Google TV

My New Apple TV

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Just in time for me to give up on my Mac Mini running Kodi the new Apple TV arrived.  It doesn’t solve all my media center problems however it is a step in the right direction since it now runs Plex.  The setup is much more reliable than what I was experiencing with my Kodi build.

The main issue i have with the Apple TV is i cannot currently run HDHomerun to watch live TV streaming from my cable card HDHomerun device.  My current work around is using my old Google TV.  Thankfully that device has an app that runs the live tv streaming.  It isn’t the greatest but it is reliable.  I plug the Google TV into the Apple TV and it can run as an overlay on the Apple TV.  The benifit of that is I don’t need to change the TV inputs to watch live TV.  that is a big win since switching TV inputs with the Logitech Harmony has been less than reliable recently.

I am hoping an app comes out on the Apple TV that solves the limitation however until then I at least have a reliable if not clunky (too many remotes ) solution.

One Remote to Rule Them All

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One of the major challanges I have had with my TV / Media Center setup has been that in order to use Plex and my Google TV device for my media archive I needed to have two remotes.  One universal remote (Harmony One) for all my compoents except for the Sony Google TV.  This has been a minor annoyance for me however MC would prefer a simple setup.

She has been ok with the 2 remote setup but as I attempt to get rid of our Tivo and move to a different way to watch and record live TV i want to ensure we simplify and get everything down to one remote control.  I have settled for now on using Kodi for everything TV related.  Kodi has a plug in for Plex to allow me access to my media library.  It also has a plugin for HDHome Run to allow live TV streaming from the cable card HDHomeRun PRIME.

I got harmony home control to work with Kodi on Mac using Flirc and my tv with Bose.  Getting everything to run on one remote proved challenging but I got it working well enough to be ready to turn off the Google tv / TiVo setup I have.

Rasplex

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IMG_2941After I setup my Raspberry Pi 2 Saturday I did some research on media center options for the Pi.  My primary objective with my Pi was to setup my own media center set top box to replace my aging Google TV.  I was never a fan of the Google TV however at the time it was the only device that would let me run Plex with a UI that looked any good.  The Roku was horrible and still isn’t so good.  Apple TV I used for a while but keep having trouble with the Jailbreak.  A few simple searches lead me to Rasplex.  Resplex looked easy enough and appeared to have everything I want in Plex client.

Saturday night when I checked my mail I also saw my Pi 2 case had arrived.  The Pi 2 case looked much nicer than the original aftermarket clear case I got for my original Pi.

I used nap time Sunday to attempt to set it up.  The install was even quicker than my plain vanilla Raspberry Pi install.  I had my media content running on my Pi in very quickly.  I didn’t get a chance to try out the software more than a few minutes but I liked what I saw enough to move onto the next challenge using a Pi as a media center brings me.

I do not want to use my mini keyboard to control the Pi.  I set out to find a Pi compatible IR receiver so I can use my Logitech Harmony One remote with it.  That was something I cannot do with my Sony Google TV.  It annoys me and MC doesn’t like two remotes.  I found a USB IR receiver that what appears to be the perfect solution for me.  I also bought a bluetooth USB adapter for the Pi.  With those two additional adapters I think I have all the accessories I need to leverage the Pi as my media center.

Once I am able to program my Harmony One to use with the Pi I will give it a test run.  All in my costs will be nearly $90.  For that price I could have gone out and bought an Android TV device or an Kindle Fire TV.  I could also have continued to use my Google TV with no extra cost however I have been actively trying to avoid using google products.  The Google TV is the last thing I rely on from Google for my personal use.  That is another reason to hope the Pi suits my personal needs.

I am also interested in some additional configurations I can try on the Pi.  For example I would like to try out OSMC a Kodi variant for the Pi.  All I need to do is swap out the memory card and I have a completely different config without messing up my Rasplex setup.  I would also like to investigate some music and video streaming options, however OSMC is up first after I bake in the Plex setup.

Finally Ordered a New TV

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I have had my current Sony Bravia 40″ LCD TV for 8 years.  I got it at a huge discount as part of a Best Buy store opening I got to goto working at Partsearch.  My dad got the exact same TV but his broke at least 3-4 years ago.  Mine kept on working.  It even won out against MC’s tv when we merged our stuff of course I didn’t think there was much contest since she had a 27″ CRT or something!  Over the past year or two I have noticed dim marks in a pattern in the middle of the tv.  At first MC didnt see them but then they became more apparent.  She didn’t think there was any need to replace the tv and in reality it works perfectly well.  The dark spots got me wanting something bigger and newer.

Last holiday season i decided to take all the gift money i got and put it towards a new one.  The only problem was picking the right one.  Good reviewed LCD TV’s were more than i wanted to pay even if I could afford it.  I wasn’t sold on Plazma even though everything i read says that the new generations of them are really good and much cheaper than LCD.  Burn in horror stories of years past still stick in my mind so it was back to LCD options.  Then I found what I wanted but it wasn’t released yet.  Finally I got my head in the game and the model I wanted was on the market after what felt like several months (because it was several months from announcing them at CES to them being able to be purchased).

So yesterday after work I went to the store to order my new Vizio 55″ M series.  I did in fact goto Best Buy.  I am not a fan of that store anymore but I wanted the TV professionally mounted and they had better options that I know people have had good luck with vs ordering from Amazon.  I also went with a Vizio TV.  Several people have said they are built like crap.  I am hoping the online reviews are correct since many of them say they are good value TV’s.  I don’t need earth shattering features.  This TV comes with 3d and “smart” functionality both of them I don’t even want.  I don’t care for 3d and my smart features will be gotten from my Sony Google TV that probably is better than the built in functions.  The price was much better than more popular name brands like Samsung and Sony.  Interesting during my research I found that Vizio actually sells a ton of TV’s.  I am hoping the TV lasts and is as good as CNet said it was.

I looked at both the 50″ & 55″ but I opted for the 55″.  My official reason is my eyes aren’t the best but when I was in the store with both TV’s next to each other the 55″ looks huge compared to the 50.  I am hoping not to have to buy another one for a while so i figured i would get the biggest I can fit on my wall.  The 55″ will just barely (fingers crossed) fit on the wall space we use.

The earliest they can deliver it is on the 16th.  I can’t wait to plug it into my Bose speakers and give it a test drive.

 

After years of pondering if I should get a new TV, and months of finally saying yes I will get one I finally went out and ordered a TV today.