Windows Media Center as PVR Back End for XBMC

JohnJ9

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#81

Post by JohnJ9 » Sat May 10, 2014 1:52 pm

There is a spot on the raspberry pi site where you purchase a license for MPEG2 or VC-1. I've finally gotten the thing mostly working, and need to do this part this weekend.

3rob3

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#82

Post by 3rob3 » Sat May 10, 2014 10:29 pm

I was talking about the Amazon Fire TV and Mpeg2. I also have a Pi set up btw, it works great but is pretty slow when loading the guide.

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Crash2009

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#83

Post by Crash2009 » Sun May 11, 2014 4:06 am

Got live Tv working on a couple phones. iPhone 3gs-tethered jailbreak (what a pain), and a Samsung Galaxy S4 (easy, use the May 9 Nightly, comes with PVR WMC built in. Using Server WMC 1129). The iPhone, 2.4GHz, works pretty good if you are sitting on router. I love the S4, the 5GHz allows me to get outside for some air and still watch the playoffs.

I suppose the webserver will be next, so I can have my channels at work.

jjhtpc

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#84

Post by jjhtpc » Mon May 12, 2014 7:42 pm

I have the Fire TV all setup with gotham sideloaded and Server WMC running on my windows 7 system. The setup works great. The fire tv is more than up to the task for the mpeg2 streams. I think one of the greatest benefits is if you start watching a show and get distracted/can't watch the rest you can hit record and server wmc will start the recording from when you turned on the program(as opposed to when you hit the record button).

The Amazon Fire TV is replacing all of my Xbox 360s and the WAF has remained very high. In fact I think the wife actually likes the new format as you can now get to netflix and pandora without jumping through hoops. I am also enjoying being able to have a web browser on my tv as I also sideloaded opera browser.

Oh and in youtube my Samsung Galaxy S4 will recognize and cast videos to the Amazon Fire TV.

All in all I would say that Amazon got the box right, it is powerful, has very little power draw, plays anything I have thrown at it, and is very nice looking (really with the bt remote you could hide it behind the tv if you want).

3rob3

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#85

Post by 3rob3 » Mon May 12, 2014 8:19 pm

Awesome, thanks for the information. I too am planning on switching my extenders over to Fire TVs. I am currently running a nettop and a Raspberry Pi both with XBMC/ServerWMC and am really digging it.
Do you happen to have a MCE remote and IR receiver handy? I would prefer to keep using my current IR remote (since it has programmable TV power and volume). I am pretty sure I have read these work in XBMC on the Fire TV but was wondering whether it also worked inside the Fire TV OS itself. If you could test that I would really appreciate it.

jjhtpc

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#86

Post by jjhtpc » Tue May 13, 2014 1:21 pm

I do not have an MCE remote with IR unfortunately. My HPTC came with an IMON with built in IR. I do have an IOGEAR GKM561 that I use on my htpc and it connects to the FIRE TV just fine and works properly. I also have a mele F10 Pro remote/air mouse/keyboard and it works great. From what I have seen and heard the MCE remotes do work, but there are certain models... I believe the newer models work while some of the older models do not. I think someone over at xbmc stated that the new Rosewill mce remote works great.

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#87

Post by 3rob3 » Tue May 13, 2014 1:30 pm

Thanks for the reply. Do the devices you mentioned work in the main Fire OS also?

jjhtpc

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#88

Post by jjhtpc » Tue May 13, 2014 2:12 pm

Yes they work on the main os. My main use for the keyboard was an internet browser as it is definitely needed for that.
The mele F10 Pro is a really good little combo remote.

yunus

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#89

Post by yunus » Fri Jul 04, 2014 8:44 pm

My setup that I just finished uses XBMC as a sudo MC extender.

My main TV is connected to an HTPC running Win 7 (Core I5, 3rd gen) with plenty of horsepower to support more than just itself. So I use WMC for that because nothing responds as fast as the native software. I have a Ceton 4 tuner internal card on that machine.

What I just built is a Raspberry Pi, XMBC box for my basement and I'm about to build another one for my bedroom. I chose Openelec as the OS and have installed ServerWMC on my main HTPC and PVR.WMC on my raspberry Pi. For less than $70 I have a sudo extender that is capable of watching all recorded shows with ease, watching all my stored movies with ease, music including many apps such as Pandora, and I can watch live TV on it, however I choose not to, Live TV is a bit buggy and sometimes interferes with the main HTPC if it's watching live TV. I think the ServerWMC and WMC don't talk to each other well about sharing tuners so sometimes they try to steal from each other. Easy solution though, just record (through XBMC) the program you want to watch and then watch it with a 30 second delay while its recording.

One of my favorite things about XBMC is that my smartphone is the controller, it's not as fast as having a dedicated controller sitting there but it works well and I always have it on me anyways.

$70 got me more functionality in most areas than a true extender and I leave it on 24/7 because power requirements are so small so it boots faster than an Xbox would.

Mystic95Z

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#90

Post by Mystic95Z » Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:02 pm

yunus,

Can you watch recorded tv shows from the RasPi that have been marked copy-once? The RasPi would be great for me to use as extenders instead of 360's if that worked. Just getting my HTPC setup now, but don't have my cable card tuner yet to use on TWC.

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mmurley

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#91

Post by mmurley » Sat Sep 06, 2014 1:38 pm

To add my experience:

I have a two Android devices running XBMC with WMC.

1. A Google Nexus 10 gunning XBMC 13.2 (Gotham) with the latest version of both the xbmc.org WMC pvr add on and Android. It runs like a champ over a 820.11n. No issues.

2. A Matricom G-box MX-2 with Andriod 4.2.2 on kit running XBMC 13.2 (Gotham). I had stuttering and audio lag -I haven't revisted this for a day or two (just changed out my main switch to a gig switch).

In configuration I had to use the IP address of my HTPC.

Matricom is dragging their heels with updating their tweaked XBMC from 12 (Frodo) to 13 (Gotham). I don't know why, because these little boxes are otherwise awesome. I took the plunge because the Frodo WMC pve add on was unstable, I'd install it, then it would be disabled, then enabled, then gone, then back.

The other issue with the G-Box is that it loads the EPG s-l-o-w-l-y. My Nexus loads it fast.

I need to jailbreak my wife's iPad and install XBMC on it.

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#92

Post by milli260876 » Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:11 pm

I have seen the "fanboi" tag on here regarding MB3, but
just so you all know there is a newish implementation (XBMB3C).
It implements MB3 server as the back-end for XBMC and server WMC will work thru that (at least I think!!)
I think this would be interesting for all yo idevice people as you "shouldn't" as far as i'm aware need to jailbreak if you get the mb3 app....?

you can find more info here..
http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index. ... 99-xbmb3c/
Last edited by milli260876 on Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Lee

milli260876

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#93

Post by milli260876 » Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:15 pm

oh AND there is work on a scaled down Rpi variant as we speak....
Lee

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mmurley

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#94

Post by mmurley » Sat Sep 06, 2014 4:50 pm

mmurley wrote:To add my experience:

I have a two Android devices running XBMC with WMC.

1. A Google Nexus 10 gunning XBMC 13.2 (Gotham) with the latest version of both the xbmc.org WMC pvr add on and Android. It runs like a champ over a 820.11n. No issues.

2. A Matricom G-box MX-2 with Andriod 4.2.2 on kit running XBMC 13.2 (Gotham). I had stuttering and audio lag -I haven't revisted this for a day or two (just changed out my main switch to a gig switch).

In configuration I had to use the IP address of my HTPC.

Matricom is dragging their heels with updating their tweaked XBMC from 12 (Frodo) to 13 (Gotham). I don't know why, because these little boxes are otherwise awesome. I took the plunge because the Frodo WMC pve add on was unstable, I'd install it, then it would be disabled, then enabled, then gone, then back.

The other issue with the G-Box is that it loads the EPG s-l-o-w-l-y. My Nexus loads it fast.

I need to jailbreak my wife's iPad and install XBMC on it.
For some reason I couldn't edit.

I am still having stuttering video and audio lag on my G_Box, whilst my Google Nexus 10 plays smoothly... and ports are forwarded.

It's something in the G-Box, but what eludes me.

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Crash2009

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#95

Post by Crash2009 » Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:07 pm

mmurley wrote: The other issue with the G-Box is that it loads the EPG s-l-o-w-l-y. My Nexus loads it fast. It's something in the G-Box, but what eludes me.
Wow! Nice little box! I just watched this little video to get some idea of what the G-box actually is. I never heard of it before. As you know, (and I just discovered) G-box has two methods of connecting. Ethernet and WiFi 802.11b/g/n. The Nexus 10's WiFi is 802.11b/g/n or 802.11abg. The Nexus 10 just simply outclasses the G-box on every spec, so it's not surprising that it out-performs. At first glance G-box is running on 2.4ghz, and Nexus can be 2.4ghz or 5.0ghz. From my own personal experience, 5.0ghz streams video more reliably than 2.4ghz. I would put the G-box on the wire to level the playing field.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd6y-W-RHS0

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JazJon

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#96

Post by JazJon » Sat Sep 06, 2014 8:02 pm

G-box looks pretty cool. Great out of the box turn key experience.

I'm using a Zotac Z-Box in my bedroom. (windows 8.1)

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mmurley

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#97

Post by mmurley » Sun Sep 07, 2014 1:49 pm

Crash2009 wrote:
mmurley wrote: The other issue with the G-Box is that it loads the EPG s-l-o-w-l-y. My Nexus loads it fast. It's something in the G-Box, but what eludes me.
Wow! Nice little box! I just watched this little video to get some idea of what the G-box actually is. I never heard of it before. As you know, (and I just discovered) G-box has two methods of connecting. Ethernet and WiFi 802.11b/g/n. The Nexus 10's WiFi is 802.11b/g/n or 802.11abg. The Nexus 10 just simply outclasses the G-box on every spec, so it's not surprising that it out-performs. At first glance G-box is running on 2.4ghz, and Nexus can be 2.4ghz or 5.0ghz. From my own personal experience, 5.0ghz streams video more reliably than 2.4ghz. I would put the G-box on the wire to level the playing field.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd6y-W-RHS0
Actually my G-box is wired.

I fixed my issues. I manually updated to the latest stable ROM v1.2 and updated my XBMC to the G-box tweaked Gotham as per the Matricom forum (https://forum.matricom.net/index.php?topic=11960.0).

XMBC 13 and the WMC PVR add-on are streaming live TV like champs!

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#98

Post by mike_ekim » Tue Sep 09, 2014 1:23 pm

milli260876 wrote:I have seen the "fanboi" tag on here regarding MB3, but
just so you all know there is a newish implementation (XBMB3C).
It implements MB3 server as the back-end for XBMC and server WMC will work thru that (at least I think!!)
I think this would be interesting for all yo idevice people as you "shouldn't" as far as i'm aware need to jailbreak if you get the mb3 app....?

you can find more info here..
http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index. ... 99-xbmb3c/
Interesting, thx for the link! That brings interoperability to a new level.

mstbone67a

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#99

Post by mstbone67a » Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:56 am

Jjhtpc I am trying to get my fire stick working like yours. I am running into some hurdles

I got mb3 setup and have it able to pull epg data and finally switch channels.

Which xbmc skin are you using with mb3

jjhtpc

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#100

Post by jjhtpc » Tue Jan 13, 2015 4:44 pm

I am using Aeon MQ5. I don't know if the Fire Stick is powerful enough for that, but Looking at specs it should be. I have just started to cut over to Kodi and there is a modified version of MQ5 on the Kodi forum under the Aeon MQ5 subtopic. Seems to be working fine for me so far. It has been a few months since I have checked back here, and I have had this setup working for the last 9 months. With some of the more recent updates of server wmc, this platform has been just absolutely amazing. The only thing that I am waiting to see is if a custom rom comes out based on android tv for the Fire tv or if Amazon updates the box to Android L. If either of these occur it allows for the one bothersome thing to be overcome and that is proper handling of 23.976. I have learned to not care to much about this due to the fact that if i am really watching a movie it is down on the windows 7 box and that has an AMD A10-5700 that for the most part handles 23.976 perfectly.

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