# Tivo - Blu Ray - Squeezebox alternatives



## cburbs (Mar 27, 2007)

OK I am throwing this out there since I think this may be my only option -
In my main room I have the following items/purpose:
Tivo - Record OTA shows - no cable, netflix streaming
Oppo BDP80 - Play Blu Ray discs, can also stream stuff from the network
Squeezebox - Play flac music files

Are there any devices out there that would do all of the above besides a diy htpc?

Was just trying to see if I could minimize down to 1 device instead of 3 -

Netflix seems to kill most of my ideas as the HTPC is the only one that fits the bill -

I read something about using an HDhome(serve as OTA tuner) run with a Popcorn hour 200(server as streamer/blu ray player) as an extender.

To build off of this these are the following list of things that make the HTPC a nice option:
Watch OTA TV
Stream Pandora
Stream all my Flac Files
Play back MKV shows/movies
Play Blu Ray DVDs
Netflix streaming is up in the air as we may be dropping it.
ESPN3 would be a nice addition

Looking for simple for WAF/kids.

To add a few questions/concerns -

1) What one in all remote would work well to control my Audio gear/htpc?

2) Is there a way to play music from the HTPC without actually turning the TV on? Something similiar to the Gizmo app for android that works with JR Media Center. I did a test with this and really liked it for the music part.

3) Which TV tuner would be best to get - hdhome run? also does the 3 tuner one only work with cable tv as I am only doing OTA.

4) This is a build I did today .........to see the price ..thoughts -

Case SilverStone Case GD05B (Black) $89.99
CPU Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz $124.99
Motherboard Gigabyte Z68 Micro ATX LGA 1155 (GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3) $115.00
Memory G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1333 $29.99
Power Supply Corsair 430 $44.99
TV Tuner HD Home Run $113.00
Total $517.96

5) To play physical blu ray discs what software is req'd for that - I believe wmc won't do it and you need a 3rd party app for that?

I can do a test run with this on my current quad core PC to see if it fits my needs before moving forward.


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

cburbs said:


> OK I am throwing this out there since I think this may be my only option -
> In my main room I have the following items/purpose:
> Tivo - Record OTA shows - no cable, netflix streaming
> Oppo BDP80 - Play Blu Ray discs, can also stream stuff from the network
> ...


Sorry that no one's seen this yet Chad. I don't think there is anything that can do all of what you have listed above outside of a HTPC. Mainly because of the Blu-ray playback - you'd need a Blu-ray drive. 

I can't help you much else other than to bring this to the attention of someone who may be able to help. :T I've done that and hopefully someone more knowledgeable than myself will be along shortly.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I am using The Western Digital WD TV Live Plus HD and its plays almost everything so far.


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## cburbs (Mar 27, 2007)

I use the wdtv live Plus in my bedroom and it works great for that room. This device would be for my main living room setup and needs to play actual dvd's/blu rays as well.


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## Sevenfeet (Feb 2, 2009)

The recording of OTA/cable TV shows pretty much demands that you do this with a HTPC. You can scout around a little more but I haven't heard of any other device that will do that for you.


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## KalaniP (Dec 17, 2008)

Sevenfeet said:


> The recording of OTA/cable TV shows pretty much demands that you do this with a HTPC. You can scout around a little more but I haven't heard of any other device that will do that for you.


Agreed. For standlone options, Tivo + an Oppo might reduce the device count, at least, since the Oppo will stream FLAC.

From the WAF standpoint, nothing will be as user-friendly as a Tivo, when they just want to watch TV.

Just get a good activity-based universal remote like a Harmony so they don't have to think about which device to use and how to configure things.


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## cburbs (Mar 27, 2007)

The reason I was looking for other options is I never paid for a lifetime Tivo subscription so my year is coming up I think end of year and so at a $499 for lifetime I am looking at other ideas such as a HTPC.


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## cburbs (Mar 27, 2007)

Which Frontends have the following Plugins -
Netflix
ESPN3
Pandora


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## cburbs (Mar 27, 2007)

So a few options I came up with -

1) HTPC

2) Keep the oppo and add orb br to it so I can get espn3/netflix
Add the Tvix 6620n for TV/Video Playback

3) Boxee Box and HDHomeRun for TV recording.

Again key items -
Record OTA HDTV(2 tuners)

Music - Play back of flac files, Pandora, Slacker

Movies - Right now I convert everything to MKV including my backup of TV Shows.


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