Why are you not using NextPVR (yet)?

[Jaggy]

I was going to set this thread up as a poll but then realised users could have a LOT of different reasons that I haven't thought about to not be using NextPVR yet.

For me it is only partially correct as I am using NextPVR with an NMT for all my daytime usage, checking the weather, playing music etc. etc. etc. as all this stuff is heaps better with NextPVR, but I have not converted my main production server over yet for these reasons (in order of importance from my way of thinking):

(In brackets what I use with GB-PVR)

Too many reports of the RecordingService stopping working for a lot of users
No way to manage my disks from my chair in the sittingroom (Supersimple archiver)
No fully functional ScreenSaver plugin (MLPanel)
No advanced Music plugin (Music Library3)
No Movie plugin (MovieWizard)
No way to change recording names etc. (WizEpisode Tweaker)

Now that's interesting, that list is lot shorter than I though it was going to be & I suspect if the locking up RecordingService could be sorted out I would actually change over right now.

[stustunz]

I switched last week
hasnt missed a recording yet (well apart from when i applied a patch and forgot to restart it lol)

only issue i had was vmr sucks but ffdshow does a great job with evr/software decoding on XP

Reason i hadnt changed till now
1.I was scared of the wife and missed recordings
2.Knew it would take me longer than i though
3.thought i would hate the layout, vertical main screen(but i dont its Great)

[pBS]

for me it's a bunch of same, mostly missing video lib transcode buttons..[also for super simple archiver, plus re-encoding]
and doesn't seem like anybody's looking to make a plugin for it either..[i'd be happy w/the way it used to work]
was nice cuz it was integrated with real video lib so had no problems skinning,etc
2. delaying sleep mode in win7 for my lcd and recordings..npvr isn't great in xp, so pretty much need vista/7.. [i have hdpvr]
3. vfd support...but that's almost finished, thanks to a nice Belgian..
4. panel messages...loved the tvlistings plugin 'now/next' stuff on main menu..
5. still warming up to 7...yea it works well, but it's still just a 'fixed vista' ...same annoyances...[uac,etc] but it isn't stopping me really..
6. video quality w/same codecs don't seem as good, FSE mode sure was a lot like live regular tv...[seemed smoother motion slightly]

[re-Barr]

Well for me, I guess it is:
finally getting pretty high WAF... and fam, so I don't want to break things.
Reports of problems w/ xp.
recording service issues, see #1
gb-pvr is so stable and working pretty flawless (my dvd drive is going bad but other than that.) that I just have a hard time fixin' something that ain't broke.
inset video works great. I got fanart going for the video library at least and I don't think you can do either on npvr (haven't seen it in release notes.)

[Dave72]

NPVR stopped me in my tracks when it came out, since I have a MVP. Everything still works fine in it (a few small issues, but quite livable).
Since then though, Ive upgraded to an LCD tv with hdmi inputs, and a netbook to feed it. Eventual path is no more MVP, htpc at the tv with media scattered on the lan.

Currently, Im just using o/s interface (browser for youtube/etc and netflix, and Miro for vodcast watching), and playing with XMBC front end for my lan media. XBMC is okay, but its a slow moving production with alot of cooks in the kitchen.. its a multi o/s (win/mac/linux/xbox) beast, and it shows. From what Ive read, they have a gbpvr/nprv plugin-developer nightmare at nearly every major upgrade.. lol.

NPVR is going to exceed it, and Im happy enough to wait for it. Once the plugin issues here clear up, I'll be loading it up for sure.

[Reddwarf]

for me it's a bunch of same, mostly missing video lib transcode buttons..[also for super simple archiver, plus re-encoding]
and doesn't seem like anybody's looking to make a plugin for it either..[i'd be happy w/the way it used to work]
was nice cuz it was integrated with real video lib so had no problems skinning,etc
2. delaying sleep mode in win7 for my lcd and recordings..npvr isn't great in xp, so pretty much need vista/7.. [i have hdpvr]
3. vfd support...but that's almost finished, thanks to a nice Belgian..
4. panel messages...loved the tvlistings plugin 'now/next' stuff on main menu..
5. still warming up to 7...yea it works well, but it's still just a 'fixed vista' ...same annoyances...[uac,etc] but it isn't stopping me really..
6. video quality w/same codecs don't seem as good, FSE mode sure was a lot like live regular tv...[seemed smoother motion slightly]

4. There IS a now/next in npvr.
5. W7 if FAR better than Vista, I would not touch Vista with gloves on, but turn off UAC in W7 and it is a dream to work with.
6. Video quality is actually slightly better with EVR/W7 (if you use the right decoder).

[imilne]

Part of the problem is that GBPVR was (and still is) so good. So for me, it's mainly been a matter of what do I lose, rather than what do I gain by moving to NPVR.

- NPVR didn't have the System screen (so I wrote the System plugin)
- NPVR doesn't support genres and therefore colour coding in the guide
- NPVR can't do inset video in the menus
- NPVR didn't support sub menus (so I wrote the SubMenu plugin)
- NPVR doesn't like non-broadcasting channels (which I've hacked around with TimeSharer)

Now, some of you might look at that list and say there's nothing really important there, but I've tried to (almost) avoid listing anything related to actual Live TV/video playback, because - recording service issues aside (and I haven't had a chance to run NPVR for long enough to know if *I'll* have issues) - I reckon video playback is pretty much the same between GBPVR and NPVR, with one major difference - NPVR is significantly better at being a Live TV PVR. It seems to change channel slightly quicker, especially between HD channels, and its instant pause and live TV buffer is so much better than GBPVR's implementation.

However, my main reason for not using it is that old chestnut, XP vs Windows 7. NPVR just doesn't work very well in XP, so I've been using it as the excuse to finally move to 7. However, for WAF reasons, I can't change OS and PVR in one big go; it's too much of a risk. Once I can properly run them side-by-side, then I don't think it'll be *too* long before NPVR takes over.

I have every faith in sub that it's only going to get better and better. Especially if he adds genre support back in

[BigMoose]

I was scared of the wife and missed recordings

That was the one thing holding me back from switching!! but haven't missed anything vital since I have. Actually, I say that, but it doesn't handle the HVR-4000 very well and when it's using DVB-S and a DVB-T recording starts it screws up which I dont think GBPVR did, but that's one for the support forum I guess.

[roy]

4. There IS a now/next in npvr.

Where?

[HarryH3]

I install NPVR and play with it (during non-critical GBPVR hours, of course!) when a new version comes out. But since we're still in the analog age here, complete with 4 MVP's and 3 analog tuners, GBPVR works great for us. I rarely watch TV, but the wife and kids love GBPVR so I'm hesitant to change it.

From my side of things, as the "system manager", I really love the additional control and insight I get into what GBPVR is doing, has scheduled, etc. via the SlimmGBPVR addon and the MVPTrayIcon.dll. Since our PVR system is a headless server that is not connected directly (via video card) to a TV, those tools and UltraVNC make my life much easier.