PVR software

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turb

881 posts

Ultimate Geek

#107616 15-Aug-2012 09:21

Hi All,

I'm costing out my first HTPC, ready to axe Sky HDi in a few months. Its main uses will be:

Watching, pausing, fast forwarding through adverts and recording Freeview.
Quickflix
DVD/Blu Ray
Maybe movies off iTunes
Other options as they come along or become legal. Or I give up waiting for them to become legal...

I posted a question on the specs here: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=84&topicid=107018

My current thought is a Linux box running XBMC (as it's free.)

I'm planning on using the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2210.

It looks like the card comes with Win TV 7.

My Questions are:

Will Win TV 7 work with linux?
Is the interface easy to use? The GUI has to be as wife-friendly as possible. If it looked and felt like Sky HDi, so much the better. If she's recorded the news, she won't want to look for it in a folder in a file system.
Does Win TV integrate with XBMC? if not, Is there any PVR software that integrates with XBMC?
Is there other, better PVR software that will work with the card? If so, am I better off spending some money and getting windows 7, or 8?
Will it be able to wake up, record something, and go back to sleep again?

At the end of the day I want something that behaves as close to Sky HDi as possible.

(Apologies if this has all been covered elsewhere - I did look!)

Interests: HTPC, Web App authoring.

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1556 posts

Uber Geek

#672636 15-Aug-2012 09:35

Quickflix doesnt work with Linux. I even tried different approaches. Dont know if they will support it later though. To play Blu Ray you have to rip it first. Linux wont play a blu ray by just popping the disk in and press play. I found best solution overall for me was Windows 7 Home Premium using media centre. I use Powerdvd for blu ray play back. Integrates well with media centre.

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

reven

3743 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#672660 15-Aug-2012 10:02

windows route:
- fortherecord.eu for tv backend/server, really good backend. for a frontend you can use xbmc or mediaportal (for frontend)
- mediaportal.sf.net for tv backend, dont think this is as good as 4tr, but each to their own. once again you can use xbmc or mediaportal for frontend
- nextpvr.com, developed by kiwi :), this is a simple PVR, but really reliable and easy to setup.
- windows media center. simple to use and setup but lacks features or more advanced PVRs.

linux route:
- tvheadend for backend, pretty easy to setup backend, schedules are a little basic though. is the primary tv backend the xbmc pvr developers use, so will support all xbmc pvr features (including advanced scheduling when that is added)
- mythtv, really good but can difficult to setup

if you want quickflix, you could get a tv backend running Windows media center and use a xbox as a frontend. i believe quickflix is coming to xbox soon.

turb

881 posts

Ultimate Geek

#672672 15-Aug-2012 10:14

Wow thanks Gilco2 those are exactly the kind of things that would make it a pain to use. I think windows may be the better option!

Ok forget everything I asked about Linux.

I'm now asking about windows PVR software!

Interests: HTPC, Web App authoring.

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#673024 15-Aug-2012 20:34

turb: Wow thanks Gilco2 those are exactly the kind of things that would make it a pain to use. I think windows may be the better option!

Ok forget everything I asked about Linux.

I'm now asking about windows PVR software!

some people swear by mediaportal but I like Windows 7 media center. Easy to set up and use

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#673102 16-Aug-2012 06:29

+1 It is more limited it how you can modify it then the other options BUT it does what it does very well with no fuss, a easy to use interface and looks great to boot. Note I am talking about Windows 7 Media Centre the older versions did not work well with our Freeview. I would start there. If you find that it does not cut if for you then you can start looking at the other options.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

nickrout

219 posts

Master Geek

#673195 16-Aug-2012 10:19

Gilco2: Quickflix doesnt work with Linux. I even tried different approaches. Dont know if they will support it later though. To play Blu Ray you have to rip it first. Linux wont play a blu ray by just popping the disk in and press play.

Mine does, mythtv has the facility to play bluray.

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#673210 16-Aug-2012 10:44

nickrout:
Gilco2: Quickflix doesnt work with Linux. I even tried different approaches. Dont know if they will support it later though. To play Blu Ray you have to rip it first. Linux wont play a blu ray by just popping the disk in and press play.

Mine does, mythtv has the facility to play bluray.

WHen using linux I couldnt and all searching found no way to just pop in the blu ray disk and play it. How do you manage when others cant

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

Quic Broadband

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nickrout

219 posts

Master Geek

#673246 16-Aug-2012 12:01

By running software (mythtv) that works.

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#673257 16-Aug-2012 12:35

I thought the issue was at the OS (Linux) level not the software level and because Linux is open source there was no way around this. Or are you running MythTV on Windows?

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#673259 16-Aug-2012 12:37

nickrout: By running software (mythtv) that works.

oh okay. didnt know with mythtv you can just pop the blu ray in and play just like dvd now. I checked yesterday and the latest I found was June and said still not possible and wont be for some time due to legalities. They must have overcome that now. So mythtv would be a viable option now then

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

nickrout

219 posts

Master Geek

#673284 16-Aug-2012 13:22

mythtv 0.25 was released in April 2012 and it has been possible since then, and with some fiddling since 0.24 was reeased in Novemenr 2010, so I don't know what you have been reading!

nickrout

219 posts

Master Geek

#673354 16-Aug-2012 15:55

Nety: I thought the issue was at the OS (Linux) level not the software level and because Linux is open source there was no way around this. Or are you running MythTV on Windows?

I am using mythtv on linux. You need to manually create a key file from souces that are freely available on the net. mythtv does not dstribute the aacs keys.

Deev8

481 posts

Ultimate Geek

#673443 16-Aug-2012 19:00

Gilco2:some people swear by mediaportal but I like Windows 7 media center. Easy to set up and use

Some people swear by mediaportal or Windows Media Center, I like NextPVR - it's also easy to set-up and use.

One advantage over Windows Media Center is that it can record multiple channels from a mux using a single tuner - so if you have three tuners you could theoretically record absolutely everything broadcast on Terrestrial Freeview and never miss anything that you want to see. That's a bit extreme, but I do sometimes record four channels simultaneously.

turb

881 posts

Ultimate Geek

#673601 17-Aug-2012 09:50

It's great to know there are so many free or inexpensive options there. It means I can fiddle about for a bit, trying things out before rolling it out to the family!

I think I have an idea what is meant by "back end" and "front end" in this context, but could someone clarify what it means in practice?

Is the backend the software that records/holds the media, and the frontend the GUI?

Interests: HTPC, Web App authoring.

reven

3743 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#673614 17-Aug-2012 10:07

backend: server type system that runs in the background to record/stream you tv.

frontend: gui you use to watch tv/recordings/other media.

by separated them out you get

1. one server serving multiple clients, so you only need one computer capable of recording tv and use that on many computers (eg laptops etc).
2. can use different operating system/devices that would never support live tv
3. can choose which frontend you like best. for example i was using ForTheRecord backend for a while, but using mediaportal as a frontend. I personally didnt really like mediaportals backend but liked its frontend, so i could mix and match
4. GUI doesnt need to be running for it to record your programs.

currently im using for the record as the backend and the following clients/frontends
- 3xXBMCBuntu with XBMC PVR branch
- 1x Win 7 with XBMC PVR branch
- 1x Mac Book Pro running Mountain Lion with XBMC PVR branch

but i could also easily install mediaportal on one machine and use that as a frontend on one machine and xbmc on another.

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