Building a Linux box for NextPVR advice please

[bgowland]

Thanks gEd. It's been too long to be away especially as there are so many new options I feel a bit lost. Unfortunately my Toshiba TV doesn't have Android capability. I'm looking at some Android TV boxes on Amazon trying to work out if they'll do. The TV is decent so it'll last a while but I'll get an Android one next time.

Cheers,
Brian

[mvallevand]

When looking at remotes, if you are looking a UI clients, although many like thumbnail skipping I like remotes with the number pads. Infrared remotes are OK but RF and Bluetooth are handy now.

Of course you could also resurrect nDroid the API's haven't changed too much.

Martin

[bgowland]

Yes I definitely like remotes with number pads as well, I also have to think about my wife using it so something fairly conventional is needed. She's tech savvy but when it comes to watching TV when sitting on the sofa, plain and simple is best.

I've been thinking about nDroid recently. It came to a halt when the developers stopped updating the dev tools to use with eclipse as an IDE and the preferred development was with Android Studio - I was an early adopter of that but at some point it stopped working for my version of Debian at the time. I've got the source code archived.

Cheers,
Brian

[bgowland]

Next question... Would Android on a Raspberry Pi work as the client? I'd happily splash out on RPi 4 or 5 if that would do.

Cheers,
Brian

[mvallevand]

For a UI client I would use knewc with Kodi running LibreElec. Kodi has a dedicated client too.

Android boxes are normally cheaper and just as capable for PVR

Martin

[bgowland]

Kodi is an unknown entity to me so I'm trying to work around things I know best. I'll take a look though.

The range of Android boxes on Amazon is very varied but quite a bit cheaper. I've spotted one with a remote and mini keyboard plus touchpad which looks interesting. About £50 GBP

Cheers,
Brian

[BrettB]

Kodi is an unknown entity to me so I'm trying to work around things I know best. I'll take a look though.

The range of Android boxes on Amazon is very varied but quite a bit cheaper. I've spotted one with a remote and mini keyboard plus touchpad which looks interesting. About £50 GBP

For ease of use and WAF, I'd say that uidroid on an Android TV device is going to be preferable over Kodi on an RPi. (And, less expensive.)

I'm personally a big fan of the TiVo Stream 4K which includes a nice (RF/bluetooth) remote with number keypad and a USB-C port which can be used for a wired ethernet connection and/or additional storage.

[bgowland]

For ease of use and WAF, I'd say that uidroid on an Android TV device is going to be preferable over Kodi on an RPi. (And, less expensive.)

I'm personally a big fan of the TiVo Stream 4K which includes a nice (RF/bluetooth) remote with number keypad and a USB-C port which can be used for a wired ethernet connection and/or additional storage.

Thanks BrettB. It looks good but a few UK Amazon customer reviews say it needs a US address to register it. Hmm.

Cheers,
Brian

[mvallevand]

I installed it in Canada and Netflix etc worked and sub got one in NZ. For sure you can't get TiVo services without a VPN. I got it for the remote but it is a bit slower then current generation boxes but for UK OTA via a UI client no real problems since UI clients are not fast still about the PCH speed.. At least Amazon has good return policies.

Martin

[BrettB]

Thanks BrettB. It looks good but a few UK Amazon customer reviews say it needs a US address to register it. Hmm.

I'm pretty sure that I've never had to "register" any of mine. Granted, I don't have any TiVo PVRs or do anything in a TiVo "ecosystem."

I do also have an ONN device. The remote that came with it doesn't have numbers and is a bit more basic. But, (all?/most? of) the Android TV devices allow bluetooth remotes. And there are several options available which work nicely. I've got a couple of those also paired (in addition to the provided TiVo remote) on a couple of my TiVo Streams.

As Martin mentioned, the TiVo Stream 4K is a few years old now, so not the fastest device. But it still works great as a NextPVR uiclient and with clients for YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, etc.

Whichever device(s) you choose, the small, inexpensive Android TV ones still seem to me to be the "best" client option (other than using a "native" client or uidroid on applicable smart TVs).