New HTPC usage - NPVR, or XMBC with NPVR?

[ttfitz]

I've been a long time user of NPVR (and gbpvr before that), but only for recording shows with a variety of tuners (first just clear-qam, now both clear-qam and cablecard). I've never used the program for live television viewing or watching the recordings. The tuners have always been attached to my computer in the office, and recordings were watched via DLNA server (tversity) to my PS3 in the family room.

But now, I'm looking to move to a full HTPC computer in the family room, complete with it's own tuners (DCR-2650), with the idea being to get rid of the cable company DVR. So, I've been considering what sort of system I want to be running for the full television experience, and see what NPVR has to offer there. I've noticed some traffic here lately about a new integration into XBMC, and since I've heard good things about XBMC, I thought I'd give that a look. I've tried it out a bit with my current machine, and while there is much to like with what I've seen of XBMC, the integration of NPVR is a little sketchy in places at the moment. I'm sure it will get better, but I'm looking at now.

So, I guess I'm looking for some thoughts from those who use NPVR in a more complete fashion, and hopefully from some who might have experience with both. For example, what sort of thing can I get done with XBMC that I can't in just NPVR?

My expected use for the HTPC:

1) Live TV, including timeshifting
2) Recorded shows and playback
3) Other video playback (movies, TV shows recorded on my other computer, etc)
4) Occasional streamed internet video, particularly from ESPN3.com and Comedy Central (Daily Show extended interviews)

Other things I don't do at present, but might want to do later:

1) Other streaming video (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu)

So, any thoughts? Advice? Cookie recipes?

Thanks in advance.

[Graham]

Did you see this ...

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...er-nextpvr

[vogelap]

I recommend NPVR with XBMC as the front-end for the *full* experience. NPVR is outstanding as a PVR. XBMC is outstanding as a front-end.

Might as well leverage the strengths of each!

[stustunz]

You could run xbmc as a external task with a link back to npvr(with the right skins loaded they dont look to different)
I had this for a while but dropped xbmc as i found i didnt really use the extra stuff
Because you want hulu etc you would probably use xbmc for those things
But Npvr i find is better for setting up recordings way nicer tvguide (simple easy to see) and i just like the simple way it works and comskip shows up nice and clear

read this thread if you haven't already
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...er-nextpvr

[ttfitz]

Did you see this ...

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...er-nextpvr

Ah, no, I didn't. I looked around a bit in the XBMC forum, but didn't think to look in General Discussion (where this thread was moved, I see).

Thanks, that did cover a lot of what I was wondering about.

[mvallevand]

From your list if live TV timeshifting and playing captured recordings are 1 and 2, I think NextPVR is a better choice. Timeshifting features in NextPVR are not as good as GBPVR had was or you might find on other PVR's but it is still better than using XBMC.

Martin

[ga_mueller]

You could run xbmc as a external task with a link back to npvr(with the right skins loaded they dont look to different)

+1 this is what I do using xbmc reskinned and is a nice setup as both xbmc and npvr look identical

[ttfitz]

+1 this is what I do using xbmc reskinned and is a nice setup as both xbmc and npvr look identical

Yeah, I saw this message - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post440488 - with a picture of your setup, and it looks like what I would like to do. Do you set a custom item on your main menu that calls XBMC?

[sub]

Timeshifting features in NextPVR are not as good as GBPVR had was...

It depends who you ask.
- NextPVR has quick channel changes, where as GBPVR took a few seconds longer to change channels with timeshift mode enabled. It was so slow that timeshift was disabled by default, requiring TV to be stopped and restarted when you pushed the 'pause' button (to allow transition from 'live preview' to timeshift).
- GBPVR did not have the ability skip back beyond the currently airing show (based on the EPG), which was pain if you wanted to just skip back a minute or so to take another look at the end of a show that you just watched.
- NextPVR uses TV tuners in an entirely different way, allowing live tv and recordings to share the same digital tuner at the same time.

[ga_mueller]

Do you set a custom item on your main menu that calls XBMC?

Yes. Both xbmc and npvr are running at the same time and a remote key is programmed to alt-tab between them. Since that photo I've ditched the xbmc-specific skins and set up xbmc and npvr so that they look the same.