GBPVR vs Media Portal vs Mythtv

[rheslip]

Sub

Please don't take my comments too seriously.

You are are doing a fantastic job and have created an amazing app. You've obviously put a huge amount of time into it and continue to give incredible support. I made a donation, if that says anything.

I just seem to hit a run of issues on my system that made the last couple of releases pretty frustrating to use. I spent all day working on it and it seems to be pretty stable on .9109. It locks up if I cancel a recording in progress but I can live with that.

I was venting, sorry...

Rich

[glassvial]

I spent (read: wasted) about 3 weeks trying to get linux and MythTV up and running. I went into IRC for help, and that's when I found out what complete and utter a-holes the mythtv devs are. I dumped it and linux that very minute, had a windows box and GB-PVR up in a day. I've tried other windows-based PVR packages, but what I've tried so far has really sucked. GB-PVR has come a *long* way since I first started using it, and while not perfect it's the best fit for my needs. And yes, I've donated as well as should anyone who uses it and likes it. It's worth it.

[jivebiscuit]

GBPVR is excellent and stable! My installation is stable and up and running. Very little CPU utilization (unlike MediaPortal) and lots of extras. The only time that I see high utilization is during EPG updates. The web interface is excellent, and I'm very thankful for the software. (Only wish that there was support for HDTV cards "Ads Tech HDTV". I have a SageTV4.1 installation going on upstairs as well, but my primary box is GBPVR. SageTV works well, but doesn't have all the bells and whistles that GBPVR has, ie NetRadio, FM Radio, DVD Ripper, etc... SageTV however gets EPG data quickly, and 'does' support HDTV at this time. I'm going to try the ADS Tech HDTV card in my SageTV box upstairs, but my GBPVR installation will remain primary, and I'm sure that my ADS Tech HDTV card will eventually find it's way into my GBPVR box, when GBPVR begins to support the card. I'm making a donation to the project today!!!!

Intel Socket 478 P4 2.4ghz CPU
160gb and 300gb HDDs
1gig DDR Memory
Wireless G 54mbps
2xPVR150s
128mb NVid Video Card (S-Video Out)

[psycik]

I tried out MythTv as well, but then my limitation was I had a software based card. All in all I managed to get it going pretty well.

But I was never going to be happy with a linux solution. It was a great introduction to what was possible, and until I saw these forums I'd never met a more helpful bunch of people for solving problems.

I had a look around at some of the pay ones, Meedio, BeyondTV etc, they just didn't cut it.

Then I stumbled across GB-PVR, the one man band from Wellington with his free program, open API written in C#, I thought there's a man after my own tastes, and never looked back!!!

Now I've just added an MVP, added a Dual tuner, turned off the two video recorders, and pretty much managed to bore everybody I know stupid with tales of my "TV Computer".

[jivebiscuit]

GBPVR is excellent! My installation is stable and up and running. Very little CPU utilization (unlike MediaPortal) and lots of extras. The only time that I see high utilization is during EPG updates. The web interface is excellent, and I'm very thankful for the software. (Only wish that there was support for HDTV cards "Ads Tech HDTV". I have a SageTV4.1 installation going on upstairs as well, but my primary box is GBPVR. SageTV works well, but doesn't have all the bells and whistles that GBPVR has, ie NetRadio, FM Radio, DVD Ripper, etc... SageTV however gets EPG data quickly, and 'does' support HDTV at this time. I'm going to try the ADS Tech HDTV card in my SageTV box upstairs, but my GBPVR installation will remain primary, and I'm sure that my ADS Tech HDTV card will eventually find it's way into my GBPVR box, when GBPVR begins to support the card. I'm making a donation to the project today!!!!

Intel Socket 478 P4 2.4ghz CPU
160gb and 300gb HDDs
1gig DDR Memory
Wireless G 54mbps
2xPVR150s
128mb NVid Video Card (S-Video Out)

(Donation complete!)Oh yeah, with SageTV4.1, there is no option to stop timeshifting, timeshifting is constant, so this is another plus to GBPVR, as timeshifting is an option. I also tried a KnoppMyth installation. Didn't work very well for me....

[sub]

Only wish that there was support for HDTV cards "Ads Tech HDTV". I have a SageTV4.1 installation going on upstairs as well, but my primary box is GBPVR. SageTV works well, but doesn't have all the bells and whistles that GBPVR has, ie NetRadio, FM Radio, DVD Ripper, etc... SageTV however gets EPG data quickly, and 'does' support HDTV at this time. I'm going to try the ADS Tech HDTV card in my SageTV box upstairs, but my GBPVR installation will remain primary, and I'm sure that my ADS Tech HDTV card will eventually find it's way into my GBPVR box, when GBPVR begins to support the card. I'm making a donation to the project today!!!!

Assuming that ADS Tech HDTV device has BDA drivers, you can probably already get it working with GB-PVR. You'll probably need to add a section to the BDA.ini file with the appropriate names for your device though, but thats pretty easy.

[daphatty]

MythTV
- Don't know how to use linux effectively so I never went down this path.

Media Portal
Pros
- Beautiful UI
- Tons of plug-ins
- Open Source

Cons
- EPG configuration is still frustrating.
- SLOW UI performance
- Not very stable
- Open Source (too many hands in the pot.)

GB-PVR
Pros
- HIGH WAF (I've lost track of all the GBPVR "upgrades" I've been able to purchase because of WAF)
- Simple configuration (Mostly)
- Stable (sans plugins)
- One man show (K.I.S.S.)
- Top notch tech support (more than one could expect from one man who does it for free)

Cons
- One man show (Scope of work limited to what sub can reasonably accomplish)
- Single A/V decoders for all devices (that's just my issue really)
- Device support within GBPVR limited to devices directly available (corresponds to one man show)


On a whole, I'd say GBPVR is the better "free" app when comparing cost and performance. Throw in the high WAF factor and you have a "product" (for lack of a better term) that soars above the competition. I don't think I was ever able to get the wife to appreciate MediaPortal.

[jivebiscuit]

So, have there been any users of GBPVR that have used the ADS Tech HDTV card with GBPVR that you know of? I guess trying it won't hurt. I wish that there was confirmed usage of the card available to assure that I'm not wasting time doing the install. SageTV4.1 verifies support of the ADS Tech HDTV card...but like I said, I prefer GBPVR.

[Cyb]

Has anyone mentioned the seamless integration of MVPs yet ? Thats what made my decision easy, replacing a PC with a small box the size of a couple of cigarettes packets and then adding more of them, all supported from a central server.

Also after reading and searching the forums before I originally downloaded and installed GB-PVR I was amazed by the support Sub does (and the helpful community in general), and also pleasantly surprised that there didn't seem to be any obnoxious comments or trolls that seem to inhabit virtually every net community with more than 3 people.

Cons . . . the additional expense & time, 3 MVPs, new aerial & amp and replacing all the co-ax with decent stuff for digital reception, wiring some of the house with cat5, new wireless access point, new wireless adsl router as I was using my original access point as a bridge, and soon a PC upgrade as my old XP2200 can barely cope now

[sub]

So, have there been any users of GBPVR that have used the ADS Tech HDTV card with GBPVR that you know of? I guess trying it won't hurt. I wish that there was confirmed usage of the card available to assure that I'm not wasting time doing the install. SageTV4.1 verifies support of the ADS Tech HDTV card...but like I said, I prefer GBPVR.

No, not that I know of, but that is pretty much how all the cards started out. I've implemented support for the small set of devices I have access to, then other users have contributed the settings they applied to either BDA.ini or direct.ini.

I'm pretty sure it'd work.