OpenELEC Ported to TBS 2910 Matrix Board Supports DVB T/S/C, DVR and IPTV Server Functions

TBS 2910 Matrix, also simply called TBS Matrix, is a board powered by Freescale i.MX6 Quad SoC with 2GB RAM, 16 GB eMMC, and supporting various TBS USB DVB tuners. The company provides images for Ubuntu, Android, and something called Matrix TV. The company also releases the source code for the boards, and two OpenELEC developers, namely Ovi and Vpeter, though it could be a nice idea to port OpenELEC to TBS Matrix, and that’s exactly what they did.

The video demo below shows online video streaming via 1channels add-on, which can be done with any Android or Linux media player running XBMC or OpenELEC, but the second part is more interesting, as it shows Live TV from a Cable TV USB tuner connected to the board. Ovi also confirmed the system supports DVR, and you can also use the board as a micro IPTV server. DVR function is supported thanks to Tvheadend and VDR back-ends, and this OpenELEC port is said to support “all XBMC front-ends add-ons”. If the claims are all true, TBS Matrix would be a much more interesting proposing than some of the Amlogic DVB T/S/C Android TV boxes on the market that come with rather poor apps according to feedback from users, and my own limited testing.

You can download the firmware image “Gotham Releasel.zip” to try it out. I’ve been told the update instructions are similar to the ones for Cubox-i. According to the readme in the file, there are two kernels, one for DVB-T, one for DVB-C, but there are current missing from the zip file, and I can only find “KERNEL”.. More information will soon be posted on TBSTV forums. TBS 2910 Matrix board sells for $149, without tuners, which can be purchased as option.