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2014-07-24, 14:13
(This post was last modified: 2014-07-24, 14:14 by BlazinAF1s.)
I have been reading a lot about XBMC and the devices that are available but I am struggling to find the right player for me.
I am looking for a low budget XBMC player (£75) that can stream live tv/sports.
I have a 1TB external hard drive that I want to link with it.
Preferably Wifi capable and wil mostly use it for streaming Live TV and movies.
Hoping to get the most bang for my bucks but realize I won't be getting a intel powered NUC, hope someone can give me some advice.
Thanks!
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poplap
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Well for that cost your looking at a Raspberry Pi or maybe a Amazon FireTV if you can find it at the right cost. Am I right in assuming that when your taking live tv and Movies you mean your cable/sat/ota/etc and your own movies (Illegal sources are not talked about here)? Live TV need more hardware and usually an external system to handle it though some of the distros for the Rpi can run TvHeadend as well.
Raspberry Pi Model B 2 1024MB @ 1.0Ghz w/OSMC
--Decommissioned-- Raspberry Pi Model B 512MB @ 1.0Ghz w/ 3TB USB Drive Running Open Media Vault
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I was not aware of the extra hardware needed for live tv so lets forget about that and indeed I'm referring to my own movies.
I would like to play my content at 1080i does Raspberry Pi have that capability?
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poplap
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The Pi can do 1080i so long as its in h.264 sense it has hardware acceleration for it, it can also do VC-1 and MPEG2 but you have buy the licenses from the RPI Foundation, only a few bucks though. With a RPi all you would need is a USB tuner sense both OpenELEC and RaspBMC (my personal fav) have the option to install TvHeadend for live tv, though I have never used it so I can't speak to how well it preforms. The RPi's extra cost comes from the other stuff you need like an SD card (Mirco SD card for the Model B+), USB Wifi, a case (I used the box for a while as an easy case) and I would recommend a USB drive (small one like 4 or 8 gb) as it can speed things up. In the past you would have also needed a USB hub preferably powered though with the Model B+ it may not be needed anymore sense it adds more USBs and fixes some of the power limitations on them, but I dont have one yet so I don't know how much has changed.
Forgot about the NUC, however you have to buy an mSATA ssd and memory for those and that drives the cost up. Never set one up but it could be a good route.
Recently got a FireTV for the parents (Introducing them to XBMC, another convert to the true path lol), works great and is really fast. The only problem I could see is you getting one in the UK sense you will probably need to use ebay but if you can get it for the right price then there great. (And not afraid to get a little dirty rooting it and setting it up)
Raspberry Pi Model B 2 1024MB @ 1.0Ghz w/OSMC
--Decommissioned-- Raspberry Pi Model B 512MB @ 1.0Ghz w/ 3TB USB Drive Running Open Media Vault
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2014-07-24, 19:12
(This post was last modified: 2014-07-24, 19:14 by MediaPi.)
no point reccomending firetv for europeans, full stop. most services are tailored only for america. It doesnt do 50hz since its an android box and I've seen one for £73 but then ebay takes curency conversion so its about 2.5% which will take you to £75. you wont really have warrenty, if something messes up you have to pay for return delivery.
with the NUC you got openelec, which has no bias towards any region so you can always get the latest improvements. The FireTV is really only for americans, once you start importing its no where near as cheap as $99.
all you really need for a NUC is RAM (I got 2GB for £1.6 bargain but you should be able to pick up used RAM of ebay easily for less than £4) and you will have a USB lying around so thats it
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Media Pi. So did you go for the NUC or self build?
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goujam
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I have the j1900 its a great board no need for any fans so completely silent. Actually I have just taken delivery of the power cool q5 linked to as well and will be putting the j1900 in hopefully the weekend
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Could you test something for me, have you tried watching SD content on a HD tv? I've heard that the J1900 cant do anything more than bilinear (maybe they have added some optimisation) and billinear is meant to be poor compared to what a Pi can do.
have you noticed any difference between the quality of sd content on the Pi vs the J1900 board?
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goujam
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I haven't tried any SD content I'll try a few clips the weekend see what its like. From anything I've seen so far the picture quality is the same. The main advantages for me are better spped though menus, the network buffer stays nice and full ( pi used to dip on high bit rate) also the bit streaming HD audio is great.
The Mrs is out Saturday so I'll try testing some clips then I may try some interlaced content as well.
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thanks alot goujam glad to see someone enjoying their box
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My setup in my signature is pretty close to your budget.
