Need some functional, but not expensive DVR software

[Jeff7]

I've got a WinTV 350, but it appears that the already dubious WinTV2K software has some serious problems with dual core systems. So I'm looking for other solutions. I found BeyondTV and SageTV - they're $80 and include all kinds of crazy features I don't need. WinTV2K's features were all I needed. I just don't want the bugs. WinTV2K allowed for scheduled recordings, manual recordings, pausing, and basic TV watching. That's all I need. I don't need the Tivo-like automatic show search features to find stuff I might be interested in. I don't need automated scheduling. I don't need "commercial skip" features.
Something for $40 or less would be best.

I've tried GBPVR, but it seems too "Linuxy" to me. What I mean is, it doesn't work when you download it. You have to futz around with it for a few hours, go through many configuration menus, and learn some basic commandline programming to get it to acknowledge that you do in fact have a PVR card installed. Then it needs additional convincing to allow for the use of said hardware. I've been at it for about a half hour, and I now know of "XMLTV" files and some "EPG List" which the software downloads, updates, and then says doesn't exist. Still can't watch TV.
GB PVR - good idea. Freeware TV software for the masses. It'll be nice when it actually works.

 

[jfall]

I really like SageTV, it's simple and works well

 

[mugs]

GBPVR shouldn't take that long to set up, and I never had to do anything from a command line... But I have a WinTV 150, not 350 (why'd you get the 350 BTW? Do you need the MPEG decoding capability?).

The GBPVR support forums may be helpful for your problems.

 

[GhettoFob]

GBPVR served me well for a long time. I recently switched to BeyondTV 4. Keep an eye out for it at Outpost/Fry's, they'll have free after rebate deals for it every once in a while.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: jfall
I really like SageTV, it's simple and works well

And it's really expensive, and offers a lot of features that I'll never use.

Originally posted by: mugs
GBPVR shouldn't take that long to set up, and I never had to do anything from a command line... But I have a WinTV 150, not 350 (why'd you get the 350 BTW? Do you need the MPEG decoding capability?).

The GBPVR support forums may be helpful for your problems.

I had wanted to put DVDs onto VHS tapes. At the time, we were mainly a VHS-oriented family. My dad could hardly figure out how to use a VCR, and the thought of trying to teach him how to use DVDs was daunting and frightening. I rarely use it now.
But I've got the 350, and I don't plan to switch it out. As I understand it, the video out (which is really quite good BTW) is the only difference between the 350 and the 250.

I also do want a card with hardware MPEG2 encoding. That brings up one other reason I bought the 350 - hardware MPEG2 decoding. Little did I know that they only decided to make it use the hardware when it was using the TV output. Hauppauge can be a little bit odd in some of their product design.



GBPVR finally got the channel listing, but now when I click Live TV, the window turns black and just sits there. It's not frozen, it isn't using any CPU time, at least not that Task Manager is reporting, but is definitely not displaying TV. Hitting Escape returns me to the main menu.


I'll try to remember to keep an eye out in Hot Deals and at Outpost then for BeyondTV.
Edit: Searching Outpost.com for "BeyondTV" shows now matches. Do they only get it occasionally?

 

[Jeff7]

Bump, any other suggestions?

Maybe I've got to write to Hauppauge and see if they've got plans to do anything about dual core/CPU support. It seems spotty - some dual core/CPU systems work fine with Hauppauge's cards, others don't. Even their newer cards like the PVR 150 and 500 have problems.


Or else find a new TV tuner from a company that knows how to write decent software. I did rather like the idea of a hardware MPEG2 encoder, but I guess a Core2Duo can handle realtime full-res MPEG2 encoding without dropping frames. Or at least I'd hope it could.