably even possible to scheduled the wake/on times for the backend directly on the backend hardware, if the motherboard supports it.

[Snippo]

I'm also curious if a R-Pi will be able to play HD streams from a TVHeadend server. In theory it should, but that also goes for my Mele A1000 (which won't work with HD). I'm still looking for a stable (and preferably cheap) frontend for TVHeadend and the R-Pi looks like the right choice now it's actually available, but I can't find any user experiences with PVR.