[jammyb]

Hey!

Dug out my old sony playTV box as saw that it can be used with your server to be a "backend"?

My server is windows 8.1, i3, 8GB ram and plenty of hard drive space.

Got 2 boxes running XBMC openELEC, so the frontend will be one of them. Only really want to try it with one at the mo.

What backend software for UK freeview TV do you recommend? I see there are plenty to choose from each with their pros and cons.

I guess I'd like to be looking at being able to record one and watch another [it has 2 tuners in?]
Good channel change?
EPG?
Series link? Or is this all frontend?

I have no idea!

Cheers

[prae5]

OpenELEC has tvheadend support included in it. If you just want to do some quick testing plugin your playtv into one of your openelec boxes.

You setup the tuners using the web interface and then you can enable livetv on all of your OE boxes.

[mayoman]

For a Windows server it's WMC, Mediaportal or Argus.

If you ever plan to add a Sky/Freesat tuner then I'd recommend Mediaportal - DJBlu's Sky-UK grabber is the only one that grabs transmitted EPG rather than relying on internet downloads (which I have found a bit hit and miss). It also keeps up with Sky's frequent channel changes without input from you.
WMC is the easiest setup, but for Win8 you need to get the extra (pro?) pack that includes Windows Media Center. Also, with WMC it's one tuner per channel only and not so customisable. For Mediaportal (and I think Argus) its one tuner per transponder so that would mean a twin tuner gives you (within reason) many more simultaneous clients/streams.
I haven't tried Argus (I'm in Ireland and use Freesat for UK TV so DJBlu is keeping me with Mediaportal). But from what I have read Argus is the most robust system once you have gotten over the pain of setup.
I don't believe a proper series link exists - I stand to be corrected You can schedule repeat recordings by time though.

Good channel change doesn't exist in XBMC Margro's customised version does help though. There are some concerns that it's less stable than stock XBMC, but I haven't found it any worse (both crash on me from time to time).

EPG visual is very skin related - I'd try Arctic, Xperience1080++, Xperience1080 in that order. Though even then XBMC PVR frontend comes a poor second to Mediaportal IMO.



Edit: Should add that the Mediabrowser3 integration is another potential plus for WMC

Edit2: Corrected post per below.

[prae5]

I think Freeview is still just transmitting on two transponders, so that would mean a twin tuner gives you (within reason) unlimited simultaneous clients/streams.

Thats incorrect - there are 6 freeview mux's in the UK, although the bulk of main channels are in 4 of them.

I don't believe a proper series link exists - I stand to be corrected You can schedule repeat recordings by time though.

I only use tvheadend so can't comment on others - series link from within XBMC is still a work in progress. However, you can do it from the tvheadend web interface / mobile apps.

Good channel change doesn't exist in XBMC Margro's customised version does help though. There are some concerns that it's less stable than stock XBMC, but I haven't found it any worse (both crash on me from time to time).

I only use tvheadend and channel change is that is great - its one of its biggest selling points. If anything its faster than some of the standard dvb-t / dvb-s setops i test against.

EPG visual is very skin related - I'd try Arctic, Xperience1080++, Xperience1080 in that order. Though even then XBMC PVR frontend comes a poor second to Mediaportal IMO.

Agree, skin support for PVR is still not as great as it could be. That being said, its better than some of the cheaper setop's. I've dropped Sky, my freesat box and freeview boxes and everything is pushed through xbmc now.

[jammyb]

Cheers guys! Plenty to chew on! I have the WMC pro add-on for windows 8

Think I'll give WMC a go first then the others suggested in this thread.

I'll report back!

Cheers

[produno]

Ive been trying to create a good EPG skin.

links here : http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=178054

I wanted one similar to sky uk, which is what i jused to use. Its still a wip but your limited to what you can achieve with just skinning unfortunately. Lemme know what you think.

[krustyreturns]

links here : http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=178054

I really like it (and I've never seen sky). I like the current time shading effect that's used on gotham/confluence can you do that with this skin?

[produno]

Yeah its already been added. I should really stop being lazy and update the screenshot to my latest version heh. Ill do that tomorrow to show the time bar and shading plus the other changes i made.

[krustyreturns]

looking forward to it.