Hey,
I’m running XBMC Frodo but about to move to Frodo now it’s released. I’d like to get TV on my XBMC but I’m a little lost of where to turn.
I do not have any aerial cable but I do have a disused SKY HD box with the tuner cables connected. Can I use the Sky cables to obtain freesat/freeview channels?
Also what TV card/USB connection device should I get? I’m UK based and my XBMC is running on Windows 7 64-bit.
I've also seen people commenting about back end software so again can anyone recommend that has perhaps done what I've asked. I do not know if this is even possible so please excuse me if this is blindingly obvious.
Thanks
Hi.
Step 1; You would 1st need to purchase a DVB-S or DVB-S2 TV card. The S2 card allows you to get HD channels. The 's' card only has standard def channels but can be purchased cheaper. The TV card will then connect to your Sky Dish. There are various types of TV cards out there. Some fit inside your PC and some are USB based. This is the card I use;
http://www.pctvsystems.com/Products/Prod...fault.aspx
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing...dition=new
Step 2. The back-end software.... You need to choose software that will pick-up the channels and send them to XBMC. I use MediaPortal because its the most widely used software out there and their site has a lot of support to help you set-up. Basically you need set-up this software 1st. Get TV running on it and then come back to XBMC.
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/
Step 3. Set-up XBMC to connect to your back-end.
Hope the info get you started
You'll also need to consider ...
1. The spec of your current PC - does it have enough grunt to run XBMC *and* the tuner (backend) software? Perhaps recording a couple of HD channels while watching something else?
2. Do you want it turned on even when you're not watching it - so that it can record programmes, for example? Are you storing your current media on this PC, or on a separate NAS of some kind - and if that's already on, can you use that in any way?
3. What chassis is your PC, does it have either USB ports or PCIe slots for the tuners (there's an argument that internal cards are better supported - bus bandwidth is higher, they don't move about - although I don't know that it's entirely valid, at a nominal 480 Mbps, USB2 is fast enough for anything you can throw at it)?
4. How much disc space do you have, and what will you be using it for - over-the-air HD recordings can be 5Gb an hour, so how does this play with what you have already?
But it is basically "choose box, select backend, install, configure, connect to XBMC, live with it and decide whether you're happy or want to try a different backend". I think I've tried about five different ones over both Windows and Linux over the years...
Thanks to you both. That's really helped me out! :o)
(2013-01-30, 10:31)bluewizard Wrote: [ -> ]Hi.
Step 1; You would 1st need to purchase a DVB-S or DVB-S2 TV card. The S2 card allows you to get HD channels. The 's' card only has standard def channels but can be purchased cheaper. The TV card will then connect to your Sky Dish. There are various types of TV cards out there. Some fit inside your PC and some are USB based. This is the card I use;
http://www.pctvsystems.com/Products/Prod...fault.aspx
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing...dition=new
Sorry, but does the USB Tuner Card you use allow for two connections, and are they of the screw-in type that Sky uses or the plug-in type akin to a analogue tv cable?
Thanks!
That appears to be a single-tuner USB stick, so only one connection. And I believe that all satellite connection are the screw type (F-plug).
A bit more: your satellite cables will be good for Freesat. You need a TV aerial for Freeview. Tuners are different, so you need to hunt out a combination DVB-S/DVB-T box (if such exists) or have separate tuner cards/USB sticks. One tuner will access one programme, so to access (watch or record) two Freesat programmes at once you'll need dual DVB-S tuners (or S2 if you want HD), and similarly for Freeview with DVB-T.
Brilliant, that's cleared it for me. I only use Sky at the moment, no (decent) TV aerial installed and no TV getting a signal anyway. All TV is watched through the Sky box and I'm looking at getting rid of it and replacing it with a net-top, XBMC and a TV Tuner (most of the Sky channels are crap anyway, don't need them)...looks like I'm after a dual DVB-S2 stick.
Thanks again.
Hi Prof Yaffle,
I am in the proses of transitioning out of using MCE with 3 extenders, i have been using this set-up for the last 9 years.
i am testing XBMC Margro build with Mediaportal back end but Margro support is only for the default skin and seems slow in development?
what do you use got any suggestions the wife and kids are not very happy with things not working but they no when it is set-up we will have a nice system again?
I have a windows 8.1 server box with 1 x Black and gold BGT3620 TV card dual DVBT2 freeview HD UK
does any one have some pointers for the best back end software for me that can do good EPG recording scheduling and some cheap set top boxes for my xbox extenders replacements and skn?
Cheers
Not sure I'm the right person to advise given what you describe... my setup is different.
For what it's worth, I use Confluence (the default skin) on all my clients [rarely beaten for lightweight usability IMHO] - I've looked at Amber, Aeon MQ, Aeon Nox, re-Touched and many others, but always come back to Confluence. Back end is then tvheadend (2 x DVB-S2 and 2 x DVB-T2 tuners for Freesat and Freeview respectively - I'm a big fan of the PCTV USB sticks) on a general-purpose 'buntu server, which I also use for transcoding and serving files over NFS/CIFS and SMB. Clients are then typically old ION systems for fixed installations and then a mix of Windows and Android for anything that moves about.
In terms of usability... no-one ever bothers me unless something breaks, and everyone is adept at navigating live and recorded TV as well as the library - although we mostly use it for recordings and library material, I must confess.
You could maybe ask in the MediaPortal sub-forum as to what skins people recommend. As for Windows back ends, I did look at Argus/4TR once, that seemed to work but was just too heavy (along with Windows 7 at the time) for the system I was running it on; tvheadend and Linux works well for me, with XBMC EPG scheduling or via the web interface.
(2014-02-22, 15:44)pzjuls Wrote: [ -> ]Hi Prof Yaffle,
I am in the proses of transitioning out of using MCE with 3 extenders, i have been using this set-up for the last 9 years.
i am testing XBMC Margro build with Mediaportal back end but Margro support is only for the default skin and seems slow in development?
what do you use got any suggestions the wife and kids are not very happy with things not working but they no when it is set-up we will have a nice system again?
I have a windows 8.1 server box with 1 x Black and gold BGT3620 TV card dual DVBT2 freeview HD UK
does any one have some pointers for the best back end software for me that can do good EPG recording scheduling and some cheap set top boxes for my xbox extenders replacements and skn?
Cheers
Hi I am looking for the same I have MCE with two xbox extenders, did you change to KODI and what did set tops did you buy please?
I have a very similar setup, see signature
I use Mediaportal backend and Margro's TV Server plugin and aside from an issue where the TV Server backend doesn't start up until I select the tv channel twice from a cold start it works fine.
I have used Aeon Nox Silvo, Aeon Madnox and Mimic as skins and they work well with the PVR function. I like the Aeon variants and the OSD for TV watching is a little more like a hardware PVR than Mimic but I prefer Mimic because it is a lighter/brighter skin.
(2016-02-07, 12:34)UsefulG Wrote: [ -> ]I have a very similar setup, see signature
I use Mediaportal backend and Margro's TV Server plugin and aside from an issue where the TV Server backend doesn't start up until I select the tv channel twice from a cold start it works fine.
I have used Aeon Nox Silvo, Aeon Madnox and Mimic as skins and they work well with the PVR function. I like the Aeon variants and the OSD for TV watching is a little more like a hardware PVR than Mimic but I prefer Mimic because it is a lighter/brighter skin.
thanks I take it you are in the UK, what do you use to watch the recordings on in other rooms?
You could run Raspberry Pi 2's with OSMC (really easy to set up). install the mediaportal PVR addon and then recordings will show up in the TV section of Kodi on the Pi2.
I've been really impressed with OSMC on Pi2. Rock solid.
(2016-02-10, 15:13)rlg6767 Wrote: [ -> ]You could run Raspberry Pi 2's with OSMC (really easy to set up). install the mediaportal PVR addon and then recordings will show up in the TV section of Kodi on the Pi2.
I've been really impressed with OSMC on Pi2. Rock solid.
Thanks can you set recordings with the pi this way?