[mythtv-users] Frontend hardware

[Marlon Buchanan]

On Thu, Nov 30, 2017 at 1:22 PM, Matt Goebel <matt at goebelnet.com> wrote:

> I just recently faced this same dilemma when it came time to replace my
> 2nd batch of aging HTPC's (two of them) that I've been using to run
> mythfrontend for ~12 years.
> I wanted to drastically cut the expense, power usage, noise (NO fans), and
> management overhead while at the same time adding support for 4k, better
> organize my content collection, being more wife/family friendly, adding
> (good) support of online content/streaming, and better remote access to my
> content.  What I ended up with is the following:
>
> Software:
>
> - MythBackend for Live TV and recordings.  I have older HD-PVR's because
> HDhomerun Primes won't work with my provider other than the basic broadcast
> channels and being able to watch/record any cable/premium channel is
> important to my wife.  I also have IPTV sources more my wife to
> watch/record her HD European TV channels here in the US.  In terms of the
> ability to watch/record anything from any source I've found nothing better
> than Myth so no reason to change that part.
> - Plex media server. All my recordings (TV shows an Movies anyways) in
> myth are automatically fed into this once complete.  I use myth2kodi to do
> that, which adds support for automatically looking up missing metadata myth
> might not know (like episode number).  Same goes for all my other content
> from other sources, automatically added or manual.  It gets put into an
> appropriate location and Plex takes care of the rest. Plex does a fantastic
> job of grabbing meta data and making everything available anywhere, and
> organizing it into distinct libraries, far better than what Myth can do.
> - Kodi for the frontend. I use the Plexkodiconnect addon to access all my
> Plex content, and to organize everything in kodi into separate libraries
> (since on it's only it only has one) so that I have all our TV Shows,
> Movies, Kids movies/TV, woodworking shows/videos, exercise videos in
> separate main menu libraries.  Live TV and access to any recordings
> myth2kodi can't identify (sports/news/specials/etc only generally) are all
> accessible from Myth via the mythtv PVR addon.  I can also watch ALL the
> major streaming services in 4k (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Youtube Red,
> and a dozen+ others) directly from Kodi (more on that below).  It takes the
> right skin and quite a bit of time and effort tweaking settings and playing
> around with kodi to get the ideal setup, but once you do it blows
> everything else right out of the water.  My old Mythfrontend looks like a
> joke compared to what I have now.
>
> Hardware:
>
> - Nvidia Shield TV's (one for each TV): These are absolutely fantastic.
> Relatively cheap (I got them for $170 each this month on sale), 4k support,
> tiny, fanless and low powr, support for everything (which is where I get a
> lot of the streaming service support in kodi).  I can plug in a keyboard to
> them, or expand the storage (which I've not needed to do), etc.  They add
> google home support too, so I have full voice controll over my TV's from
> anywhere even without the remote.  Kodi isn't supported yet for voice
> control via google (Alexa works though), but will be in 18.
> - Remotes I use the remote that came with the shield as well as some
> Harmony 650's I had (with Flirc USB IR receivers).  I really like the
> remote that came with the shield, but it's way to limiting with the lack of
> buttons for certain things in kodi.  The Harmony takes care of that and
> works perfectly.  I'm using HDMI CEC so that when I turn either the TV or
> Shield on/off both are in sync and there is nothing the confuse the
> wife/guests when something goes wrong.
>
> I'm completely in love with my new setup, as is the wife.  Even my just
> turned 3 year old has figured it out and said it's better (now she can
> watch youtube kids and PBS kids on the TV too).  For anyone still using
> mythfrontend you really are missing out.  There are essentially NO
> downsides to kodi, or a good android based setup, if you put the effort
> into it. It's that much better x10.
>
>
This is something I've been thinking about and will definitely consider
when frontends start dying. I have a few of the old zotac zboxes. But I
also have a couple of firetv sticks. I run kodi on my frontends, but I
don't use the mythtv pvr add on, I preferred to mythfrontend, but I didn't
put much work into it when I tried it. I just switch to kodi when I want to
use it for local media and plugins. Haven't really had a need for plex yet.
But one of the reasons I'm considering going to android based frontends in
the future is that I'm guessing in 2-5 years I will be using streaming
services for everything anyway. After 11 years for me, I think I can see
(and am somewhat saddened by) the end of the use of my Mythtv coming...
Regardless of the streaming cable, I'll probably replace any new failing
frontends with kodi/android just to start the transition. Maybe I'll do
that with one of my firestick's now...
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20171130/9563779c/attachment.html>