Hello all,
I recently picked up an ATI TV Wonder HD650 TV tuner card. As per the recommendations I read on every site and forum, I ignored the software CD, downloaded the latest drivers from the ATI site, and am ignoring their buggy pvr software. (I'm going to install the card once I post here and log out).
Anyways, I've been looking into PVR's for awhile, and came across 3 freeware ones that catch my eye: MediaPortal, GB-PVR, and MeediOS. Each seemed to seem to have benefits and weaknesses, so I'd like some opinions on which people prefer and why. MythTV is not an option, as I don't run Linux.
As for what I'm doing, I'm pulling in ATSC over the air HD signals. I'm like the record the Rose Bowl in HD, so I'm trying to get this set up in the next few days so I can test it out.
MY System
My system is a little old, but it's not bad by any means. It's a 2.4GHz Intel Core2 Qaud with 12 MB L2 Cache, 2 GB Ram, a 600GB HDD and a 2TB HDD, a Zotac Geforce 8800GT graphics card (with HDCP support,running to a HD monitor, though it shouldn't matter for this). I'm still running XP 32 Bit. I could up the ram and throw Windows 7 64 bit on here, but I don't feel the need, so I've stuck with XP.
Looking into the 3 above programs, as I mentioned, I've seen pluses and minuses for each, and I'm not sure which to install and try.
MediaPortal
As for MediaPortal, it seemed to have the most EPG options, with around 5 or so if memory served me right. The WebEPG plugin that they recommend using caught my eye, as it seems to be less picky and easier to get up and running, use and navigate than XMLTV, which I know has issues with channel names matching up, etc.
On the downside to MediaPortal, I've heard it's a resource hog, slows computers down and takes forever to load. I'm not sure how my of an issue this really will be with my system. Does anyone have any thoughts?
GB-PVR
As far as GB-PVR, it looked nice, and everything I read said it was more lightweight compared to MediaPortal, and it didn't hang up the computers and loaded fast. Again, I couldn't find out the systems they were running, so I have no idea this is a Moot point or not with mine, in comparison to how MediaPortal would run. It seemed like a nice program, and the fact it uses less resources appealed to me.
However, it has only 2 real EPG options listed. The aforementioned XMLTV, and a pay one (even though it doesn't cost a lot) I have no interest in using. I'm sure I can configure and get XMLTV set up, but it just doesn't sound as appealing as the WebEPG option in MediaPortal. However, I do like the sound of this Media Center using less resources.
Also, I read something that struck me as odd. I read that you can't watch the tv program while you are recording it. That struck me as odd, since you'd think you'd be able to watch the tv program as it was being recorded by the media center program. Can anyone verify this?
Also, I was unable to find out if this was a limitation in mediaportal or not. Any thoughts?
MeediOS
Last is MeediOS. Although I know it's still in the test phases (they still list it as Alpha). They do seem to be working towards a good stable release. I've seen it mentioned in here a few times when searching, so I looked into it. I really don't mind using something like this, if this is the program people prefer.
Does anyone have any thoughts, on which of these they like or prefer0 Strengths and Weaknesses I missed? I want to stay away from pay stuff like beyondtv and sagetv, as it's not worth it to me to buy them.
Thanks for the thoughts
