[mythtv-users] Smart TVs that can run Mythtv-Leanfront?

[John Pilkington]

On 19/11/2022 15:16, John Pilkington wrote:
> On 11/11/2022 22:21, James Abernathy wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Nov 11, 2022 at 4:32 PM John Pilkington <johnpilk222 at gmail.com 
>> <mailto:johnpilk222 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     On 11/11/2022 17:47, James Abernathy wrote:
>>      > My old UHD 4k tv is losing some of its backlight and I'm going to
>>      > replace it during the Black Friday sales. So I'm thinking about
>>     whether
>>      > any of the Smart TVs can already run some of the MythTV Android
>>     apps.
>>      > Leanfront would be the key one.
>>      >
>>      > The Sony X90CK says its Smart Platform is Google TV.
>>      >
>>      > Has anyone tested Leanfront on a Sony TV with Google TV built-in??
>>      >
>>      > Jim A
>>
>>     I haven't, but perhaps I can take up the 'replacing a TV' theme, with
>>     some relevance to leanfront.
>>
>>     I had two old smart TVs 'brick' last year.  The reason wasn't clear.
>>
>>     Since then my watching has been on monitors, with stereo hi-fi sound
>>     from the PC line output. One of the monitors has digital video input
>>     but
>>     is missing HDMI sound.
>>
>>     Before the bricking I could get sound from the Firestick 4K via 
>> the TV
>>     headphone socket, but these now seem to be almost extinct, 
>> replaced by
>>     Bluetooth.  So I have bought a DAB-radio with Bluetooth, to see how
>>     it goes.
>>
>>     I do get BT audio, which sounds reasonable, but with quirks.  'Ticks'
>>     from a testcard are heard as 'shushes'.  Some googling suggests that
>>     the
>>     audio codecs in both the Firestick and the Bluetooth receiver are not
>>     the best for high-quality audio, and I don't think that either can be
>>     changed.  Kodi on the Firestick shows the effect too.
>>
>>     So what, going forward, is the best way to get good stereo (or other)
>>     audio from Firestick-like systems?  I guess that if I really feel the
>>     need I should look for HDMI audio extractors.
>>
>>     John P
>>
>>
>> In my case my TV watching is from 10 ft. away in the family room, so 
>> I'm looking for a 65" 4K TV. My audio is from a Denon AVR and my 5.1 
>> speakers are built into the ceiling except for the subwoofer. When we 
>> downsized and built this smaller house I got rid of the massive sound 
>> system I had along with the Home Theater room.  So building in smaller 
>> round speakers into the ceiling was a good compromise.
>>
>> The Denon AVR is connected  to the TV via HDMI via the ARC port on the 
>> TV.  So whether I am watching the Apps on the Smart TV or on the 
>> FIreTV, the sound comes via the Denon AVR and speakers.
>>
>> The leading candidate TV at this point is the Sony 65" X90CK mainly 
>> because it supports ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV and it's a Full Array LED.  
>> This makes it a good midrange TV better than I have and not too 
>> expensive. RIght now at Costco it's $999 including a 5 year warranty.  
>> Since it's Google TV with Android OS it should run Leanfront. If that 
>> is the case I can retire my FIreTV 4K stick.
>>
>> Back to one remote hopefully. Since Logitech is no longer making Smart 
>> Hub Harmony remotes this will help me dispose of all the HDMI Switches 
>> with remotes, and HDMI Splitters for sound and optical splitters,
>>
>> At 71, it's time to simplify.
>>
>> JIm A
>>
> 
> I was looking at the 'Freeview' site in an attempt to find out whether 
> the EIT information that I see really shows all the info that is 
> transmitted;  sometimes it seems wilfully uninformative.  But then I 
> found this page, listing devices with 'Freeview Play'.  The Sony TV 
> there looked a good match to my usage as mentioned above (I don't think 
> I'll miss the pixels, or the inches) -  and I took delivery today.  With 
> the multiple legal acceptances clicked it's looking and sounding good. 
> It's playing well from the F36 Mythbox via HDMI, and BBC Sounds via the 
> net and my old stereo system. I haven't yet tried installing extra apps, 
> and I'm not sure whether it will want 32 or 64 bit builds when the time 
> comes.
> 
> https://www.freeview.co.uk/get-freeview/products

Playback was good with the Firestick 4K in the tv's HDMI input 1, but 
managing both remotes was clearly going to be a pain.  I've just put 
Peter's v392 build of leanfront on both devices, and the results from 
both the native tv and the firestick/HDMI are looking good.

Also, with today's master, I got a full MythArchive DVD .iso from 
pre-cut DVB-T recordings;  it used to be part of my routine but my 
occasional attempts to use it over the past few years had all failed.
> John P