Free TV Distribution - New Build

dubrov

I am starting from a blank canvas trying to work out the best tv setup for a new build house. I am pretty sure I want to run the Saorview/satellite signals to a central room and distribute from there to three TV points.

I don't mind doing a lot of technical messing as long as the end product is good.

Before I get into specific hardware/cabling, I think I have narrowed down the general setup to two options

1) Linux Box
I would buy one high end linux box (like the VU+) with at least 2 SAT/1 Terrestrial tuner and connect this to the main TV via HDMI. This would perform all recording requirements.
The other TVs would have Freesat/Saorview tuners built in and get a direct coaxial feed. All of the above would be networked so any new recordings could be played via DLNA.


2) TV Headend Server
I would connect the Saorview/satellite feeds to a TV Headend server which would distribute all TV channels over IP. It would also handle recording. For the TV client, I'd like something that quickly goes straight into TV channels when the TV is switched on. I see SONI TVs have Android TV built in and can run Live Channels / Kodi. This would have the added bonus of a single remote and no clutter. Has anyone tried this setup?

I think option 2 is much for flexible but am concerned about having to buy additional clients and messing with multiple remotes.

All thoughts would be welcome

emaherx

My setup is a mix of your suggested setup. My 2 main TV's downstairs have Freesat/Saorview tuners built in and use one feed from the dish and aerial each.

Separate to that I have a Vboxcomm device with 2 Satellite and 2 Terrestrial tuners which acts as PVR for all rooms and serves channels to other TV's in bedrooms.

Each TV has a Raspberry Pi running OSMC Kodi and can fully control the PVR to watch channels, schedule recordings or playback recorded content all using the TV's own Remote.

The DNLA capable TV's can control the Vboxcomm also but the interface is horrible so they have Raspberry Pi connected too.

Johnboy1951

I have TVs with both Sat & Terrestrial tuners, but use neither.

I use mostly RPi devices but also have a NUC as client devices feeding the TVs.

The coax cables come into a press which houses the tuner/server PC, which runs LibreElec and Tvheadend.
The output of the tuner/server is connected to a central LAN press (including a redundant second ethernet cable), and all rooms have at least two Cat5e cables going back to the press.

The only reason the tuner/server is separate from the LAN press is, it is located on an exterior wall for the shortest run of coax into the house. It also means any changes to coax that might be needed in the future will be simple to carry out. There is no need for coax distribution at all.

It is surprising how low specified the tuner/server can be ..... I am using an old dual core Pentium 4 Dell that was discarded by the owner a couple of years ago.

It has been easy to increase the number of Sat tuners, simply by adding the likes of a Digibit R1 Sat>IP device and connecting it to the LAN. (these tuners are not as sensitive as the TBS PCI-e card tuners in the tuner/server box).
If I were, in the future, to need more than two Terrestrial tuners, it would be simple to add them also. In fact I have a third for the Edision HDMI to DVB-T device which is fed from a Sky+ HD box with an eir sports card.
The tuner for that is a USB device which cost about €10.

In use, the system works very well.
All devices such as phones, tablets, laptops, PCs as well as clients at TVs can tune into any TV channel they wish (providing a tuner is available or already tuned to that mux/transponder).
Each can set a recording, and as all recordings are stored on the central server, all devices have access to play back all recordings etc.

I use LibreElec on all client devices with Kodi, so the user experience is the same regardless which TV point is used.

The channel listing, EPG set up, picons etc etc are all done centrally on the tuner/server, and each device uses that.
There is a small amount of maintenance required .... mostly when a channel changes transponder ..... but for the most part it is hassle free.

No doubt there are other variations and schemes which might suit you better, but for me this is as good as it gets for the present.

dubrov

Thanks for that. How do you find the Raspberry PIs performance and usability wise?

Also what do you use to control them?

Johnboy1951

dubrov wrote: »

Thanks for that. How do you find the Raspberry PIs performance and usability wise?

Also what do you use to control them?

This should provide some options to consider

http://www.averagemanvsraspberrypi.com/2015/05/7-remote-control-options-for-your.html

I have one Flirc and really like it.
Once programmed it can be used on any device just by plugging it in.
https://flirc.tv/more/flirc-usb

Others I have used existing remotes I had (such as a couple that came with TBS tuner cards). You set up a file to recognise the key presses in the client device.

It is a pity that the Flirc is so costly as it would be my preferred method of using remotes on all devices if about half its present cost.
(Maybe there will be some Black Friday deals coming up)

dubrov

Thank Johnboy.

Can the Pi/Kodi clients run any of the players (geoblocking aside) like RTE/BBC iplayer etc?

Also, how reliable is the recording function on the old Pentium 4?

I might look at getting something more low powered for the TVheadend server like a second hand NUC. I will also probably run torrent/Plex/DLNA/FTP servers on it as well.

Johnboy1951

dubrov wrote: »

Thank Johnboy.

Can the Pi/Kodi clients run any of the players (geoblocking aside) like RTE/BBC iplayer etc?

Also, how reliable is the recording function on the old Pentium 4?

I might look at getting something more low powered for the TVheadend server like a second hand NUC. I will also probably run torrent/Plex/DLNA/FTP servers on it as well.

I use the tuner/server purely for Live TV and recordings.
There is no need for transcoding or other heavy duty stuff in this set up.
Reliability has been excellent.

As I said I use LibreElec on it, which is designed as a JeOS for Kodi.
You seem to want something more general purpose so it might, or might not, suit.
You would have to check out the available add-ons.

I use a separate file server on the LAN for other purposes.

dubrov

I think the TvHeadend server can run on many versions of Linux so I am sure I can get what I need running there.

There is a lot to think about on the hardware and cabling.
I may be better off getting multiple specialised devices (TV Headend Server, NAS etc,) rather than one general device trying to do it all.

TVHeadend with RPi clients is definitely a runner though.

Johnboy1951

dubrov wrote: »

I think the TvHeadend server can run on many versions of Linux so I am sure I can get what I need running there.

There is a lot to think about on the hardware and cabling.
I may be better off getting multiple specialised devices (TV Headend Server, NAS etc,) rather than one general device trying to do it all.

TVHeadend with RPi clients is definitely a runner though.

I am sure there are other suitable client devices also.
As I have not used them I could not give any opinion

Maybe an Android TV box as a client device (with Kodi, Netflix etc) would suit your use better?

dubrov

Possibly. There is the Nvidia Shield which seems to work well but is pricey and the hardware is a little old.
It might be October before I start getting clients so maybe the next version will be out then

emaherx

dubrov wrote: »

Possibly. There is the Nvidia Shield which seems to work well but is pricey and the hardware is a little old.
It might be October before I start getting clients so maybe the next version will be out then

If you want more apps an Android TV box would be a better option. If you don't want it for gaming a few Mi Boxes would be better value than Nvidia Shields.

On the Raspberry Pi no extra hardware is needed to use your own TV's remotes. (Once your TV supports HDMI CEC and it is more likely to than not). The Pi's may still be a good option for your secondary TV's.

Performance wise the Raspberry Pi's are fine I've even heard of people using them as the TVHeadend server. But the RTE player or iPlayer type apps for Kodi are not official and as such are unreliable.

dubrov

I think I will go down the TVHeadend root.

The full setup will be

1) Aerial, Satellite, phoneline and cable to all meet at one point n AV centre(probably a large cupboard)
2) Router to be stored in AV centre.
2) Aerial, Satellite feed o be connected to the TVHeadend Server with the server onnected to the router in AV centre.
3) 2 x Ethernet cables to run from AV centre to each TV point. The second is in case one fails later/
4) 2 x Coaxial cables to run from AV centre to each TV point. I don't need this but cheap enough to add in and gives flexibility if it needs to change later.
5) 2 X HDMI running from AV centre to each point. Again, probably not needed but allows any RPIs/Android boxes to be stored in AV centre and reduces clutter elsewhere.
6) For the TVHeadend client, I will probably get a decent Android TV box for the main TV and Raspberry Pis for the rest.

Johnboy1951

You also need to get tuners for the TV signals.

The Telestar I mentioned above can handle Unicable II, so with a suitable LNB and one coax cable it will provide 4 Sat tuners for tvheadend.

Depending on the LNB, you could have up to 32 Sat tuners off of the one LNB/Coax coming in from the dish.

I suggest at least two DVB-T/s tuners for Saorview ...... which will allow all Saorview channels to be available concurrently as there are only two muxes to tune to.

dubrov

Unicable II looks like the way to go.

If I had 2 DVB-T tuners covering both muxes, am I still limited to 2 recording/playing devices or does it mean everything is available to all devices?

The same question goes for 4 satellite tuners?

emaherx

dubrov wrote: »

I think I will go down the TVHeadend root.

The full setup will be

1) Aerial, Satellite, phoneline and cable to all meet at one point n AV centre(probably a large cupboard)
2) Router to be stored in AV centre.
2) Aerial, Satellite feed o be connected to the TVHeadend Server with the server onnected to the router in AV centre.
3) 2 x Ethernet cables to run from AV centre to each TV point. The second is in case one fails later/
4) 2 x Coaxial cables to run from AV centre to each TV point. I don't need this but cheap enough to add in and gives flexibility if it needs to change later.
5) 2 X HDMI running from AV centre to each point. Again, probably not needed but allows any RPIs/Android boxes to be stored in AV centre and reduces clutter elsewhere.
6) For the TVHeadend client, I will probably get a decent Android TV box for the main TV and Raspberry Pis for the rest.

Install at least 3 or even 4 coax at your main TV for standard multi tuner PVR (even if you never use it, like you said it's cheap).


Long HDMI runs won't work reliably without using extenders, so you will have less clutter and better reliability by installing clients as close as possible to TV's, I have mine stuck to back of TV's with self adhesive Velcro strips and are completely clutter free and out of sight.

emaherx

dubrov wrote: »

Unicable II looks like the way to go.

If I had 2 DVB-T tuners covering both muxes, am I still limited to 2 recording/playing devices or does it mean everything is available to all devices?

The same question goes for 4 satellite tuners?

2 DVB T tuners will allow Saorview at all TV's at once as a tuner receives the entire MUX at once and there are only 2.

Satellite is different you will be limited to 4 transponders with 4 tuners but there are much more than 4 transponders. However you will be able to receive every channel available at each of those transponders at once. But you can always add more Tuners.

PabloAndRoy

Just to throw my cúpla cents in here.

I run a similar set up to Johnboy .. tvheadend + Digibit R1 + USB DVB-T tuners...

The main difference for me is:
tvheadend is running on RPi 2, running raspbian. I have tested this with 5 HD channels running simultaneously and the Pi is hardly breaking a sweat. The only caveat here is that for the USB tuners and your USB hard drive for recording, you will need a powered USB hub as the Pi can't deliver the power required over USB. In short, tvheadend does not need powerful hardware.

For clients, I have used RPis in the past but recently I have been repurposing "cheap as chips" S905 boxes (sold on amazon/ebay as cheap Android TV Boxes, but usually shipped with some ****ty Android ROM). You can repurpose these things as native Libreelec (look here: https://forum.libreelec.tv/board/38-amlogic/) and they run very nicely, quicker than a RPi 3 and cheaper. The advantage of these boxes is mainly that they come with their own IR remote and power supply and are as cheap as chips.

You can get these things for about 30 euros if you look around. e.g. this one will work (https://www.gearbest.com/tv-box/pp_698085.html?wid=21) but no wifi so ethernet only (or USB WiFi*), look at post 4 here: https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/10024-tanix-tx3-mini-with-amlogic-s905w-cpu-libreelec/. There is another one with the same S905W chip there even cheaper (https://www.gearbest.com/tv-box/pp_728843.html?wid=21) ... in theory that will also work ..

By the time you get your RPi + power supply + SD card and then remote control .. you are certainly up about the €60 mark. S905 for the cheap win.

* these work on LibreELEC: http://r.ebay.com/y8vyG5

Johnboy1951

PabloAndRoy

I haven't looked into the options with these boxes, but would want ethernet connection.
Which of those you mentioned would be the better option (running LibreElec)?

I just might get a couple to replace my RPi x 2 and make different use of the two R-Pi.

Black Friday is upon us, so time to make a move .....

PabloAndRoy

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

PabloAndRoy

I haven't looked into the options with these boxes, but would want ethernet connection.
Which of those you mentioned would be the better option (running LibreElec)?

I just might get a couple to replace my RPi x 2 and make different use of the R-Pi.

Black Friday is upon us, so time to make a move .....

I have set up a good few of them now, about 10 in total... there are so many of them so it is pretty much impossible to say how well each one works... however, I personally would go for one that has a remote with a full number pad and playback buttons as that is handier than messing around with the "simple" remotes, plus you can map the spare (red/green/yellow/blue) buttons to Kodi functions like channel lists, guide etc using the Keymap Editor addon ... and ideally you want to be able to install Kodi to the internal storage so you can get your sd card back.

I have yet to buy one that i didn't get LibreELEC working.. The ethernet always works, sometime the wifi chips are not supported. My worst experience was that one would not install to the internal storage so I had to sacrifice an SD card.

Get the correct device tree and it will work. Read the amlogic forum on the libreelec forums and you wont go wrong ..

Edit: just make sure that the chipset you are buying is supported .. sometimes on amazon the title might say S905, but when you look closer it isnt.

Johnboy1951

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

I have set up a good few of them now, about 10 in total... there are so many of them so it is pretty much impossible to say how well each one works... however, I personally would go for one that has a remote with a full number pad and playback buttons as that is handier than messing around with the "simple" remotes, plus you can map the spare (red/green/yellow/blue) buttons to Kodi functions like channel lists, guide etc using the Keymap Editor addon ... and ideally you want to be able to install Kodi to the internal storage so you can get your sd card back.

I have yet to buy one that i didn't get LibreELEC working.. The ethernet always works, sometime the wifi chips are not supported. My worst experience was that one would not install to the internal storage so I had to sacrifice an SD card.

Get the correct device tree and it will work. Read the amlogic forum on the libreelec forums and you wont go wrong ..

Edit: just make sure that the chipset you are buying is supported .. sometimes on amazon the title might say S905, but when you look closer it isnt.

I've been reading since I posted, and am more confused than before

This is worse than a newbie trying to select a Linux distro for the first time!

If you were buying for a relative could you make a short list of three?

PabloAndRoy

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I've been reading since I posted, and am more confused than before

This is worse than a newbie trying to select a Linux distro for the first time!

If you were buying for a relative could you make a short list of three?

I really can't, You will see a very common one called MXQ Pro, That one is (99.99%) deffo gonna work as long as it has the S905/X chip. Here is a list of "guaranteed" working boxes: https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/1982-list-of-s905-s905x-boxes-that-work-with-kszaq-s-build/

Really, your best bet is to look at https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/9759-choosing-a-s905-s905x-s905d-s905w-s912-box-guide/ and take the plunge, although as long as you only want ethernet, pretty much any S905/S905X/S905W/S912 is going to work for you ...

There are some "brand" names such as Minix U1, ODROID C1, WeTek and these are guaranteed 100% to work, but then you are getting up into the 100Euro area. For me the whole point is cheap, and I haven't gone wrong yet. I even repurposed an old S805 for a friend and it was faster running LibreELEC 8.0 than the RPi3. Resurrected form a POS Android thing to a super slick Kodi box.

emaherx

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

For clients, I have used RPis in the past but recently I have been repurposing "cheap as chips" S905 boxes (sold on amazon/ebay as cheap Android TV Boxes, but usually shipped with some ****ty Android ROM).

The advantage of these boxes is mainly that they come with their own IR remote and power supply and are as cheap as chips.

By the time you get your RPi + power supply + SD card and then remote control .. you are certainly up about the €60 mark. S905 for the cheap win.

Surely the one advantage of the Raspberry Pi as client is that you don't require any extra remotes. Your TV remote should work it without any extra hardware.

Johnboy1951

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

I really can't, You will see a very common one called MXQ Pro, That one is (99.99%) deffo gonna work as long as it has the S905/X chip. Here is a list of "guaranteed" working boxes: https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/1982-list-of-s905-s905x-boxes-that-work-with-kszaq-s-build/

Really, your best bet is to look at https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/9759-choosing-a-s905-s905x-s905d-s905w-s912-box-guide/ and take the plunge, although as long as you only want ethernet, pretty much any S905/S905X/S905W/S912 is going to work for you ...

There are some "brand" names such as Minix U1, ODROID C1, WeTek and these are guaranteed 100% to work, but then you are getting up into the 100Euro area. For me the whole point is cheap, and I haven't gone wrong yet. I even repurposed an old S805 for a friend and it was faster running LibreELEC 8.0 than the RPi3. Resurrected form a POS Android thing to a super slick Kodi box.

Thanks ....... yes I had read much of those threads, but the more I read the more confused I became.
I guess it is due to never owning an Android box, or ARM (except Pi ?) device, so have no experience or knowledge of them.

as long as you only want ethernet, pretty much any S905/S905X/S905W/S912 is going to work for you

This will do for starters ...... now to find the cheapest one I can for my first try

dubrov

Can the Android boxes control the TV On/Off?

What's the boot up time like or are they so low power, you can just leave them on all the time?

PabloAndRoy

dubrov wrote: »

Can the Android boxes control the TV On/Off?

What's the boot up time like or are they so low power, you can just leave them on all the time?

Most of them come with remotes which you can train to a few of your TV buttons.

The boot up time is about 1 minute, I generally leave them on. I read somewhere that they use about 3.5watts when idle .. that's pretty lower power.

It should be said though that Kodi running on the Android that comes on these cheap boxes is pretty crappy and cannot handle the HD live streams form tvheadend. That is why I repurpose them with LibreELEC and they shine.

PabloAndRoy

emaherx wrote: »

Surely the one advantage of the Raspberry Pi as client is that you don't require any extra remotes. Your TV remote should work it without any extra hardware.

In theory that is true, but I have three issues with HDMI-CEC

1. It is slow, particularly for repeat signals, e.g scrolling through hundreds of channels on a channel list.

2. There is no consistency across TV manufacturers and sometimes not all the buttons can be used on the secondary device. For example, I have a Sony Bravia TV with CEC and if the source is switched to the HDMI for the Pi... I press any of the number keys, the TV thinks I want to switch to a TV channel and does not pass that button press to the Pi, instead it switches sources and switches to the channel number. This is so annoying. Don't get me started on the Samsung implementation, I just turn it off its so bad.

3. Not all TVs have CEC. I don't even consider it when I am choosing a TV.

For the RPi, I find a homemade IR connected to the GPIO pins (seriously, the hardware cost of this is about €2.00) is way more flexible when combined with LIRC. I managed to buy 4 identical All4One remotes in Tesco at one point for a fiver each. I set them all up as an NEC remote, map most of the buttons on LIRC, then copy that mapping across all devices. Then "learn" the power button, the volume buttons and the source button to the TV I am using in that room and map the Power button via LIRC to send a "stop" command to the Pi. This way every TV in the house works exactly the same way regardless of make/model with the same remote and when the better half turns the TV off, the stop signal is also sent to the Pi over IR (instead of HDMI-CEC). Also, it is way faster than CEC.

In short, I generally turn off CEC on all my TVs and use LIRC which i find faster and much more flexible.

PabloAndRoy

Obviously this went a bit off topic.

@dubrov, if you are happy enough to fiddle around a bit to get it set up, tvheadend makes for a very flexible, low cost solution with combined channel list, 7 day EPG, centralised recording and with some port forwarding you can even access your home platform from anywhere with a decent broadband connection.

dubrov

Yeah. It seems like TvHeadend and IP distribution is the way to go.

The hardware will take a little longer to work out and will probably depend on what's available around this time next year. It is great to see there are a lot of cheap options out there though.

emaherx

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

In theory that is true, but I have three issues with HDMI-CEC

1. It is slow, particularly for repeat signals, e.g scrolling through hundreds of channels on a channel list.


2. There is no consistency across TV manufacturers and sometimes not all the buttons can be used on the secondary device. For example, I have a Sony Bravia TV with CEC and if the source is switched to the HDMI for the Pi... I press any of the number keys, the TV thinks I want to switch to a TV channel and does not pass that button press to the Pi, instead it switches sources and switches to the channel number. This is so annoying. Don't get me started on the Samsung implementation, I just turn it off its so bad.

3. Not all TVs have CEC. I don't even consider it when I am choosing a TV.

For the RPi, I find a homemade IR connected to the GPIO pins (seriously, the hardware cost of this is about €2.00) is way more flexible when combined with LIRC. I managed to buy 4 identical All4One remotes in Tesco at one point for a fiver each. I set them all up as an NEC remote, map most of the buttons on LIRC, then copy that mapping across all devices. Then "learn" the power button, the volume buttons and the source button to the TV I am using in that room and map the Power button via LIRC to send a "stop" command to the Pi. This way every TV in the house works exactly the same way regardless of make/model with the same remote and when the better half turns the TV off, the stop signal is also sent to the Pi over IR (instead of HDMI-CEC). Also, it is way faster than CEC.

In short, I generally turn off CEC on all my TVs and use LIRC which i find faster and much more flexible.

1. I find it fine with no issues. And has the advantage of a single remote option and worth a try for anyone experimenting with Pi's as it costs nothing extra.

2. I have yet to find a modern TV that doesn't support CEC. I have both a Sony Bravia and a Samsung both of which work perfectly, (Samsung required Key mapper addon in Kodi).
As for number buttons I don't find it an issue as I would rarely use them in an EPG anyway.

3. Nearly all modern TV's support CEC, I have set up a good few for friends/family and even the lesser brands support it, I have not found one yet that doesn't.


Given that this is a very DIY solution there is no perfect device. And I think the OP should explore all options including the option suggested by yourself. They are such low cost devices that experimenting with a few of them could be worth it.

emaherx

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

Most of them come with remotes which you can train to a few of your TV buttons.

The boot up time is about 1 minute, I generally leave them on. I read somewhere that they use about 3.5watts when idle .. that's pretty lower power.

It should be said though that Kodi running on the Android that comes on these cheap boxes is pretty crappy and cannot handle the HD live streams form tvheadend. That is why I repurpose them with LibreELEC and they shine.

It is a shame to loose the advantage of having Android for other apps. (although the Android version on these is pants).

I wonder how well Kodi runs on a propper Android TV box such as the Shield or Mi Box? A Mi Box is about 70 euro which is a lot more than your suggested box but if it worked well would add a lot of options App wise if even for just the main TV with cheaper clients else where.

Payton

A lot of what is in the first post is what im looking for and then i got lost in the tech jargan but can anyone set this up or can someone point me in the direction of where to start eg YouTube video?

dubrov

The problem is that if you want everything there is generally a good bit of technical messing required to set it all up.
Maybe if you post what you need and your current setup, someone can suggest the easiest way to do it.

PabloAndRoy

emaherx wrote: »

It is a shame to loose the advantage of having Android for other apps. (although the Android version on these is pants).

I wonder how well Kodi runs on a propper Android TV box such as the Shield or Mi Box? A Mi Box is about 70 euro which is a lot more than your suggested box but if it worked well would add a lot of options App wise if even for just the main TV with cheaper clients else where.

The Android TV OS on those boxes is slightly different and supports something called Live Channels for which there is a tvheadend add on (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ie.macinnes.tvheadend). In this way there is no need for Kodi to access tvheadend. This supports basic timeshift pause/play but not recording, so you would need to jump to Kodi for recordings

I have not got one of these devices, but by all accounts it runs very well. Modern Sony Smart TVs running Android TV OS also support this.

BTW, the Mi box runs on S905 technology so in theory any of these cheap boxes could run that version of Android and thus Live Channels. Some folks over on freaktab have made that work, but I haven't looked into it.

PabloAndRoy

emaherx wrote: »

1. I find it fine with no issues. And has the advantage of a single remote option and worth a try for anyone experimenting with Pi's as it costs nothing extra.

LibreELEC on the S905 does support HDMI-CEC, so you don't need to go IR if HDMI works for you.

The IR solution that I described above is a single remote solution.

2. I have yet to find a modern TV that doesn't support CEC. I have both a Sony Bravia and a Samsung both of which work perfectly, (Samsung required Key mapper addon in Kodi).
As for number buttons I don't find it an issue as I would rarely use them in an EPG anyway.

I need my numbers to quick jump to channels. Press 1 for quick jump to RTE1, 3 for BBC1, 5 to ITV, 68 BBC News. Otherwise to get from ITV to BBC news is about 10 button presses.

3. Nearly all modern TV's support CEC, I have set up a good few for friends/family and even the lesser brands support it, I have not found one yet that doesn't.

Of the 4 TVs in my house, 2 do not have HDMI-CEC. One is a cheap 5 year old LG and the other is mid range Samsung about 3 years old.

Given that this is a very DIY solution there is no perfect device. And I think the OP should explore all options including the option suggested by yourself. They are such low cost devices that experimenting with a few of them could be worth it.

I agree ... but at this stage I am unsure what the RPi offers over and above the S905 devices at the client side. I have used both and the S905 devices are faster around the Kodi menus without question. And about half the price.

emaherx

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

LibreELEC on the S905 does support HDMI-CEC, so you don't need to go IR if HDMI works for you.

The IR solution that I described above is a single remote solution.



I need my numbers to quick jump to channels. Press 1 for quick jump to RTE1, 3 for BBC1, 5 to ITV, 68 BBC News. Otherwise to get from ITV to BBC news is about 10 button presses.



Of the 4 TVs in my house, 2 do not have HDMI-CEC. One is a cheap 5 year old LG and the other is mid range Samsung about 3 years old.



I agree ... but at this stage I am unsure what the RPi offers over and above the S905 devices at the client side. I have used both and the S905 devices are faster around the Kodi menus without question. And about half the price.

Well absolutely nothing now! HDMI CEC was the only selling point left for me. I find it's nice for the whole system to work off of the TV's own remotes, they are generally better quality than remotes shipped with these devices or the one4all remotes. This is especially true for the Smart TV's where their own remotes are best.

But by all means add additional better remotes. But HDMI CEC won't cost anything extra to try out. I also use a wireless keyboard with built in track pad on the TV which I use most, which is handy sometimes and often use the Kodi remote app on my phone also.

On the number thing I really never know what's on or want a specific channel normally just flick through EPG to see what's on or else the recordings. Fauvorite channel lists also reduce the number of key presses for the channels I'm likely to remember the number of anyway (it won't be very many).

emaherx

PabloAndRoy wrote: »

The Android TV OS on those boxes is slightly different and supports something called Live Channels for which there is a tvheadend add on (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ie.macinnes.tvheadend). In this way there is no need for Kodi to access tvheadend. This supports basic timeshift pause/play but not recording, so you would need to jump to Kodi for recordings

I have not got one of these devices, but by all accounts it runs very well. Modern Sony Smart TVs running Android TV OS also support this.

BTW, the Mi box runs on S905 technology so in theory any of these cheap boxes could run that version of Android and thus Live Channels. Some folks over on freaktab have made that work, but I haven't looked into it.

Some of my TVs can access channels and recordings directly off my TV server without any additional hardware also. But cannot handle the recording scheduling side either.


Would be very interesting if a propper stable Android TV image could be ported onto the cheaper devices, didn't realise they used the same chipset.

Johnboy1951

I bought a Tanix Tx3, 2GB model which has arrived.
https://www.gearbest.com/tv-box/pp_698085.html?wid=94 €40.40

Runs Android 7.1 and has Kodi installed. (:( also had a load of add-ons designed to get illegal streams etc, but an update of Kodi got rid of all that)

Unfortunately it seems the latest Kodi it can get is 17.4 not 17.6 (latest).

Easily set up to connect to the tv tuner backend.
Yes it has trouble displaying RTE 1 & 2 and forget about the UHD demo channel on Astra.

Now I got to find up to date and VERY simple (step by step) instructions on how to get LE on this device ....... if anyone can help by pointing me to a guide with links to the most suitable image I would be grateful.

EDIT:

Got It!

I used an image from kszaq
https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/5274-index-libreelec-community-builds-for-amlogic/
and this how-to
https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/5556-howto-faq-install-community-builds-on-s905-s905d-s905w-s905x-s912-device/

I got the image and 'device tree' file from here
https://kszaq.libreelec.tv/s905/8.2/

I wrote the .img file (extracted from the .img.gz file) to a 4GB USB stick using 'dd' command in Linux. (I did not have a micro SD card available)
I had expected the correct device tree file to be in the image, but found I had to copy it in manually as per instructions.

I used the

toothpick method: disconnect the power supply, insert card/drive, push reset button and connect the power while holding the button. Wait until LibreELEC logo appears and release the button.

to enable the first boot. (it was a very long wait)

LE seems to be working well.
No problems with RTE 1 & 2 as with Android.
It won't play the UHD Astra channel .... just too much for it I guess.

The small cheap remote works OOB.
I think it is very directional ..... need to do a bit more testing as it might have been something else interfering.

Overall, very satisfied.