Advantages of GB-PVR

[aaronfos]

Hello,

could someone outline the advantages of gbpvr compared to say the windows media center or mythtv on linux?

I might setup a htpc and am unsure as to which media centre software I should use.

thanks a bunch.

[Graham]

GBPVR just works. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year.

I don't have to spend hours fiddling about to get a result. I could, and some do, spend hours fiddling trying to squeeze an ounce of improvement out of it.

[dalabera]

GBPVR just works. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year.

That depends on the hardware you choose... There are a lot users that have success with their installation others don't.
Althought it takes a while to set your system and the learning curve after you spend a couple of months you are satisfied with it.

[pcostanza]

You won't get any better support ANYWHERE like you do for GBPVR. I can't knock Media Center but if GBPVR had the money on R&D that MS does, you wouldn't be asking this question.
This program is still growing and getting better.

[McBainUK]

aaronfos: it's probably worth listing what you want out of a PVR / media centre software and seeing if GB-PVR ticks the boxes, 'advantages' can be rather region (or even person) specific sometimes.

[liteswap]

What he said.

I'd add that the only cost is your time but the payback is that you learn stuff along the way. Between them, those advantages make GBPVR a great system.

Plus, when something goes wrong with Microsoft's Media Center, who ya gonna call? With GBPVR, answers are but minutes away - often as not from the guy who wrote the system. It's a great community here too - in fact I'd go so far as to say that there's no forum I've visited over the last ten years that's less cluttered with off-topic comments, rancour and flaming than this one.

And it's highly extensible via plug-ins and skins. And did I mention that it's all free?

[Snooze]

I think you would be pleased with how stable the program really is, as well the customization of skins and plugins. Plus everyone here is so helpful if you run into a problem. I personally have been able to shake out the few problems I ever had by just researching the forums.

[pBS]

for my money it's the customize-ability...

the skins [Community!], plugins [too many to name], EWA [none in MCE], client mode,
custom remotes/blasters, while mce can use dig and analog capture cards, try using 8 of them at once! not gonna happen...
can we say DVR-MS? blah...i'll take .mpg or .ts anyday...
ability to transcode using your favorite encoder..
ability to use a different OS than whatever MS shoves down our throat..
[tho i like win7 kinda]

and last but not least, like they said, it's the only forum/product i've seen in my 30 years+ of computer experience, where real help is available on a timely basis...by someone who knows, not just a flunky sitting at a terminal reading things they don't understand and sending you on wild goose chases...
Priceless...

[crossnet]

In my opinion, one of the best features is the separation of the recording services from the main program. It allows you to run other applications without missing a recording. And, when things do go wrong, you can simply restart the main program without interrupting any recordings in progress.

But, I wish it was a lot easier to setup DBA and QAM channels (especially for multiple tuners) and allow entry of hyphenated and 4 digit channel numbers that we now have in the US.

em

[lenor]

i came across GBPVR, when i searched a way for streaming recordings from the server to my television... and ended up with even remote controlled, tunable live-tv :-)