Why is nobody making an Android TV box with freeview pvr?

glenimp617

glenimp617

glenimp617

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as someone who is starting to get a bit miffed at paying £100 a month for a TV service (ok, I did go all out with SkyQ and BT Sports) I started looking at what other options are available. To be honest, it's a bit rubbish.

Why isn't anyone making a set top box running Android TV (I don't mean android, I mean the android TV found on the mi box and sony tvs) including a freeview tuner and HDD for recording?

Wouldn't that be pretty awesome? Having android TV with the youview app for me would be perfect.

Humax boxes are terrible.
 
Daaaavvveee said:
Sky often offer up to 75% off their TV packages at re-newel time, why not opt for that and pay under £40 for the service from sky?
Click to expand...

I think I'm already on an offer?

This is what I get

SkyQ 2TB
SkyQ Mini Box for Multiroom
All Channels and Boxsets
Sky Cinema
Sky Sports
Sky Sports HD
80mb Fibre Broadband
Line Rental
Talk Evening and Weekends

I think my bill should be £85 but usually around £90+ what I end up paying. Then I pay extra for BT Sports.

Going to cut back big time I think.....probably
 
Daaaavvveee said:
I have Sky Q 2tb 1 mini box and every channel and we pay £38 I believe
Click to expand...

That's not bad, but considering I can get line and broadband for £25 a month and nothing with freeview it's making me think. I know there is no comparison, but I have to question how much value I'm getting from the service.
There has been loads of premier league matches for example not shown on sky sports or bt sports
 
TheOracle said:
That's not bad, but considering I can get line and broadband for £25 a month and nothing with freeview it's making me think. I know there is no comparison, but I have to question how much value I'm getting from the service.
There has been loads of premier league matches for example not shown on sky sports or bt sports
Click to expand...

yeah, I am thinking about dropping sports as I normally always miss the bloody games anyway
 
Woden said:
I want androidtv with a pair of freesat tuners
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make your own
marshmallow tuner drivers https://android.googlesource.com/ke...4-fugu-3.10-marshmallow/drivers/media/tuners/
x86-64 marshmallow build http://www.android-x86.org/download

but it may be simpler to buy a wetek play2 box https://wetek.com/ww/en/product/wetek-play2

on amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/WeTek-Hybr...8&qid=1503576959&sr=8-1&keywords=wetek+play+2

might have spoken too soon, may not support recording natively

fixed
https://support.wetek.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004246449-How-to-schedule-recordings-on-WeTV
 
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Simple answer, Google are very specific with who does what with Android TV. I worked for a DTV software company and we had working prototypes with Freeview years ago, Google stopped us in our tracks. Similarly they have specific HW requirements which most low-end boxes would be loath to match.
 
I've been looking at plex dvr which can run off a nvidia shield which seems to be progressing well. That would have dual tuners, live TV streaming and timeshifting but only on limited devices right now. You don't get the traditional epg but the more I see the plex way the more I like it as you can just turn off all the rubbish freeview channels and pick the ones you want.

But I agree a youview box with Android would be great but all the providers have deals and limitations which get in the way. For example
the current you view box doesn't have Amazon video or allow you to watch anything on now tv apart from movies.

If on demand quality continues to improve then it won't be much of an issue but that seems to be locked with content providers. Sky and UK TV Play for example is the only way to download HD but to get Sky HD content is ridiculously expensive.
 
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Nvidia shield with PMS installed does this quite well using a USB dual tuner. Only thing you've got to remember is that if you're using it in live TV in an app such as Kodi and you have a scheduled recording then PMS will take exclusivity and interrupt your viewing. I got round that by using IPTV for live and PMS for recording.
 
ok, seems I'm a bit behind the times. Thanks markEP.

Looks like buying the new nvidia shield pro with 500gb and a hauppauge usb tuner will do just want I want!

Didn't realise that nvidia themselves have included the plex server app onto the machine. Seems that tegra x1 is pretty good for this task

Thanks
 
Plex DVR and Live TV support has been added to Amazon Fire TV and Plex web player now.

Went with a HDHomerun Connect in the end and glad I did as its nice to have other options rather than just Plex to access TV. Been having a few issues with the Shield where it is locking up on some channels (mainly HD) and failed dual recordings. Currently rebuilding the EPG data on my PC Plex server instead so will see if that sorts it out.

Despite the issues I'm very impressed with the HDHomerun, picture quality is great and while you have to pay to use their DVR service the free apps do a pretty good job for live tv.
 
so with the HDHomerun (they are circa £100 no ?)
can you export HD freeview recordings onto your PC plex server ? historically on humax boxes (I have) the BBC demanded that HD recordings are encrypted and only playable on the same humax box, has that been relaxed now.

(a bit off thread) also some theories on new firetv arriving October with dot/echo replacements
 
jpaul said:
so with the HDHomerun (they are circa £100 no ?)
can you export HD freeview recordings onto your PC plex server ? historically on humax boxes (I have) the BBC demanded that HD recordings are encrypted and only playable on the same humax box, has that been relaxed now.

(a bit off thread) also some theories on new firetv arriving October with dot/echo replacements
Click to expand...

The HDHomerun Connect doesn't record to internal storage but instead connects to your home network (ethernet) where the dual tuners can be accessed by other devices. Those devices can then be set up to record using various programs but I'm trying to do it with Plex as it would fit in well with the rest of my media collection. However Plex DVR is still pretty buggy and I'm having a few issues but most seem to be on the player side as viewing recordings through Kodi rather than Plex is working perfectly.

Anyway I had a look at the recordings from a couple of HD channels (CH4 / BBC2) and I can't see any DRM protection as both will play in VLC without issue.

They are expensive but for my needs having the backup of being able to access the device directly over the network is worth it while the issues with Plex are ironed out. In the US they have a version that has a built in transcoder which reduces the network demands significantly but not sure when / if its coming to the UK.
 
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