[patseguin]

I have a few questions about Live TV. This is something that I've never even looked at in Kodi.

Do I need a special card to do live TV which I plug my DirecTV into?

If so, can I use it on OpenElec or do I need Windows?

What is the benefit of using Kodi live TV over DirecTV's receiver which can record up to 5 channels at once?

Is the live TV support meant to give TV to cord cutters?

The only thing I could find was a YouTube video where the guy enables live TV and then a window pops up with different live TV addons to choose from. When I turn it on, nothing happens.

[noggin]

Live TV in Kodi isn't really geared up for US pay-TV stuff. It's more geared to OTA (i.e. antenna) in the US.

Those of us in Europe/Aus/NZ probably have a better deal - as we have a lot more OTA and have Free-to-air (non-pay-TV) satellite, as well as more open cable in some countries.

[live4ever]

I've done it in Canada with STBs from Bell ExpressVu (Hauppage Colossus-Windows backend) and Shaw Cable (Firewire-Mythbuntu backend), mostly to distribute live TV around the house and have everything in one interface.

[jnevill]

I'm not expert on DirectTV, but I believe you'll have problems trying to integrate Live TV with that service. To use Live TV with a service provider (I have Comcast in the US) you will need to purchase a PC or Network Tuner card/box. I use the HDHomeRun Prime. It's a seperate box that allows you to insert a CableCard. The CableCard is a small metal card that you get from your cable provider. It allows the PC Tuner Card or Network Tuner Box to tune to a channel and decrypt it.

As far as I'm aware Direct TV does not give out Cable Cards... so you're probably out of luck here.

If they do give them out, then besides the Tuner card/box you will need a TV Backend that handles the incoming requests to change the channel and interfaces with the box to change it. Backends also handle the PVR and DVR functionality as well. XBMC/Kodi then links to the backend so you can have control over everything.

HDHomeRun Prime: http://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHome...B004HKIB6E
Picture of a cablecard: http://i.imgur.com/9QBUKGR.jpg