nPVR's claim to fame

[am2pgs]

Don't get me wrong please. I appreciate all the hard work put in by everybody involved in this project. But as basic user, I am trying to make a decision as to what to do and I think I need a more informed view.

The reason I ask is because I am starting to ask myself why did I move away from Mediaportal a few weeks ago. I am not that familiar with techical details, but from a basic user perspective this is all I can think of at the moment. Please let me know what am I missing.

MediaPortal Pros:
Seemed to be much more refined (not that I care much about looks)
More functionality
Flawless navigation

MediaPortal cons:
MediaPortal used to crash once in a while (for example once a week).
Channel changing wasn't very responsive


After a few weeks of using nPVR this is what I think about nPVR:
nPVR Pros:
Love the channel changing responsiveness
Love the timeshifting method
Robust (or is it?)
What else ?

nPVR Cons:
Crashes everyday, at least for me
Skipping is not usable, at least for me
Subtitle(DVB) is not usable on recordings/when timeshifting - it is ahead by about a minute



Or are there any other PVR options out there?
All I personally need in a PVR is basic functionality, responsivness and Robustness.

[pcostanza]

Having on toyed with MediaPortal more than a year ago, I am not able to discuss it much but to me, while NPVR may need some small bit of setting up, it's much easier than what I recall Mediaportal being and, so much smaller. I've got it on 2 computers with an array of tuners and it never crashes. That's not to say it's perfect but all you need to do is post your problem with logs and like magic, people come out to try and help you. I dare anyone, donateware or retail to beat sub and the many helpful users here. It simply does not exist elsewhere.

However, if both programs crash on you regularly, it may not be the software but your hardware/drivers. Update your drivers to the very latest, list your hardware and post your problem and logs and let's see if you can get you problems solved.

[BrettB]

nPVR Cons:
Crashes everyday, at least for me
Skipping is not usable, at least for me

These 2 items are definitely not typical. If you are interested in trying to resolve them, please post logs and description of hardware, client (just the same PC as the server, NMT, MVP, etc.), and the specific problem.

[sub]

I'd have to agree with BrettB - post the logs and description and I'll check it out. You definitely shouldnt be getting crashes every day.

[sub]

Skipping is not usable, at least for me

If you had bad skipping during playback of recordings, ie, sometimes didnt skip the right amount of seconds, or sometimes went the wrong direction, then you might have had the same issue as aseibert, resolved with this patch: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post419068

[mikey]

Some Pros from me:

- Easier to install.
- Light weight using less of my machine resources. Mediaportal is a pig.
- Easy to understand UI.
- Extender client support like Popcorn Hour NMT.
- Rock solid.

[Jaggy]

I haven't played with MediaPortal for years & years so I can't really comment on comparing the two programs.

MediaPortal Pros:
More functionality
Flawless navigation

I assume the bits above in your message are "better" in MediaPortal than in NextPVR & I would be interested in knowing what extra functionality it has & I really am rather intrigued with the navigation comment as NextPVR seems fairly flawless to me?

[whurlston]

MediaPortal Pros:
Seemed to be much more refined (not that I care much about looks)

Unless something has changed dramatically in the last year or so, this is definitely not the case, especially in regards to ATSC/QAM. It may have looked better but the code was a mess.

Every time a change was made to the DVB side of things, it broke ATSC and/or QAM, most notably with the HDHomeRun. I got tired of fixing things (after wading through a myriad of "workarounds" present in the code) for a program that I didn't even use. Maybe they have more North American developers involved now though.

[am2pgs]

Thanks for all the replies.
Yes I plan to post some log files with my problems as soon as I get some uninterrupted time with the setup on my own (i.e. when my wife is not watching and complaining). After all this is the least I can do to help better nPVR.

By Flawless navigation I meant skipping and not the UI.

It is encouraging to hear comments about nPVR being Rock Solid & having a Flawless skipping. I hope I can resolve my problems. But the timing issue with DVB subtitles and the skipping problems is a deal breaker for my wife.

BTW Sub, I did try the skipping patch you referred to, and it seems to help a little - at least it doesn't get completly stuck refusing to reverse beyond a point. forward skipping is pretty good now. I still have to press CTRL-left like a madman to make it go only a few minutes back, otherwise a single or a few quick presses, just makes it skip back a tad (say 2 or 3 seconds) and starts playing.

[sub]

BTW Sub, I did try the skipping patch you referred to, and it seems to help a little - at least it doesn't get completly stuck refusing to reverse beyond a point. forward skipping is pretty good now. I still have to press CTRL-left like a madman to make it go only a few minutes back, otherwise a single or a few quick presses, just makes it skip back a tad (say 2 or 3 seconds) and starts playing.

I should be able to tell the cause with the logs.