Let me preface this by saying that DirecTV, DISH & Bell TV should be ashamed. North America is the only part of the world where I CANNOT subscribe to SATELLITE TV using my Amiko A3 SATELLITE RECEIVER, yet I can get Comcast Xfinity Cable on it.
Some of you that know me well know I have a sort of “sweetheart” deal with Comcast. I have Business Internet through them and I get the full digital II (or whatever it is) package for nothing. For nothing, I have some crappy Comcast STB’s that don’t even have HDMI ports for my HDTV’s. I don’t want their X1 or whatever especially if it comes with a fee.
I’ve been working on a True FTA project for the Amiko A3’s and this just happened to provide a pretty looking and fully functioning “proof of concept” for my end of it. I did some mods specific to the project but this setup would work with a stock Amiko Americas A3 and XBMC just fine.
I was quite surprised to learn from this that my “sweetheart” package includes HD versions of all of the channels I get with Xfinity TV. I was expecting SD only.
On the A3 side I used XBMC/Kodi 13.2 with an integrated PVR client/backend as I wanted everything to run off the A3, no computer/server needed for the back. There are even simpler ways to do this but I wanted everything, and I wanted everything in one place.
This is near the end of my current list in browse mode with now and next EPG data. CNN HD being previewed and the ones in the list with picons (channel logos) are Comcast Xfinity TV. The ones at the end are IPTV. In the middle somewhere are my ATSC OTA/terrestrial channels.
Naturally I wanted a full 14 day EPG. This runs from the FridgeFTA internet server so that I don’t have to keep a computer running here for EPG data fetch. I currently have it working for Xfinity TV, OTA and soon I’ll add 14 day EPG for my IPTV channels.
Simple info bar for History HD from Xfinity.
Getting Cable TV, ATSC and IPTV working in one nice interface was actually fairly straightforward. I’ve got a custom m3u that tells the front end about the channels, EPG and picons. The real magic is in getting the raw, unencrypted signals into the box.
Enter the HDhomerun CableCARD triple tuner. Pictured with it is a M-card (CableCARD) and a European Irdeto CAM/card combo for comparison. This is more or less the same type of system used with European subscription satellite or cable on your choice of receiver. Both are PCMCIA cards that function as decoders/conditional access systems. CableCARD in USA is self contained, it does not use a conditional access ISO7816 smartcard like most CAMs do. Otherwise it is the same thing.
There is another (not pictured) ATSC HDhomerun twin tuner that is hooked to a terrestrial antenna for the OTA.
Both of these devices take their respective incoming signals and output them VIA IP to my router. With that feat accomplished selecting and playing any given channel is a rather straightforward process.
The CableCARD is a triple so it can feed 3 A3’s at the same time. The ATSC handles 2.
Since everything here except FTA satellite is delivered to devices VIA IP there is no need to run cables. Any A3 can be carried to any TV and get Comcast/OTA/IPTV over WiFi. Since it is IP delivery I often wonder off to the garage or the “office” with a phone, tablet or laptop and don’t miss a single second of what I am watching.
Totally awesome system, just too bad DISH & DirecTV aren’t bound by CableCARD requirements like CATV is.
Some of you that know me well know I have a sort of “sweetheart” deal with Comcast. I have Business Internet through them and I get the full digital II (or whatever it is) package for nothing. For nothing, I have some crappy Comcast STB’s that don’t even have HDMI ports for my HDTV’s. I don’t want their X1 or whatever especially if it comes with a fee.
I’ve been working on a True FTA project for the Amiko A3’s and this just happened to provide a pretty looking and fully functioning “proof of concept” for my end of it. I did some mods specific to the project but this setup would work with a stock Amiko Americas A3 and XBMC just fine.
I was quite surprised to learn from this that my “sweetheart” package includes HD versions of all of the channels I get with Xfinity TV. I was expecting SD only.
On the A3 side I used XBMC/Kodi 13.2 with an integrated PVR client/backend as I wanted everything to run off the A3, no computer/server needed for the back. There are even simpler ways to do this but I wanted everything, and I wanted everything in one place.
This is near the end of my current list in browse mode with now and next EPG data. CNN HD being previewed and the ones in the list with picons (channel logos) are Comcast Xfinity TV. The ones at the end are IPTV. In the middle somewhere are my ATSC OTA/terrestrial channels.
Naturally I wanted a full 14 day EPG. This runs from the FridgeFTA internet server so that I don’t have to keep a computer running here for EPG data fetch. I currently have it working for Xfinity TV, OTA and soon I’ll add 14 day EPG for my IPTV channels.
Simple info bar for History HD from Xfinity.
Getting Cable TV, ATSC and IPTV working in one nice interface was actually fairly straightforward. I’ve got a custom m3u that tells the front end about the channels, EPG and picons. The real magic is in getting the raw, unencrypted signals into the box.
Enter the HDhomerun CableCARD triple tuner. Pictured with it is a M-card (CableCARD) and a European Irdeto CAM/card combo for comparison. This is more or less the same type of system used with European subscription satellite or cable on your choice of receiver. Both are PCMCIA cards that function as decoders/conditional access systems. CableCARD in USA is self contained, it does not use a conditional access ISO7816 smartcard like most CAMs do. Otherwise it is the same thing.
There is another (not pictured) ATSC HDhomerun twin tuner that is hooked to a terrestrial antenna for the OTA.
Both of these devices take their respective incoming signals and output them VIA IP to my router. With that feat accomplished selecting and playing any given channel is a rather straightforward process.
The CableCARD is a triple so it can feed 3 A3’s at the same time. The ATSC handles 2.
Since everything here except FTA satellite is delivered to devices VIA IP there is no need to run cables. Any A3 can be carried to any TV and get Comcast/OTA/IPTV over WiFi. Since it is IP delivery I often wonder off to the garage or the “office” with a phone, tablet or laptop and don’t miss a single second of what I am watching.
Totally awesome system, just too bad DISH & DirecTV aren’t bound by CableCARD requirements like CATV is.
