This won't be for the ****ter readers ...

It all started out from a thought that 1) the Topfield PVR's weren't
going to last forever and if they did they still wouldn't be that much
use as they have threatened to turn off DBV-T and just go T2 / HD (in
the future ... if / when ever that might actually be).

We currently run two Toppys, one on the 'main' TV (all our TV is
viewed though it) and one on her PC and she watches her TV (live /
recorded) though a video capture card (and that works fine for her as
she can then play games (WWF) during the ads on live TV etc).

So, I have been having a play, have learned a bit and concluded it's
all still a big compromise.

Primary goals. To replace the Topfields with something more future
proof, as fast / easy to use but with the ability to share recordings
across the LAN plus play media provided from elsewhere on the main TV
(in particular).

So, encouraged to look at Plex by JR of this parish I did ... and from
that many of the other XBMC respins, like Kodi and LibreELEC and other
JeOS's (Just Enough Operating Systems), both on various Raspberry
Pi's, PC's another other appliances (phones and media boxes).

With nearly every combination there seems to be some stumbling block,
like it won't work on my phone or won't see one of my TV tuners or
would end up being too power hungry etc.

One thing that came out all this is finding one bit of software that
did seem to do the basic TV tuning thing, OOTB.

SichboPVR: https://sichbopvr.com/

I had a rebranded 'Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T-500-Stick' dual / diversity
USB DVB-T tuner that TVHeadend on a RPi could see but couldn't get any
channels from. I wasn't even sure if it still worked but I installed
SichboPVR on a Windows PC with said dongle connected, answered a
couple of location questions and I was startled when the PC suddenly
became a TV. ;-)

Not only that, you can make use of a PC that has an internal tuner,
another PC running TV TVHeadend with a tuner plus shared media on the
LAN. He's working on a new version (complete re-write in all the video
streaming / pipelines) that I understand should also run on Linux so
that might be more flexible.

So, I'm still waiting for some components to carry on the testing with
but I think it's going to end up with some form of box (possibly a PC)
with some level of storage / shares and with (local) sufficient tuners
to cover all our TV viewing / recording needs, with the possibility of
it accessing other videos from elsewhere (NAS etc).

One think I'm waiting for is a suitable remote controller. I have used
the mobile phone as a remote and it works very well, as does
controlling the Kodi client 'remotely', via a PC browser, but neither
are as convenient as just picking up a good remote.

The current test rig is a RPi3B upstairs (near the TV distribution
amp) running the TV HAT DVB-T2 tuner and just TVHeadend on Raspbian
streaming TV to a RPi3B downstairs running Kodi on LibreELEC plugged
into the main TV. So far it's been rock solid ... that said, with all
the DIY 'OB' work that is on TV atm, it's not a good time to be
looking for things like lip-sync. ;-)

Cheers, T i m