Do I need NextPVR, or something like it?

[Maiyr]

Hi all,

About to start moving in the cord-cutting direction. Doesn't have to be quickly, but I am thinking within the next few months I would like for it to happen. I currently have an i5 laptop doing HTPC duties. Works great and does everything I want at the moment. All media is kept local to the HTPC on a USB drive. I like this setup and I really have no use case to watch/listen to my media anywhere else anyway. At the moment this is only ripped BD/DVD and my audio collection consisting of mostly ripped CD's. We also stream Amazon, YouTube, Pandora, etc.. off the wireless. All works great. Kodi is used for movie watching when playing something from the local collection.

Next step is to start getting OTA TV and setting up a DVR on the existing HTPC. Forgetting about all the what channels can I get with an antennae stuff, I was under the impression that I could get an external USB ATSC tuner, plug it into HTPC, plug coaxial from antennae into the tuner and magic was going to happen. By magic I mean that Kodi is going to see I have this and display guide info and allow me to start recording, setting up recording schedules, etc.... Am I wrong?

I think I am because after some research last night it appears as though I am going to also have to install something like NextPVR (on the HTPC) and then Kodi will be a client for the NextPVR server? installed on the HTPC.

Is that closer to reality?

Is NextPVR really just going to provide me with the recording options? Meaning if I didn't care about recording would Kodi display the guide info and allow me to browse channels, watch TV, etc... ?

Thanks,

Maiyr

 

[Kartajan]

Go here:
http://kodi.wiki/view/PVR

If you hadn't already gotten the device, I would have recommended the HDHomeRun Connect network tuner, which would have been a little easier....

 

[tential]

I'd recommend using Windows Media Center one as that's the BEST one.
Not sure if there's a way to still get that to work in Windows 10, but that's what I used.

 

[LoveMachine]

I'd recommend using Windows Media Center one as that's the BEST one.
Not sure if there's a way to still get that to work in Windows 10, but that's what I used.

IF you are running Win7 or below, WMC is by far the easiest to get up and running, but there are reports that the guide service they use is getting a bit flakier so longterm usage might be questionable. If you are already on Win10, NextPVR is probably the easiest to set up since 10 doesn't include WMC (although you can hack WMC into 10, it requires some tinkering).

Over the last year or so, I've tried lots of replacements for WMC for OTA recording, and I'm running a combo of Win7 WMC on one PC and another Ubuntu based system running MythTV (the Win7 machine is still running as a redundant unit as I play with Ubuntu/Myth/Kodi). NextPVR was not terribly difficult to set up on the Windows machine, TVHeadEnd was fairly confusing, and MythTV requires jumping ship into the Linux world - Very steep learning curve for a Linux-noob like me but very powerful once configured and integrated into Kodi. With MythTV and Kodi 16.x properly configured, it's got great WAF and simplicity, but it took a lot to get there.

Oh, and the Kodi wiki on Live TV does a good job of going over the concepts of Backend/Frontend and the requirements. Once you have the backend (PVR) configured, Kodi (the frontend) is a great way to browse/record/watch all your content without having to touch NextPVR.

Your plan of getting a USB tuner and NextPVR will certainly work, and not be terribly difficult to setup. If WMC isn't an option, it's likely going to be the easiest way to go. The suggestion of the HDHomerun was a good one. If you can spring for it, it does add a lot of functionality (multiple recordings, access for any networked PC), and a Schedules Direct subscription is also worth it.

 

[Kartajan]

re: WMC

If you have a Win7 setup available, it has a lot of good points, but with MS depreciation of the WMC platform, it is harder and harder to keep going... Note that Win10 has no NATIVE WMC support, but some have gotten workarounds to function (with variable results).

I personally have switched over to an Android TV based setup due to that and the level of vertical integration possible to keep the WAF high...

 

[Maiyr]

Thank you for the replies everyone and the Kodi link. Good reading there. I am already on Win10 and don't want to bother going back at this point so looks like Kodi and NextPVR it is. Should be interesting at the very least.

Maiyr