I want a TV box

[Hip]

Hello guys

 

I would like to get a TV box but I have some special requirements for it.

Maybe some german forummember could help me here especially.

So firstly I would like to watch TV on it. I heard the Amazon TV box is able to do it too.

Additionally to this I want to install netflix, sky go, maxdome, etc. on it (I have accounts for those).

It would also be great to use it wireless connected to my router.

I've seen some boxes on gearbest like Xiaomi Mi Box and Beelink GT1, but I don't know if they fit in my requirements because most of the ratings of gearbest are fake and not helpful.

 

I hope someone can help me here!

Thanks in advance!!

[Ahoy Hoy]

Your going to struggle to get all that in one prebuilt device. Could do it with a couple. OR you could build a computer and add a TV tuner card to it. http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/ this is the go to company for computer tv tuners

[Hip]

57 minutes ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Your going to struggle to get all that in one prebuilt device. Could do it with a couple. OR you could build a computer and add a TV tuner card to it. http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/ this is the go to company for computer tv tuners

I'd rather have something all in one. Like a Xiaomi Mi Box, but it doesn't support all I want :-(

[dalekphalm]

8 hours ago, Hip said:

I'd rather have something all in one. Like a Xiaomi Mi Box, but it doesn't support all I want :-(

What exactly does the Mi Box not do? What features is it missing that you require? Please be as specific as possible.

[Donut417]

13 hours ago, Hip said:

o firstly I would like to watch TV on it. I heard the Amazon TV box is able to do it too

Are you talking about Streaming or actually OTA or Cable? If cable, does your cable provider encrypt their channels? Here in the US most of not all cable providers encrypt channels to prevent cable TV theft. So your stuck using their shit box or a cable card, which they dont support cable cards that well from what I read. 

[Hip]

4 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Are you talking about Streaming or actually OTA or Cable? If cable, does your cable provider encrypt their channels? Here in the US most of not all cable providers encrypt channels to prevent cable TV theft. So your stuck using their shit box or a cable card, which they dont support cable cards that well from what I read. 

Yes, I want OTA cable too and streaming if that is possible to get.

[Hip]

5 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

What exactly does the Mi Box not do? What features is it missing that you require? Please be as specific as possible.

It would be great to connect it somehow to my sat receiver if that is possible to get more channels.

[dalekphalm]

9 hours ago, Hip said:

Yes, I want OTA cable too and streaming if that is possible to get.

Do you have a TV (I mean, an actual TV, not a monitor)? If so, just install an antenna (or buy a small freestanding one), and hook it up to your TV's HD tuner.

 

What do you mean by "streaming"?

9 hours ago, Hip said:

It would be great to connect it somehow to my sat receiver if that is possible to get more channels.

I don't understand. You want to connect a box to your satellite receiver and "get more channels"? You mean hack it and get channels you don't pay for?

 

I'm gonna be blunt. I doubt there's a device that exists that does what you want it to do.

[TAHIRMIA]

Getting cable and streaming all in one box is going to be hard, you could get a cable box then a chromecast or amazon firestick.

[AshleyAshes]

12 hours ago, Hip said:

OTA cable

This is a contradiction of terms

There's OTA TV, which is broadcast over the air or there's Cable TV which is broadcast along wired lines, analog or digital, from a provider. .  There's no such thing as OTA Cable.

[dalekphalm]

5 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

This is a contradiction of terms

There's OTA TV, which is broadcast over the air or there's Cable TV which is broadcast along wired lines, analog or digital, from a provider. .  There's no such thing as OTA Cable.

I wonder if they meant the physical coaxial cable that the tuner would use?

[Hip]

5 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Do you have a TV (I mean, an actual TV, not a monitor)? If so, just install an antenna (or buy a small freestanding one), and hook it up to your TV's HD tuner.

 

What do you mean by "streaming"?

I don't understand. You want to connect a box to your satellite receiver and "get more channels"? You mean hack it and get channels you don't pay for?

 

I'm gonna be blunt. I doubt there's a device that exists that does what you want it to do.

Here in germany they turned off analog signals. You need a digital or sat receiver. I have a sat receiver and a TV. But I would like to use a TV box to use netflix on the TV too. My TV is not a smart TV right now. And I'd like to use the TV box somehow connected to my sat receiver if that is possible to use one device only.

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, Hip said:

Here in germany they turned off analog signals. You need a digital or sat receiver. I have a sat receiver and a TV. But I would like to use a TV box to use netflix on the TV too. My TV is not a smart TV right now. And I'd like to use the TV box somehow connected to my sat receiver if that is possible to use one device only.

Okay so, I feel like you're confusing some things here.

 

Germany (and most of the world) has stopped broadcasting Analogue signals, yes.

 

But, they are broadcasting Digital TV signals over the air (DVB-T). You need an antenna, and you jack that into a TV that has a DVB tuner built into it. If your TV doesn't have a built-in DVB tuner, you'll need an external set-top DVB tuner box that will convert to a video output (HDMI, etc).

 

Now, you say you have a Satellite Receiver. So that means you've got a Satellite Dish on your roof or something, right? So the Satellite Dish has a cable that feeds into your home, and connects up to the Receiver (a box). The Receiver then outputs a video signal (probably HDMI), and connects to your TV. So you just connect the Satellite Receiver directly into the TV, as you no doubt are already doing.

 

There is no streaming media box that will be able to act as a Satellite Receiver. Your Satellite feed is probably encrypted anyway, but even in the off chance that it's an unencrypted signal, I know of no Streaming Media Box that has an integrated satellite receiver inside.

 

However, you could take the HDMI output of the Satellite Receiver, and feed that into an HDMI Recorder Card, inside something like an HTPC. However, you wouldn't be able to control the Satellite Channels through the PC. You'd still need to use the Satellite Receiver remote control, and use the menu built into the Satellite Receiver.

[Donut417]

8 minutes ago, Hip said:

Here in germany they turned off analog signals. You need a digital or sat receiver. I have a sat receiver and a TV. But I would like to use a TV box to use netflix on the TV too. My TV is not a smart TV right now. And I'd like to use the TV box somehow connected to my sat receiver if that is possible to use one device only.

So your saying you have satellite TV, like DirectV or Dish network style like we have in the US? You do you have a box that just converts the digital signals over the air to analog for your TV to use? We did the same transition in the US years ago, all TV's sold in the US with a tuner built in do digital signals. 

 

If you have satellite TV service, then I think you will be stuck using two boxes. Cause Im pretty sure cable cards dont work on that service. In order to do TV thru it, you would need a box that had a TV turner in it, that you ether hooked up an Over the air antenna too, or a Box that had a cable card slot. Cable cards are issued by the cable company and authorize your box on their network, and assist with decrypting their service. If you have have either of these two things, then finding a box that does it all is pretty much impossible. At that point, you will just have to use the box your TV provider gave you, and another for making your TV smart like the Amazon fire stick. 

[WkdPaul]

2 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

This is a contradiction of terms

There's OTA TV, which is broadcast over the air or there's Cable TV which is broadcast along wired lines, analog or digital, from a provider. .  There's no such thing as OTA Cable.

Just a FYI, we have companies here in Canada that were offering free cable subscription ONLY for the regular OTA channels when we went through the analog OTA phase out, so "OTA cable" kinda do exist in some part of the world (in the sense that it's only OTA channels over cable). 

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, wkdpaul said:

Just a FYI, we have companies here in Canada that were offering free cable subscription ONLY for the regular OTA channels when we went through the analog OTA phase out, so "OTA cable" kinda do exist in some part of the world (in the sense that it's only OTA channels over cable). 

Yeah but that's misleading.

 

What that was, was a cable company offering a free cable package, and the selection was the same as what you could get OTA.

[WkdPaul]

5 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Yeah but that's misleading.

 

What that was, was a cable company offering a free cable package, and the selection was the same as what you could get OTA.

Not disagreeing, it's just that when I saw "OTA cable" I assumed that's what he was talking about since that's what cable companies were marketing them as.

 

BTW, those don't exist anymore (from what I remember these free packages were discontinued in early 2017).

Edited February 15, 2018 by wkdpaul

[AshleyAshes]

2 hours ago, wkdpaul said:

Just a FYI, we have companies here in Canada that were offering free cable subscription ONLY for the regular OTA channels when we went through the analog OTA phase out, so "OTA cable" kinda do exist in some part of the world (in the sense that it's only OTA channels over cable). 

That's interesting.  So... I take it that the cable broadcast then is ALSO analog?  Cause, I don't see how a digital cable box on a cable is any better than buying a digital OTA receiver with analog outputs.  

[dalekphalm]

13 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

That's interesting.  So... I take it that the cable broadcast then is ALSO analog?  Cause, I don't see how a digital cable box on a cable is any better than buying a digital OTA receiver with analog outputs.  

I assume the service was for apartment complexes that weren't getting good OTA signals? I dunno. I personally would never have used such a service.

[WkdPaul]

10 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

That's interesting.  So... I take it that the cable broadcast then is ALSO analog?  Cause, I don't see how a digital cable box on a cable is any better than buying a digital OTA receiver with analog outputs.  

Yes, the cable broadcast back then was analog. They abandoned analog early 2017 if I remember right, so these packages don't exist anymore, but they were available for a few years.

[TAHIRMIA]

18 hours ago, Hip said:

My TV is not a smart TV right now.

 

Chromecast, Firestick, Nvidia Shield?