will the Pi work for me? smooth live TV streaming
#1
Hello all,
I have a Windows 7 PC that I've been using for some time now to record OTA TV via HDHomerun. I just got the HDHomerun plus new version that transcodes to mp4. I was hoping to try and expand my options to be able to watch live TV on a second TV and have been considering XBMC

All I care about is live TV and that it play smoothly (pause, rewind, play other media etc are perks but not required).

Based on what I've seen the Pi with openelec/raspbmc would work for me and is the most cost effective option. Is this accurate? If there is something thats a wee bit more costly but adds a significant amount of functionality, I am open to suggestions!

Perhaps a separate question, but the new amazon fire tv thing, would that work with xbmc for live tv also? I'm guessing not, or not yet since its so new, but if its possible in the near future maybe i'd hold off for that (hardware specs seem to be far superior)
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#2
Since you have the transcoding HDHomerun, pretty much anything with smooth playback will work for you. The Raspberry Pi is quite execllent at playing back both H.264 and MPEG2, so either way, it should have you covered. The Fire TV might be a good option, and there are builds of XBMC that are working on it, but I would wait for the dust to settle. Actually, if I had the money, I'd be very tempted to buy the Fire TV, because even if something better comes along, it's still a very solid device for the money.
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#3
thanks ned thats great news, you made me feel much more at ease for purchasing the pi.

as far as FireTV, one a different forum i was reading, someone mentioned that live TV would not be possible at all on it (something about the hardware/decoders). is this true?
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#4
It should work because that new HDHomerun transcodes the mpeg2 stream so it can play on lower lower devices like android devices. It handles the brunt of the work.
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