History of GBPVR?

[bdgbill]

I'm coming up on my one year anniversary of installing GBPVR. Since the day I installed it myself or my girlfriend have used GBPVR every day with very few problems. This is on an old computer which sat under my bed for a year without being touched and which probably would have been thrown out eventually.

I have to say that with the possible exception of Microsoft MapPoint (which I use for work) I cannot think of another piece of software which I have been more satisfied with or which has made such a big change in my day to day life.

I'm curious about a few things.....

SUB seems to devote a huge amount of time to developing and supporting GBPVR.....Is this his job? The donations link at the top of the website is very discrete and I have never seen a request for donations (I am overdue to make another).

How old is GBPVR? I have seen posts in the forums from early 2004 but not much before that.

What was the motivation for developing GBPVR in the first place?

Is Sub actively trying to sell GBPVR? I'm surprised if Hauppauge hasn't made an offer since the software that comes with their products is pathetic.

I have no good reason to ask these questions, Im just curious.

I am just blown away that such a solid piece of software is still completely free. The support I get here is far better than what I get from companies whose products I have paid hundreds of dollars for.

[colin]

To learn more about GBPVR's origin you should search the forums over at shspvr.com from around September to November 2004. I think that was about the time I first heard Sub mention his desire to develop a PVR application in C#.

Cheers,

[sub]

okay, here is where it all began...

I bought myself a PVR350 when I was on holiday in europe early in 2003. I'd read about them previously, but at the time they were selling for about NZ$780 (about US$500) in New Zealand - ouch! I bought one in Amsterdam for great price - I cant remember exactly but I think it was about NZ$300. Well under half.

We dont have anything like Tivo here in New Zealand, but I wanted something like it for recording TV, ideally with a tv guide. I initially setup a HTPC using one of the mini-itx VIA EPIA boards, and tried using the Hauppauge WinTV software, but quickly decided it was crappy.

Next I tried SageTV. It supported my PVR350's TV out (without OSD at that time), so sounded pretty promising, but I had all sorts of problems with - the old interface was butt ugly, it used to cause my PVR350 and machine to blue screen and lockup, and it didnt really cope with the different channel lineups on different inputs that I needed. I also tried MythTV around the same time, but after weeks of wasting time with that, I decided SageTV was a better option.

I persisted with SageTV for about six months, but was never really able to get the machine into a state where I could really start relying on it. I was one of the more vocal Sage users, pressing them to fix bugs and getting OSD support added for the PVR350 tv out. Around October 2003 they asked me to participate in a closed beta for SageTV v2, and was initially excited about it. Unfortunately it would have required me to sign an non-disclosure agreement which had some pretty stiff terms, including agreeing to not develop any tv software in the future. I was developer and was already thinking about maybe writing something - this gave me the final push. It was either give up these ideas and continue to use SageTV, or back myself to to develop something better.

After a couple of months of coding furiously in home office, I had a first release of GB-PVR. I posted a message on the shs forums asking for Hauppauge card owners that would like to give my secret project a test run. There wasnt much interest, but I did manage to get a few users willing to give it a try (Colin, AndyC, and some others).

These guys gave me good feedback, and I was giving them weekly releases. In early 2004, I posted a few screenshots on the shs website, and opened it up to the general public. It was pretty primitive, but had some great things going for it, like being first application to support the PVR350 tv out with full OSD, and the first application to support the MediaMVP.

The rest is history...

[sub]

Its funny though, at the time, one of my main motivations was the bugs I was seeing in apps like SageTV, and thinking I'll be able to do better. Looking back, I now know why a lot of these specific bugs werent fixed, and just how hard this stuff is in general. I now respect these guys for the great job they've done.

I know where the bugs are in GB-PVR, and where it's shortcomings are, but the required available time, my knowledge, or vendor support is not always available to address these. I slowly chip away at these each release. Its generally a pretty good app, and pretty proud of it.

[bgowland]

Maybe there should be a transcript of this on the wiki. ?

Cheers,
Brian

[Fatman_do]

Its generally a pretty good app...

Nomination for the International Understament of the Year Award.

Any seconds?

[bdgbill]

Thanks Sub!

I think it's great you took the same path to developing GBPVR as many people now take to using it.

I spent weeks trying to get Myth TV to work (had to learn Linux at the same time) until someone in the Myth forums suggested GBPVR to me. About an hour after first viewing the GBPVR site I was up and running.

I sometimes go on the road for 2 to 6 weeks at a time during which my girlfriend uses GBPVR daily. I have never had a problem that a quick reboot has not fixed and there have been few of those.

Since I have limited time available to watch tv it has been very nice to be able to watch the shows I want to watch and not be stuck with whatever is on at the moment. GBPVR is freedom from bad tv.

Thanks again Sub for all your hard work.

[gEd]

I have been wanting to hear this story for ages - thanks Sub!

I started out playing (briefly) with MyHTPC with GoTV/GoTV-PVR. IIRC, the author of GoTV had a big fall out when MyHTPC decided to go commercial with Medieo.

As a result (I really can't remember any more) I must have googled for PVR and stumbled upon gbpvr somehow.

For ages afterwards, I thought that Sub was the author of GoTV.

You're right bdgbill, gbpvr is rock solid and rich in features and this is the best support forum that I have ever spent any time on - friendly, knowledgable and totally focused on making gbpvr the best pvr solution on the planet.

To the best of my knowledge, Sub has only ever once "shaken the tin" (and that was a very long time ago). It is up to all of us to reflect on the contribution that gbpvr has made to our lives and to donate according to our conscience and our means.

[groover km]

I agree with all that is said above, and it is interesting to read how it started; I've often wondered why Hauppauge went the SageTV route (espesh the MVP rebadge thing) and didn't offer you wads of cash for GBPVR - it knocks the Hauppauge offerings out the park.

I check this forum every day and have always found it interesting, helpful, and friendly.

Can't say enough good things about sub, gbpvr, the forum, the guys here...

(I'm filling up now...)

[lonegeek]

Yep...it seems about 50 percent of the users first attempted at mythtv, like myself...

MythTV is a myth....

GBPVR is real! (notice a real name , the gb...)

I know..my analogy needs work...ill be back with a better one later(like tommorow)