So, to explain the issue ... we take a PC, add the card and then find these settings in what? Have we installed Linux and added some software and it's in that? Or is there an image of some server that will install on what I'm likely to have spare and 'just work'?
That will be shown on that 'server' and pop up on all active devices on my LAN to click-n-watch?
That bit I am comfortable with (most static devices here have a manually assigned (not even router reserved) IP address). ;-)
Ok (once I've pinned down what a 'Plex server' turns out to mean.
So, I have a 4TB Synology NAS doing little, how would that fit this picture (without adding any more energy consumption)?
OK ...
As might I, all be it that the hardware may not be optimal (low power with high enough performance etc).
So, actually running all the hardware on the NAS (didn't you mention networkable tuners last time)?
I was thinking the Tuners be supplied locally to suit the standards of the country.
Quite.
;-)
Whilst the middle goal (and last indirectly) would be 'nice' from my POV, it's not currently as important as being able to replace the Toppy with something that works as well / easily / fast, supports any upcoming standards and allows me some control over the hardware (support / upgrades).
Oh, mine can (Series Search) so would be assumed as a 'minimum requirement' for me?
So, given you have owned a Toppy, how close from a UI POV do you think one can get with this generic PC hardware John?
I get the PC / dual (at least) tuner thing. I get that this 'Plex' is involved (never really got to grips with XBMC or any of these 'Mediaised' PC-App type solutions, and one assumes video support with HDMI output, if you want to output the video locally. A big enough HDD to record what you want (I think my Toppy is only 250GB) and some LAN access if you want to share stuff?
I have a WHS V2(011) I built when WHS V1 (2003?) was being discontinued but haven't really bothered with it as yet. It might make sense to run that (as WHS) and as a DVR if possible as most of the components are already there.
It looks like people have ...
formatting link
I might even have the Plex addin running on my WHS but never really used it for anything ... and wouldn't want to touch that box as it's been running my daily backups since I built it.
the WHS V2 is offline so easy to play with.
formatting link
(Only used VGA).
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slot (PCIE1: x16 mode)
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot
(Both vacant, unless I need to add a video card (or change the CPU))?
It seems a shame to destroy things like that, after you have made the effort to record them.
Have you used the USB app as you could then move them off to a USB stick, USB drive or even put them on a DVD as straight files and some players will even play them (you may need to rename the .rec to .mpg). ;-)
IMO, Toppy's UI was a bit rough until you installed a upgrade TAP like MyStuff.
I find the DIY version works as well/better from a web browser. From the dedicated clients on things like smart TVs its sometimes less good - but more recently they have also got better.
Finding stuff to record is actually better; you have the traditional channel lineup type of selection:
formatting link
But also lots of category views - like show me all movies in order of airing date:
formatting link
When you see something you want to record, just click it:
formatting link
You can then choose if you want just one or the whole series. You can also click advanced and fiddle with the record padding (you can set a default elsewhere) and also specify of you want to limit it to particular channels, or say prefer HD over SD etc.
The whole experience is made a bit more slick by the wealth of media information that it automatically pulls in - so say click a film, and you will see a summary of the program, plus links to other related stuff, all with thumbnails etc:
formatting link
It does this for all media - not just live TV - so any files or music stored on your own systems will be indexed in the same way. Eg music listed by Artist and Title:
formatting link
Or show what albums you have by artist:
formatting link
Then drill down to the track list:
formatting link
I used to have mine attached via a Linksys NSLu2 diskless NAS device running modified firmware. It gave an "austere" network connection in that you could FTP files from it to the network, although the speed was limited. However it was about 2x actual playback rate, and Filezilla leaves files available for reading while still downloading. So you could start a transfer, and then almost immediately use VLC to start watching even though it had not finished downloading.
AFAIK, the TBS 6280 is not an officially supported one, however it is "community supported", so I have seen reports it works ok.
formatting link
My personal preference is for a network connected tuner since that is widely supported from plex, kodi and other things as well as the software it comes with OOTB. It also removes any hassle from setting up the tuner itself. I use a HDHomeRun:
e.g.
formatting link
Worth noting that the DVR capabilities are not included in the free version of plex server - you need a plex "pass" for that, which you can buy monthly ("SaaS style) for the purposes of testing / trying out. Once I had established it did what I needed then I bought the "lifetime" plex pass for a one off fee.
With a internal tuner card it gets a bit more chewy since you now have to get the TV card setup, and tuned etc. Usually easy enough on windows hosts, but can be a "variable" experience under linux I get the impression.
With my setup, you go to settings on the plex management page, and click "Add Device":
formatting link
It then searches the network and finds the tuner (or you can specify its IP address).
Plex server is the back end bit that makes everything else happen - it streams stuff out to clients wanting to access them, does all the cataloguing and organising, a rich interface for finding stuff later, and in the case of PVR/DVR capability does all the recording etc.
It can also transcode stuff on the fly to make more stuff available to more platforms, and if you want can also make your private library of stuff accessible to you outside of your network. (although I have not bothered with that bit).
There are versions for a multitude of platforms:
formatting link
You install one of those on something (either directly - or many NAS type platforms will have a button to click and do it all for you), and point it at some storage space. It will then catalog all the media it can find, and make it accessible. You can create "libraries" of different stuff to split it how you want.
You can access it in a web browser just by visiting its built in web server on the machine running the plex server (machines address plus port 32400), or you can install a plex client that gives a similar dedicated interface.
(obviously on the network you can still access stuff directly on network shares as well outside of plex).
Go to the management page on the NAS and tell it to install plex server in the package manager.
formatting link
Yup the components I actually need are the plex server running on my QNAP NAS, and a standalone TV tuner.
(total power consumption < 30W when active - although I would be paying for that NAS running costs anyway)
(I still have a plex server running on a PC, but don't really require that)
HP have a tendency to try of do "one size fits all" packages where they can I have noticed.
Compared to my toppy (5800) OOB, much better. Compared to toppy with MyStuff, equal or better.
(I have posted some screen shots etc elsewhere in this thread)
All my access to my plex server is via the lan (although my NAS does actually have HDMI out - I don't actually use it)
On the main TV, I use the dedicated plex client. For local use on a PC, I could use the web browser or the client, but unless setting up a recording I might also just go play stuff directly from the folder in VLC.
I also have some chromecast devices, and can run plex client on my phone an use that to cast stuff direct to them from plex (and the phone itself does not handle any of the traffic or playback itself - it just commands the various other bits to talk among themselves)
Could do - not tried it personally, but I know others have done it.
(plex will handle as many tuners as you want - basically you schedule recordings, and it works out what tuners to use. If you ask for some combination of recordings and it has not got enough tuners to do it, then it flags it on the schedule)
So that's just to get the hardware transcoding on your own NAS? (£100 / lifetime)?
<snip>
Ok, thanks.
Ok, so potentially quite handy, assuming you server can cope? It doesn't look like my SD119j will be able to:
formatting link
I don't suppose I would either.
<snip>
So I might end up having to use a WHS or 'another' PC (running Linux / Windows) for that, if I want transcoding?
Understood.
<snip>
Ok, cool. ;-)
<snip>
Whilst my (Toshiba) TV is supposed to be 'Smart' (and sorta is), it's fairly old so I'd have to check if it has a Plex client built in or can be installed, otherwise it's *another* box (Or new TV)? ;-(
Ok.
OK. Not got as far as a Chromecast anything. A Couple of NowTV boxes [1]/ sticks and a generic Roku / NowTV type box (that works fine with Netflix / Amazon Video).
So, if I can confirm the advantage of the Quad tuner box and what *I* would need to run Plex on (given my DS119j isn't up to it) please?
I have room behind / under the main TV for a small PC, if that could be used directly as the Plex server / storage?
If it all looks to be a goer, I think getting the tuner might be the first step (and I can play with that stand-alone, before starting any Plex free trials)?
Cheers, T i m
[1] I think you can install *one* app on the NowTV boxes under developer mode or somesuch. Could that be a Plex client I wonder?
In terms of cost per tuner, yup. No obvious downsides. Whether you need four is a different storey and perhaps depends on how much recoding and live TV watching you plan to do.
The extra stuff you get with a pass is shown here:
formatting link
(TV recording was the one that made me go for it - the other extras were nice but not essential in my case).
Nice sheet...
Unless you are particularly keen on watching stuff on a phone etc, or streaming out of the house over your broadband then you may have less use for transcoding anyway.
(You can try the free one without a pass, and check to see if you would need transcoding anyway)
Depending on how much grunt the NAS has...
(nothing to have more than one plex server installed -so you can have one on higher performance hardware for use in cases where you need the computational grunt, but turned off most of the time)
I should add that is from a recording PoV. The pause live TV capability might be better on toppy, but I have not used that much on either platform.
(I find I watch almost zero live TV these days)
Games console?
Alternatively some of the smart streaming gadgets are not only very capable streaming clients, some can also run the server and host the storage all in one.
There is a run down of add on streaming widgets here:
formatting link
This looks quite capable, and while pricey is not bad compared to the cost of a streaming box and a NAS.
formatting link
Roku will run plex as well.
I would be inclined to try plex on the synology - don't bother with a plex pass or even live TV for the mo - just slap some DVD[1] and CD rips somewhere the plex server can see them, and see how it streams and works with your devices. If that runs well then add a network tuner.
[1] I normally run such through handbrake to convert to a single video file.
It could... something like a Intel NUC would be a nice platform for that.
(having said that a Raspberry Pi will make a good enough plex server if you don't need the transcoding. Whether you need it will depend a bit on the capabilities of your playback devices)
Yup the tuner will work OOTB - it comes with software that will play live TV and do recordings as well. (I have also managed to use VLC to stream directly from the tuner)
They have a "sideload" capability (or at least did), plex for that was one such app IIUC. Roku has it as a mainstream app.
I'm working on the basis of what we are both used to re the Topfields. I was regularly recording two channels and either watching a third or playing back something I've pre-recorded. Same with the Mrs. I think I understand that you can use just one tuner if you are watching multiple channels off the same Mux (is it?) but I think it would be wise to assume they weren't?
Yeah, I had read that but am always wary of missing any marketing gotchas.
"Plex DVR
Record free HD broadcast channels right to your library?including local news and sports?then watch your recordings on any device anywhere."
So, does that mean you can record SD stuff for free (I'm guessing you can't). The emphasis on the Pass being you can record *anything*, not that it can *also* record HD.
Looking though the list I can't see anything I would need either, just the recording feature.
<snip>
Not mine (in case you thought it was). ;-)
Ah, ok ...
Good idea (especially in light of your suggestion to try my DS119j).
<snip>
None, according to that sheet. ;-)
Oh, ok.
Ah, ok, I'd say we use it quite a bit, handy for that rest break, making a cuppa or answering the phone etc.
I generally have it on in the background as a mask for my Tinnitus. I can also keep an ear on it in case there is anything of interest (and that's also where the live pause / rewind comes in).
Not really got one John. The last one I had was the Playstation (or Wii if that counts) but neither have been on for *years*. Oh, I do have a XBox360 but I think it's quite power hungry and noisy(that hasn't been on for years either)? I think I've played that a couple of times. ;-)
I played most of my games on my PC.
Oh.
Interesting. I did manage to install the Plex addon my 'Antsir 4K' box after doing a factory restart on it to get rid of all the old crud (that it came with when I was given it).
Swish!
Luckily I have a RPi4 looking for a job, if this Kodi box doesn't work.
<snip>
I'll have to dig out my NowTV box and remind myself what I Sideloaded onto it (from you reply further down).
I just installed it on the SD119J and whilst it installed and seemed to give you access to the configs / files etc, it seems from the PC-client it requires you to 'Sign-in' to them to be able to do anything locally? ;-(
Understood (most of mine are a single file now).
Check.
As above, something I can try easily (as client and/or server).
So, is Plex just for the ripped suff? Can't I play that of a file-server in any case (well, as I do currently, just from the file browser)?
FWIW, My WHS V1 currently has 'Serviio' service installed (and I've never really used).
I think what I want to retain is what the Topfield is, a stand alone PVR that can be managed with a std remote and plugs straight into the TV. If it does that as well as the Toppy and other things as well then those other things will be a bonus.
Cheers, T i m
ps. Playing with this MBOX / Kodi /(Plex) UI tonight reminded me just how much I dislike the Kodi / XBMC (and from what little I've seen so far), Plex 'front ends' to things. It's as if the people designing them had never seen an existing app before and thought they could come up with something better themselves (but didn't). I don't know what I don't like about them, just that I don't. Programs, Videos, which one do I want to watch Netflix or use Plex?
I think the reason I like the Topfield is that it feels like the UI was designed by a hardware Engineer, not a software guy and that's why I seem to get on with it so well. ;-)
What worries me with all this is I'll end up running (or not running) this new solution in parallel with the Topfields and just put up with the lack of HD till the bitter end. ;-(
I have a feeling that the tuner "sends" the program as a single channel or transport stream ready for display rather than delivering a whole mux
- so while in theory you are right that its technically possible to tune one mux and then extract multiple channels, I am not sure it can in this circumstance.
Yeah, you need the pass to use the DVR stuff. After that it makes no distinction between SD and HD from a licensing point of view.
I think they labour the point that it can do HD recording, since that is one of the things that tends to make the capabilities built into most dedicated devices somewhat crap - i.e. to be "allowed" to do these things they want to, they are normally required to wrap them in layers of DRM that then stop you doing the kind of stuff you might want to.
Well it stores stuff and allows network access to it, and that is one of the fundamentals covered! :-)
ok I think I want to review what I said....
My initial comment was based on the fact that the last time I tried the real time DVR style stuff, it worked, but was a bit clunky. You could pause, rewind etc, but there were delays in doing it, so it felt a bit laggy or not fully interactive.
However recent updates have boasted of how they have re-written lots of this and made it better. So I thought it would be worth going and playing with it. I can now report that it is *significantly* better than it was, and on par with what I could do with toppy. (and possibly does not have the limitation of only being able to pause for an hour - which was a limitation on my toppy)
There is a delay when you start watching a live broadcast - probably 7 secs or so. (this is likely getting the channel tuned and then getting enough buffered to allow glitch free playback).
However after that, everything on SD feels "instant". You can pause and un-pause immediately, jump about the timeline using the progress indicator, or the back and forward 10 sec buttons etc. On HD its similar
- although you might get a 1 sec "buffering" pause if you skip forward in a live timeline.
(note this is on the browser based player, running on a oldish i5 based PC - I have not tried on the main TV)
I mention it only since most of them seem to have plex clients available.
However I take the point that needing to use an external box adds a level of "faff" to the procedure.
Yup, Pi4 should make a decent client I would have thought, You could even run a server on it! (not sure what its like on the hardware transcoding front - it had the GPU and hardware to do it, but I don't know where the software is at)
There are ways to do it without looping though the web site - but they have made it harder over time... However creating a plex account is free
- you don't need a pass for that bit.
(I think the logic is that for those who have their own library setup to be available outside of their network, it makes the whole process pretty much transparent - you can go to any plex client anywhere, login, then carry one where you were with all your status preserved and content available)
I messed about for a bit without an account, but created on in the end. (and I expect you would need to if going the plex pass route anyway)
If the playback device can play directly from the network file source, then you can do that outside of plex. Same applies if the system supports DLNA. However the user experience using DLNA is poor in comparison I have found. (access via the filesystem / folder hierarchy is ok on a PC, but a PITA on TVs etc).
Even though you can access stuff other ways, the plex presentation of it (with its rich meta data) makes for a far more compelling experience.
Those things can be done, but it does depends on what hardware you do it with. So for example - running a client on a smart TV will do that and behave much as if you were using toppy. Using a RPi as a client may mean you don't have the remote.
(although some thing are better with a real keyboard anyway - say searching archived media for a track by name. (unless you have a LG TV (or similar) with their smart remote that you can use like a Wii remote to point and click at an on screen keyboard))
While not being a fan of XBMC or Kodi so much, I have managed to get on "ok" with plex (even though under the hood it was derived from XBMC).
I have found that compared to toppyt + mystuff, its gets me close enough to the experience for PVR use, while also functioning as a good platform for access to my (fairly extensive) library of other stuff (I probably have 700 ish DVDs / Films arechived, 400 odd CDs[1] on there, and 1,600 episodes of TV shows - and that does not include anything I have actually recorded)
[1] Probably only about a third of the physical collection - but its the bit of it I might actually listen to!
Well I guess now is a good time to experiment - not like we are going out much! :-)
(In my case toppy was getting too flaky (in spite of a re-cap) and did not have enough drive space. It also resisted any attempt to get a bigger drive in there)
Oh? One of the things I miss whilst not using my Toppy is how fast it was in pretty well everything? ATM I'm using this Tosh TV 'directly' and I don't even bother with the EPG because it's painfully slow. Even stepping though the channels is painfully slow and it's that frustration that's making me keep an eye out to some replacement.
Ok. What make / model were you looking at OOI John?
Oh. ;-( I'd say all that was pretty well transparent on our Toppys ... something you may not appreciate till you have something that does make things slower / worse.
The Toppys are only SD of course so that could partly why they appear so 'snappy'?
That I could live with.
Ok, so should be 'better' locally (none of the latency from the network)?).
<snip>
Understood.
Well, depending on the box. We used to *only* watch our TV though the Topfields so didn't even have to worry about switching sources etc. In a similar way, the Mrs watches her TV on her PC (though her Toppy and video input card) and so can make watching TV or playing a game, checking her email pretty seamless on the one device.
<snip>
Ok.
<snip>
No, understood, but I do question how much of what I do is filtered though them? I think I could run the Plex client on the Antsir 4K box and 'skipping' the sign-in bit but with much reduced features. I'll have to run the Plex server up on the Synology box and see if it can find a shared / served movie etc.
I had that on a D-Link NAS and found it a PITA. If I wanted those features that's fine, sign up to it but I didn't (but you couldn't not).
Makes sense.
<snip>
Ok ...
And I think I have seen mention of that in various 'Config' screens.
Agreed (although you do get some nice surprises where it 'just works').
Ok.
<snip>
Ok.
Yeah. The remote that came with this Antsir 4K box requires you to turn the mouse pointer on / off so you can toggle the l/r/u/d buttons from straight movement around the tiles to acting like a straight mouse point and 'Ok'.
Ah. ;-)
I think I might depend on what you have had before and what you are using it on. On the TV I've been playing most of this with in the bedroom, some outputs don't autoscale properly so I lose controls and buttons off the end of the screen. If you have it set up permanently and is 'set' to fit your screen and you have a suitable remote then it's probably a better experience.
(Yes, when I say Toppy I mean Toppy+ MyStuff as I assumed that to be the default for most Toppy fans). ;-)
Woah.
;-)
Well there is that ...
That's where I feel I am with my Toppy. The Mr's one seems to be pretty stable atm and I have an upgraded spare I should really swap out mine for.
I wonder if it's that 'people' (who are spending the money these days) are all watching their programs online and hence have no need for this 'local' repository / control of things ... and why PVR's don't seem to be so common these days? Just a modern hangover from the original VCR usage?
That said, I much prefer to select something off my list of (often series linked) recorded TV programs than 'faff about' finding it and playing it online.
I often PING daughter if I have seen something come on telly that I think she might also appreciate (Mastermind, University Challenge, something funny) and more often or not she'll opt to watch it on catchup. Previously she would ask me to record it and watch it later (when she lived here).
I'll see if I can have another play with Plex now I know I have the client available on my Antsir 4K box client and that the Server will install on the Synology NAS. I can copy a wodge of different video files across from my WHS and see how it all copes.
In the grand scheme of things, it does not need much else...
What my toppy? 5800 IIRC.
Probably... depends on what you mean by "locally". If you have the same machine running both client and server, and doing video output as well, then yes that will eliminate network overhead.
In theory I can playback on my NAS - it has HDMI and even its own remote control - but I have not tried it.
There is some delay on starting a live stream that comes from the tuner itself (you notice that even on a TV with its embedded tuner - there can be a few secs swapping muxes etc).
Yup, that makes it easier. On the current setup in my lounge, the TV is relatively new, and so the built in apps and clients are reasonably decent - so I use those as they represent least resitance. In reality however I could switch to running them all externally (say on the xbox) and then the experience would probably be similar.
The one time I have an issue is there is a small amount of programming on Prime that suffers audio dropouts (audio being fed from the TV back down the HDMI via ARC to the amp). Its not hardware related - everything else using the same components is fine, so it seems to be specific to the LG prime app (possibly in combination it ARC and some types of audio stream). I can then switch to Prime on the Xbox and its fine. However one is aware it takes much longer to power up the xbox and get that running. (although it does "know" where I left off on the other client).
I used to run like that, just give the client the local IP and port number and off you go.
Actually on the D-Link NASes (I use lots of them for clients) its quite easy to skip the whole "ReadyCloud" web integration thing completely. Use RAIDar to find a new NAS, visit its management page via a web browser, and you can do everything from there - give it a name, set its IP etc. The only internet centric bit I do is setup notification emails from them so I know what is going on when they have problems
Yeah plex can serve DLNA as well although its configurable since most NASes will do that by default as well.
Yeah it works - but finding what you want to watch / listen to can be a challenge on some devices where you say want to watch an episode of long running series and the client then shows to the names slightly truncated with no indication of the season in question, and basically says "which of these 300 episodes all with the same name" would you like? :-))
Some of that comes down to the TV itself I notice. Most of the stuff I find will scale and play normally, however depending on where the content came from, it may not always have all the formatting clues in the files. So for example I have a full collection of some 70's TV shows that I erm... "found", and thought it might be interesting to see again and see how it compares to ones memory of watching as a kid etc. They are all SD 4:3 format, but one those the TV does not notice, and plays then in 16:9, so I need to use the option on the TV to set the scaling / zoom to play them in the right format with black side bars.
Its also nice because its all now very fast to access and search. I can tell plex to find a partial track name and it will find all the albums that contain it. So it can be interesting to explore and find out more about what you actually have.
That is undoubtedly true... and in some respects I can see the attraction. Although I am not keen on the concept that you never really own the stuff you have bought.
However the "recorded" version will then remain available to you, and is sometimes at a higher quality, than that which you might find on iPlayer etc. (there are a few TC shows I will set the system to record even though I could stream them since I notice the quality difference)
Yup - a problem that will probably get worse the more streaming platforms become ubiquitous. You ideally need a meta client, where you say "I want to watch", and it then searches all the local content and then onto the streaming services, and gives you options, from "here it is, you already have it", to its on Prime for free, or prime for a fee, but netflix for free etc.
In a sense the "ideal" PVR would simply record everything, and then bit it after a few days unless you tell it to keep something.
Yup, seems like a plan - let me know how you get on.
(I think when I started I was only interested in doing music, but then soon after realised it made sense for DVD rips etc. I did not get round to the PVR bit until some time later, and so was more familiar with its foibles by then).
(Same as ours then) but no, I thought you were talking of a Toppy replacement?
<snip>
Yeah.
That sounds closer to what I might want ... gradually getting back to a PVR. ;-)
Ok.
<snip>
Understood.
Ok.
Makes sense.
Understood.
<snip>
Oh.
K.
<snip>
Yup, been there recently on Netflix on said mini box.
Gotcha.
<snip>
Sure. It's funny, that seems to be the way we 'find' stuff nowdays, now there is more stuff to sort though. Like smartphone apps, I used to know what was where and so find anything quickly and easily, now I often find myself searching for the app, same on W10 or Linux. ;-(
<snip>
Same here, well to specific stuff anyway (Like Episode IX of the Starwars series). Never really bought music, well not since my disco days. Happy with Alexa now ... 'Play music'. ;-)
I'm not sure we suffer with the 'quality' thing as none of our TV's are big enough. ;-)
No reason why that couldn't happen and soon.
Like a CCTV system. ;-)
Will do (didn't get chance tonight).
Yeah, often the best way to get into something, especially if it's something you want to 'use' rather than play with. Start with one key bit and then explore further as / when. A bit like we are doing with these Portals (that now seem to be taken for granted as a means of family communication).
It does not seem to need it in most cases. I think it depends on the capabilities of the player. If it can handle the format its already in, and you have not asked it to reduce the size to lower bandwidth, then it can lob it out without transcoding.
I looked at a few, but found none that would do what I wanted. ("smart" recording, decent EPG, and playback anywhere on anything)
QNAP TS453A if it helps...
An old client presumably? (The current netflix interface that you get in a web browser etc is pretty straight forward and will find most stuff if they have it. The only alight annoyance I have is the search which will never admit to not being able to find something. So you start to type in a film name - it recognises it, and expands it to its full version and lets you select it, it then shows you a whole bunch of files, but not the one you are looking for!)
Yup, its often easier to type the name than delve though layers of alphabetised menus. Its almost like having a command line with auto complete. Progress!
OK thanks. I wasn't sure if it was something it *had* to do (and therefore my Synology DS was deffo not going to do it).
<snip>
The strange thing is ... isn't that what 'most people' would probably appreciate, even if they didn't realise they did?
It's like our (my) requirements for an answering machine. It needed to display the number of messages (giving me some idea of how much time I might require to listen to them) and date and time stamp each message so you had an idea of when they left the urgent message to 'call them back in the next half hour'.
Many at the time just flashed a light to say there was a message (or more) and no date / time stamp. Logging the callers number might have been a good idea for the 'call me back on my mobile' messages when you may not have their mobile number (no CLI even if it could read / store it) and too late for 1471.
I appreciate that the PVR manufacturers may have missed the boat now but I believe there was a opportunity for someone to provide the very thing that you and I know we want and so would others too. And I don't think the 'remote access (LAN)' access would have been that expensive to implement, even if it didn't add value for many.
<snip>
It might if that theory was proven in practice. ;-)
<snip>
Yes. It won't allow me to update the Netflix app for some reason. Possibly because the underlying Linux is too old? When doing a factory reset on it it came up with the little Android geezer and he was holding a Lollypop? So I'm guessing this is supposed to represent a much more informative Android Version 5?
Looking online I see 5 goes up to 5.11 but I'm not sure if it would (has?) autoupdate (OTA) or if I need to do it manually?
This place seems to cover many versions of these boxen:
formatting link
This is the one I have (was given).
formatting link
When it was rebooting it came up with a splash screen on animation (I can't remember) with 4 coloured cubes with a letter on each. I want to say it was XBMC but I don't think it was?
Once booted, you come to a very simple screen with a few large boxes with things like Settings, Videos, Apps (from memory) and you can set some things from there. Then you can go into 'More' in the settings and get what looks to be a deeper range of settings. Then you can launch Kodi and see yet another load of settings but I'm not sure if any takes preference. I tried at several places to enable the WiFi, to no avail but that could have been because the LAN port was in use?
Overall, it actually seems to work ok, just not very updatable?
This is the frustration with OSX and Android (compared with Windows / Linux) in that if it runs, it will run on anything (pretty well). Eg, it's not locked out because of the version number.
Yeah, that's ok, it's when you don't really have full control over the input controls and so can't scroll down ... and, some info might be off the screen because of the previously mentioned autosizeing issues etc. ;-(
Hehe.
<snip>
It is indeed.
Saying that, I used the CLI in Windows the other day to rename (add) the extension on a load of files that were in a LOST.DIR on the uSD card on my phone. They looked to be mostly pictures so a 'rename *.*
*.jpg' sorted them (over 1000) quickly. A few turned out to be video files so I moved them to another folder and did the same to .mpg etc. ;-)
Is there a way of doing that sort of thing through the (W10) GUI OOI John?
The first two certainly, they may not care about the multiple location playback so much, and its that bit that is the difficult one I found.
Basic recording can be done by the TV onto a USB memory drive - but it lacks another tuner, so you can't watch one thing and record another. The dedicated PVRs with multiple tuners fix that, but then you are usually stuck with the recording on the PVR (a criticism that applied to toppy as well. However I got round that with a hacked Linksys NSLU2 device that would let me FTP stuff from toppy).
I suspect its not so much a cost or technical measure, but a licensing one. The film studios are paranoid about people being able to grab HD content in digital form, and so usually insist that for the OEMs to have access to the relevant certifications and standards, they must agree to comply with terms of those agreements. So for example, if they want to produce an "official" blueray player that can carry the logo and be allowed access to the various master decryption keys etc, then then need to agree to limitations like implementing HDCP on all HD outputs, and not leaving unencrypted HD stuff "laying about".
Needless to say time and counter technologies have made most of those points moot now (although its still quite difficult to rip 4K discs)
Well in practice I can get it to do everything I (and I expect) you need without it. But slicking it a living room beside a TV is obviously a use case they considered when designing it.
(having said that, making sense of the QNAP range is *hard* they have so many very similar spec devices to choose from - I actually ended up talking to one of the folks at QNAP to help drill down through the range to get one one I needed)
Slightly less IIRC - I think both 5.0 and 5.1 were both classed as Lollipop.
Some will auto update - but that does depend on if the maker has made any available. You can normally go into settings -> about and check the update versions available there.
yup, surprising number of them!
Ah, one of the famous "fully loaded" kodi boxen... (i.e. for those thus inclined, can access lots of subscription only stuff without a subscription)
Its a serious (and dangerous[1]) limitation of may low budget embedded style devices. The makes usually put little thought into patching and updating, and have little incentive to support old kit, since their income is from new sales.
[1] to your network security and that of the wider internet etc.
I have never found a GUI only way of doing it without needing to supply names for each of the files, even if you can group select then and rename. (although to be fair I have not experimented to see if Win 10 does anything new there).
Win 10 makes the clipboard available as a pipe target though (as does
8.1 to be fair), so you can say have a file explorer window open, click the address bar to make it editable and copy the URI. The Windows key + R to open a "run" box, type:
dir / b <PasteURIHere> | clip
And you now have a directory listing of just the filenames sat in the clipboard ready to paste into an editor. That makes it very easy to batch process lots of files.
(So for example, if I have 30 images I want to include in a wiki article, I start with then scaled to the size I want in a folder, and do the above trick. Then massage them with some search and replace, or macro editing to add the "[[image:filename.jpg]]" style wiki markup to them. Now I can past that into an article. Next time you look at the article they all now show as missing links, and you can control click them to open an upload window ready and waiting for each.)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.