Android boxes, the future of home entertainment

[ForeverCarefree]

I have no idea what almost any of you said in here.

I just hook my laptop up to my TV via a HDMI cable for streaming. 

 

[bluedave]

@just to me the crowded just seemed the simplest, you could stream whatever is in your browser. They were only like £30 in US, didn't use much power. 

How much are people spending BTW? 

I think it cost around £35 altogether for the Pi and accessories (power adapter, SD card, HDMI cable) but I would only recommend it if you can have a wired connection to your router as wireless is only possible via a USB adapter (add another 10 quid) and USB support is pretty flaky anyway, might as well get one of those android boxes like the ones in just's links.

It's possible, but you need windows or a full linux install with a desktop environment, because xbmc would use them as external players. I run xbmc on ubuntu server so no gui, these low power boxes are not suited to run a bloated OS under xbmc.

If you need a full Windows or Linux DE then it gets a bit pointless in my opinion, might as well just browse to wisiwig and use the stand alone apps. It's still a surprise to me that nobody has made add-ons for XBMC for this.

Changing the subject somewhat, I've been happily using XBMC for years but I've heard lots of good things about Plex recently, I was wondering if anybody here uses it and how it compares to XBMC?

 

[dkw]

You lot are far too geeky for me! Im jealous!

My mate who is also a geek built me a computer that i link up to my tv and i stream the football on it. My internet speed is sh*t because i live in the country side and quite far from the exchange. I get about 4mb.

I have been thinking of cancelling sky sports because i can watch every game online. But what you guys are talking about takes it to the next level. On my pc my mate put XBMC but i dont really know how to use it like you lot do. I just watch films on it that my mate gets for me.

No, your not geeky enough. Embrace your inner nerd...

 

[dkw]

Ive just got Plex for my android tablet but not had a chance to have a play yet. Apparently the people behind xbmc are becoming more and more arsey with contributors, and some are jumping ship to Plex and other platforms.

 

[undertow]

If you need a full Windows or Linux DE then it gets a bit pointless in my opinion, might as well just browse to wisiwig and use the stand alone apps. It's still a surprise to me that nobody has made add-ons for XBMC for this.

Partially but XBMC would still have some advantages if you use it as a media box only.

I believe Sopcast and Acestream are closed source proprietary softwares which would mean it's not possible for developers to create plugins using them in other apps.