So reading through the threads in this forum, the Asus Chromebox running OpenELEC is almost the de facto choice. I'd like to mimic the ease of use of my ancient Logitech Revue (I know) in that everything except Blu-ray DVDs can go through it.
So I have my Verizon STB connected via HDMI passthrough, it has the Netflix and Drama Fever apps, and it let's me stream movies off my network storage device (WD My Cloud). One other limitation I have is my tv only has 2 HDMI inputs so right now the Blu-ray player and Revue use up both. I've tried HDMI switches, but I've found auto switching to be unreliable (maybe I'm using too cheap options from Monoprice) and manually switching is a pain for everyone else in the household.
So some questions:
1. Is there a way to connect my Verizon STB to the Chromebox and control everything through a single interface? I like the idea of a 'live TV' option being available, just like viewing Netflix or viewing local content.
If this isn't possible since the Chromebox doesn't seem to have HDMI input, is the only option to keep them separate with an HDMI switch? I guess this is where a Harmony remote would come into play to hide the different inputs from everyone.
2. For streaming apps like Netflix and Drama Fever, do you use some version of their apps or with the Chromebox, do you use Chrome and access them via the browser?
3. I'm guessing accessing the local files on my WD MyCloud is the easiest part as there's nothing particularly special about these files - just a couple TBs of mostly 1080p h264 files.
4. So what would be needed I guess:
- Chromebox - is either version acceptable? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IT1WJZQ
- Follow the posted guide to turn it into a Kodi appliance
- HDMI switch
- Harmony remote
- A few hours to setup Kodi for my different use cases
Thanks for any input and suggestions.
So I have my Verizon STB connected via HDMI passthrough, it has the Netflix and Drama Fever apps, and it let's me stream movies off my network storage device (WD My Cloud). One other limitation I have is my tv only has 2 HDMI inputs so right now the Blu-ray player and Revue use up both. I've tried HDMI switches, but I've found auto switching to be unreliable (maybe I'm using too cheap options from Monoprice) and manually switching is a pain for everyone else in the household.
So some questions:
1. Is there a way to connect my Verizon STB to the Chromebox and control everything through a single interface? I like the idea of a 'live TV' option being available, just like viewing Netflix or viewing local content.
If this isn't possible since the Chromebox doesn't seem to have HDMI input, is the only option to keep them separate with an HDMI switch? I guess this is where a Harmony remote would come into play to hide the different inputs from everyone.
2. For streaming apps like Netflix and Drama Fever, do you use some version of their apps or with the Chromebox, do you use Chrome and access them via the browser?
3. I'm guessing accessing the local files on my WD MyCloud is the easiest part as there's nothing particularly special about these files - just a couple TBs of mostly 1080p h264 files.
4. So what would be needed I guess:
- Chromebox - is either version acceptable? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IT1WJZQ
- Follow the posted guide to turn it into a Kodi appliance
- HDMI switch
- Harmony remote
- A few hours to setup Kodi for my different use cases
Thanks for any input and suggestions.
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