Overview

Value and Content

Introduction

What does this book do?

Who are the authors?

Where can I buy this book?

Navigating the journey ahead

Before proceeding...

What skills do you need?

Choosing how to proceed

Chapter 1: Introductions

1.1 Calculating Costs

1.2 Specs and stuff

Resolution, size and aspect ratio

High Dynamic Range (HDR) and color gamut

Frames per second (fps)

1.3 Digitally Broadcast Antenna TV

Introduction to digital antenna TV

What is an antenna?

Introduction to TV tuners

Networked TV tuners

Multiple TVs and devices

1.4 Smart TVs

Introduction to Smart TVs.

1.5 Digital Video Recorders

Introduction to DVRs

Networked DVRs

1.6 Streaming Gadgets

Introduction to streaming gadgets

Introduction to Roku

Introduction to AppleTV, Amazon Fire

Other streaming gadgets

Mixing things up - using multiple gadgets

1.7 Chromecast and AndroidTV

Introduction to Chromecast and Android TV

Chromecast dongles

AndroidTV

Android consoles and boxes

1.8 Personal Computers and TV

Why attach a computer to our TV?

Introduction to the Intel NUC

Introduction to the Mac Mini

Stick computers

Remote input - keyboards, trackpads, etc

Introduction to media players

1.9 Media Centers

Introduction to Media Centers

Chapter 2: Getting content

2.1 Antennas

Installing a TV antenna

Networked Tuners

Multiple antenna

What is Trans-coding?

2.2 Streaming

Internet streaming

Some streaming sources

2.3 Optical Disks

Optical disk formats

When to use an optical disk?

2.4 4K

So what is 4K?

Getting 4K and above content

Chapter 3: Moving Content

3.1 Networks

Our Home's network

Streaming on our home network

Our Router

Network Connections - Wires and Radios

Network Connections - DLNA

Our Internet Service Provider

Finding and fixing network problems

Dedicated WiFi Bands

Keep it all working

3.2 Wires

Coax

Multimedia cables

HDMI-CEC and one remote control

HDCP & DRM

Chapter 4: Watching content

4.1 The TV and big screens

How big? Resolution, screen size and pixel density

Smart TVs

Watching live broadcast TV

4.2 Networked Tuners

Installing a HDHomeRun Connect Tuner

How to watch TV using the HDHomeRun

Access a HDHomeRun with DLNA from a TV

Maintaining and troubleshooting our HDHomeRun Tuner

4.3 Streaming Gadgets

Streaming - Overview

TV consoles, boxes and sticks

Google Casting

How does casting work?

Casting with a Chromecast Dongle

Casting - Setup a receiver

Casting - Setup a sender

Casting from iOS

Casting problems

DIY streaming - Sling Box

DIY streaming - WiFi display connection

Roku

Personal devices - small screens

4.4 Optical Disks

Watching optical disks

4.5 Personal Computers

Sticks, NUCs and Macs

Streaming to a PC's web browser

Media Player - VLC

Streaming to a media player

Casting to the TV from a PC

Watching Broadcast TV

4.6 DVRs

Networked DVRs

Networked DVR - TabloTV

Setup a TabloTV

Using a TabloTV

PC based DVRs - MythTV, NextPVR

4.7 Media Centers

Plex - Media Center

Watching TV with Plex and a NextPVR DVR

Kodi - Media Center

Watching Live TV with Kodi and a HDHomeRun tuner

4.8 4K

How can we watch 4K video?

Cables and connectors for 4K

Ultra HD Blu-ray disks

Experimenting with high frame rates

4.9 Privacy

Privacy: who is watching the watcher?

Chapter 5: Putting it together

Overview of the Projects

5.1 SmartTV and an antenna

Setting up for antenna TV

TV Guide service

5.2 Internet Only

Is this the right way for us?

How to make it work in our home

Often the "answer" is a blend of solutions

5.3 Roku and a networked DVR

The DVR as a Roku channel

5.4 Devices and live TV - No big screen

The HDHomeRun View app

5.5 Chromecast and a networked DVR

Casting a TabloTV DVR to the big screen

5.6 AndroidTV

NVIDIA Shield AndroidTV console

Installing apps on AndroidTV

Accessing a networked DVR or tuner from apps

Casting to AndroidTV

HDMI-CEC and AndroidTV

Trouble shooting AndroidTV

5.7 An orchard of Apples 

A Mac Mini computer with Tablo TV 

A Mac Mini computer with a HDHomeRun tuner 

AppleTV and a TabloTV

5.8 PC and a networked DVR

Keyboards, mouse and network

Connect to the TabloTV device

5.9 PC as a DVR on Windows - NextPVR

Installing NextPVR

Schedules Direct EPG Guide

Watching TV

Trouble-shooting NextPVR

5.10 PC as a DVR on Linux - Mythbuntu

Installing Mythbuntu

Connections, updates and tuners

Configuration - MythTV backend

Configuration - MythTV frontend

Using MythTV and Mythbuntu

Streaming on Mythbuntu

Fixes, maintenance and troubleshooting

5.11 PC as a MediaCenter - Kodi

Installing Kodi and the MythTV PVR addon

Configure and enable the MythTV add-on in Kodi

Enable TV in Kodi

5.12 PC as 4K player

Streaming 4K in the Chrome Browser

4K streaming with a "helper" - partial hardware acceleration.

Watching high resolution "home movies"

Fullly hardware accelerated video on Mythbuntu in VLC

5.13 Money Savers

Using less internet

Little or no internet

Chapter 6: Creating a computer for the living room

6.1 Building a PC for the living room

Parts needed to assemble a NUC computer

Building a NUC

6.2 Buying a computer

Chapter 7: Other projects

Accessing a TabloTV away from home

Connecting a SiliconDust tuner with WiFi

DLNA streaming with VLC

Live TV on Linux PC

DVI cables

Thank you..