What's next after WMC?

Chat with other TGB members about whatever is on your mind.
jachin99

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#41

Post by jachin99 » Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:15 am

I still don't see the advantages of HDMI recording over a combination of Kodi for streaming & WMC for TV & Movies but i guess to each their own.

mlcarson

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#42

Post by mlcarson » Fri Mar 16, 2018 6:07 am

I've moved on from WMC to SageTV. HDMI recording is my way to record channels that have DRM hurdles without having to use Windows 7/8 for WMC. The question was what's next after WMC. HDMI encoders will allow recording anything that can be viewed. As the media companies try to make cable card go away, this becomes the next best option. Want to go streaming only, HDMI recording will still work; same thing for Satellite. At some point, PlayReady is going to stop working and that will be the end of WMC. The big question is just which will happen first: Cablecard obsolescence or PlayReady? Aren't they already planning this with PlayReady 3.0 but on 4K only so far?

jachin99

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#43

Post by jachin99 » Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:22 pm

Unless these recorders can consolidate most media functions down to a single box, interface, and remote I'm not sure they will become very popular (Who wants stereo sound in their Media room or 3 different remotes for each device around the house?). I think cable/DRM people might spend a lot to produce copy protection but it will be cracked somehow, and people will source their media right back to their media center of choice. Case in piont for this is UHD Bluray. If my cable company went to playready 3.0 tomorow I would probably be thinking about either SD PVR, or OTA, but even then It would be WIn 7 so I could launch it from MC.

HDMI capture can record BUT if it only records in stereo, and doesn't condense everything to one nice interface then why go through all of the Trouble? I can't see people that don't care much about sound or picture quality going through all of the extra effort of setting up HDMI capture. So far, from what I gather, HDMI capture gives you two things: The ability to record (But netflix, etc. mitigate the usefullness of this to most users), and a cheaper cable box (The same crowd probably doesn't want to go through the hassle of learning enough about their PC to properly set it up). The more they try to protect content, the more piracy will flourish. Take away the cable/OTA option, and there are still at least five or six streaming services that just need to be integrated into WMC, and very likely will be put into a Kodi addon of some type, as long as they can keep the software popular, and their developers happy.

Those are just my opinions though and I would really like to see HDMI capture of some sort brought to WMC so that I don't have to change video sources to play Xbox or Playstation.

mlcarson

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#44

Post by mlcarson » Fri Mar 16, 2018 10:09 pm

You have a point on the Stereo only which I already conceded is a disadvantage. SageTV integrates HDMI encoding as just another source via OpenDCT so it's a unified user interface experience. Requires a PC as a server and AndroidTV devices as client. It'll be worth it to some people. You could just say screw it and do most things through downloading pirated content and probably be better off. This is the most legitimate way of continuing to record paid content though.

toshfive

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#45

Post by toshfive » Wed May 16, 2018 5:17 pm

I love my setup, both hardware & software. It's not like WMC has an auto self destruct.

2 WMC 7pro boxes- Running headless for the most part inside cabinet. ServerWMC for Linux RaspberryPi's (Powered down one box that might become Linux server) Both have SSD's for OS with other HDD's. (TunerSalad). Also have couple other licensed copies of 7pro. Recording various daily local news & network shows.

2 HDHR Prime's (Thinking of adding another)

@ TV's- Raspberry Pi's LibreELEC/Kodi (17.6), mix of inexpensive Samsung & smart Hisense 4k tv's - HDMI CEC function allows menu navigation with TV remote, or with smart phone. Amazing live/recoded picture quality. Pi's are hardwired with Cat-5e & connected to AV receivers HDMI/ARC, or DAC pro HiFiBerry hat board.

In-wall Raspberry's (Music/SMB/Apple air play, or TV-Weather channel or News network) with 7" touchscreen's with DAC HiFiBerry hat boards- RCA balun to RJ45 back to receivers inside cabinet. Hallway Pi- Used mostly for whole-house and outside music. Master bathroom between closet and vanity sink, for music, and/or morning news (Dual coil ceiling speaker). Kitchen soon, remodeling it. That's why im thinking of adding another HDHR prime.

JAJ

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#46

Post by JAJ » Thu May 17, 2018 11:10 am

toshfive wrote:I love my setup, both hardware & software. It's not like WMC has an auto self destruct.

2 WMC 7pro boxes- Running headless for the most part inside cabinet. ServerWMC for Linux RaspberryPi's (Powered down one box that might become Linux server) Both have SSD's for OS with other HDD's. (TunerSalad). Also have couple other licensed copies of 7pro. Recording various daily local news & network shows.

2 HDHR Prime's (Thinking of adding another)

@ TV's- Raspberry Pi's LibreELEC/Kodi (17.6), mix of inexpensive Samsung & smart Hisense 4k tv's - HDMI CEC function allows menu navigation with TV remote, or with smart phone. Amazing live/recoded picture quality. Pi's are hardwired with Cat-5e & connected to AV receivers HDMI/ARC, or DAC pro HiFiBerry hat board.

In-wall Raspberry's (Music/SMB/Apple air play, or TV-Weather channel or News network) with 7" touchscreen's with DAC HiFiBerry hat boards- RCA balun to RJ45 back to receivers inside cabinet. Hallway Pi- Used mostly for whole-house and outside music. Master bathroom between closet and vanity sink, for music, and/or morning news (Dual coil ceiling speaker). Kitchen soon, remodeling it. That's why im thinking of adding another HDHR prime.
That is very similar to my setup, and I love it also. What software do you use for your in the wall Pi's?

toshfive

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#47

Post by toshfive » Thu May 17, 2018 2:44 pm

LibreELEC/ Kodi. HiFi-Berry DAC (RCA plugs) really cleanup audio.

I looked into others like SqueezePlayer, they just didn't appeal to me.

Skin
Estouchy (Touchscreen friendly)

Music
Pandoki for Pandora
Youtube
HDHR app (FiOS/Frontier music channels)

Viewing in-wall TV (News channels)
HDHR PVR (Icons & EPG)
ServerWMC PVR

Regular TV's
Organized listings with channel manager. I've since removed GenesisReborn in favor of Placenta.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ykmqddmw4vodo ... 3.MOV?dl=0


Using channel manager so as not clutter listings since news channels are all I need.
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JAJ

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#48

Post by JAJ » Fri May 18, 2018 1:56 am

Thank You for the info! That's a nice setup. I never tried Pandoki before, that's a nice feature.

mlcarson

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#49

Post by mlcarson » Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:23 pm

I've just started using Emby and think it has a lot of potential. It's primary function was a media server but has now added live TV/DVR functionality in the premiere version. It natively handles HDHomerun tuners and M3U IPTV (no plugins required) and does so in a manner that is very simple/straightforward. Emby respects the channel list options in the HDHomerun units themselves which I think is a smart move. Schedules Direct and XML files are both natively supported for guide data. It's still a work in progress but I'm liking it. The guide still needs better navigation keys and some sizing options (AndroidTV) but it's getting there. It's a good candidate for a future WMC replacement.

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