Advise on Sat Box or PC Build

Psygnosis

Hi,
Need some help on choosing a solution.
I currently use a dedicated PC Build as my solution have been using this is varies guises for 10 years at this stage.
An Amd A6 APU 3 TB of storage, it runs mediaportal and shares out all my media on the home network. I'd say its quite power hungry and takes a bit of maintenance to keep working. CPU is rated at 65watts
So it's mainly used for Freesat and DVBT channels and does series link recording pretty good although sometimes it crashes and misses recordings.
The Pc has dual dvbs2 and dvbt for irish channels.
The hard drives in the pc are all 3.5" but I dont mind adding them into enclosures to use them on usb may even look at building a simple nas with RasPi 3


I used a DM800 many many moons ago. So I'm grand using engima2 or linux

My question is there a box that runs say kodi for all my media and can also share out say disks on the network, speed wont matter as its only streaming of data around the house over wifi.
Has Dual DBS2 and can take DVBT as well. If it runs kodi I'd prefer not to have to reboot say like the wetek does.
Any help would be appreciated guys.
Ohh my TV is just 1080p no need for a 2k box but would'nt mind as will be upgrading TV in 2-3 years.

Looking around I cannot identify a box that does all this, At this stage I'm thinking its probably a 2 box solution. Mutant HD51 for Tv and an amazon fire tv for movies and TV although I'm not gone on a 2 box solution.
Any recommendations would be appreciated

Johnboy1951

My opinion is that you have most likely the best you can get, except for the size of the PC and maybe the fan noise.
You could put the PC out of sight (and sound) and use a R-Pi for the TV it is driving if it is the PC presence that you want to change.

You did not make clear why you are considering changing.

Psygnosis

The interface in Mediaportal can be clunky, It needs maintenance every so often especially if mysql decides to corrupt itself.
Yeah fan noise is an issue and I could probably get a better box.
Another reason is I'd like to get hevc support as the amd a6 stutters pretty bad with it.

Think I may just look at an upgrade of the cpu at some point may wait and see what amd APU Ryzen offering is going to be like, would be nice if they did a >35 watt cpu. Would make things run quiter. Its mad that nothing can do what a pc can do yet. Been running basically the same solution for 8 years now.

Anyway good to know, I though some of the vu boxes would be able to do it which would of been great but nothing yet.

Johnboy1951

You would really miss the versatility IMO.

What you could do would be to change the OS to a Linux variant, and maybe run tvheadend or other tuner manager.

Most of the better boxes are Linux based, and all, from what I read on Boards, need some maintenance. Some more than others.

Another reason is I'd like to get hevc support as the amd a6 stutters pretty bad with it.

Take the APU out of the equation by using a client device for the TV which is HEVC capable.
Feed the client device from the PC using IP.

The now backend PC can be placed out of the way somewhere with a connection to the LAN for client devices to use.

You can then have a central media server which stores all recordings as well as provides Live TV to the limit of the tuners installed.

I am using LibreELEC for the purpose on both the backend server as well as on all client devices.

emaherx

What about vbox has anyone tried it?

Johnboy1951

emaherx wrote: »

What about vbox has anyone tried it?

Vbox to do what?
I use it regularly but have no idea what you have in mind.

emaherx

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Vbox to do what?
I use it regularly but have no idea what you have in mind.

I'm talking about the vbox TV gateway. Not virtual box .

http://www.vboxcomm.com/ireland-free-tv.html

Johnboy1951

emaherx wrote: »

I'm talking about the vbox TV gateway. Not virtual box .

http://www.vboxcomm.com/ireland-free-tv.html

Ah yes ..... never remember the 'vbox' name, but do remember the model number I had looked at previously

XTi-3340

It seems like a very suitable unit.

I don't see many reports from users.

I suspect it is FTA Satellite and not Freesat as advertised ....... anyone know for definite?

emaherx

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Ah yes ..... never remember the 'vbox' name, but do remember the model number I had looked at previously

XTi-3340

It seems like a very suitable unit.

I don't see many reports from users.

I suspect it is FTA Satellite and not Freesat as advertised ....... anyone know for definite?

Definitely FTA it mentions somewhere that you need to import a xmltv file for full EPG.

I have been testing a system like the OP's with Mediaportal as a back-end server hidden away and Raspberry Pi's running Kodi at each TV. So far only with a single DVB-T card, but I am about to invest in a Dual Tuner DVB-S card but just came across the VBox receiver and might be tempted. I would imagine the power consumption would be very low on such a box compared to a PC solution.

But like you said I have not seen many give their opinions of them good or bad.

Johnboy1951

emaherx wrote: »

Definitely FTA it mentions somewhere that you need to import a xmltv file for full EPG.

I have been testing a system like the OP's with Mediaportal as a back-end server hidden away and Raspberry Pi's running Kodi at each TV. So far only with a single DVB-T card, but I am about to invest in a Dual Tuner DVB-S card but just came across the VBox receiver and might be tempted. I would imagine the power consumption would be very low on such a box compared to a PC solution.

But like you said I have not seen many give their opinions of them good or bad.

I came across this
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=280419

The view seems mostly positive (what there is of it) particularly from what seems to be the more technically competent users.

If starting out now I would be inclined to buy the XTi-3340 instead of building my own backend server.
I have not, as yet found any real detail on the operating system used. I definitely have a preference for running tvheadend on such a device, but maybe they have something just as good.

In your case I would consider buying the XTi-3340 (~€220) and maybe sell the present DVB-T card to offset some of the cost. It would probably work out somewhere close to the cost of a good dual tuner PCIe DVB-S card.
I have already invested in dual tuner cards for DVB-T and DVB-S so am not in a position to buy again unless I get hardware failures.

BTW there is a specific Kodi plugin for this box so that is a real plus IMO.
http://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on:VBox_TV_Gateway_PVR_Client

emaherx

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I came across this
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=280419

The view seems mostly positive (what there is of it) particularly from what seems to be the more technically competent users.

If starting out now I would be inclined to buy the XTi-3340 instead of building my own backend server.
I have not, as yet found any real detail on the operating system used. I definitely have a preference for running tvheadend on such a device, but maybe they have something just as good.

In your case I would consider buying the XTi-3340 (~€220) and maybe sell the present DVB-T card to offset some of the cost. It would probably work out somewhere close to the cost of a good dual tuner PCIe DVB-S card.
I have already invested in dual tuner cards for DVB-T and DVB-S so am not in a position to buy again unless I get hardware failures.

BTW there is a specific Kodi plugin for this box so that is a real plus IMO.
http://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on:VBox_TV_Gateway_PVR_Client

Well I just ordered one, so will be interesting to see how it works out.

Johnboy1951

emaherx wrote: »

Well I just ordered one, so will be interesting to see how it works out.

I look forward to reading your opinion of the box after you get it set up and working to your liking.

I hope it is all you wish it to be

emaherx

Well I got the box this evening. I plugged it in and configured the DVB-T Tuner. I have the cables in place for the Satellite Tuner but am short a few F connectors :mad:. Setup was very straight forward as was the setup of the Raspberry Pi's running LibreELEC and the Android App. I have 3 Raspberry Pi's on 3 different TV's one of which is a Raspberry Pi 1 and it was very slow to switch channels especially the HD channels. The other 2 are Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 both of which work smoothly.

Hopefully tomorrow I will set up the Satellite Tuners. But impressed so Far.

Johnboy1951

emaherx wrote: »

Well I got the box this evening. I plugged it in and configured the DVB-T Tuner. I have the cables in place for the Satellite Tuner but am short a few F connectors :mad:. Setup was very straight forward as was the setup of the Raspberry Pi's running LibreELEC and the Android App. I have 3 Raspberry Pi's on 3 different TV's one of which is a Raspberry Pi 1 and it was very slow to switch channels especially the HD channels. The other 2 are Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 both of which work smoothly.

Hopefully tomorrow I will set up the Satellite Tuners. But impressed so Far.

Thank you for reporting back

So glad to hear that the box is working as well as expected.

Yes the R-Pi 1 is slow to change channels ..... it can be improved by over clocking and making some other small improvements. It will never be as good as you might like, but for a TV that is occasionally used it is fine. (have one here as well as a R-Pi 2 and NUC)

You might consider posting a few pics of the backend set up if you can.
I would like to see how it is laid out etc.

Thanks again ..... and I hope the Satellite set up goes just as well as the DVB-T did. It might take a long time for the Sat scan as there are so many transponders.

emaherx

Some screen shots Attached.

What do people do for Freesat EPG these days. XMLTV files seem to be hard to come by without paying a subscription. Another option with Kodi is to use an EPG addon and save each channel as a favorite and then map each channel individually. Any advice welcome

Johnboy1951

emaherx wrote: »

Some screen shots Attached.

What do people do for Freesat EPG these days. XMLTV files seem to be hard to come by without paying a subscription. Another option with Kodi is to use an EPG addon and save each channel as a favorite and then map each channel individually. Any advice welcome

Thanks for the pics

Tvheadend handles all the EPG stuff for me from its built in EPG grabber modules, so I have no idea what you need, sorry.

paddy19

WebGrab+ is an automated web scraper 7 day EPG, works a treat for UK channels and is free.
Grab the Irish channel from DVT-T.

Using old dell PC with TBS 6902 (€75) PCI dual sat tuner and an ancient WinTV-NOVA-T-500 DVB-T PCI for saorview €24.

NextPvr is very well supported windows based PVR system, also free.

Total added cost €99.

Johnboy1951

Libreelec & WebGrab+ ...... dunno if it is of any use to readers of this thread ...

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread-1102-post-7281.html#pid7281

STB.

emaherx wrote: »

Some screen shots Attached.

What do people do for Freesat EPG these days. XMLTV files seem to be hard to come by without paying a subscription. Another option with Kodi is to use an EPG addon and save each channel as a favorite and then map each channel individually. Any advice welcome

Most people use the OpenEPG grabber which grabs it off a transponder rather than download it off a http address.

If you want an XLMTV source file for EPG you'd have to fugure out if your grabber can d/l from a source like rytec http://www.rytec.be/

emaherx

STB. wrote: »

Most people use the OpenEPG grabber which grabs it off a transponder rather than download it off a http address.

The Vbox is a dedicated backend server, I don't have access to the OS for that sort of solution. I do however now have XLMTV EPG working using Webgrab+ as suggested above.



The box is very stable and have had no issue's with it as of yet. I am happy with the device but there are good and bad points to this solution.

The good:
Every transponder at 28E are pre-setup Vbox update the list with every update.
Seems to be regular software updates from the manufacture.
The box has low power consumption compared to a PC.
Very stable software designed for dedicated hardware.
Dedicated Kodi App.
Setup was straight forward and self explanatory.
Really a Kodi/Raspberry Pi Feature but HDMI CEC means only one remote at each TV


The bad:
Channel manager is slow and you can't permanently delete channels ( they can be disabled by a check box)
All channels are stored FTA and Scrambled. (leaves channel manager cluttered)
IF XMLTV EPG is used it overrides the DVB-T EPG. (I don't currently have a good XMLTV source for Saorview) however the Kodi App uses the DVB-T guide and fills in any blank channels with XMLTV guide which is fine.

Johnboy1951

@emaherx, thanks for the updated report.

emaherx wrote:

The bad:
Channel manager is slow and you can't permanently delete channels ( they can be disabled by a check box)
All channels are stored FTA and Scrambled. (leaves channel manager cluttered)

So the solution is to disabled those channels you do not want to appear in the Kodi channel list?

IF XMLTV EPG is used it overrides the DVB-T EPG. (I don't currently have a good XMLTV source for Saorview) however the Kodi App uses the DVB-T guide and fills in any blank channels with XMLTV guide which is fine.

IIUC the combination actually results in a good Saorview EPG?

emaherx

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

@emaherx, thanks for the updated report.



So the solution is to disabled those channels you do not want to appear in the Kodi channel list?



IIUC the combination actually results in a good Saorview EPG?

Yes the channel manager has a checkbox beside every channel, unselect it and the channel is removed from its EPG and from the channels available to other devices, it just leaves the channel manager cluttered it would be nice to be able to remove them completely but not totally nessacery.

If you don't include any saorview data in the XMLTV file you just get the OTA Saorview guide + full guide for UK FTA. It works in Kodi but not on the VBox's EPG so you have to set up each Kodi device individually.

Johnboy1951

emaherx wrote: »

Yes the channel manager has a checkbox beside every channel, unselect it and the channel is removed from its EPG and from the channels available to other devices, it just leaves the channel manager cluttered it would be nice to be able to remove them completely but not totally nessacery.

That seems very similar to tvheadend's scheme.
All channels remain listed which allows the user to 'turn on' one which was previously omitted, in a simple manner. This can be useful when new channels appear or channels swap transponder.

Deletion would probably involve deleting the transponder from the list and not just an individual channel.

If you don't include any saorview data in the XMLTV file you just get the OTA Saorview guide + full guide for UK FTA. It works in Kodi but not on the VBox's EPG so you have to set up each Kodi device individually.

Ah, now I get ye
Not difficult, but should be unnecessary.
Strange the same function available in Kodi to overcome this is not available in the VBox native app.

I would have to delve into tvheadend for a comparison ...... but IIRC I set the OTA EPG for the DVB-T tuners in the tuner set up.
In truth I am not sure how the EPG works in detail on my set up presently ..... and I ain't gonna mess with it just in case

The box does seem to have all the functions one would expect of a good server.
The means to achieve things will of course be different to what we are used to, but this reads like a very positive experience so far.

Thanks for your continued reports.

matrat

Hi, maybe a stupid question but how many users can this feed at one time? Since it has two dvb-s inputs, can it only feed two devices with separate channels?

emaherx

matrat wrote: »

Hi, maybe a stupid question but how many users can this feed at one time? Since it has two dvb-s inputs, can it only feed two devices with separate channels?

It has 2 satellite and 2 terrestrial tuners so it can serve at least 4 users. It can however serve additional users if the channels they want are on the same transponders or mux as the first 4 users already being served. But to tell you the truth my current network wouldn't be able to handle any more especially if HD channels are in use. There is a four satellite tuner model available (with no terrestrial tuner) which could in theory serve more satellite users but will be limited by Network Bandwidth and the boxes processing power.

My 2 main downstairs TV's have their own Saorview and Freesat Tuners, so this setup gives me enough tuners to serve the bedrooms and recording/playback at every TV.






Just a quick update on the EPG, I have found a source for Saorview channels to use with WebGrab+ and now have a fully populated EPG on all devices managed centrally on the Vbox device.

A combination of freesat.co.uk, uk-sky.com and tvguide.co.uk seems to cover all of the channels on Freeview, Freesat and Saorview.

tvguide.co.uk by itself would probably cover most channels but pulling the EPG data from it is very slow so I opted to just grab Saorview channels from it.

Johnboy1951

I would not see Network Bandwidth being a problem if you wanted more users to access the channels.

If the tuner box has a 100Mb/s ethernet and the approximate bandwidth per channel was

20 Mb/s for UHD
10 Mb/s for HD
05 Mb/s for SD

with the network providing 80% efficiency, you might expect to be able to play or record

04 UHD channels
08 HD channels
16 SD channels

Of course if the devices and wiring provide a 1Gb/s network then I expect those numbers would rise proportionally.

Hopefully someone will correct the above if I have calculated incorrectly. (figures are very approximate)

.

Gerry Wicklow

emaherx wrote: »

..
A combination of freesat.co.uk, uk-sky.com and tvguide.co.uk seems to cover all of the channels on Freeview, Freesat and Saorview.....

It's been a while since I had a HTPC but I would have thought using Freesat and Sky info is duplication or am I missing something?

emaherx

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

It's been a while since I had a HTPC but I would have thought using Freesat and Sky info is duplication or am I missing something?

I have no duplication as the WebGrab config file calls each channel from a single defined source. But believe it or not there were a few channels not listed on both. Horse and country, my5, Dave and a few others. (I can receive freeview and freesat channels).

emaherx

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I would not see Network Bandwidth being a problem if you wanted more users to access the channels.

If the tuner box has a 100Mb/s ethernet and the approximate bandwidth per channel was

20 Mb/s for UHD
10 Mb/s for HD
05 Mb/s for SD

with the network providing 80% efficiency, you might expect to be able to play or record

04 UHD channels
08 HD channels
16 SD channels

Of course if the devices and wiring provide a 1Gb/s network then I expect those numbers would rise proportionally.

Hopefully someone will correct the above if I have calculated incorrectly. (figures are very approximate)

.

That would be true if entire network was wired.
Like I said my current network setup would struggle with more channels. But I'm working on that

I'd imagine processing power of box would become an issue long before you would cripple a wired network.

matrat

Hi  emaherx,
Thanks for this thread, i am thinking of buying one of these also now. 
Just to get the whole system setup correct in my head, you have this box plugged into you network, which allows the separate client devices (Kodi) to individually pick up the content via a Kodi app? 
Does the Kodi app handle recording and playback of recorded content? 
You mentioned that you have the EPG data setup on the vbox, this then feeds to all Kodi devices so they all appear the same in regards to watching tv?
Due to where my cables are in my house, i am thinking of this box to handle the TV part of the whole house media setup. Kodi devices at each tv to pick up the output of this vbox and also the content stored on the to be built NAS. Hoping this sounds like a good box for the purpose i require it

emaherx

No Problem....... I kind of hijacked the thread on someone else .

Yes VBox allows client Kodi Devices to individually select channels via the app with obvious limits on the number of tuners so you can guarantee 2 individual satellite channels + other devices can view the same 2 channels or other channels on the same transponders. For Saorview Channels you should be able to view as many as you like within the processing limits of the box as there are 2 tuners and 2 MUX assuming you don't also receive Freeview. Hope that made sense. Haven't really pushed the limits of this my self as 2 of my TV's have Freesat + Saorview(FreeviewHD) tuners so its being used mostly as a PVR and occasional bedroom TV use.

Yes the Kodi app can manage the recording and playback of content. Its quite good actually, notifications of scheduled recordings or recording conflicts will show on all devices. The only slight drawback is setting Series Link recordings is much easier from the Browser Interface or mobile app than in the Kodi PVR menu.

EPG Data now that I have it working is taken completely from the web using webgrab+ so worth bearing in mind that the device cannot grab Freesat EPG from the transmission. But once the EPG is loaded to the device all the Kodi devices are updated by it automatically. WebGrab+ will need to be run on another device such as a PC or a Raspberry Pi.

Recordings can be stored on a NAS or a directly connect USB drive. I'm using a WD Elements connected by USB. With the USB setup the hard drive is not shared to the network (as a network share) but all devices can record to it and retrieve the recording for playback through their apps or a web browser (except Google Chrome as it doesn't have a VLC Plugin).

The box works well once setup, but it has a few quirks/bugs.
1. After a reboot none of the tuners show as locked to a signal until you try to use a channel.
2. Kodi app will cause Kodi to go into a reboot loop if Kodi is rebooted while none of the tuners are locked as it tries to import the EPG data but has no stations to map them to. (Simply selecting 1 terrestrial channel followed by 1 satellite channel on any device not in a loop will rectify the situation). So after a power failure all Kodi devices end up in a reboot loop until the Vbox has locked signal on 1 DVBT and 1 DVBS tuner. (I believe this issue is resolved in the latest version of Kodi)
3. I have had issues editing the matching table after the initial setup. Not a big issue as it only needs to be done if you add channels. to rectify the situation I had to remove the path to the EPG XML file do a channel sync let it fail then put back in the path and start channel matching from scratch. It matches most channels itself so doesn't take long anyway.

Over all I am happy with the device. Support from the manufacturer seems fairly good they have started a new forum on their website and seem to take suggestions for future feature requests fairly well.

Hope I have covered most of your questions.

matrat

Thanks emaherx,

Great info for a noob and does seem like a setup that will work well for me!

Johnboy1951

emaherx wrote: »

EPG Data now that I have it working is taken completely from the web using webgrab+ so worth bearing in mind that the device cannot grab Freesat EPG from the transmission. But once the EPG is loaded to the device all the Kodi devices are updated by it automatically. WebGrab+ will need to be run on another device such as a PC or a Raspberry Pi.

Only for clarification if you would ...... the EPG is generated external to the main box and the box then grabs it from whatever device generates it, and thus is able to share it to its Kodi client apps?

If I understand correctly Webgrab could be installed on a client device which could share back to the main box making it available to all clients?

I hope I have understood correctly.

Thanks for all the reports and info etc.

Glad it is working out for you.

emaherx

matrat wrote: »

Thanks emaherx,

Great info for a noob and does seem like a setup that will work well for me!

No Problem, if you want more tuners another poster has a similar setup except the box he uses has 4 DVB-S tuners and he uses USB DVB-T tuners on each R-PI Client.

Of coarse the FilmON addon for kodi could also be used in the rare occasion when you really needed a UK channel on a client and all other tuners were busy. Saorview channels should not be an issue as 2 DVB-T will serve as many clients as you will want.

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Only for clarification if you would ...... the EPG is generated external to the main box and the box then grabs it from whatever device generates it, and thus is able to share it to its Kodi client apps?

If I understand correctly Webgrab could be installed on a client device which could share back to the main box making it available to all clients?

Yes that is correct.

matrat

Thanks emaherx,
Yeah i seen the 4 dvb-s units and the wetek play box can come with a dvb-t built in which i am thinking may be a good solution also. Although from my initial checks, a unit like yours with both combined may be cheaper than a single 4 dvb-s unit. Also, i think the 4 dvb-s units i seen dont come with the same onboard software like yours. So i would assume i would need to have a device always on with tvheadend or similar or else it on each device. Hard to know what is better solution really

Johnboy1951

@emaherx

Is there a means in the VBox app to connect to two VBox servers?

Just wondering if for instance one had a need for 4 to 6 DVB-S and two DVB-T tuners, one could use two server boxes on different IP addresses but would the app on the client device be able to connect to both servers?

If not I suppose the IPTV Simple plugin could be used for one of the servers ....

emaherx

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

@emaherx

Is there a means in the VBox app to connect to two VBox servers?

Just wondering if for instance one had a need for 4 to 6 DVB-S and two DVB-T tuners, one could use two server boxes on different IP addresses but would the app on the client device be able to connect to both servers?

If not I suppose the IPTV Simple plugin could be used for one of the servers ....

As far as I can see the Vbox addon only allows 1 server. But like you say you can use the IPTV Simple Add on.

danrob21

Anyone try to connect the VBOX to a smart TV without Kodi? Using uPnP?

emaherx

what TV is it? I find it works fine with my Sony TV but wont work on my Samsung. In fact I can get very little to work with the Samsung through UPNP/DNLA. It does work however with the IPTV App on the Samsung.

But I find the Kodi interface much more appealing and have a RPI connected to both TV's anyway.



Edit: Welcome to Boards

danrob21

Thanks. Was a member of boards many years ago, but cannot remember the password for that username!

My current TV is a Sony (kdl 40w605b)
However I will be getting a second TV so was curious about the uPnP aspect.
Have a RPI running Kodi, so could certainly use that.

Need it to be easy to use so that wife and kids can easily use it.
Have UPC at the moment and want to replace it with FTA and Saorview.

emaherx

danrob21 wrote: »

Thanks. Was a member of boards many years ago, but cannot remember the password for that username!

My current TV is a Sony (kdl 40w605b)
However I will be getting a second TV so was curious about the uPnP aspect.
Have a RPI running Kodi, so could certainly use that.

Need it to be easy to use so that wife and kids can easily use it.
Have UPC at the moment and want to replace it with FTA and Saorview.

UPNP works fine to watch any of the channels or even the recordings.

On my Samsung only the recordings can be viewed by UPNP.

But with Kodi you get a full EPG like any set top box. Plus with HDMI CEC on the RPI you only need one remote so it couldn't be easier.

Selecting the HDMI source is similar to selecting a UPNP source anyway.

danrob21

ok. Seems like Kodi is the way to go with this box. I like the idea of using a single box to run two TVs. However it is a pity that the EPG requires additional software to import it and that the decoder box cannot extract it from the satellite channels. It reminds me of a custom PVR build I had about 10 years ago!

The other option is 2 x Edison combo boxes and using HDMI over CAT6 to send the signal to the TVs with IR over CAT6 back to the boxes. Seems like the software used on the Edison / linux decoder boxes is well maintained and supported. And it has plugins to automatically manage the channel line-ups.

emaherx

danrob21 wrote: »

ok. Seems like Kodi is the way to go with this box. I like the idea of using a single box to run two TVs. However it is a pity that the EPG requires additional software to import it and that the decoder box cannot extract it from the satellite channels. It reminds me of a custom PVR build I had about 10 years ago!

The other option is 2 x Edison combo boxes and using HDMI over CAT6 to send the signal to the TVs with IR over CAT6 back to the boxes. Seems like the software used on the Edison / linux decoder boxes is well maintained and supported. And it has plugins to automatically manage the channel line-ups.

Yes I'm afraid the only advantage over your custom pvr build is probably power efficiency.

The Freesat EPG is proprietary and not standard which is why third party software is required. You will find all the Linux boxes that get EPG data from the satellite are also using third party plugins, but you can get them preinstalled by most suppliers or as part of a community supported build.

Some of the Linux boxes also have Kodi plugins, so a Linux box with 2 satellite tuners and 2 terrestrial tuners could suit your need nicely either. It would give you a real set top box at one TV and a Kodi slave box at the second.

Very hard to find the perfect solution.

danrob21

@emaherx Are you saying that if I use a Edison Box running Enigma2 connected to one TV, I can access the same Enigma box using Kodi connected to a second TV over my IP network and then stream TV channels and access my recording using Kodi?

Gerry Wicklow

Anything with a web browser (laptop, phone, tablet) can watch channels streamed over your network from Enigma boxes

emaherx

danrob21 wrote: »

@emaherx Are you saying that if I use a Edison Box running Enigma2 connected to one TV, I can access the same Enigma box using Kodi connected to a second TV over my IP network and then stream TV channels and access my recording using Kodi?

I believe the Vu+ pvr add-on works with any enigma box. But I haven't used it myself. You could ask the same question in one of the active enigma threads

http://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on:VU%2B_/_Enigma2_Client

danrob21

Cool!