free PVR software recommendations - to use before buying Sage.

[Scott5]

Hi all,

Before spending the big cash (It's all relative!) on a Sage TV licence, I wanted to get a few options for the best PVR freeware out there. I will absolutely go sage at some point; until then I want to get some basic experience with PVR and be able to sell my wife on the general concept so I can get more suitable equipment.

Also - I'm going to be partioning my harddrive tonight. I'm planning on setting aside a big portion in 64 byte blocks(?) as recommended here for my future Sage use. Will that be ok for whatever free program I use over the next few months?

Thanks,
Scott

[falchulk]

None of the free programs have the epg intergration that pay products have. Its a hassle using xmltv.

the 64k blocks are good for any partition thats going to house large files.

[pjwerdna]

Erm! SageTV doesnt have epg integration either unless your in the US. Every body else has to use xmltv of some form. Very annoying.

64K blocks will work for anything. Small files will fill the partition very quickly though. (all files will get allocated a multiple of 64k blocks. Even single byte files will take 64K)

I tried a few trials of pay PVR software before sticking with Sage. They all installed fine, though setting up xmltv for them can be a bit complicated.

All the free versions I looked at seemed far to complex to install. e.g. Myth seemed to require you to compile your own kernel!, or they offered very limited functionality. e.g. TV but no recording or only supporting one tuner.
(Read the installation instructions before you download any of the free ones.)

Also check out the hardware compatibility lists. Some of them only work with a very limited range of tuner card.

[r00st3r]

Do a search for knoppmyth. It's a knoppix (linux) bootable ISO image. Set your PC to boot to the cd, install the server..and then run the client from the bootable CD on any client PC. It uses MythTV and setup is almost automatic from what i have seen. Only prob is it wants to format the disk you installing it on..but it's suppost to work..freeware...

I'll stick with sage though..

You can also check MediaPortal.

[falchulk]

Originally Posted by pjwerdna

Erm! SageTV doesnt have epg integration either unless your in the US. Every body else has to use xmltv of some form. Very annoying.

64K blocks will work for anything. Small files will fill the partition very quickly though. (all files will get allocated a multiple of 64k blocks. Even single byte files will take 64K)

I tried a few trials of pay PVR software before sticking with Sage. They all installed fine, though setting up xmltv for them can be a bit complicated.

All the free versions I looked at seemed far to complex to install. e.g. Myth seemed to require you to compile your own kernel!, or they offered very limited functionality. e.g. TV but no recording or only supporting one tuner.
(Read the installation instructions before you download any of the free ones.)

Also check out the hardware compatibility lists. Some of them only work with a very limited range of tuner card.

I thought Canada was covered now correct? North America is all that matters anyway

[kny3twalker]

I thought GB PVR has an EPG for the US
I have not used it since early alpha though
and it did not back then
so I could be wrong

[abasu2003]

if you send him to knoppmyth, he might not come back.

at last check, mythtv had weather, comskipping and transcoding (while recording), a real music player, and integrated dvd ripping

not sure if knoppmyth is as updated though.

[kwallin]

You should at least try MediaPortal http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net/index.html
It's free and works well.

/Kenneth

[remmy925]

Ya know...part of the reason I went to sage was I tried the free and open sources pvrs. Pain in the butt royal. And I couldnt stand dealing with XMLTV. I do know how you can sell your idea, and this worked with my ex. Point out what show she loves to watch but misses while she is at work. Promise to record that show for her. GOD I WANTED TO KILL MYSELF BECAUSE I HAD TO RECORD THE CHRISTOPHER LOWELL SHOW!!! But I do have the PVR I wanted and enjoy watching the rest of my recordings. Showing her how frustrating the other PVRs are just wont help. She will see you thinkering and get completely turned off by the idea. Ya need to sell the benefit to her...like being able to watch her favorite soaps

[salsbst]

I will absolutely go sage at some point

If this is true, then threre really isn't a reason to wait.

[pjwerdna]

MythTV: Complex installation even using knoppmyth (Knoppmyth + Hauppauge Three Fifty Installation + Epia Motherboards )

Mediaportal: Looks to be very early in development to me. Dont think I'd trust such an early version for recording stuff I wanted to watch. Needs quite a fast processor(1.4G) Also I dont think the interface would be readable on my TV.

ShowShifter: Looks OK But doesnt use the 350 output. Worse on the 350 it has very intermittant crackly sound and so is not usable at all.

SageTV: Seems to work quite well. I have slight problems with the UI disappearing from the PVR350 output, but I appear to be alone in that. I had to use the RTXMLTV grabber or course. But otherwise 2.0.2 seems fine (2.1 just doesnt work for me though)

I think I'd stick with SageTV myself. It's fairly easy to setup and actually works.
(All based on testing on the system in my sig of course. YMMV)

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by Scott5

Before spending the big cash (It's all relative!) on a Sage TV license

Yep, It's all relative ... So IMHO here is some suggestions, Knock $2 off your lunch money each day by drinking water instead of a Cola for one month. Take one less weekend drive in the country and save (at least) $15 is gas. Skip the Move this Friday and save $25 on tickets and popcorn. With that in 30 days you'll be Saging away. It may be a slight sacrifice, but you will be happy you did on the other side ...

Then rather than figuring out how to make a freebee work, you can just spend your time extending Sage with the tons of customizations offered in this forum.

Make the call and don't look back ... and spend the next month reading the Sage Manual and reading through this forum. By time you get your Sage, you'll already be an expert ...

T.

[Methius]

And make the same *mistake* I did :P.
Well not exactly a mistake, but I don't know for sure if I would have spent the money on Sage if I first tested MythTV.. But on the other hand, that will all change when Studio comes out .

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by Methius

And make the same *mistake* I did :P.
Well not exactly a mistake, but I don't know for sure if I would have spent the money on Sage if I first tested MythTV.. But on the other hand, that will all change when Studio comes out .

Well ... I guess if you are not taking advantage of the features Sage has that the others don't you can go with Myth, etc ... and even without Studio, there are a ton of fun things to customize ...

[Methius]

Originally Posted by mightyt

Well ... I guess if you are not taking advantage of the features Sage has that the others don't you can go with Myth, etc ... and even without Studio, there are a ton of fun things to customize ...

:P like?

Nvrmind, I am a SageTV user after all, but I just wanna see Studio :P :P :P.
BTW, I got the Sigma Designs Netstream 2000 TV to work..
Only one prob: sound is superb outside SageTV (when I play an MPEG), but when in SageTV, the sound is "maxed out". It hears like I have it on to loud.

I can't change the sound level anywhere for in SageTV use. Any help?

[Scott5]

thanks for the input everyone - no one mentions happ's free ware that included with the pvr250 card. no good?

[salsbst]

The Hauppauge thing is not a PVR app, just a recorder.

[Crazedz]

Their is GBpvr

That gets it's epg for the us and canada from zap2it like sage does. But it's not quite as stable as sagetv nor does it support as wide a range of hardware tuners as sage does. But otherwise it looks pretty decent and is free.

CTpvr also gets it's guide data from zap2it for us and canada for now it's free though it has a 30 day trial that is renewable with new versions that come out every 30 days. The maker isn't sure yet if or when he'll charge for it.

Neither has the freatures or skinnability of sage yet nor are they as stable but of the two ctpvr is the most stable and is easier to setup and use than even sage. Just not as stable nor does it support the number of cards that sage does yet. But unlike sage it does have multi speed ff/rw up to x4 speed which is a nice feature. But doesn't have quite as nice a scheduling as sage does. One plus is that the maker recently coded in pip for multi tuner cards while viewing live tv. I wasn't able to try the feature as it doesn't seem to work with my python2 card but thoughs who have tired it say they like it.

Thats a couple to look at.

[Scott5]

that's cool - I'll check them out - thanks...

[Crazedz]

I did also check out that Media portal and pjwerdna is right it is early in developement and does use xmltv which is still not easy to get going with. Not as hard as it was before but not as easy as getting the guide data the way sagetv and the others do plus it doesn't give as much info. It's still quite buggy buggier than gbpvr and ctpvr but it does have one plus that not even sage has and thats a true ff/rw, It can ff at up to 32x speed. It took me till 4am to get it to work with any sucsess even with just the wintv pvr 250 by itself it never did work with the python 2 tuner but like all the others it did see it and allowed me to add it as a second tuner just wouldn't display anything on it.

It's record options aren't as good as sage or the other right now either but as posted it's still early in development so that may improve. About the only thing i liked at all from it was the ff feature of this product and just wish freys would impliment this feature in sagetv it would make it the best htpc product out their as far as im concerned.

Well i got sage working great now in 2.1.10 thanks to jeff's new dll so im done trying out other products for now but i may revisit them later on down the road just to see how their comming along. But for now im back to working on finishing computers for the family got 1 left then i need to get some remotes and clients for all 3 computers and and a mvp for the living room and im all set with a full house sagetv htpc network that will make my brother and his modded tivo very green with envy.

Now i just got to delete these other htpc's off my system.