[veletron]

Hi

I have been using windows media centre since ~2002, on the same box, which has had a variety of upgrades over the years - Its just packed up!

Its a water-cooled setup (the only way to get silence when it was built), as such just replacing the motherboard is easier said than done. I don't have the time these days.

When I put this box together, Freeview PVR's did not exist, now they do. With Microsoft seemingly trying to kill off media centre, now is perhaps the time to join the mainstream with a freeview PVR?

There is some stuff that MCE does not do that I would like, namely iPlayer and Netflix. The PVR should do both of these.

There is some stuff that MCE does well, that the PVR will need to do: Remote scheduling via a smartphone, streaming of recorded shows outside the home, Transcoding of shows to a mobile friendly format so I can sync phone with them overnight.

Anyone know of a freeview/freesat PVR that does what I need, or am I still stuck with building a new media centre machine.

Whatever solution I choose, it must not have ugly UI's or be flakey, fail to record stuff etc etc.

I realise I will loose the Music section of MCE, and end up with a 2-box solution for video and music, but these days, a Squeezebox player, controlled by a tablet is a better solution for music than media centre is.

Suggestions please!

Nigel

[alan1302]

Quote:

Originally Posted by veletron

Anyone know of a freeview/freesat PVR that does what I need, or am I still stuck with building a new media centre machine.

You are stuck building a new media centre...no PVR will do all you want it to do.

[veletron]

I could work around the transcode requirement with a PC. Provided that the PVR will share-up the recorded files via SMB, and does not fill them with DRM junk...

[captainkremmen]

The only PVRs that come close are from Humax, but even then they wont do everything you want.

Check out their three options. The one that comes closest is the Humax HDR Fox T2 for Freeview. It will allow you to record Freeview and Freeview HD channels, access content from a PC over the network, has Iplayer but not Netflix. It wont allow you to stream HD content to other machines on the network (unless the other machine is another Humax) though.

The next closest is their YouView recorder, but this has no networking features at present and again, HD material is encrypted.

None of the machines from any manufacturer do transcoding, and both the Freeview HD and Freesat HD specifications require that they encrypt HD material, so they cannot be streamed to a PC, or other non Humax machines. However, the Freesat machines can be switched to non Freesat mode which will record HD without encryption, but you lose other main features of the box as a result (such as automatic scheduling, the EPG etc.)

http://www.humaxdigital.com/uk/produ..._hdrfoxt2.aspx
http://www.humaxdigital.com/uk/produ...foxsathdr.aspx
http://www.humaxdigital.com/uk/youview/default.asp

Check out the manuals to see which one is closest to your needs, but you wont find any box that meets all of your requirements I am afraid.

[grahamlthompson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by captainkremmen

It wont allow you to stream HD content to other machines on the network (unless the other machine is another Humax) though.

.

The custom firmware has a workaround for this, it involves creating a virtual usb drive on the hard disk. Fooling the box to think HD is SD and copying to the virtual drive (decrypting in the process).

[veletron]

I guess we have the content providers to thank for killing off the possibilities.

What about remote-scheduling (like remote potato on MCE), does anything support this?

I have been looking into a new HTPC build using the existing chassis... Back when I put it together, zero noise and high performace required water-cooling. Today, I might be able to get silence with a significantly simpler build...

I suppose there is always MythTV when MS does kill off MCE.

Nigel

[grahamlthompson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by veletron

I guess we have the content providers to thank for killing off the possibilities.

What about remote-scheduling (like remote potato on MCE), does anything support this?

Nigel

HDR FOX T2 does if the Custom Firmware is installed.

[veletron]

Thanks, just been reading the wiki for the custom firmware.

Nae Netflix unfortunately, but a Smart TV would fix that (need a new telle anyway - paid almost 2K for a 32" LCD telle 10 years ago - still using it! The price of early adoption!

There would appear to be a facility to remove the encrypted flag on HD recordings which will force the box to decrypt when copying to a USB hard disk.

Some method of automating the whole process is needed though (before the PC failed I touched nothing, stuff was simply auto transcoded and auto transferred to phone overnight). If there's a manual process of plugging in an external disk, selecting files, connecting disk to a PC and having that transcode then it aint going to work.

I note that there is an FTP server on the Humax which should allow recordings to be pulled, but without the 'copy to disk' having occurred HD recordings will still be protected.

Might just have to buy one and see how I get on.

Nigel

[captainkremmen]

Have you considered rebuilding your HTPC with one of the other media centre systems available such XMBC or MythBuntu?.

[grahamlthompson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by veletron

Thanks, just been reading the wiki for the custom firmware.

Nae Netflix unfortunately, but a Smart TV would fix that (need a new telle anyway - paid almost 2K for a 32" LCD telle 10 years ago - still using it! The price of early adoption!

There would appear to be a facility to remove the encrypted flag on HD recordings which will force the box to decrypt when copying to a USB hard disk.

Some method of automating the whole process is needed though (before the PC failed I touched nothing, stuff was simply auto transcoded and auto transferred to phone overnight). If there's a manual process of plugging in an external disk, selecting files, connecting disk to a PC and having that transcode then it aint going to work.

I note that there is an FTP server on the Humax which should allow recordings to be pulled, but without the 'copy to disk' having occurred HD recordings will still be protected.

Might just have to buy one and see how I get on.

Nigel

The custom firmware is capable of creating a virtual usb drive on the internal HDD and will auto set the required flag in the .hmt support file that causes the box to decrypt on copying. All you have to do is elect to copy HD recordings internally to the virtual disk. This happens in the background, you can still use the box. The virtual drive is available by ftp.

Incidentally SD recordings are also encrypted.

[c4rv]

Quote:

Originally Posted by veletron

Its a water-cooled setup (the only way to get silence when it was built), as such just replacing the motherboard is easier said than done. I don't have the time these days.

No need for water cooling these days. There are plenty of low power CPU and onboard HD decoders that can be cooled with just case fan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by veletron

There is some stuff that MCE does not do that I would like, namely iPlayer and Netflix. The PVR should do both of these.

I am not sure by what you mean that MCE cannot do iPlayer or Netflix. There are native apps for both of them. No device can record these, iPlayer on PC has a download option which most other devices can't do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by veletron

There is some stuff that MCE does well, that the PVR will need to do: Remote scheduling via a smartphone, streaming of recorded shows outside the home, Transcoding of shows to a mobile friendly format so I can sync phone with them overnight.

Yep, and something that you will struggle to find in other players.

Quote:

Originally Posted by veletron

Anyone know of a freeview/freesat PVR that does what I need, or am I still stuck with building a new media centre machine.

Whatever solution I choose, it must not have ugly UI's or be flakey, fail to record stuff etc etc.

I realise I will loose the Music section of MCE, and end up with a 2-box solution for video and music, but these days, a Squeezebox player, controlled by a tablet is a better solution for music than media centre is.

Suggestions please!

Nigel

Have a look at Windows 8 which currently comes with free MCE, in future MS are going to spin it off. The most flexible standalone device you are going to fine these days are based on android of which there are plenty available but I don't know about their stability.

[veletron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by c4rv

No need for water cooling these days. There are plenty of low power CPU and onboard HD decoders that can be cooled with just case fan.

Indeed. Decent performance and silence is easier these days. I don't do fans in a living room PC - even so called 'silent' fans are audible. The PC was also my main server, and ran a Linux VM hosting websites, MX, ftp, blah. The server, and VM functions can be moved to a machine that I sit in the garage out of the way - should I decide to go the Humax route.

Quote:

Originally Posted by c4rv

I am not sure by what you mean that MCE cannot do iPlayer or Netflix. There are native apps for both of them. No device can record these, iPlayer on PC has a download option which most other devices can't do.

I never found a half-decent MCE add-in that worked well using the MCE remote for these. The netflix MCE app only used to work for US customers. I note that the dev of the iPlayer plugin (which I always found to be flakey) has been working on it again. If you know different, I would be interested in the links!

Quote:

Originally Posted by c4rv

Have a look at Windows 8 which currently comes with free MCE, in future MS are going to spin it off. The most flexible standalone device you are going to fine these days are based on android of which there are plenty available but I don't know about their stability.

I have been using Win8 MCE for a wee while before machine died. It's just the same as Win7 MCE. I've been using MCE as my primary platform since the first version in 2002-odd. Rumour mill indicated that MS was looking to kill it off.

Aye, seen a few android media players. Not played with any of them as yet though

Nigel

[veletron]

Considering one of these: http://www.quietpc.com/sys-fc5-z77

Not ready-built of course. I reckon I can DIY similar components in the same case for around £770 Not cheap, but if you consider that it will be doing 4 jobs: PVR, Music, file-server & Linux VM host it becomes more palatable.

If I go this route, I'll try MythTV initially see if it does what I want. MythMusic used to be ruddy awful in comparison with what one gets on MCE, but I am tempted to go the Soft-Squeezebox route for that anyway (had it running alongside MCE for a while, nice to be able to control it all from a tablet rather than having to turn telle on).

I've got a 2x2TB mirrored NAS in the garage that I use for auto-backups (from now dead MCE come server box) Also backup online. Lost a few harddisks in my time, so paranoid about backups these days!

Nigel

[coachtrip_fan99]

hi.

quick question - how do you set up remote control of windows media centre via smart phone?

didnt know this was possible!

[veletron]

- Install remote potato on media centre
- Install app on smartphone.

For iphone there is a remote potato client by the same crowd, for Android, there is 'remote tv' or remote media center.

Nigel