2014-07-31, 06:00
I’ve been kicking the tires on XBMC on my tablet for the past week or so and anxious to start my first build around the application. I’ve built tons of Windows boxes since before there was even “Windows”, so I have a pretty good understanding of slapping hardware together. My only real trepidations center on whether a DIY box can do everything I need to do reliably enough for me to cut the cables with good old Cox Communications.
I was planning on a Windows 7 Box with an Hauppauge dual tuner and a Bluray player on a MicroATX board with on board video. I’d like to replace my receiver, DVD player and CATV PVR with one PC. My wife and daughter are reasonable tech-savvy, but my fear is that the change to what is really a hobby-box will result in the occasional, “we can’t watch TV tonight because Daddy is fixing something”. In other words, in the history of XBMC have there been builds that have resulted in community-wide down time? What about times when “must have” add-ons have been disabled by preventative measures taken by the big content providers.
I don’t know much about Linux or OpenELEC, but if the consensus is that those are more stable OS platforms, I will look into them.
I would of course consider a NUC solution, but from what I’ve gathered, my needs may be more that what that architecture can currently provide. (Feel free to kick me in the right direction if I’m off course here)
To recap:
I’m dropping cable TV and need to watch and record OTA programming as well as XBMC content and other subscription content that plays nicely with the platform (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) I will also be adding a Bluray player and central HDD storage for now. I may build a NAS server at some later date, but for now I want it all in one quiet box.
Looking forward to the community’s responses.
I was planning on a Windows 7 Box with an Hauppauge dual tuner and a Bluray player on a MicroATX board with on board video. I’d like to replace my receiver, DVD player and CATV PVR with one PC. My wife and daughter are reasonable tech-savvy, but my fear is that the change to what is really a hobby-box will result in the occasional, “we can’t watch TV tonight because Daddy is fixing something”. In other words, in the history of XBMC have there been builds that have resulted in community-wide down time? What about times when “must have” add-ons have been disabled by preventative measures taken by the big content providers.
I don’t know much about Linux or OpenELEC, but if the consensus is that those are more stable OS platforms, I will look into them.
I would of course consider a NUC solution, but from what I’ve gathered, my needs may be more that what that architecture can currently provide. (Feel free to kick me in the right direction if I’m off course here)
To recap:
I’m dropping cable TV and need to watch and record OTA programming as well as XBMC content and other subscription content that plays nicely with the platform (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) I will also be adding a Bluray player and central HDD storage for now. I may build a NAS server at some later date, but for now I want it all in one quiet box.
Looking forward to the community’s responses.