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what's the best PVR software?

same here. I haven't had any problems so far. go download the demo and give it a try. It does require a hardware encoder car.
 
I'll give another vote for Sage. I tried out Snapstream and Sage and liked Sage better and it is far more stable. Snapstream has put out a new version since then though. Oh and just in case you don't have it:

http://www.sage.tv/
 
SageTV all the way.

But don't limit yourself to the way SageTV is setup by default. Check out all the custom STVs, especially nielm's STV.

Original SageTV menu:
OriginalSageTV.jpg


My custom menu using nielm's STV:
SageTV.png


Nielm's STV also adds malore's commercial detection and mlbdude's automatic compression. Definately check it out while checking out SageTV.

PVRs Rule.
-Coolwave
 
Coolwave said:
But don't limit yourself to the way SageTV is setup by default.
Click to expand...
Best advice ever, the default STV turned me off to Sage in the beginning but I quickly found out about the customized STV's and started using mlbdude's. :D I've played around with a few but I've been using Opus's combo STV for a while now.
Nielm's STV also adds malore's commercial detection and mlbdude's automatic compression. Definately check it out while checking out SageTV.
Click to expand...
Sweet! I was playing with his a week or so ago and his STV didn't have those then. I'm going to have to switch over to his. :D Thanks for the heads up.

Damn I really wish Frey would release Studio. :(
 
I love Snapsteam for one reason ShowSqueeze. It lets me record my shows and then compress them to WMA for a quick transfer to my laptop for viewing on my way to work. Also 3.5 is very nice and just came out.

So my vote is for Snapstreams BeyondTV.
 
I installed Windows Media Center Edition (XP) on my main machine. Now before you start its not illeagal. I took it off of my notebook that came bundled with it. On the notebook I am now running Xandros Linux and its sweet. I loaded the Windows XP Media Center Edition on the desktop and its far better than any of the options you guys are listing. The only problem would be the time it takes to locate drivers that will work with your equipment as Micorsoft won't support it on macines that aren't bundled. Now how is that for progress.... :) :rolleyes:
 
i respect your opinion, but I have 2 questions for you

1) why is it far better
2) have you tried the others we are suggesting?

also keep in mind, he only asked for PVR software. MCE requires you an OS install.
 
I tired snapstream it is too buggy in my honest opinon. SAGE is okay and now I understand what you are saying. I have the sage on a system for my wife and its faster at some tasks. so to answer your question YES i have tried the products you recommend and I actually own them. I said media center is better due to the fact that it intergrates everything into the os/// I really hate Microsoft products but their are certain things and titles that will not run on linux.
 
myth TV is cool, but a pain. I dealt with it for a bit before caving and going with Bill. I am still hacking at a Myth box, but I am having issues getting the TV to work. also, I ahve been told DVD playback is illegal on Linux. Something about the software and decryption.
 
ALYNCH75 said:
I installed Windows Media Center Edition (XP) on my main machine. Now before you start its not illeagal. I took it off of my notebook that came bundled with it. On the notebook I am now running Xandros Linux and its sweet. I loaded the Windows XP Media Center Edition on the desktop and its far better than any of the options you guys are listing. The only problem would be the time it takes to locate drivers that will work with your equipment as Micorsoft won't support it on macines that aren't bundled. Now how is that for progress.... :) :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

If you said you have Windows MCE 2005 I would consider your opinion since it has support for dual tuners, but I need dual tuner support. SageTV even allows me to have one of my tuners outside of my HTPC (PCI slots are full) and is utilized through SageRecorder over the network. I also use SageTV Client to use SageTV on my main PC.

IDversusEGO pointed out I have a recording conflict... and I have two tuners. I'd have soooo many conflicts if I had only one tuner.

I LOVE (and need):
- SageRecorder for using the tuner in my main PC as a network tuner.
- SageTV Client for the same experience as SageTV on my main PC over the network.
- Automatic commercial detection (now that I have it I need it ;))
- Different channel lineups for each tuner. Even different channel lineups for each input on each tuner. (I need to use my cable box to record some channels, but use analog when the channel is available for faster channel surfing)

I HATE:
- The default STV and functions are not good enough to easily compete with other options.
- The picture and music functions in SageTV blow. I really hate the music jukebox. I will never use it.

I wish that Sage would release Studio already so we can see someone release a good music jukebox.
 
Hey I just purchased and downloaded the lates version of sage and its almost the best thing since sliced bread. This program rocks.......... and the tuner cards are great also.... Thanks to this forum I now have a new dedication to sage!!!! down with medial edition windows xp now I can have my sage tv...... Thank you all :) :) :) GREAT GREAT NEWS BREAK
 
Glad you like it. And to be fair Nielvs STV now support DIVX compression commecial detection, RSS feeds, weather feeds, and IMDB lookup. IMDB is kind cool. Say there is amovie on tv, you can select that movie the query IMDB and the info will pop-up in an IE window with IMDB's info on the movie. Kinda cool. New stuff is being added all the time, and as soon as Sage Studio is released your going to see a lot more. Good luck
 
Guys you are making me jealous!

I have been researching a HTPC solution ever since I moved to my new house and found out that I can no longer have DirectTV with DirectTivo (new house in the hills and woods, no LOS). So I have to go with cable, and while standalone Tivos are good they only have 1 tuner and after having dual tuners my wife and I can not go back.

So I found SageTV and it looks awesome, problem is because of buying a new house and being married my Toy funds are not available (wife has the money for curtains wtf????). So for now I have to use Comcasts POS DVR, only thing it has going for it is its only $9/month and no hardware costs. It has dual tuners and can even record HDTV, but the damn thing SUCKS. I can not find shows to record beyond manually find the channel and time slot of the show, if you set a season pass regardless if you tell it only get new ones, it records EVERY episode even repeats within the same week. It is slow as hell, FF barely works, If you start watching a recording show before it finishes it starts the viewing at current time (not the beginning wtf?), and if the show finishes recording before you are done watching the show it JUMPS you to livetv! And when you go back to the recording it does not remember where you were! Oh and confict management is another sore point, if you have a confict with one show of a season pass and tell it not to record that ONE show, it cancels the whole season pass!

Avoid the Scientfic Atlanta Explorer 8000HD like the plague, biggest POS box ever made. The programmers had to be on crack to think this thing was even acceptable.

I am just saving my money to build a dedicated SageTV box. If I owned the 8000HD, I would take it out back and shoot it, however Comcast may ask questions if I return it will buckshot in it.
 
I have the comcast DVR as well. Keep it becasue the wife know how to use it and I like the pause live tv stuff. once I can afford a second HTPC, I will put it in the living room, but for now i have to keep the commiecast box.
 
holy crap. i have sage and think it's the bee's knees. even my GF who hates computers likes it. but then i read this thread and found out there are customized sage GUIs and one has COMMERCIAL DETECTION!!! okay, there. that is something that could make it better than it already is.
 
Hey since getting the sage setup I have an old Nvidia Personal Cinema 5600 with 256MB on the card. NOw my question is will I be able to connect this card to the Dish network or direct tv setup. or will I have to buy a new tuner card for the computer. Also what tuner cards will work with my samsung hd tv dlp
 
ALYNCH75 said:
Hey since getting the sage setup I have an old Nvidia Personal Cinema 5600 with 256MB on the card. NOw my question is will I be able to connect this card to the Dish network or direct tv setup. or will I have to buy a new tuner card for the computer. Also what tuner cards will work with my samsung hd tv dlp
Click to expand...
You call that a tuner? ;) :D

Anyways you'll want to read this: http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1932
Short answer is yes but read that. Any tuner card will work with your Samy but I would recommend that you get a 250 MCE card.
 
IDversusEGO said:
I have the comcast DVR as well. Keep it becasue the wife know how to use it and I like the pause live tv stuff. once I can afford a second HTPC, I will put it in the living room, but for now i have to keep the commiecast box.
Click to expand...

Actually my WIFE hates the comcast box more than I do, but wants curtains more
:confused:

She got very use to the DirectTivo and dual tuners. The comcast box biggest issue besides the F-ups I already listed is it has a very very piss poor User Interface. Too many damn different buttons to push at different times to do different or sometimes the same damn thing. I mean WTF is "A" "B" and "C" buttons? Those buttons are crutches for some piss poor programmer to use because they are too dense to relize how a device will be used. (rant over)

Your wife will probably love SageTV and easily get use to the interface, I can say this never EVER having used SageTV, because if she can comprehend and use Comcasts DVR there is no way in hell SageTV can be harder for her ;).
 
the software isn't really the issue, it hhaving to use it int he basement. plus having to use 2 remotes. Come to think of it, I don't know if she can reach the projector to turn it on. Guess I need to get a step stool.
 
IDversusEGO said:
the software isn't really the issue, it hhaving to use it int he basement. plus having to use 2 remotes. Come to think of it, I don't know if she can reach the projector to turn it on. Guess I need to get a step stool.
Click to expand...

Two remotes can easily be solved, HarmonyRemote or MX500.

You let you wife use the Projector? :p
 
m1abram said:
Two remotes can easily be solved, HarmonyRemote or MX500.
Click to expand...
more money that I don't want to spend on remotes, and more prgramming that I don't want to do.

m1abram said:
You let you wife use the Projector? :p
Click to expand...

no. not yet. maybe later. and only then when she has done all her chores and gotten me a beer.
 
Hey guys, check out the beta of Sage 2.1 too for some cool stuff too. (link is in announcements on fhe forum.) heres some of the changes.

* Support for recording multiple formats across multiple tuners (can mix MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/DivX hardware encoders)
* MPEG-4 & DivX hardware encoding support including timeshifting functionality through the Plextor ConvertX TV-402U/M402U and Provideo 358T
* New Hardware support for Plextor ConvertX TV-402U/M402U, Provideo 358T USB and AverMedia UltraTV PCI 500/550 cards
* Enhanced Video Library - Folder based with support for thumbnail images
* Browse by Category - View upcoming airings by Category
* Keyword Favorites - Record shows based on Keywords in addition to Title, Actor and Category
* Enhancements to Intelligent Recording - Improved file management
* Plugin support for On-Screen Display, Inputs and MediaPlayer (Developer information available)
* SageTV now runs as a Windows Service
* Rearchitected capture & playback systems
* Support for multiple IR transmitters
* Power Management support - Standby/hibernate modes supported with automatic wakeup for recordings
* Expanded Remote Control Support - AverMedia 500/550 Remote and MCE Remotes
* Import feature for STV Modules
* Numerous Bug Fixes and Performance Enhancements


The simple fact that it now runs as a service and can interact with files over the network just made a good deal even better for me.
 
Thanks for that Sage 2.1 info. Ill have to go d/l it. As far as changing channels on A comcast box or dishnetwork box, youll need a device called USBUIRT. Basically its a device that can receive IR signals as well as transmitt then. So when you hit the channel up buttom on sage, its sends a signal to the usbuirt to transmit a channel up command to the dishnetwork or comcast box. It works pretty well, and the device is well supported. If you have direct tv you actually are even luckier because you can use the serial port on the back of the box and plugin it in to a com port on the HTPC and sage can interface with it that way too.
 
the FREE ones are always best.. i've been using mythtv for 2 years now give or take.. but on the windows side GBPVR www.gbpvr.com is also free and imho 10x better then any commerical pvr solution..
 
(7\) said:
the FREE ones are always best.. i've been using mythtv for 2 years now give or take.. but on the windows side GBPVR www.gbpvr.com is also free and imho 10x better then any commerical pvr solution..
Click to expand...


Now then I like free, and I very much like Linux and what I see with MythTV. However do you have anything to back up your claims other than "it's free", cause SageTV is only $79 and if you get it with a tuner card bundle it is really not that bad of a price.

My issues with MythTV and pretty much all the free ones is the Guide Data, they get their guide data from XMLTV which gets its from web scraping. This is not a very reliable way to get the data.

Now then if you have anything to compare with I am sure we all would like to hear it, but please do not say that XYZ is just better. That is not very constructive.

I have not used MythTV, so if you can provide more info on it great.
 
(7\) said:
the FREE ones are always best.. i've been using mythtv for 2 years now give or take.. but on the windows side GBPVR www.gbpvr.com is also free and imho 10x better then any commerical pvr solution..
Click to expand...
Free and Opensource are not the same thing, I would buy Myth simple because it's a great frontend but it does still have room to improve. Just because it's free doesn't make it good but just because it's free doesn't make it crap either.
 
MythTv is great if you know linux well and know how to tweak the encoders, and everything else involved. Mythtv doesnt have to use XMLTV anymore, they pull their listings from Zap2IT (the same as sage) so channel lineup isnt reallty an issue.
 
Flagg said:
MythTv is great if you know linux well and know how to tweak the encoders, and everything else involved. Mythtv doesnt have to use XMLTV anymore, they pull their listings from Zap2IT (the same as sage) so channel lineup isnt reallty an issue.
Click to expand...

Ah good to know, that would make MythTV much more interesting to me.
 
m1abram said:
Now then I like free, and I very much like Linux and what I see with MythTV. However do you have anything to back up your claims other than "it's free", cause SageTV is only $79 and if you get it with a tuner card bundle it is really not that bad of a price.

My issues with MythTV and pretty much all the free ones is the Guide Data, they get their guide data from XMLTV which gets its from web scraping. This is not a very reliable way to get the data.

Now then if you have anything to compare with I am sure we all would like to hear it, but please do not say that XYZ is just better. That is not very constructive.

I have not used MythTV, so if you can provide more info on it great.
Click to expand...
back it up other then the obvious? have a look at mythtv.org and check out all the features and plugins..

the guide data no longer uses XMLTV in the US.. it now uses datadirect from zap2it which is also free (for now) all they require you todo is fill out a silly survey every 3 months or so..

some obvious features of myth besides the TV is it will play any media type xvid/divx/mpeg/mpeg2 etc etc.. it has a frontend for playing Roms (all types) music (all types) a RSS reader.. and weather checker.. dvd player...it also has a spectacular webackend Mythweb...

now something that really sets it off from the rest... Myth will automattically skip commericals.. and it will rip dvds..
 
(7\) said:
back it up other then the obvious? have a look at mythtv.org and check out all the features and plugins..

the guide data no longer uses XMLTV in the US.. it now uses datadirect from zap2it which is also free (for now) all they require you todo is fill out a silly survey every 3 months or so..

some obvious features of myth besides the TV is it will play any media type xvid/divx/mpeg/mpeg2 etc etc.. it has a frontend for playing Roms (all types) music (all types) a RSS reader.. and weather checker.. dvd player...it also has a spectacular webackend Mythweb...

now something that really sets it off from the rest... Myth will automattically skip commericals.. and it will rip dvds..
Click to expand...

Well I was looking for personal views over a feature list. Plus I am not interested most of the extra features, since my main goal is DVR (timeshifting). SageTV is not a good media player and I bet MythTV is much better at that, however not a feature I am interested in.

One feature MythTV has that is very cool is being able to use an Xbox as a client, that makes a very good client box and is cheap.

SageTV will do commerical skip using the not standard STV (however I have not used it so I can not compare it).
 
m1abram said:
Well I was looking for personal views over a feature list. Plus I am not interested most of the extra features, since my main goal is DVR (timeshifting). SageTV is not a good media player and I bet MythTV is much better at that, however not a feature I am interested in.

One feature MythTV has that is very cool is being able to use an Xbox as a client, that makes a very good client box and is cheap.

SageTV will do commerical skip using the not standard STV (however I have not used it so I can not compare it).
Click to expand...

we'll i'm obviously biased towards mythtv :) i own and co-run www.mythtv.info i went thru all the windows pvr software 1-2 years. At that time Myth was light years ahead of all of them. I own a PVR-350 and use the Tv-out from it with linux/myth I have yet to see a better solution then it. The UI of myth is very remote centric (as it should be) and easy to navigate (my wife can do it )

the easiest way to break into mythtv currently is using knoppmyth www.mysettopbox.tv its not a one click intsall but it will get your very close.
 
(7\) said:
we'll i'm obviously biased towards mythtv :) i own and co-run www.mythtv.info i went thru all the windows pvr software 1-2 years. At that time Myth was light years ahead of all of them. I own a PVR-350 and use the Tv-out from it with linux/myth I have yet to see a better solution then it. The UI of myth is very remote centric (as it should be) and easy to navigate (my wife can do it )

the easiest way to break into mythtv currently is using knoppmyth www.mysettopbox.tv its not a one click intsall but it will get your very close.
Click to expand...

Hey I hope you do not think I am knocking MythTV, I am not. I think it is a great project. Just trying to stir a little more personal info beyond "it's free", I mean the purpose of forums is to get personal user info beyond what someone can google and read off of a spec list.

Being an owner of a product does make you a bit biased,yes ;). However it also gives you great insite into the project, so any comments are very welcome.
 
myth is cool, but after a couple of days of trying to get the tv to work, I flopped back over to windows. in a little more than an hour, I had tv working through sage. A lot of that has to do withthe fact that I know windows fairly well, and am just starting on linux. I have not deserted myth, I have just moved it to a slower box to play with.
 
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