Entire house HTPC concept

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2981 posts

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#824451 23-May-2013 22:24

MePo doesn't work with extenders

But you can stream video + music + live tv + schedule recordings using

Android Client
iOS Client
HTML web based client

If you want to use extenders you are better of looking elsewhere. You can build an extender HTPC for MePo for <$500

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

Benoire

2798 posts

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#824452 23-May-2013 22:32

Yeah KiwiJ is correct. To be honest, at the moment MePo is the best option for Live TV as the interface is really quite refined. XBMC Live TV is simply cumbersome at the moment and represents REALLY early STB devices...

XBMC however is cheap as you can use Linux and with the smaller devices they work ok... Pi's are not very good at 1080i however due to horsepower so you might want to look at better ones such as the exynos quad core powered ones that can run Linux.

mcraenz

1140 posts

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#824453 23-May-2013 22:36

I'm using MediaPortal. I've got 3 clients, lounge room, bedroom, workshop. And server which has 3 DVD-t tuners and 4 DVB-S2 tuners and USB smart card reader. I've tested recording up to 16 Sky channels at once including Sky HD channels. All clients access the same recordings etc. I wouldn't touch anything like R Pi because I highly doubt it would keep up with 1080i. I think the intel NUC might be a good option for a client.

If two clients are watching the same channel or 2 channels on the same frequency then only one tuner is used.

For automation I use HDMI CEC. Hit power on the remote (MS MCE receiver) and the PC wakes up and sends power commands to the TV and AVR via CEC.

Here's a review I did of the quad DVB-S2 card:
http://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/htpc/tbs-6984-quad-tuner-dvb-ss2-card-review/

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kiwijunglist

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#824454 23-May-2013 22:39

^ Above is correct, Pi is not viable for Live Freeview HDTV (1080i)

You could build a MePo extender HTPC cheaply

AMD A6-5400K $85
mATX or uATX FM2 Motherboard $90
2GB DDR3 1666 ram $40
32GB SSD $80
Cheap case w. PSU ~$90
Cheap MCE IR receiver + remote ~$25

Total = $410

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

Benoire

2798 posts

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#824455 23-May-2013 22:40

Need to throw in OS?

kiwijunglist

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#824464 23-May-2013 22:44

I don't know how much windows costs, but good point. You need Windows for MePo. We are dropping XP support in MP1.4 or 1.5 so you'd need W7. That HTPC is quite a fast HTPC for the price, but I wouldn't go any slower with the iGPU.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

Benoire

2798 posts

Uber Geek

#824469 23-May-2013 22:46

Yeah the windows requirement is often the biggest stumbling block for MePo use... Shame its built on .Net but understandable that it won't be re-written :-)

Sharesies

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kiwijunglist

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#824470 23-May-2013 22:47

MP2 is being designed with extenders in mind, but it's at least 1 year away or more.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

mcraenz

1140 posts

Uber Geek

#824477 23-May-2013 23:12

Benoire: Yeah the windows requirement is often the biggest stumbling block for MePo use... Shame its built on .Net but understandable that it won't be re-written :-)

I tend to buy second hand busniess HP SFF pcs (e.g DC7600) and throw in a low profile PCIe vid card. They come with the an OEM Windows license.

Makes for a pretty cheap and well built HTPC front end. Heck, with a 3TB disk and a dual DVB-T PCIe tuner you can have a nice all in one Freeview HD HTPC that makes any sluggish non-pc based PVR look like a joke.

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#824480 23-May-2013 23:15

Yeah you could troll gpforums buy + sell forum, you often see small factors HP PCs for ~$100 each. Add a HD6450 for $75 and an MCE IR receiver + remote for $25 and you have an HTPC extender for $200 with windows. Just have to make sure the PC has PCI-E slot.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

darthmeow

101 posts

Master Geek

#824662 24-May-2013 12:19

I'm using XBMC with the OpenELEC (openelec.tv) mini-linux-distro. Works a damn treat as a front end on most things. Lots of very specific builds for things like the raspberry pi and other uber small form factor boxes.

As for TV, look into 2x HDHomeRuns and a dedicated MythTV backend if you wanna stay an open source route. XBMC should be able to easilly hook into MythTV's backend through the APIs. Last I looked (and used it) MythTV supports MultiRec (1 tuner can expose all the channels on 1 mux - for example a tuner locked onto the TVNZ transponder will let all clients see One, Two, One +1 etc), so 2 HDHomeRuns which has 2 tuners in each should be able to supply ALL freeview channels with a tuner spare as an "oh crap" measure.

InfiniteLoop

19 posts

Geek

#830311 4-Jun-2013 09:04

mcraenz: I'm using MediaPortal. I've got 3 clients, lounge room, bedroom, workshop. And server which has 3 DVD-t tuners and 4 DVB-S2 tuners and USB smart card reader. I've tested recording up to 16 Sky channels at once including Sky HD channels. All clients access the same recordings etc. I wouldn't touch anything like R Pi because I highly doubt it would keep up with 1080i. I think the intel NUC might be a good option for a client.

If two clients are watching the same channel or 2 channels on the same frequency then only one tuner is used.

For automation I use HDMI CEC. Hit power on the remote (MS MCE receiver) and the PC wakes up and sends power commands to the TV and AVR via CEC.

Here's a review I did of the quad DVB-S2 card:
http://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/htpc/tbs-6984-quad-tuner-dvb-ss2-card-review/

mcraenz

What frontend setup are you using? Sounds like some sort of HTPC frontend, but where are you getting the HDMI CEC from?

mcraenz

1140 posts

Uber Geek

#830327 4-Jun-2013 10:08

I'm using MediaPortal for the front end. I'm currently using a combination of infrared and HDMI cec for control and automation.
HDMI CEC is done via a USB to CEC adaptor because for some reason video cards still don't have it built in.

I am a little obsessed with only having a single remote with as few buttons as possible. I use a home brew c# app to do the automaation.
A few examples.
pressing power on the remote. software will send HDMI CEC commands to the AVR and TV to turn them on. And simulate a key press to turn off the screen saver. software now knows the system is on.

I only have two sources HTPC and Xbox360. software keeps track of what mode the system is in so if the AV button is pressed it switches inputs between HTPC and Xbox. This is done with infrared blasting

since I only use about 3 different audio modes on the receiver I have a button assigned to cycle through just these modes. Also using infrared.

Another use for CEC : sometimes when listening to music I turn the TV off and just leave the receiver on. By the time the TV is turned on the screen saver (blanking) has kicked in so the TV is blank when it comes back on, potentially confusing for users. This is solved by monitoring the CEC bus and stimulating a key press when the TV reports itself as ON.

HDMI CEC adaptor review: (although I'm actually using the pulse eight one at the moment.)
http://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/htpc/hands-on-with-kwikwai-hdmi-cec/

Invisible infrared blasting:
http://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/htpc/avr-control-without-ugly-ir-bugs/

This is the remote I'm using:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008WWCHBS

Hope that helps.

Help me build a better way of doing politics in Aotearoa New Zealand

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InfiniteLoop

19 posts

Geek

#830501 4-Jun-2013 14:34

mcraenz: I'm using MediaPortal for the front end. I'm currently using a combination of infrared and HDMI cec for control and automation.
HDMI CEC is done via a USB to CEC adaptor because for some reason video cards still don't have it built in.

I am a little obsessed with only having a single remote with as few buttons as possible. I use a home brew c# app to do the automaation.
A few examples.
pressing power on the remote. software will send HDMI CEC commands to the AVR and TV to turn them on. And simulate a key press to turn off the screen saver. software now knows the system is on.

I only have two sources HTPC and Xbox360. software keeps track of what mode the system is in so if the AV button is pressed it switches inputs between HTPC and Xbox. This is done with infrared blasting

since I only use about 3 different audio modes on the receiver I have a button assigned to cycle through just these modes. Also using infrared.

Another use for CEC : sometimes when listening to music I turn the TV off and just leave the receiver on. By the time the TV is turned on the screen saver (blanking) has kicked in so the TV is blank when it comes back on, potentially confusing for users. This is solved by monitoring the CEC bus and stimulating a key press when the TV reports itself as ON.

HDMI CEC adaptor review: (although I'm actually using the pulse eight one at the moment.)
http://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/htpc/hands-on-with-kwikwai-hdmi-cec/

Invisible infrared blasting:
http://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/htpc/avr-control-without-ugly-ir-bugs/

This is the remote I'm using:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008WWCHBS

Hope that helps.

Do you use a small thin style frontend or a full sized pc?

mcraenz

1140 posts

Uber Geek

#830512 4-Jun-2013 14:59

Full size tower for the server/lounge front end. I've just finished re-locating it to a 'server cupboard' and running a 15M HDMI cable for audio/video and running USB (for remote receiver) over existing CAT6 structured cable. So finally have no PC at all in the lounge! Just TV, AVR and xbox. (and a small USB hub & infrared receiver). For the other clients in the house I just use HP SFF PCs with the addition of a PCIe video card.

The server runs 24/7. The clients sleep and are woken by remote.

Help me build a better way of doing politics in Aotearoa New Zealand

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