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to watch cricket, movies, your fav. series.

No jitter
No buffering
Good quality, improvement over Pi 2
(of course the unlimited movies and TV shows when cricket done is the primary purpose)

Anyone else converted the small motherboard to a home theater? VERY CHEAP, very easy to do.

In reply to pelon

sounds good man

anything in particular to set up?

In reply to doosra

Get the kit. One time cost of $74.00

Simple to assemble, the install of the pluggins is the hardest part, but plenty online blogs.

I've done many of these boxes for family/friends, each time I start here:

Install Kodi

On a scale of 1 - 10

Assemble hardware: 3
Install and set up plugins: 8 (more frustration than complicated)

Live international TV, unlimited HD movies, music etc. Worth the time.

In reply to pelon

Is this how you cut the cable cord???
Someone recommended a jail broken Fire Stick + Kodi and you get free stuff

In reply to pelon

I use fire tv and kodi...

In reply to StumpCam

You can "cut the cord" with it, but I still like the convenience of cable. Over the Air HD

I like the flexibility of the PI over Fire Stick. Kodi is the juice either option, but the fire stick can't compete with the PI in processing power.

I also fcuk around with programming (on the Raspberry Pi) robotics, amateur radio spectrum analyzers and weather sensors with the PI - which of course the Fire Stick could never do.

Cheers.

In reply to pelon

gonna get

wanna do some hardware programming things with kids

In reply to doosra

pm when you are ready
some very cool robotic builds you can do under $50

programming can be as complex or drag and drop.

In reply to pelon

I have a Pi model 1 with a two port relay controlling power outlets in the computer room and another Pi model 1 with an 8 port relay for control of the water pump and other outlets.

At a time I had those PIs with openElec or as a SDR streamer but I use full computers now for those.

I am a junk hoarder... last month I picked up a toy powered tricycle (3 12" all plastic wheels) from the side of the road and the 6v-12v motor powering the back wheels still work.... so I am thinking of making my own segwey or remote tricyle with a Raspberry Pi 3... when I finally get some.

In reply to pelon

will send you a message soon...still thinking about that tablet you recommended for reading as well...early april for sure

In reply to BenGman

how do you control that water pump?

In reply to BenGman

nice!

Do you use SDR-console?

You've seen rtl-sdr.com

As for the self-balancing Segway-like build, you will need at least 3 motors and gyro programming

In reply to doosra

With the relay switching the outlet on and off over the network. WASA cuts the water every other night here.

Scripts are written in Python and I used old CD Audio to MB cables to connect the PIs to the relays. I wired the outlets/connections myself. I want to add a status light and statistics to the water pump usage.. like how long it has stayed on, what time of day, etc.

In reply to BenGman

that's neat man...gotta check this stuff out

In reply to pelon

I followed an online guide to compile the SDR driver and used SDRSharp to connect from a Windows computer... but it was slow on the Pi 1. I used to visit RTL-SDR.com every day but haven't visited for a year and a half. The HAM exam has been on Saturdays... so I've been waiting for 3 years to write the exam... finally in May the exam will be on a Sunday so I'll be doing some more SDR stuff when I can finally talk and not just listen. I have a Baofeng on my desk with a dual band antennae 30ft high in the air (along with a CB Radio antennae thats 40 ft, and a Wifi Antenna thats 30 ft).

All I am shooting for is forward, reverse, a platform to hold me/some load, a car battery, and a manual steering system. When thats done I'll use one motor/servo for simple left/right control.

In reply to pelon

can you do one for me? I'll pick up in Bim or SVG late April and will cover all costs.

I use the Mega 68Plus android box. Kodi and live TV works sweet...

In reply to pelon

been sitting on a pi 2 for about 3 months now...got everything except time.

how do you acquire your IPTV streams/live tv?

In reply to Curtis


@curtis: No problem. Fe real, I can build it and ship it to you anytime, no need to wait. Which part of the globe are you?

@benGman: I did my DXCC in December on 100watts power and a wire in SSB mode(17m, 10m bands)
I've never touched CB. I have a unique design that I built in my shop, for a portable transceiver that I created 3 years ago (vid on youtube) using the Yeasu 857d radio. When you get your ticket, I recommend a use an 857D (second hand) All mode transceiver
benGman, I also build SDR purpose antenna (ground plane antenna) that are really really good general purpose antenna for SDR. - you've seen me blog here 100 times about Amateur Radio

@eXodus: bro, long time. IPTV and all others are with the new Phoenix plugin. The Genesis plugin no longer works. go to the link above in this thread - the config wizard gives you ALL you need. The PI 2 has been replaced by the PI 3 in that time, but it will do the task no problem

In reply to pelon

Genesis addon stopped functioning months ago and is replaced by Exodus on latest Kodi version 16.0 Jarvis. It can still be found in the Lambda repository...

Don't know if we talkin bout the same thing

In reply to pelon

I use it to stream web content to hundreds of TV's for digital signage purposes.

Much cheaper than going the Scala or other extremely expensive digital signage software route.

All you need is access to a CRM and good to go. Fits easily and unobtursively at the back of the TV.

In reply to pelon

thanks, bro, right now I have some quad 4 box 'MXQ' which is likely a pi 2; there is freezing sometimes, though the cricket streams have improved.

lacking a bit of the technical background on these boxes - so I can see pi 3 bringing more processing power but isn't the buffering more related to bandwidth and source?

In reply to Curtis

You are absolutely correct.

bandwidth and source then processing. in that order!

What I found for live events is to use 720 then if buffers, 480.

I watched WI yesterday at 720 on the Pi 3 with zero issues. Then later watched the Revenant at HD with only 2 times of buffer. My Synology Server takes care of all my "movie needs" so I am only ever streaming movies "in-house" from my own NAS. Live sports is a compromise.

For live events, I don't mind 720 or 480 and no buffering any day over paying willoway money!

Editing the xml file for the advance setting is also a must.

In reply to pelon

I thinking about getting a Pi 3 kit. The ODroid C2 has better specs but the support for Pi is better. I am balancing on the fence...

What do you think?

In reply to steveo

I read about the C2 back in March on Hackaday. They made it clear that the specs are much better, but the long-term viability is the obvious issue.

At the prices, I say buy both!

My Pi3 continues to shine, so much so that I bought one for each TV. After a few tweaks and a new Skin (Amber) I am very contented.

Please note, I use my Pi2s for robotics, the Pi3s for Media streaming

In reply to pelon

Heh, I am getting the ODroid 2
My only requirement is that it runs Ubuntu.

+ Power supply
+ Case
+ Wireless keyboard

I hope I didnt forget anything.



I am not doing anything so fancy that I need specialized software; just for a local web server/media streamer.

i'll chime back in here and add that i watched the world cup off of my pi 2

worked excellent. didn't buffer once.


don't think you can completely cut the cord for canadians as yet in terms of live content. but it's pretty good sports wise

In reply to doosra

that tablet works fine. good graphics too and is quite reasonable. at least Pelon is good for something. i tend to follow his recommendations when it comes to electronics and rum but nothing else.

In reply to sudden


and you can't even share a rum with me. Next time I fly into Ft. L I gine brek dung yuh door.

BTW, the tablet is another thread, this one is about he Pi3/Pi2 - but yes, the Dragon Touch Tablet for the price point is a very good (Android) Tablet.

In reply to steveo

Can't see how you could go wrong with that item. Specs are ideal for your application.

For wireless keyboard I use the Rii i8 under $25 for a backlit version

Don't forget a Class 10 micro SD card. 32 or 64 GB and a word of caution: MAKE SURE the amps on the power supply exactly match the specs of that board.

In reply to pelon

I got this because its more full sized and can be used elsewhere.



I already have a 64GB SDHC micro SD. What is class 10?

I am checking back the amps of the power supply now...
EDIT
The power supply I bought is recommended for this device.
" The ODROID-C2 consumes less than 0.5A in most cases, but it can climb to 2A if many passive USB peripherals are attached directly to the main board."
Power supply:
"capable of safely supplying stable power with up to 2.7A"

In reply to steveo

good.

If you attach a USB powered drive (media drive) or USB GPS - the AMPS can climb to 2.5 quickly, under-powering both - which leads to problems all around. Looks like you addressed this though. Never charge a phone via that USB ok!!!

re: your keyboard: look for a full size KB with a mouse pad. Don't go without a mouse - you'll need yet another dongle just for the mouse if you go with the keyboard you selected.

re: class 10 = Faster data throughput

In reply to pelon

I saw this before but I was concerned about driver support with this dual purpose type of keyboard on ubuntu, anyway did some digging and its supposed to work flawlessly, I have changed my order to this one instead

The sd card I have is class 10, I saw the tiny 10 marked on it.

Using a Matricom G Box Q. Need to get me one of those fancy schmancy Rii remotes.

On Kodi, I mostly use 1channel, Phoenix and Sportsdevil. Tho with SD, the nba streams have been very unreliable over the last few weeks.

Which app have you guys found to be the best for live tv channels?


The standalone modbro app (i.e. independent of Kodi) is ok when it works, but it seems to catch a bug ever so often and you have to wait till it fixes itself.

In reply to Disciple

Phoenix is good, Sportsdevil too - have you tried Zem TV for your live (sports too) needs?

I've never used the G Box Q - so can't speak to its real world performance. In the Linux distro that I use viahttps://www.tvaddons.ag/install-kodi/ - I can tweak the XML file (buffer, cache etc)

As for the remotes, highly recommend the Rii i8 (under $20) for the HTC/Media box - the built in arrows and volume/pause mute is great for Kodi

Cheers

In reply to pelon

By the way thanks for the advice, i will give u some feedback on the competence of the odroid

Tried Pi2 ($US35) for various applications. It's ok, but sluggish with graphics. It had tons of literature tho. If you want something for teaching - programming, robotics, etc - this seems to be the best choice by far.
The Orange Pi PC ($15) performs much better with graphics, etc. See my experimental Orange Pi web servers at pi.guyana-cricket.com and pi.plainwater.com and compare with standard servers at www.guyana-cricket.com and www.plainwater.com. I also have an expetimental cloud server on the Orange Pi.
I heard the Pi3 is much better than Pi2, and great things are expected of Pine64, but for the time being the Orange Pi is giving me acceptable performance.
For TV and Kodi buffs, there is a complete desktop box based on the Orange Pi for about $30 (including free shipping) from Gearbest.com. It comes in a nice metal case, with 2 USB ports, wi-fi, 8GB built-in memory card with Android, SD card port, remote control, etc. You could download Linux distros from the Orange Pi site, place them on an SD card and boot this box into Linux if you wanted to (I tried it successfully), but it works quite well for free movies, cricket, etc.
If anyone is interested I could post the details for the box above. Any feedback on the performance of the 2 websites hosted on an Orange Pi box would be welcome!

In reply to Norm

Loaded pi.guyana-cricket.com

Performed as well as any other site, so I guess its a good thing.

If you think about it, the hardware outstrips what used to host servers only a few years ago so it should be ok.

I use IPTV at home using a MAg 250 box
I first had an AVOV box but i don't know is like they can't handle internet speed changes well or whatver
so far with a few different servers I've tried I getting pretty aight viewing from my MAg box
In fact i got some channels in 4K.
Clean no what.

In reply to steveo

Steveo! How are you, bro?

Thanks for giving that experimental server a spin. (Unlimited) hosting currently costs me $8 a month, with reliable speeds, uptime, backups, etc, at Justhost.com. They plan to raise their rates to $14 a month by mid-year. Though I am very satisfied with Justhost, I will still save money with my own web server. Not to mention, the convenience of carrying any content I wish (such as document downloads, videos, etc). The trouble, the more content you have on your site, the more difficult it becomes to change providers.

My Orange Pi server sits quietly (no cooling fans!) in a corner of my garage and consumes about 4W of power continuously (about 3 kWh or about US$1 a month). I could either ssh or vnc into it for admin purposes, so it does not need to be connected to a monitor, keyboard, etc, unless you want to.

I think a lot of folks will soon start to have their own servers at home as a result of the current ARM chip revolution in computers.

Here is the link to Beelink X2 TV box that runs Kodi, Android, Linux, etc. This system is based on Orange Pi Linux images, downloadable from the Orange Pi website.

The Orange Pi PC may be obtained for $15 here, but I think the Beelink X2 is a better deal, except if you need access to the pin-outs, for robotics, etc. These are said to be compatible with the Raspberry Pi pin-outs, so some of the Raspberry Pi projects should work on the Orange Pi without modification.

In the news headlines today:

"Obama to Help Push for Open Market for Cable Set-Top Boxes"

Urges FCC to allow customers " to choose and purchase the devices they use to view television programming, instead of leasing the boxes from their cable companies at an average annual cost of $231."

LINK

Sipping coffee with a smirk.

I bought a Raspberry Pi 3 Starter kit today. I planning on making it a media centre. I got a few books to help me.

In reply to FineBajanMan

From all reports the Raspberry Pi 3 performs well. So, good luck!

Lots of literature for the Raspberry Pi out there but you will probably wind up using Kodi in some form or the other, perhaps even via Android.

As pelon pointed out earlier, get a Class 10 SD card, which has a read/write speed of about 40 MBits/sec. (The cheaper SD cards are Class 4, with a speed of about 4 MBits/sec.)

You will need to burn the Android image onto the SD card using Windows. Linux images could be burned using any operating system (Windows, Mac OSX or Linux).

In reply to FineBajanMan

If you want to set up a media center, you don't need "books" to guide you. Many 5 min install guides online are vastly more efficient use of your time. It's not rocket science - and no book is needed to click "Install"

Install Guide for Kodi Media Center

In reply to pelon

Question can you run those IPTV server sites using a PI system?
I've heard about PI. Just haven't been able to work with one
So I've bough AVO and MAG boxes
stayig nwith the MAg boxes

In reply to positiveg

Yes you can. Use a Pi3 and a Class 10 card - hard wire the internet via the Ethernet if you can

Is it perfect? Not always, but since I tweaked the Pi config - it works very well. Kodi runs just fine on the Pi3, HD all the way!

The Pi3 is $74.00 for the full kit, including storage, HDMI power supply etc.

In reply to pelon

Ok cool
I've heard you tell another poster you can knock up a nice kit for them
Can you work on summen for me?

In reply to positiveg

Fuh sure I can, it's a busy next 2 weeks work related - but more than happy to build and ship... BUT this kit is so simple, you could do it yourself in under 45 mins

The whole "thing" here is do it yourself and learn.

The kit to build is maybe 4 steps to assemble, and I mean snap on with no tools no tech required. Slightly simpler than a toaster. The software is a little more steps, but at the most total time from boxes to install is 45 mins. See above links for brain dead guides

In reply to pelon

Who dont wanna learn, let them pay extra

In reply to Norm

Thanks for the info, just bought a Class 10 32GB micro SD card off ebay.

In reply to FineBajanMan
32 GB is plenty. The operating system will take up to about 4 GB. Lots of room for your own music.
One approach is to have a 8 GB SD card for each of Kodi, Android, Linux Mate and Retropie. The last system is for gamers who want to run games console emulators.
You could do most of this on Windows too, but these alternative operating systems are much safer (for accessing video, music, etc, online), and they attract the best and most daring brains out there.

In reply to pelon

I have kodi but still subscribe...dont know why...