Kodi Community Forum

Hello everybody,

i do have a - i'd say - big XBMC project on the horizon. We have just bought a house and will renovate it within the next months. A "mandatory" thing is a good setup for all different multimedia purposes. As i have switched from MediaPortal to XBMC about a year ago, i want to stay with it.
I will now post a set of requirements/questions. If you answer, it would be great if you could include a quoute of the question to your post in order to let me keep track of the answers. I will try to update the initial post from time to time as i guess this project might be of interest to others.

General information:

• I am a "mac guy"
  
• linux is fine
  
• windows sucks
  
• Multi-room setup
  
• Music, Video, LiveTV, Youtube & other stuff
  
• Central Media Server (Synology)
  
• Everything should be "rock solid" to make my wife happy :-)
  

So here are my requirements/questions:
1. XBMC Clients in multiple locations:
1.1 Living room: Here i do need the best performance. Today i do have a mac mini (late 2012) and a raspberry pi(for testing) running there. The client will be connected to a Marantz SR6004 AV-Receiver via HDMI splitting Audio & Video. Video output will be realized through my Sony 46X4500 TV. The raspberry pi will not be my choice for the living room as i do want best performance here and it even struggles to show my vacation-pictures in an acceptable manner. I do have the feeling OS X is the "poor cousin" as there are quite some bugs even in stable releases... correct?

1.2 Kitchen: There i would like to have a small device with a touch screen (10" ?) that is able to play liveTV, music, video, webstreams, youtube, etc. For audio i will install proper speakers and an amp...
It would also be great if the device/OS would come with a good browser (look up recipes etc.)
Which device would you recommend? I thought of an Android Tablet...

1.3 Bathroom: In the bathroom i would like to have access to my music and be able to watch a movie/LiveTV from time to time... Focus is on music as i will use that on a daily basis. Video is more a "nice to have"... the iPad might do that. Speakers/Amp will be installed. What would you recommend here? Maybe a RPi without display, remote-controlled via any iOS device?

1.4 Office: There i have my macbook and no need for another device today...

2. Central Media Library:
It would be really great if all the information about our media consumption would be stored in a single database (Which videos have been watched, etc.). I've read somewhere in the web, that i can store the XBMC Library on any SQL server. So how about putting a mysql server on the Synology? Is that "ready for concurrent access"?

3. LiveTV:
I have two options to go for: DVB-C or DVB-S. As i am living in Germany, DVB-S has the disadvantage of bad DRM s*** if you want to have HDTV. I definitely want to have EPG, timeshifting & recording features!

3.1 DVB-?:
What would you recommend: DVB-C or DVB-S?
3.2 Which backend is best?
I am using tvheadend on my synology today and it is really nice, channel switching times are awesome! BUT: Timeshifting does not work well (i'd say "at all") and does not have priority for the dev's. Also the plugin for OS X makes 12.3 crash frequently (e.g. on every exit, preventing me to reboot via remote). I'd love to have a "configure & forget" solution running stable for as long as possible. I do have a spare old mac mini(i thing one of the first), where i could install a linux and mythtv/vdr/? on.

4. more things will come i guess

Thank you all in advance!
Cheers,
Tom

noone?

1.1) OS X has it's quirks, but so does any other platform. I don't think there would be any major issues with using OS X on the MacMini as the main HTPC. If I had a spare Mac Mini then I would probably do the same thing.

1.2) Jailbroken iPad or a Nexus tablet is probably your best bets, in my opinion. (Side note, I'm very fond of "Paprika" for recipes on iOS. Not sure if they have an Android version). You can also get little disposable plastic covers for tablets that will transfer touch, but protect the screen from eggs, chocolate, flour, etc.

1.3) Raspberry Pi for your music would be a great idea for this. You can sling music to it via AirPlay, UPnP/DLNA, or even have the music on the Pi (or on the network) and just control the music remotely using XBMC and XBMC remote apps. There's probably some other Debian or Arch Linux based music players that would work too, but it's very easy to just install OpenELEC/XBMC on a Pi and go. I've done this in the car before, where the Pi was only used for music, running XBMC (using AirPlay).

2) Since you have the Synology already, MySQL (wiki) might be a good fit. UPnP sharing also works pretty good if you use nightly builds (wiki), since that will share watched status, but I have the feeling you want to tinker and tweak, so I get the feeling you'll go for MySQL.

3) I'm not really sure about DVB stuff, since I'm in the US. There are options for DVB-S that get rid of the DRM, but we can't talk about it on XBMC.org, but it's fairly easy to find that info. I'm actually not sure what all it does, since I've never used it myself.

Interesting thread, I'm in the exact same situation as you!

Have used Xbmx on Xboxes for years, then switched to MediaPortal, and then back to Xbmc, so now I sit here in my apartment with a beefy htpc with Windows 7 and Xbmc, then I have, for testing, a little Raspberry running OpenElec in the bedroom.

It's lots to think of! But I would recommend a MySQL database, I've had it running for a year or so, works flawlessly, I have it running on my Ubuntu server.

One thing i miss from MediaPortal is the ability to send events, play, stop, pause etc, to EventGhost, haven't yet found a good solution for that, but then I'm not in a hurry, haven't decided which approach I'm gonna have towards home automation yet - so many alternatives, but my guess is that it will be a mashup of things, to keep costs down.

Anyway, I'm gonna follow this thread closely!

(2014-02-12, 21:40)Ned Scott Wrote: [ -> ]1.1) OS X has it's quirks, but so does any other platform. I don't think there would be any major issues with using OS X on the MacMini as the main HTPC. If I had a spare Mac Mini then I would probably do the same thing.

Ok, that doesnt sound too bad ;-) So the mini will stay with OS X!

(2014-02-12, 21:40)Ned Scott Wrote: [ -> ]1.2) Jailbroken iPad or a Nexus tablet is probably your best bets, in my opinion. (Side note, I'm very fond of "Paprika" for recipes on iOS. Not sure if they have an Android version). You can also get little disposable plastic covers for tablets that will transfer touch, but protect the screen from eggs, chocolate, flour, etc.

Do i also have to jailbreak the Android devices? I dont want to jailbreak...

(2014-02-12, 21:40)Ned Scott Wrote: [ -> ]1.3) Raspberry Pi for your music would be a great idea for this. You can sling music to it via AirPlay, UPnP/DLNA, or even have the music on the Pi (or on the network) and just control the music remotely using XBMC and XBMC remote apps. There's probably some other Debian or Arch Linux based music players that would work too, but it's very easy to just install OpenELEC/XBMC on a Pi and go. I've done this in the car before, where the Pi was only used for music, running XBMC (using AirPlay).

I already have the Pi running with raspbmc. I've tried to install OpenELEC a couple of days before but after inserting the SD-card to the Pi, nothing happened... gotta check this out, but installation is a lot more comfortable with raspbmc!

(2014-02-12, 21:40)Ned Scott Wrote: [ -> ]2) Since you have the Synology already, MySQL (wiki) might be a good fit. UPnP sharing also works pretty good if you use nightly builds (wiki), since that will share watched status, but I have the feeling you want to tinker and tweak, so I get the feeling you'll go for MySQL.

Is this external MySQL-DB something "officially supported" or will it kill the DB from time to time? :-)
UPnP sharing? Is there more than accessing my media quite easily? Do you have a link with information on this?

(2014-02-12, 21:40)Ned Scott Wrote: [ -> ]3) I'm not really sure about DVB stuff, since I'm in the US. There are options for DVB-S that get rid of the DRM, but we can't talk about it on XBMC.org, but it's fairly easy to find that info. I'm actually not sure what all it does, since I've never used it myself.

Will check that out! Satellite has the advantage to be cheaper and (maybe a 5 years ago) i read in a german magazine(c't), that DVB-S has the best picture/audio quality.

Any thoughts on the backend(3.2)?

Cheers,
Tom

P.S.: Please excuse if i do not answer within a day or two... job & house keep me busy

Most Android devices require no special modification in order to sideload/install programs outside of the Google Play store.

RaspBMC works too.

MySQL is an actual feature of XBMC, but it is considered experimental. I don't think it will kill the DB from time to time, but it can be a PITA to setup. For UPnP see UPnP/Share (wiki).

(2014-02-16, 19:49)Ned Scott Wrote: [ -> ]MySQL is an actual feature of XBMC, but it is considered experimental. I don't think it will kill the DB from time to time, but it can be a PITA to setup. For UPnP see UPnP/Share (wiki).

Ok, After Reading the Wiki, i think ill go for mysql... But this will Not bei my First task
Thanks so far!

Hey Folks,

I just stumbled upon the sony Xperia tablet z. Any experience with it? It's even splash proof and there is a nice cradle available... The forum search did not come up with too much...

Regarding DVB, why not use both C and S? You'll need a dedicated machine for this though since you'll want PCI-e cards, not USB tuners. There shouldn't be any difference in picture quality between DVB-C and DVB-S(2), they're both better than DVB-T though.

Hi together,

we finally moved into our new house. Time to give you a little update...

(2014-02-10, 11:35)tom1502 Wrote: [ -> ]So here are my requirements/questions:
1. XBMC Clients in multiple locations:
1.1 Living room: Here i do need the best performance. Today i do have a mac mini (late 2012) and a raspberry pi(for testing) running there. The client will be connected to a Marantz SR6004 AV-Receiver via HDMI splitting Audio & Video. Video output will be realized through my Sony 46X4500 TV. The raspberry pi will not be my choice for the living room as i do want best performance here and it even struggles to show my vacation-pictures in an acceptable manner. I do have the feeling OS X is the "poor cousin" as there are quite some bugs even in stable releases... correct?

I do have 13.2 on the mac mini now which works quite fine! Lets see how the first KODI release will do :-)

Quote:1.2 Kitchen: There i would like to have a small device with a touch screen (10" ?) that is able to play liveTV, music, video, webstreams, youtube, etc. For audio i will install proper speakers and an amp...
It would also be great if the device/OS would come with a good browser (look up recipes etc.)
Which device would you recommend? I thought of an Android Tablet...

I've installed car speakers in the ceiling and wired them to a RaspberryPi with a HifiBerry AMP module. i now run Volumio on the RPi which works quite nice. In case i want TV in the kitchen, ill have a look at Android again...
The RPi with Amp will soon be "moved" to power the bathroom as i do have 4x 4Ohm speakers and the Hifiberry Amp cannot deal with 2Ohm and has only 2 speaker connectors...
The kitchen will get a dedicated amp which i maybe connect to the old mac mini which currently runs ubuntu and hosts my tvheadend server. i have to think about how to power the amp on and off, maybe with a relay... not a prio at the moment

Quote:1.3 Bathroom: In the bathroom i would like to have access to my music and be able to watch a movie/LiveTV from time to time... Focus is on music as i will use that on a daily basis. Video is more a "nice to have"... the iPad might do that. Speakers/Amp will be installed. What would you recommend here? Maybe a RPi without display, remote-controlled via any iOS device?

As mentioned... will be powered with the RPi+AMP. I also have car speakers in the ceiling.

Quote:1.4 Office: There i have my macbook and no need for another device today...

2. Central Media Library:
It would be really great if all the information about our media consumption would be stored in a single database (Which videos have been watched, etc.). I've read somewhere in the web, that i can store the XBMC Library on any SQL server. So how about putting a mysql server on the Synology? Is that "ready for concurrent access"?

No efforts taken to this. As for the moment the only XBMC installation is in the living room, this has no prio.

Quote:3. LiveTV:
I have two options to go for: DVB-C or DVB-S. As i am living in Germany, DVB-S has the disadvantage of bad DRM s*** if you want to have HDTV. I definitely want to have EPG, timeshifting & recording features!

3.1 DVB-?:
What would you recommend: DVB-C or DVB-S?
3.2 Which backend is best?
I am using tvheadend on my synology today and it is really nice, channel switching times are awesome! BUT: Timeshifting does not work well (i'd say "at all") and does not have priority for the dev's. Also the plugin for OS X makes 12.3 crash frequently (e.g. on every exit, preventing me to reboot via remote). I'd love to have a "configure & forget" solution running stable for as long as possible. I do have a spare old mac mini(i thing one of the first), where i could install a linux and mythtv/vdr/? on.

For now i am with DVB-S due to the price-advantage. I have tvheadend installed on an ubuntu 14.04 running on an old mac mini (06/07 or so). I use the TT-3650CI which works fine at the moment. I did not yet dig into the HD+ drama we have here in Germany...
The only thing that does not work for now is timeshift. Will work on that these days.

Quote:4. more things will come i guess

Thank you all in advance!
Cheers,
Tom

Lets see what comes next :-)