*** Official Kodi (née XBMC) Thread ***

It took an hour to watch anything tonight because it decided to install updates. Then XBMC crashed a few times, and then we just browsed to the file instead and watched it in media player. Now it's installing updates again. Its noisy and large too. Its just becoming cumbersome to use, even more so after getting a Chromecast upstairs and seeing what simple "just works" streaming can be like.

I had an RPi for a while but it struggled with the xbmc interface and artwork, although it played HD videos perfectly. I'm thinking there must be a middle ground? The power of a PC but with a set top box "just works" software install. Like one of the Linux builds on a mini PC. Trouble is there's about a billion devices at a wide range of prices that all claim to do it, so I'm after experience from people who have some.

Imagine if Kodi were to release their own branded hardware box. What would it be?
 
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Another vote for a NUC running OpenELEC. You really can't get more simple and hassle free.

The Celeron NUC (DN2820FYKH) is all you need for XBMC/Kodi and it handles absolutely everything with aplomb.
 
I have an NUC myself, DN2820FYKH, I'm still on Gotham build of XBMC but its pretty spot on for me. It runs windows 8 (because I'm also using it to use steam game streaming services which is a little bit dodgy but works fairly well) , I've turned all the auto updating stuff off within windows and got it to autoboot straight into xbmc, I never really see any of Windows, I never turn it off either given that its silent and doesn't output much heat at all.

No complaints on these little NUC's handy little boxes and I've been through quite a few (RPi, custom built fusion box, using an old pc etc, Ouya etc!)
 
I'm on the verge of buying the following product from a competitor that i can't link to...

PCTV Systems DVB-T2 292e nanoStick HD TV Tuner
Click to expand...

Reviews seem to suggest that the hardware is fine, but the supplied software is not.

I don't want to use the provided software. I would like to plug this in to my USB port, plug in an external roof mounted TV aerial, and have XBMC play and record live TV (Freeview with HD) with series links and stuff.

Is this going to work? Will I need 3rd party software in place of the supplied software, or will XBMC have it all built in?
 
Skeeter, why not just install OpenElec onto your existing box - zero extra costs, and you then essentially have what you're looking for, a Kodi appliance.
 
String said:
I'm on the verge of buying the following product from a competitor that i can't link to...



Reviews seem to suggest that the hardware is fine, but the supplied software is not.

I don't want to use the provided software. I would like to plug this in to my USB port, plug in an external roof mounted TV aerial, and have XBMC play and record live TV (Freeview with HD) with series links and stuff.

Is this going to work? Will I need 3rd party software in place of the supplied software, or will XBMC have it all built in?
Click to expand...

no, you need the 290e rather than the newer one you listed. That one isn't supported in Linux for DVB-T2 I believe, check out linuxtv.org for compatibility. I strongly urge only buying something which is tested out as compatible as you'll cause yourself headaches other wise.

Also without some serious research on a TV backend you wont' get series links and what you're after, Kodi is just not very advanced when it comes to live tv.
 
Skeeter said:
It took an hour to watch anything tonight because it decided to install updates. Then XBMC crashed a few times, and then we just browsed to the file instead and watched it in media player. Now it's installing updates again. Its noisy and large too. Its just becoming cumbersome to use, even more so after getting a Chromecast upstairs and seeing what simple "just works" streaming can be like.

I had an RPi for a while but it struggled with the xbmc interface and artwork, although it played HD videos perfectly. I'm thinking there must be a middle ground? The power of a PC but with a set top box "just works" software install. Like one of the Linux builds on a mini PC. Trouble is there's about a billion devices at a wide range of prices that all claim to do it, so I'm after experience from people who have some.

Imagine if Kodi were to release their own branded hardware box. What would it be?
Click to expand...

Yeah an RPi sucks in the menus but plays fine. So I just use the Yatse app on my phone to browse my library and it's fine.

If I didn't use my RPi I'd probably grab a NUC, though you can't really beat an RPi for it's low power usage, uses only 3-4 watts.
 
Given up and installing windows media centre. Hopefully that'll just work out the box, with out being impossible to fathom out for live TV. Find out in a bit, once I switch the cable from the skybox to pc and see what happens.
 
Celeron NUC is vastly more powerful and power usage is negligible:

BtdOjje.png
 
steinooo said:
no, you need the 290e rather than the newer one you listed. That one isn't supported in Linux for DVB-T2 I believe, check out linuxtv.org for compatibility. I strongly urge only buying something which is tested out as compatible as you'll cause yourself headaches other wise.

Also without some serious research on a TV backend you wont' get series links and what you're after, Kodi is just not very advanced when it comes to live tv.
Click to expand...

I'm not running Linux, I'm using Windows 8.1.
 
Well installed windows media centre, entered post code, pressed next a few times, it auto detected free sat tuner, auto detect best satellite, loaded up the guide and populated it and it's a nice UI. Record series and everything else is working.
worth the £6.99 for the ease of set up.
Why can't xbmc be that easy.

So anyone wanting live TV and getting fed of trying to find plugins and set it up, you may want to consider windows.
 
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ubern00b said:
Celeron NUC is vastly more powerful and power usage is negligible:

BtdOjje.png
Click to expand...

Yeah it's not bad but it's over double the cost of the RPi without including things like SSDs, more RAM etc. If I was going to get a NUC I would probably opt for one of the more powerful ones. If you want to just install XBMC I think RPi does an admirable job for the price.

4K could change things though, I am not sure how RPi would handle files of that resolution. Maybe you would need a NUC or such to be able to play 4K res stuff well.
 
God Rpi is terrible for the price, get an android on a stick. Such an overrated device. It's good for what it's designed for. But a cheap arm device are similar price and so much more powerful.
 
With an Intel NUC, do you get CEC in OpenElec out of the box?

(being able to control OpenElec using the TV remote)

That's one thing I miss on my living room tv (I use a Pi in kitchen, 'media pc' running Windows in living room)
 
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bledd. said:
With an Intel NUC, do you get CEC in OpenElec out of the box?

(being able to control OpenElec using the TV remote)

That's one thing I miss on my living room tv (I use a Pi in kitchen, 'media pc' running Windows in living room)
Click to expand...

None of the NUCs support CEC out of the box that I am aware of. You can get the Pulse-Eight internal and external adaptors but I think fitting the internal adaptor to the NUC is quite a challenge.
 
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