Why XBMC with NPVR?

[jksmurf]

I looked in the XBMC forum, but couldn't see a really satisfactory answer, but I'm curious.

I can see XBMC usefulness as a standalone system with HTPC.

... but, apart from being able to run XBMC, presumably as a client, on a host of non-windows devices, whereas NPVR is Windows-only based I'm curious as to

Why XBMC with NPVR at all?

You still need Windows as the NPVR Server right? So you can't get away from that.

What drives you folks to want to use it?

k.

[ACTCMS]

Bling, Bells and Whistles...

The availability on a range of extenders is of interest to me for the future, however I'm still delighted with the excellent mvpmcx2 running on my three A1x0s and have no plans to move to anything else, but some day the A1x0s will die and I wont be able to get replacements...

Alex

[ga_mueller]

Amazon Video, Youtube, Pandora, EPSN Sports, and a lot more, none of which are available on npvr (maybe Youtube is)

[smajor]

Their Hulu plugin works reasonably well too.

I can use Apple's Airplay to steam a playlist from my iOS device to any target XBMC install, so for example I don't need a copy of my music on host machines or a network share.

For my large library of DVDs that I ripped to media files (movies and TV shows) its metadata scrapers are really good at automatically organizing things.

Native NPVR still rules for that which it was designed, PVR functions.

[Sykor]

After being thrilled with the experience (after setting up an old P4 as media extender in my bedroom running a minimal linux install with XBMC), I tried the Windows build of XBMC on my main-htpc/server. Quite frankly, the looks are there, but I stumbled on too many glitches (for starters, video playback freezing and having to kill it via task manager to exit) to even bother. Mainly because NPVR just works. During the last 4/5 years the only major issues I had were generally EBCAK (er... in this case sofa and tv).

The only "major" feature XBMC has that I would REALLY like to see implemented in NPVR, is the "new files added" in videos. But having made a home-made LCD display for my htpc, I just use sickbeard's ability to run a batch, to output the name of the file to a txt file, and display it on the LCD.

[reven]

personally I have a windows server (running windows 8 though, might change this to windows server 2008 r2 one day) in my garage cabinet. i have many xbmc clients around the house (3x pis atm, waiting on ouya to arrive). so I wanted a windows pvr app to server as my backend, and always loved gbpvr and subs a great developer who listens to community and does add stuff if asked (and he agrees with it).

i found projects like mediaportal less willing to add stuff. for the record/argus tv is good too, I was using that until the npvr xbmc addon was released. i find npvr easier to setup.

i have also used tvheadend when I has a ubuntu server, and ive tried myth out a few times (I gave up on myth as it was harder to get working with smartcards, tvheadend was the easiest out of all the pvrs I tried when it came to smartcards).

[Goff]

XBMC has been an excellent low cost, feature rich solution to access all of my media on my home network and the internet (locally stored movies, music, YouTube, Pandora, Apple AirPlay to name a few). The last ESSENTIAL plugin for me is the NPVR add-on for live and recorded TV. One device gets me my access to EVERYTHING with an identical interface on my other XBMC extenders. I don't mind having the Windows machine be the back-end NPVR server, as long as it communicates properly with my XBMC devices so I can watch TV. Needless to say, without a working XBMC add-on, I'd have to find another PVR solution other than NPVR and I don't want that, I'm a big fan of NPVR.

[steeb]

As one of the biggest fans of GB-PVR and then NextPVR I would have to see all these previous posts and agree. It is really down to the individual use required as to what system may work best.


From my humble experience with a system that works through the house with an interface that works for all xbmc is looking really good. And could be a viable replacement for SageTV.


NextPVR does exactly what it says on the tin. It is the BEST Windows based PVR out there. xbmc gives the bell's and whistles. The integration is not great yet between the 2 but getting there. Whether it be via a pi or some other extender this is looking really close.


The question really comes back to whether you are really after just a solid PVR with some great plugins or something bigger to feed the whole house.


I have no dis-respect here for the plugin authors for NextPVR, you rock!


There are still some issues with the NextPVR add-on for xbmc, I believe, but these are to do with how xbmc handles the add-on, not with NextPVR!?


cheers


steeb

[canadianeh]

Just to expand upon this thread, I'd like to ask what I will essentially be "losing" when switching from MediaPortal's TV Server and clients, over to NextPVR as a back-end + XBMC as the client application? It looks like the basics are there:
- TV streaming from NextPVR
- Pause/rewind live TV (timeshifting)
- TV Guide integration
- FM Radio integration (via Happauge HVR-2250) - (currently works in my test integration with mediaportal and XBMC, looks like the functionality is there for NPVR)

Can I schedule one-time recordings, and series recordings (favorites, season pass, etc) from the XBMC client? If not, is this on the horizon?

Maybe I should ask my question this way, as well: What functionality will I be losing by using XBMC as the client, versus the native NextPVR client?


Thanks!

[sub]

Can I schedule one-time recordings, and series recordings (favorites, season pass, etc) from the XBMC client? If not, is this on the horizon?

The scheduling capabilities of XBMC are currently pretty weak. You can schedule one-off recordings, but cant really schedule recurring recordings. These are limitations of the current XBMC PVR API rather than NextPVR. To schedule recurring recordings, you pretty much need to use the NextPVR UI or NEWA web interface.

I'm sure the XBMC scheduling capabilities will improve, but it's going take some time for the XBMC developers to work through it.

There is an alternative XBMC addon for NextPVR called XNEWA which provides more capabilities, including scheduling recurring recordings etc.