
Build your own Google TV using Raspberry Pi, Node.js and Socket.io - DonaldDerek
http://blog.donaldderek.com/2013/06/build-your-own-google-tv-using-raspberrypi-nodejs-and-socket-io/
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sigkill
A python script allows you to enter the name of the show, scrubs it from a tv
guide website and adds the release date of each episode into a scheduler.
Then, the scheduler fires off and searches for each episode on a torrent
aggregator (like torrentz or something) and downloads it from the best
seed/leech ratio result. All without your intervention since torrent RSS is
not very reliable in the public tracker scenario.

What would be the legality of distributing that script? (depending on
legality, I may or may not write or have already written such a script)

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subway
Check out Sickbeard. It basically does exactly what you're describing, plus
searches Usenet indexes.

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tossawaytoday
+1 for a Sickbeard setup. Been using it for a while with SABnzbd and it's
great; I've got all the shows I want waiting whenever they air, or if I decide
to download a full series.

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ChikkaChiChi
Exact setup is how I watched the first few episodes of Game of Thrones, and
opted to subscribe to HBO because of their sane streaming policy.

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ericd
Is it possible now to get HBO online without having to get cable TV?

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tossawaytoday
Yeah, if you subscribe to HBO Go you get everything on HBO streaming. It's a
good service from what I've used. Also comes bundled with the channel if you
subscribe with cable.

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throwaway1979
This is cool but this is not Google TV. The article title is misleading. I
have a hard time even calling it a version of Google TV.

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TheCraiggers
Agreed. I originally clicked on it because I thought it might be a way to get
Netflix working on my raspberrypi. I'm pretty sure I physically wilted in my
chair when I saw it was nothing of the sort.

As others are saying, it's still a good hack though. And while just installing
a custom distro meant for XBMC on your rpi might be easier, putting something
like this together by hand is a much better experience.

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Nux
I've already built myself a TV out of the Rpi, using OpenELEC+XBMC! Have a
great remote, too in the form of the Yatse application.

I do appreciate the "hackerness" attempt of the article though, it goes to
show why the Pi is so cool.

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DonaldDerek
OpenELEC+XBMC! Nice :D is it on github ? would like to give it a shot

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arianvanp
repo: <https://github.com/OpenELEC/OpenELEC.tv> Install guide:
[http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php?title=Building_and_Install...](http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php?title=Building_and_Installing_OpenELEC_for_Raspberry_Pi)

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DonaldDerek
Will give it a shot over the weekend! Thanks for sharing!

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Flenser
Please let us know how you get on. (I've subscribed to your blog.) I'm looking
to do something similar and I'd be interested in how OpenELEC+XBMC compares to
the setup you've described.

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kayoone
RPI has a very mature version of XBMC working on it, so you are much better
off with that for your home media center.

BUT god this is a nice hacking project and i would love to see this being the
start of an XBMC alternative open source project that is built upon web
technology! Awesome!

~~~
camdykeman
Check out Raspbmc. Its a rPi version of xbmc running on a custom kernel.

The project is run by a student here in London, ON Canada.

<http://www.raspbmc.com/>

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primo44
Uh, no. Sam is in London, England. Well, somewhere in the UK anyway.

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camdykeman
My mistake. I had been poking around the raspbmc site and saw that he was at
King's College - theres also a Kings College in London Canada and I jumped to
conclusions.

Looking up his blog made that pretty apparent .co.uk :P

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buster
Not Google TV. Not even close. Great work but what are the advantages over
XBMC on the raspberry pi?

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DonaldDerek
Thank you! It's just an experiment, I totally agree with you it's no way near
a Google TV that thousands of engineer strive to put into production...

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badfortrains
Fun seeing what people do with their PIs. Really appreciate the time people
put into documenting their projects.

I've been running a custom mp3 media server[1] built around a similar stack
(node,socket.io,express) and I was surprised how capable the pi is for this
kind of thing. The only real slowdown I saw in my project was
inserting/reading thousands of records from a sqlite3 db (displaying all
tracks for example) and even that was solved pretty easily with some caching.
My project is all running headless though, with presentation handled on the
client (phone/desktop browser); I'd be curious how the chromium render speeds
are for this. In my testing any kind of web browsing on the pi was pretty
painful.

[1]: <https://github.com/badfortrains/wupnp> my much more poorly documented
raspberry pi project

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baggachipz
This really could be the start of something great. FWIW, here is what I think
a media center should do, which no current solution achieves:

Have a DVR-like interface, where _all_ content is combined. This means
downloaded torrents (by new and/or watched), with meta info. Also include new
streams from HuluFlix based on when they were made available. New shows
recorded from antenna and maybe QAM. New movies from Crackle, etc. The point
is, I should be able to tell the application that I want all new episodes of
"The Simpsons" and it will use all available configured sources to find what I
want. It will present this to me in one comprehensive list. The source is
irrelevant and I don't want to start various apps to find what I want. Google
TV sort of tried to do this and failed. As cool as XBMC and their ilk are,
they suffer from not passing the "wife test" and feature bloat. This thing, in
my mind, should be dead simple to use.

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snowpalmer
Roku does a great job of combining sources however it doesn't support DVR or
local storage (i.e. Downloads)

Boxee also did a great job of combining sources and did a good job with local
storage. It also didn't support DVR.

To be honest DVR is an animal that I've seen nobody crack successfully.

~~~
baggachipz
See, here's the thing about Roku and competitors (like the WD box, etc): they
all require you to start different "apps" to browse different sources of
content. I don't care where the content comes from, I just want to watch it.
So, when I say "DVR", what I mean is a DVR-like interface to combine all
content from various sources.

~~~
sjs382
Roku supports a unified search now, though unified search doesnt support all
apps/channels. It does support Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Vudu, and Crackle
though.

Also, most (all?) Roku's support local storage, but it isn't ideal. Usually, I
need to throw some content on a thumbdrive and stick it into the Roku. Not
horrible, but I wish I could use the Roku to download content to use it to
stream via DLNA.

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mickeyr
You should try <http://www.plexapp.com/> with the roku. It's what I use and it
is great.

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sjs382
I tried to get it setup once, but it doesn't work for my situation (for
instance, my laptop is usually in hibernation when I'm at home. I have a
connected disk that supports DLNA and I wish I could stream from that.) With
this considered, just plugging in USB storage is fine. Not ideal, but fine.

Also, when I last tried to use Plex (though, this was more than a year ago),
it was extremely clunky. Maybe things are different now, or maybe I was
expecting it to behave differently, but I didnt like it.

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ck2
Just no netflix.

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ChikkaChiChi
What I wouldn't give for a decent HDMI passthrough video setup for a better
channel guide (on my own hardware)

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beagle3
<http://www.kosagi.com/w/index.php?title=NeTV_Main_Page>

$120 at Adafruit. Would you give that?

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davedx
Great! I'm about to start on a freelance project writing web stuff for set-top
boxes, nice to see what's out there in the open source world. Thanks for
posting. :)

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germancito
There is a commercial version of this running android
<http://www.rikomagic.co.uk/>

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esusatyo
Somebody please pack this all together and sell it for $50. This is how Apple
do business. Sell hardware and software together.

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ern
_Somebody please pack this all together and sell it for $50. This is how Apple
do business. Sell hardware and software together._

It's a very cool project for the technically savvy, but if you sell it to
consumers, you'd have to provide support, something that could be time
consuming. Or make it foolproof (Apple's strength).

I have a Raspbmc setup, and I get a fair amount of interest from visitors who
are impressed, and want their own cheap media centers. I dissuade them, unless
I am sure they can troubleshoot computer issues, SSH/SFTP, image an SD card,
and know basic SQL.

~~~
DonaldDerek
That's true, but with some serious development things can be possible, after
all you need a community to cover your back to compete with the big names, and
our community is RaspberryPi, Linux, and the open Web...

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vlasta2
You should throw in a kinect sensor (or any alternative) and have a very
comfortable remote control.

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akeeble
How is this Google TV? There's no HDMI passthrough, its just HTPC. It's a cool
project nonetheless

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tharshan09
woah, this is really cool. How does this compare to XBMC on the raspmc distro?
I am really tempted to try this out on my rpi because a lot of the software
stack used could be hacked on easily.

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DonaldDerek
Thanks! It's a totally different architecture, I'm using Raspbian and
WebSockets, really hacked this in 4 days..

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tharshan09
Yes I understand that. I was just asking in terms of the features that it
currently offers compared to XBMC?

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panzerboy
This is awesome! Do you have any plans to continue working on this?

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DonaldDerek
Sure thing! I'm really surprised of all the feedback, let's fork it guys! I
believe in an open world.

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bahman2000
I just happen to have an extra rPi lying around. Thanks!

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jawerty
Great (sigh)....now I need to get myself a Raspberry Pi

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cyansmoker
Nice but in no way a Google TV.

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beshrkayali
+1! Awesome work Donald!

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DonaldDerek
Beshr :D Thanks bro!

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emile818
Nice!

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DonaldDerek
Thanks!

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emile818
i will try it as soon as i have my rPi

