Tivo replacement

[G+_Rud Dog]

Tivo replacement.

Does there exist a replacement for the Tivo recording box having a similar features with less cost especially for the monthly service fee. Surely there must some open source competition for this market.

[G+_Jim Craig]

I use KODI.

 

Kodi | Open Source Home Theater Software

kodi.tv - Kodi | Open Source Home Theater Software

[G+_Rud Dog]

Jim, taking a look kodi or I should say looking for that tutorial explaining everything from A - Z.

Sounds promising.

 

Noticed one item of interest and it may be due to old YouTube videos but most the sites you enter are "http" and not "https" is this still the case?

[G+_David Wiggins]

Kodi has DVR/PVR built in, though I haven't used that aspect. I run it on PC and rPi. Combined with MySQL and a NAS, it can do much of what many DVRs can (pause, resume in different room, schedule recordings, and so on)

 

I also have an add-on for prime instant video, TWiT, YouTube, and several others, including tune in radio. I'm a big fan.

[G+_Rud Dog]

Off I go to find the step by step setup as this appears to be, possibly, a deep drill down program.

[G+_Doug Wagner]

Rud Dog Noticed that documentation for kodi is thin at best.

[G+_Jim Craig]

You will spend a bit of time in the forums to get it dialed in but once it's setup it works great, plus my wife and kids like it. I have a PC with tuner cards handling all of the PVR tasks, and Raspberry Pi's at the various tv's around the house. I use NextPVR as a server on the PC and the NextPVR Client on the Rasberry Pi's. I also have addon's for TWIT, PBS, Tech thing, Smithsonian, and Playon browser (Playon can record internet content like a PVR and it will access netflix, amazon video, and many other services. I purchased a lifetime licence a few years ago and it's been great ).

[G+_Sean Coston]

I have built a freeNAS server with a mythTV backend installed on the server in a jail (a kind of virtual machine). I purchased two network streaming tuners - one that tunes OTA HDTV and one with a cable card for my Comcast feed. The mythTV runs as a network attached PVR and a side program called mythweb is also installed in the jail that presents the recording schedule as an http page that you can access to search for programs and set up recordings, etc.

 

I also use OSMC, which is a fork of Kodi for the Rasberry Pi, to access my recordings and play live tv from the mythTV backend. This also allows me to access my Plex Media server which is also installed on the FreeNAS machine. I put programming, and dvd movies from my own collection into the Plex server for stuff that I intend to keep and not delete after watched.

 

It is not completely free. You need to have a fairly powerful server box with some good hard drive storage. You need to buy the HDHomerun network tuners. And mythTV requires an active SchedulesDirect subscription to provide programming data for the OTA TV /cable. The programming information subscription runs $20 a year. If you do do a Plex Media Server, it costs either a monthly fee or a one time lifetime subscription (worth it! With Plex, you can stream anything on your server to anywhere and to most movie devices and share your media with friends)

[G+_Rud Dog]

This is even deeper then I first thought. Located a box minus video card and will be able to begin the install.

Leaning towards Ubuntu as the OS.

As I progress will refer to the input found here.

Thank you all.

[G+_Rud Dog]

From what I could glean installing Kodi and using a pre-created script which configures kodi with some popular settings and channels it can be done in an eye blink.

 

Now if I can find a similar method for setting up remote easy to use hardware/software on the four flat screens in the house it would be great. Keeping in mind users will need the Tivo type user interface as they are not techies.

[G+_David Wiggins]

There is also an official Android remote app called Kore, and a third party one called Yatse (free, w/paid unlocked). I have both, and paid the unlock ($5 or less, I don't remember). The Kore app just updated with some new features, but Yatse has the overall win for me.

 

You can also enable Kodi's web browser remote for limited controller functions.

 

It also supports CEC for using the TV remote over supported HDMI connections.

[G+_Rud Dog]

David Wiggins Thanks more reading is in my future.

Was thinking about the remote solution and since my phone is glued to my hip this sounds like the way to go.

[G+_David Wiggins]

I've been homebound the last couple months, and have lived on my pi/kodi. TWiT, prime video, kiss anime, tune in radio, a couple news apps, and DVDs I backed up to my NAS

[G+_Sean Coston]

Yep kodi on pi does all that and you can replace the TiVo for recordings off cable or OTA HD if you install a pvr on a server or a desktop/laptop that you leave running all the time. MythTV is free, and not really being developed, but it works great for my purposes.

 

If you have Plex and some HDHR tuners, you can also experiment with the new PlexDVR, though I'm finding th at interacting with it to find and record the programming you want is a bit odd, difficult, and not yet fully configurable. Hopefully it will improve, and I can stop using mythTV backend.