[mythtvnz] Media Player Frontends?

[Jason Taylor]

mythfuse might be better for the file names

dont spose its possible to start a webbrowser?

On 8 March 2010 20:30, Nick & Ann Read <nick.read at engineer.com> wrote:
> An update in case anyone was interested. I managed to get on of the Hisense
> units (MP800H) for $50 off TradeMe so thought it was worth getting to
> experiment. After a bit of playing around with MythTV recorded HD samples,
> and a firmware update, here are my conclusions:
>
> Pros:
> Very quiet and power efficient front end (apparently <18W but I didn't
> measure)
> Cheap :-)
> Plays TV3 and TVNZ HD very well, no artifacts, sound was fine (analog, HDMI
> or optical SPDIF). No issue with MPEG2 from DVB-S or PVR350.
> Even played the AVCHD lite video files from my Panasonic TZ7 (ZS3)
> Works off SMB network shares or uPnP
> Runs embedded Linux, so in theory at least should be expandable/flexible in
> features
>
> Cons:
>
> No myth frontend scheduling, recording categories, deleting files etc
> Playing off SMB shares, it won't read symbolic links (eg the pretty
> directory, but tv & video recordings are otherwise fine)
> Playing off uPnP, it can't jump in time, REW, or FFW beyond 2x. Didn't work
> with Myth uPnP but FUPPES was OK.
> No jump during playback (eg 30s forward, or 10s back)
>
> The last point is pretty much a killer for me right now. Assuming I find a
> way around the symbolic links issue (any ideas?), it is possible to FFW up
> to 32x, or jump to specific times in the file, but it really sucks compared
> to just skipping forward a few times to get past adverts. As a second
> frontend it would be fine for occasional use but not something I think I
> could use every night. Worth noting also that it only has HD outputs
> (HDMI/component). The remote is pretty basic but apparently easily replaced
> with a Harmony programmable (the Hisense unit is in the database) or other
> learning remote.
>
> There is thread here which is quite interesting and suggests the possibility
> of further non-official development of the firmware.
>
> Nick & Ann Read wrote:
>
> Hi all
>
> Has anyone had experience or recommendations in connection with using a
> media player box as an alternative to a Myth frontend? The reason I ask is
> that I have an HD TV and can easily pick up DVB-T broadcasts, but would need
> a fairly major hardware upgrade to my mythbox to be able to play HD. It
> strikes me that I can keep my existing box as a dedicated backend with the
> additon of a DVB-T tuner and just use a media player as a frontend.
> <snip>
> One unit which looks very interesting is the Hisense unit. For $125 plus
> shipping ($191 all up) you get an HD ready frontend. It appears to cope with
> H.264 and uses PnP to pick up media. Would prefer it if there was an SMB
> share facility but perhaps PnP will do?
>
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