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android xbmc box?

1K views 15 replies 5 participants last post by  bac522 
#1 ·
Hello,

I'm still on the hunt for an ideal frontend system and came across a website that I can't find any additional information on. Have you guys heard of this company and do you know if this would work as a frontend?

http://skystreamx.com/


looks like it runs android 4.2, and comes preloaded with xbmc. dual core processor and 1gb of ram. seems it would be sufficient for watching live TV using WMC??
 
#2 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by redzoneos  /t/1525292/android-xbmc-box#post_24554607


seems it would be sufficient for watching live TV using WMC??

There are a few reasons this wont happen. For starters, it runs on a Cortex A9, which is ARM based. You won't be able to get Windows/Windows Media Center onto this thing.


You might be able to get live tv into it, but not via WMC.
 
#3 ·
appreciate your response, and excuse my ignorance but... it says it comes pre-loaded with XBMC. My understanding is that XBMC is what I can use for a frontend with windows media center PC as a backend... so what am I missing? I guess I left out the backend PC part in my first post so maybe that is what caused confusion?


My thinking is:


HDHRP on the network

Windows 7 PC to run backend

This skystreamx or similar device for frontend via XBMC?
 
#6 ·
Look into the Minix product line, pretty decent user forum for support ( http://minixforums.com/ ).


But in general you want an Android system that supports hardware GPU acceleration that Gotham (Beta) XBMC supports. I've been using a Minix G4 with Gotham XBMC beta 3 with good results. Unfortunately, mpeg2 1080i live TV streams through the MythTV Front End in XBMC has problems where XBMC crashes...hopefully that will get resolved in the next few months, but otherwise I've had success with just about else I've thrown at it. ALthough I don't know if I'd recommend the G4 at this point, I'd probably look at the X5 or X7.


In general though XBMC on android is still very much a work in progress and I would say it's about 75% there, still things that need to get done with it. If you have an android smartphone? Trying running XBMC on it to see if it will meet your needs.
 
#9 ·
Running xbmc through the openelec operating system is also a good option. Though I'm not sure how well any of the options mentioned work with wmc, I dont use wmc myself. The minix line are supposed to be good, but I would stay away from android software running xbmc. It's getting better, they all seem to suffer from one issue or another.


OpenElec on the other hand is great. I just replaced a pivos xios ds, with an Intel Nuc i3, with 4gb ram and a 60gb hard drive. It came with a copy of Windows 7, but for now I'm just using openelec. It boots straight to xbmc in 10 seconds or less, plays every file I've thrown at it flawlessly, even 3d. Wish I would have went this route a long time ago. The difference from the pivos box is amazing
 
#10 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by pittsoccer33  /t/1525292/android-xbmc-box#post_24564353


That Minix G4 has an insane price. I'm guessing it just connect via wifi?

Yes, it's wifi, but uses a 40MHz channel and I can get 75Mbps of ethernet throughput on mine, so I have no problems with any of the video I'm using. Also the houses in my neighborhood are spread apart, so I have no problems with other wi-fi AP's interfering.
 
#11 ·
thats pretty cool. my first thought was to suggest that maybe a bandwidth issue is causing 1080i problems, but then i realized i had no idea how you were getting a cable feed into it.


does it go into a pc first?
 
#12 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by pittsoccer33  /t/1525292/android-xbmc-box#post_24564927


thats pretty cool. my first thought was to suggest that maybe a bandwidth issue is causing 1080i problems, but then i realized i had no idea how you were getting a cable feed into it.


does it go into a pc first?

It's a problem with Rockchip GPU's and XMBC on android that causes mpeg2 1080i streams to crash, apparently it's an internal XBMC bug that needs to be fixed, therefor developers have disabled it with XBMC and Rockchip GPU's. But on my Nexus 7 (which isn't Rockchip based), I'm able to watch live tv using Cmyth under XBMC as my frontend and talking to Mythtv as my backend (I'm a linux guy). I don't use WMC, so I can't say if the G4 or other android TV sticks/boxes would work okay.


The OP might want to look into the XBMC Android forum for further info: http://forum.xbmc.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=164
 
#13 ·
man you guys rock, but you also gave me more choices to think about lol. okay i guess i will keep researching.


by the way did you guys notice that amazon just released "fire tv"?? the hardware specs sound pretty awesome for a 99 dollar system. wonder if it'll be possible to add xbmc to this??
 
#14 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by redzoneos  /t/1525292/android-xbmc-box#post_24568120


man you guys rock, but you also gave me more choices to think about lol. okay i guess i will keep researching.


by the way did you guys notice that amazon just released "fire tv"?? the hardware specs sound pretty awesome for a 99 dollar system. wonder if it'll be possible to add xbmc to this??

I think it would be great with a Plex client. It's a non-starter for live tv because it doesn't have an MPEG2 decoder (without transcoding from another PC that is)
 
#15 ·
hm didn't notice the mpeg2 issue. i really don't understand why so many of these standalone streaming products are coming without what seems to be simple add-on functionality. I would think they would sell that many more units by just adding an mpeg decoder, even if the cost goes up a bit. Its a completely useless product to me without being able to play live tv, i have too many other options already that can do essentially what the fire tv does.


oh well. Guess I will continue my search! If you have any other cheap (hundred ish) low power options for live TV please let me know (i'm starting from scratch so software can be whatever, but i'm leaning towards windows media center).
 
#16 ·

Quote:
I would think they would sell that many more units by just adding an mpeg decoder, even if the cost goes up a bit.

Mpeg2 is not ideal for streaming over the Internet, which is the main reason these boxes don't included it. There is a license cost as well, but the cost is only a few bucks. I rarely watch live tv and usually just have my system transcode the live video to an mp4 format which works fine for me.
 
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