Smart TV - Linux - Android Box

Inconspicuous

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to pick your brains and see what people's opinions are on the following. (sorry for the long post)

I'm looking at putting a new TV into a family room. As a result I'm going to upgrade my SAT/DTT system. I'm going to install a TBS Moi Pro to serve live tv out to my tv points via cat 6 cable.

On the TV in the sitting room I currently have a "dumb" tv with a box underneath running Openelec/Kodi. This is connected to a backend running TvHeadend and my local media library. It works quite well and allows us all the PVR functionality of TvHeadend. It doesn't really do other features well though, like skype (not at all), internet, youtube (flakey, video restrictions) etc. So I'm looking for some alternatives.

The TV that will go into the family room is to be mounted on a swinging wall bracket with the cables hidden behind the TV. Therefore there is no real place for a separate frontend client. I was looking at a couple of options to allow me to view the streams from my TvHeadend and media collection.

At first I thought of just a normal smart tv. They usually have dedicated apps like youtube, skype and internet explorer built in and I could stream the live tv from TvHeadend using upnp/dnla or Sat>IP. Unfortunately though this doesn't offer the true pvr features of TVHeadend (timeshift/recording/EPG) unless an external harddisk is connected and the TV's native functions are used. But doing this would mean that the TV recordings are not centralised in one location which I can currently do with the TvHeadend add-on in Kodi.

I next thought about using an Android smart tv from Sony. It would still have the same streaming issues for live tv as a regular smart tv but to get over this I could side load Kodi. I like Kodi and I like this as an option as it would give me the full experience of Kodi which is excellent. The issues here though are that Kodi is apparently a bit flakey on these tvs and, more importantly for me, these TVs do not appear to have a Skype client. Skype is important for me as I have young kids and a lot of family living abroad so a big TV running Skype is a great way to let them stay in touch with their relatives.

I have now come around to the idea of spending less money and getting a "dumb" tv and putting the rest of the money into either a small android box or a small linux box to be some how attached to the back of the TV.

At the moment I'm leaning towards the linux box, as I'm very familiar with linux and I know what I can and can't get to run on it. Moreso, I know I could customise the desktop to look like the Windows 8 Metro UI which would give a more Smart TV feel to the environment (IMO) and the large icons would be easy to see from a distance

Something like this:

http://i1-linux.softpedia-static.com/screenshots/Metro-Interface-for-Linux_1.png

Not the prettiest, but at least it could be a launch pad for Kodi, Skype, FireFox etc. I could also probably incorporate some conky stuff in there to make it really stand out. Also by having an actual OS running I could add in new pieces of software and apps as and when needed.

It was when I was researching the linux option that I came across dedicated android boxes and the fact that they look very similar to this (also a good bit cheaper to buy). But to be honest I don't know anything about them and was hoping that maybe somebody out there has more experience with them. I know that android can run kodi, internet browsers and Skype, but has anyone managed to get a box that can do all three well?

Has anybody considered these 3 options and chose one over the other?

If so, why and has it worked out for you?

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Chrizfitz

I am currently using one of these:
Gigabyte Brix
With a spare 2.5" hd and had to buy a 4gb stick of 1.35V ram.

Its running Openelec with a community build config called silencerom.

I then stuck it to the back of my 46" tv on an arm with these velcro strips for hanging picture frames.

I use a Flirc receiver for the control and bish bash bosh IMO a perfeck media frontend. I dont use netflix and chromium does the limitied browsing I need.

Johnboy1951

Intel NUCs are available with varying CPUs to suit your purpose.

You would probably be best getting an i3 based NUC to allow for future requirements.
Fit 2GB ram and a small 2.5" drive for the OS and you should be good to go. (Could also fit a mini SSD in some models - or both)

I use one for a client machine, but have also run a full Linux install on it for a short time.

Your only problem seems to be getting the video signal to the TV .... but maybe you can devise a reasonably neat way to route the HDMI cable?

A client machine will require a power cable and an ethernet cable, so I guess the HDMI is the one to be routed.

Skype seems to be the only thing preventing you from using Openelec, as there is a quite good Youtube addon available.

I don't use Skype (except occasionally when I have to) so have not researched it in relation to Openelec.

catfax

In regards Android there are important distinctions;

AndroidTV is the official OS from Google, it is the exact same across each device except the underlying hardware can be different, all apps are designed to be controlled with a stock d-pad remote control, however it is only available in certain countries. The Nvidia Shield set top box is widely considered the very best unit much better than the Sony/Sharp TV's, oh and Kodi is available in the Google Play store for AndroidTV's there is no need to side load.

The Shield has very powerful hardware so it can handle almost all media types as good as a PC, most Android boxes official and unofficial do not have this caliber hardware.

You can sideload Skype onto the Shield and connect a Logitech camera like the C920 however reports are that Skype can be unstable.


The other stuff which are the unofficial Chinese Android boxes run tablet Android, you get full access to the Android app store however all of these apps are designed for touch and require a mouse/keyboard or an awkward to use air mouse to operate. You can run Skype and Kodi from these if you can live with the limitations and uncomfortable controls. If after maximum ease of use I would avoid the unofficial Android boxes.

The performance of the hardware varies wildly, but weak CPU's are universal with hardware video decoding to handle video, if the hardware video decoder cant handle the codec then the CPU is unlikely to work out so well software decoding.

The Amazon FireTV is Amazon's own Android based box, it is much more slick and presentable than the Chinese boxes and you can side load Kodi onto it however there is no way at all to run Skype. Plus the FireTV can only hardware decode H.264 video, I would not recommend for streaming live TV via Kodi.

Really for PVR duties on Kodi you want something at PC level.

Didn't Logitech or someone else at one point sell Skype cameras for TV's like standalone units that plug in via HDMI ? If those are still around and work with current Skype I would go that route along with a Openelec [or OSMC*] HTPC or Nvidia Shield.

OSMC is aiming to be a more complete package than just a platform for Kodi like Openelec, they are building a web browser for it and that will get you the leanback interface for Youtube if your not keen on Kodi Youtube plugin.