According to you guys PVR software top 5??

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GamerOC

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Topic # 87064 19-Jul-2011 00:48

Hi there thank you for reading this post. the reason Im writing this post is to get some opinions based on experience on what PVR software is best for good quality video and TV.
I tried Media Portal

what PVR software is your favorite with best features and less fixing required...?

thanks

Andy

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Reply # 495081 19-Jul-2011 06:13

GBPVR / nPVR. Written in Wgtn and is pretty rock solid. While it may not have some of the bling that Media Portal or WMC has it does it's job very well.

mrbig

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Reply # 495163 19-Jul-2011 10:19

i just use vlc player

but if i need to rec something i use MediaPortal

reven

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Reply # 495180 19-Jul-2011 10:54

if its just a PVR

1. GBPVR / NPVR (http://gbpvr.com)
2. Windows Media Center 7
3. MythTV
4. Sage (http://sage.tv)
5. MediaPortal

if its a Media Center
1. XBMC
2. Windows Media Center 7
3. MediaPortal
4. Boxee
5. Plex

if its a media center with PVR
1. Windows Media Center 7
2. MediaPortal
3. XBMC with PVR addon (experimental ATM, but once its done it should be really really good).

personally I use Windows Media Center 7, good with media using MediaBrowser, good PVR functionality, but not as advanced as some (recording two shows at once using same capture device on the same mux or something, gbpvr and mediaportal do this i believe) this is really good for show padding if recording back to back shows. Best interface Ive come across for netflix.

but if you just want a PVR, i would go with NextPVR/GBPVR.

EDIT: ok just discovered sage has been acquired by google, so thats not an option. hopefully they will be putting PVR into GoogleTV now, (sage was java so should work)

geekiegeek

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Reply # 495182 19-Jul-2011 11:05

You say you tried MediaPortal, was there a problem that stopped you using it or missings features?

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GamerOC

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Reply # 495205 19-Jul-2011 11:59

I currently using the software that came with the tunner and I find it faster and more responsive than MediaPortal and my remote control lags in MediaPortal and sometimes crashes despite having better interface than my tunners software.
So Im looking for something a bit user friendly and good hardware support.
I will stay away from MediaPortal as was pain in the @#$ setting up specially took me a while to figure out how to make it scan the C1/D1 Optus sat instead of the german list of sats on the presets.

Windows media is great but Im running windowsxp sp3... So I will try a few of those as I just wanted it for PVR.

thanks guys,

Andy

rhysee

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Reply # 495263 19-Jul-2011 13:34

WIndows Media Centre is sooo easy to use .. Windows 7 upgrade I can see happening ?no ?

richms

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Reply # 495277 19-Jul-2011 13:54

I just use the one in windows 7 media center. No EPG but I seldom want to record anything off NZ tv, thats what torrents are for.

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GamerOC

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Reply # 495282 19-Jul-2011 14:07

I got windows 7 64bit running my gaming rig however if I upgrade the tvbox then I need to upgrade tunner as I purchased before win7 came along and i tried the vista drivers but don;t work properly as labels my sat tunners as terrestria tunner. but win7 came with my gaming rig and only one licence so yep upgrade will have to be win7 plus a double tunner win7 compatible. I just purchased new tv so I will have to save up for that.

thanks

Andy

Addon for the comment of EPG not working there that sucks and I like recording stuff... I will have to think about that for a little while.

geekiegeek

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Reply # 495284 19-Jul-2011 14:12

I would say stick with Media centre if you want easy although pretty much anything will require a bit of fiddling around to get the best out of it.

Mediaportal isnt that hard to configure if you are willing to read the wiki and ask questions in the forums. There is a very big NZ user base that are active on the MP forums and here on geekzone.

Your best bet is to maybe try each one and see what you like.

I personally use mediaportal because its able to do many things via added plugins and as I have been using it for sometime I find setup takes me about an hour on a fresh windows build.

I would also have to recommend an upgrade to windows 7 for sure, especialy for media centre.

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B1GGLZ

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Reply # 495299 19-Jul-2011 14:56

what PVR software is your favorite with best features and less fixing required...?
thanks
Andy

I'm using WinTV7 latest version with my HVR-2200 card. The original software with the card wouldn't install as it required XP MCE version and I had XP Pro. The newer software which I purchased online worked with XP Pro. I now have Windows 7 and all works OK except it doesn't like hardware acceleration (it locks up occasionally). With hardware acceleration disabled I've had no problems.
I use VideoReDo for editing and love it for ease of use.

richms

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Reply # 495300 19-Jul-2011 14:59

B1GGLZ:

I'm using WinTV7 latest version with my HVR-2200 card. The original software with the card wouldn't install as it required XP MCE version and I had XP Pro. The newer software which I purchased online worked with XP Pro. I now have Windows 7 and all works OK except it doesn't like hardware acceleration (it locks up occasionally). With hardware acceleration disabled I've had no problems.
I use VideoReDo for editing and love it for ease of use.

ATI card with the lockups at all?

Richard rich.ms

freitasm

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Reply # 495304 19-Jul-2011 15:05

richms: ATI card with the lockups at all?

My previous laptop (HP dv6) had an ATI HD 6500 1GB RAM, no problems with Freeview|HD. My current HTPC is a Dell Zino HD with an ATI HD4500, no problems.

My new desktop is a Lenovo m75e, builtin HD 3000, no problems. And even the little new HP dm1z comes with a HD 6310 discreet GFX (all in one AMD platform) and have no problems. All of those running the latest ATI drivers, which are now (almost) universal...

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richms

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Reply # 495309 19-Jul-2011 15:13

freitasm:

My previous laptop (HP dv6) had an ATI HD 6500 1GB RAM, no problems with Freeview|HD. My current HTPC is a Dell Zino HD with an ATI HD4500, no problems.

My new desktop is a Lenovo m75e, builtin HD 3000, no problems. And even the little new HP dm1z comes with a HD 6310 discreet GFX (all in one AMD platform) and have no problems. All of those running the latest ATI drivers, which are now (almost) universal...

give it some crap reception and see what happens with it.

Richard rich.ms

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Reply # 495310 19-Jul-2011 15:15

Well, I can't... I live about two kms (line of sight) to Mt Kaukau. And the crap reception would be a problem for the tuner, not the GFX... The HDHomerun has no problems here ;)

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richms

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Reply # 495313 19-Jul-2011 15:19

The GFX card decodes what it is presented with from the tuner, crap reception causes invalid data which IMO will crash the ATIs bigtime whereas nvidia will just blankout and recover or worst case just kill off the task showing data not the whole computer.

Richard rich.ms

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