[mythtv-users] Fronted advice

[John Marshall]

On 3/25/2015 4:07 PM, Eric Sharkey wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 25, 2015 at 4:02 PM, John Marshall <mythtv at marshallparty.org> wrote:
>> On 3/25/2015 1:03 PM, Damian wrote:
>>>
>>> I got a bit excited todat when I started to read about the Rasbery Pi 2.
>>> I love the idea of buying one of those as a MythTV frontend.
>>> Unfortunately, further reading seemed to conclude that that's still not
>>> an option.
>>
>>
>> It's an option if you don't mind using Kodi(XBMC) as your frontend.
>
> If you're used to the native mythfrontend experience, Kodi feels far
> inferior.  At least, that's my opinion.  (Full disclosure: I've only
> tried it on my cell phone. YMMV)

I've tried it for research but don't use it all the time.  The Guide 
looks nice and live TV is fine.  I don't like browsing for recordings as 
much in it, and I never scheduled anything with it, but those functions 
work.  I don't think the player skips around as well.  Mainly it feels 
like using Kodi, not Myth.

That being said, getting something for ~$50 that actually works, and 
works reasonably well (apparently the Pi's deinterlacer is pretty good, 
and Pi2 is quicker), is a pretty good deal.  Plus Kodi has other useful 
plugins, such as one to play videos from movie trailer sites, MLB.com 
highlights, TV shows from network sites, etc, and I actually prefer its 
music player.  Of course, Kodi can be added as an option in Myth's main 
menu for those occasions, which is what I do.  But for a secondary TV, 
an inferior $50 solution might be more attractive than a good $100-200+ 
one.  Also note the Pi's HDMI supports CEC, and it has composite 
outputs, which may be an advantage for some people.  It is likely to use 
less electricity than any other solution.  So, pros & cons.