[ajitkommini]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

@ajitkommini,

Interesting thread.

Would you mind sharing the cost of the entire setup ?
Including shipping/customs etc for your Google TV if any.

Thanks
-F

Costs depend on what items you want to include in the package. I didn't buy everything together. I already had the TV, which I was using with a Tata Sky set-top-box. Also had the HDD. The MK808b, RC11 and internet connection I bought specifically for this setup

1. MK808b and accessories (free shipping)- Rs. 4999/-
2. RC11 (incl. shipping) - Rs. 2089
3. TV (bought in BLR last year) - around 36K
4. External HDD (bought last year) - around 4000/-
5. Internet connection - Rs. 4016 for setup, router and 1 month advance
6. RK30 batch tool, USB drivers, Firmware download - free
7. Powered USB hub, HD webcam, AV receiver for sound, ... - yet to buy!

So if you add everything up including the TV it comes to around 51K. For the MK808b, RC11 and internet it comes to around 11K.

[ajitkommini]

Originally Posted by Ashutosh

Very true, that money is better spent on the internet. A request for you,

There is this site likned below. Its a streaming site for most popular news channels around the world.

They say they provide high quality videos and the streams are mostly wide, but i doubt if its even 720p.Whenever you can, please checkout this site on the device:

http://www.livestation.com/player/download

and post your experience with the application and the video quality.

Ashutosh,

I tried opening the link to livestation. It prompted me to download an Android livestation app, which I did. Then I could see a list of channels, but several of them were marked "premium" and required login. The NASA channel worked without login, and I could see video but it did not look like HD - definitely not 1080p. I tried taking screenshots but they did not come out properly. (i.e. the files were blank.)

[abirnale]

This is an awesome project, Ajit! But only created some confusion in my mind Few months ago i had seen HTPC setup at my friend's home and i was planing to do that at mine. But then was struggling to get all components. It was difficult as i have to order stuff from various places and not all available here in India. my idea was to setup a good powerful PC with XBMC on it and if i can hook it up with a static IP address to make it securely available over internet as disk/ processing unit as well as media center for entire home or while on the move, it would be fantastic. But I am still exploring.

My question to you Ajit, having done this successfully, would you recommend google TV or HTPC with XBMC? I was more concerned about getting the torrent downloads etc configured on the PC rather than google TV (android). My ideal usage actually would be to be able to browse through 60gigs of songs and equal amount of photographs I have archived of my family at various stages so far. We do take photos but rarely go back to look. I wanted it to run over TV using PC setup hooked up with combination of dish as well as HTPC. Would google tv do that?

Appreciate your help.

[Ashutosh]

Originally Posted by ajitkommini

Ashutosh,

I tried opening the link to livestation. It prompted me to download an Android livestation app, which I did. Then I could see a list of channels, but several of them were marked "premium" and required login. The NASA channel worked without login, and I could see video but it did not look like HD - definitely not 1080p. I tried taking screenshots but they did not come out properly. (i.e. the files were blank.)

Yes, there are some premium channels and they only provide a min of "trial". Thought NASA would have a HD stream, considering they have some pretty UHD videos online.

Anyways, thank you for clearing the doubt, do keep this thread updated, as and when possible.

[ajitkommini]

Originally Posted by abirnale

This is an awesome project, Ajit! But only created some confusion in my mind Few months ago i had seen HTPC setup at my friend's home and i was planing to do that at mine. But then was struggling to get all components. It was difficult as i have to order stuff from various places and not all available here in India. my idea was to setup a good powerful PC with XBMC on it and if i can hook it up with a static IP address to make it securely available over internet as disk/ processing unit as well as media center for entire home or while on the move, it would be fantastic. But I am still exploring.

My question to you Ajit, having done this successfully, would you recommend google TV or HTPC with XBMC? I was more concerned about getting the torrent downloads etc configured on the PC rather than google TV (android). My ideal usage actually would be to be able to browse through 60gigs of songs and equal amount of photographs I have archived of my family at various stages so far. We do take photos but rarely go back to look. I wanted it to run over TV using PC setup hooked up with combination of dish as well as HTPC. Would google tv do that?

Appreciate your help.

Thank you abirnale. I must confess this was a slightly impulsive project and I didn't really go into the analysis of HTPC vs. Google TV. Also it's a kind of incremental, build-as-you-go thing. Offhand I would say that if you're looking for high performance and stability probably HTPC is the answer. Google TV is a lower cost solution but may not be as stable. I'm able to run xbmc on my setup, and the MK808b can read data over WiFi from a network attached storage if that's what you want to do. The advantage of running on Android for me is that I can use other cool apps (Flipboard, Zinio for reading magazines etc.)

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by ajitkommini

Google TV is a lower cost solution but may not be as stable. I'm able to run xbmc on my setup, and the MK808b can read data over WiFi from a network attached storage if that's what you want to do. The advantage of running on Android for me is that I can use other cool apps (Flipboard, Zinio for reading magazines etc.)

Great. thanks for the quick reply. I only thought that because Android as such isn't stable when modified this way. Its still reliable though and i can run my apps too on it. So +1 for it. Thing to see - how does the apps made for smaller screens scale up on the larger one. And with an additional camera and microphone attachment, the TV could turn into minim conference instrument!

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by ajitkommini

Costs depend on what items you want to include in the package...

Cool, actually I just wanted to know the price of the MK808b and accessories.

How is the XBMC performance on this for large files ? i.e. 4gb - 8gb movie files ?

Recently I setup a HTPC , but I went with mint linux on it . Running XBMC as the main Media server app.
There are a few files that dont play fine. Yet to figure out if its an issue with XBMC or the underlying h/w.

[Rehaan]

Nice! I just did something similar. I'll keep it short :



• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Dual-core 1.6GHz CPU RK3066, Cortex-A9
• 1G DDR3 RAM
• 8G Flash
• Standard HDMI output
• 3.5mm headset jack
• Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, DLNA
• Full size USB plug
• SD card slot
• One Year Warranty and Support
• MUST powered by 5V 1A to 2A (Micro USB)
• I ordered online. Paid via paypal.
• Free worldwide shipping. Arrived in ~ 2-3 weeks.
• $70 (including power adapter + hdmi cable) !!!

The two things i've mentioned in bold above are fairly unique on a stick PC. A 3.5mm audio out is essential if you're plugging this into a monitor (rather than a TV), since most monitors don't get audio via HDMI. Bluetooth lets you use the one USB port for some other peripheral (eg. HDD, webcam, etc).

Seems to be out of stock now though
http://www.timingpower.com/rk3066-android-mini-pc

Originally Posted by ajitkommini

25Mbps / 60GB fiber to the home (FTTH) connection...
Attachment 1102715

Thanks for making me cry. On a serious note though, with a 2ms ping time, it looks like the test server you chose is probably part of ACT broadband. How about running the test after selecting another server (Delhi / Bombay, etc).

cya
R

[ajitkommini]

@Rehaan: Wow the specs of your device look really similar to mine. It looks a lot sleeker though - better finished. My MK808b does have bluetooth but not the 3.5mm audio out. I wish it did because I'm now forced to use the (lousy) TV speakers for audio. The TV doesn't have RCA or any other analog audio out. I'm planning to buy a TOSLINK cable and a DAC to send stereo output to my sound system but thats the next step.

I'll try the speedtest with a different server and post the results. One reason for the high speed is that the fiber terminates pretty close to my apartment (in the neighbours apartment actually, where the fiber to ethernet box sits) and right now out of 8 ethernet ports only 2 are being used (his and mine). What are some of the apps you're using? Do you have a VPN setup?

Originally Posted by Fillmore

Cool, actually I just wanted to know the price of the MK808b and accessories.

How is the XBMC performance on this for large files ? i.e. 4gb - 8gb movie files ?

Recently I setup a HTPC , but I went with mint linux on it . Running XBMC as the main Media server app.
There are a few files that dont play fine. Yet to figure out if its an issue with XBMC or the underlying h/w.

I haven't used XBMC a lot actually. I tried copying one of my DVDs to the HDD and playing it using XBMC. I'm interested in using the scraper plugin though to download all the cover art for my music albums. Any idea how to do that? Don't want to wade through the XBMC forum just for this!

[MDe]

Great work. Good to see this project.
I had achieved the same functions using Raspberry Pi using RaspBMC on it. RP is connected to my router and the TV. So I practically can do a whole lot. To summarize, I did in fact play a movie on my TV Raspberry PI which streamed the movies over the network from a samba file share on my Ubuntu box. Plus, I can use a wi-fi keyboard/mouse to control the entire thing. If I dont want that, I use my android phone connected to the same network as a remote control for XBMC. Works perfect.

[ajitkommini]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Nice! I just did something similar. I'll keep it short :
...On a serious note though, with a 2ms ping time, it looks like the test server you chose is probably part of ACT broadband. How about running the test after selecting another server (Delhi / Bombay, etc).

cya
R

Here you go - first one is a server in Gurgaon, second is in Mumbai.

Originally Posted by MDe

Great work. Good to see this project.
I had achieved the same functions using Raspberry Pi using RaspBMC on it. RP is connected to my router and the TV. So I practically can do a whole lot. To summarize, I did in fact play a movie on my TV Raspberry PI which streamed the movies over the network from a samba file share on my Ubuntu box. Plus, I can use a wi-fi keyboard/mouse to control the entire thing. If I dont want that, I use my android phone connected to the same network as a remote control for XBMC. Works perfect.

Cool! I know of someone else who has done a Raspberry Pi version in Bangalore. Did you put the board in some kind of enclosure? would love to see a pic of your setup.

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by ajitkommini

Cool! I know of someone else who has done a Raspberry Pi version in Bangalore. Did you put the board in some kind of enclosure? would love to see a pic of your setup.

Raspberry Pi with enclosure is available in bangalore
You can check
http://www.crazypi.com/index.php?rou...&product_id=57

On XBMC ,I'll put up a detail post in a while.

[MDe]

Originally Posted by ajitkommini

Cool! I know of someone else who has done a Raspberry Pi version in Bangalore. Did you put the board in some kind of enclosure? would love to see a pic of your setup.

I havent put it in an enclosure so far and using it as a card itself. If I get time I will take a picture of it. Its pretty simple actually, only getting raspbmc on he card took me some time. Before that I was using raspian and had installed VNC server on it. At that time I used VLC media player on Raspian to play movies. The thing is, my TV is anyway a smart TV and does all of it, I did all this just for the fun and thrill of it.

[Shreyas Aterkar]

Hi Ajit, congrats for the new set up. Its a coincidence that I also recently got the sony google tv box. Basically after recently shifting to London I was looking to buy a smart tv, shortlisted panasonic vierra but happened to go to sony showroom and there this was - they were giving the google tv box free with newly launched sonly led tv. Free because noone was buying a plain led tv without smart functionality and 3d. I just fell in love with this concept. What I love is the remote. Its both sided, on one side its a mouse and on another a full keyboard. Looks slightly different than yours, will post pics soon.

[ajitkommini]

Originally Posted by Shreyas Aterkar

Hi Ajit, congrats for the new set up. Its a coincidence that I also recently got the sony google tv box. Basically after recently shifting to London I was looking to buy a smart tv, shortlisted panasonic vierra but happened to go to sony showroom and there this was - they were giving the google tv box free with newly launched sonly led tv. Free because noone was buying a plain led tv without smart functionality and 3d. I just fell in love with this concept. What I love is the remote. Its both sided, on one side its a mouse and on another a full keyboard. Looks slightly different than yours, will post pics soon.

Thanks Shreyas. Do you have the NSZ-GS7? How's the performance?