[Jacky2611]

Hi there!

A couple of years ago I installed openelec on one of my old win xp pc, and man, was I impressed. I have been using my HTPC ever since.
Recently I decided to switch ISP and upgrade my home network.(including my HTPC) However, by doing so I lost my cable TV contract. I did some research and came to the conclusion that satellite (I live in Austria, Europe) would be the best option.

What I want from my htpc:
4k (if possible with support for 30 frames)
good ethernet port, my library is going to be on a nas.
x265 support
a way to plug in an ir receiver cable would be nice because my htpc is going to stand in the cellar below my tv
I prefer linux over android. Don't really need access to the playstore and all those other features.

Now I can see four different ways to set up my new multimedia solution.


Option 1:
Buy generic sat receiver and htpc, put them in the cellar and connect both to my TV separately using HDMI wires. Definitely the easiest solution. But boring :/
Pros:
easy to setup
Cons:
most likely more expansive than option 3
need two remotes
hard to record to nas


Option 2:
Get a sat>ip receiver (with at least two sat inputs in order to record while I am watching) that always runs in the background and a generic kodi box that can be connected to it using a plugin.
Did some googeling, a vu+ duo might fit the bill. However, it kind of is overkill. (Has its own playback functions and addons...)
Pros:
I can watch tv from any device in my network
One device(htpc) to rule them all!
Pros:
I need two devices
Most likely more expansive than option 3
I don't know if it's possible to record to my nas directly from the receiver so that I can turn off my kodi after I started recording. (And what receiver+plugin would I need to do this?)


Option 3:
Get a htpc that has two or more built in S2 Tv tuners and if possible also an ir port. Something like the Wetek Play. However, I heared that the Wetek Play (1&2) has problems displaying large libraries (100+) and sometimes also has screen tearing.
So far this is the most promising option. Would love to hear about alternatives to the Wetek play. (budget is 250-300€, size doesn't really matter)

EDIT: forgot to mention it, found some good reviews for the prismcube ruby. Has a built in twin sat receiver, but am not too sure about it's performance.

Pros:
I can watch tv from any device in my network
One device to really rule them all!
Cons
I need CI. Not sure if the usb CI mounts really work.
HTPC would have to run 24/7 in order for me to watch tv from different devices


Option 4:
Build a linux server, install ubuntu, Tvheadend and kodi on it. However, I am a bit afraid that this could blow up my budget (250-300€). I need a case, mobo+processor, a graka that can handle 4k videos, 4gigs of ram and a dvb-s2 pcie card with CI support.
Pros:
Can run a few other servers on it too.
Might fit in my 19 inch server rack if I find a cheap server case.
Cons:
Never really tried to build anything else than a gaming or rendering pc. Do I need to cool it? Do we have a list of different builds somewhere online?


Would be great if you guys could give me some feedback on this. Currently I tend to option 3 but so far I haven't really found a fitting kodi box. And has anyone experience with something similar to option 2? As far as I know most devices run enigma 2, but I don't know how well I can connect this to xbmc and wether or not I can turn off my xbmc after I told the receiver to record something.

[Jacky2611]

Ok, so here is a list what I have found so far:

Wetek Play 2 DOESN'T HAVE TWIN TUNER


prismcube ruby
didn't really find that much hardware specs.

qviart UNDRO 2
Android, quad core 1.7ghz, but no HEVC/H265 support. Afraid this won't change even if I flash it with openelec.

Ferguson Ariva 4K
looks really good, but has only one LNB in and I am not sure about its CI support.

[trogggy]

Wetek Play 2
According to a few reviews most likely too weak

I have a cheapo s905 box that has no problem displaying 'large libraries' - I'd expect the Play2 to be at least as good and most likely better.
You sure you're not mixing up the Play and Play2?
Edit: to clarify - I'm talking about using libreelec, not android.

[Jacky2611]

Yeah, I think the review said that there was sometimes stuttering if the play2 was recording/streaming to another device and displaying a video at the same time. I think that someone also mantioned that the Wetek only has single dvb-s support. Which would be a real dealbreaker for me. Would be great if someone could confirm this.
But the HDMI 2.0 and the H265 support make the Wetek a really tempting option.

EDIT: just checked it, the Wetek Play2 doesn't support twin tv tuners.

[wrxtasy]

Just to fix up some errors here as I know AMLogic pretty well: (I cannot speak for the Play1)

- No video screen tearing is present on any of the AMLogic S905 devices (Play2 included) I've seen both when running Android or LibreELEC

- There was video screen tearing on the older AMLogic S8xx devices running OpenELEC initially, but that was all fixed last year with AML video driver updates.

- 2GB Play2 running LibreELEC has no issues with large libraries, I have not found a limit yet but 100 is definitely incorrect.

If your serious about Dual Tuner / TV server support, get a cheap Intel box, put a large HDD in it and run some sort of Linux distro and TV Server software on it. Connect it to a home Network and your good to go.

Trying to do all you want in the one device will lead down the path of too many compromises and suboptimal performance.
Keep the TV server seperate from the TV viewing clients. Spend the money and do it right the first time.

Speaking of Kodi TV clients. You then have the option of virtually choosing any Kodi box with few limitations. I'm sure you are aware by now of the nVIDIA's Shield and Amazon Boxes problems with deinterlacing. The Shield will be OK for Interlaced mpeg2 TV content if you are in the USA only .

[tredman]

The wetek Play 1 / Openelec box can be picked up cheap now. It's old hardware but for the money makes an excellent tvheadend server running libreelec. Kodi works ok, if it's not good enough for kodi (as I find it now) it's still a very good and cheap live tv server

[Jacky2611]

Thx for the replay.

Yeah, you might be right about keeping things seperated. I will look into whats required to build a tvheadend server and report back what I find.
And thank you for mentioning the Shields deinterlacing problems. I built my previous htpc from my own and don't really know much about these ready made htpc boxes. Only heared that the Shield was a good deal but haven't considered it as an option because I won't use any of the gaming features. Will look into it.

[nickr]

Far better to build a server which just holds your tuners and hard drives, and is connected to something small like a wetek hub or odroid c2 which handles playback.

This makes your server quite cheap, mine is a second hand HP workstation Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GH with 4G RAM. Plenty of space for hard drives!