[thebearnecessit]

Hi, I'm looking into what hardware I should buy in order to watch tv on my windows XP (xbmc eden) PC.

I'm based in the uk.

Is the most popular one the HD Homerun? Are there one that go inside the PC itself (PCI ones) that are any good?

If this isn't the right place, cans omeone tell me where I can discuss the best uk hardware to work with xbmc pvr?

Much appreciated, thanks.

[charlie0440]

The first thing to do is decide how you are going to receive the channels ie satellite (DVB-S2), aerial (DVB-T) there is even cable (DVB-C), but pretty sure you can't use a virgin feed, that would be illegal.

I would then suggest you research the various PVR backend options which XBMC supports. Once you have decided on which backend you will be using, look for suitable hardware.

Yes you can get PCI, PCIe and USB TV cards. Again choose a backend first.

Couple of things to point out. XBMC eden does not support PVR out the box. You will have to find a PVR branch of eden such as openelec or pulse eight to name a few. Alternatively you can try a nightly build of XBMC frodo which now has PVR built in.

In regards to which thread to post in. I guess you are correct as this is a hardware thread, but there is also a PVR thread here which you might find useful to look through.

[thebearnecessit]

The first thing to do is decide how you are going to receive the channels ie satellite (DVB-S2), aerial (DVB-T) there is even cable (DVB-C), but pretty sure you can't use a virgin feed, that would be illegal.

I would then suggest you research the various PVR backend options which XBMC supports. Once you have decided on which backend you will be using, look for suitable hardware.

Yes you can get PCI, PCIe and USB TV cards. Again choose a backend first.

Couple of things to point out. XBMC eden does not support PVR out the box. You will have to find a PVR branch of eden such as openelec or pulse eight to name a few. Alternatively you can try a nightly build of XBMC frodo which now has PVR built in.

In regards to which thread to post in. I guess you are correct as this is a hardware thread, but there is also a PVR thread here which you might find useful to look through.

Thanks Charlie, I really appreciate you taking the time to post.

I want to use a satellite dish and I think I'll use For The Record (of the windows compatible options i read that it has the best scheduling options, but would be happy to go with Media Portal - what do people think is the best option of these two to feed xbmc?).

I have a pre-compiled version of XBMC Eden that supports PVR (Personal Video Recorder). I can't use Frodo because my graphics and sound cards can't handle it, so I'm sticking with Eden for another year or so at least.

I know recommendations are difficult for people to give but can anyone give me an idea or two about what kit they use or give me an idea of what the popular ones are.

Summary: I'm based in the uk, and want to use two cables from my satellite dish to watch tv on my XBMC Windows XP PC (via For The Record).

I just want a cheap option really because I already have an expensive Humax PVR that will likely be used to day to day viewing.

What are my options on the cheap side folks please?

[thebearnecessit]

OK, I didn't buy HD Homerun in the end. I sacrificed HD channels and the ability to have two signals and bought a Hauppauge WinTV gadget that plugs into my computers USB port and feeds me tv channels from my satellite dish.

The model I bought is the Hauppauge DVB-S USB2. It was £66 form ebay. Which is about $100.

Hauppauge = manufacturer
WinTV = range of tv gadgets for computers
DVB = Digital Video Broadcast (just means digital tv as far as i know)
S = mine is S, and not S2. which means it can only accept one cable from my dish instead of two (which meas I can't record a seperate channel whilst watching something at the same time)
USB2 = it plugs into your computer using your computers USB port.

I wanted to use XBMC so here's what I had to do:

find a copy of xbmc that works with tv (a "PVR" version)
install my hauppauge WinTV
install some software on my computer that can pickup the channels and give them to xbmc (called a "backend"). I chose "For The Record"
Configure it all - almost all of the configuration was in getting For The Record to work. There's a few steps but their installation guide is decent and takes you through it.

Summary: NextPVR backend was crashing and giving errors, MediaPortal backend needed Windows Media Player 11 which I couldn't download because I couldnt find my WindowsXP certificate number). So I tried ForTheRecord and it's working well.

It's crashed a couple times over 24 hours, takes about 7 seconds to load a channel and can't pause yet but it works, and I think the crashes may have just been teething problems because it hasnt crashed in the last 8 hours.. An amazing job by everyone involved in all this free software and getting the different software to speak to eachother.

Conclusion: For £66 from ebay the PVR box I bought works fine.

When xbmc becomes capable of pausing, rewinding etc (timeshifting), is that feature likely to be made available in Eden? Because my computer can't handle frodo?