2015-05-29, 08:20
Hey guys. I'm currently looking for a new media center application for my HTPC to take over for W7MC and I'm looking for recommendations of tools, plugins, etc that I might need or want to function more or less like the setup I currently have as well as the desired features I am looking for as I tune up my HTPC and start building a second one.
A brief history of how I got to where I am starts with TiVo Series 2. Not too expensive and convenient to use while allowing transfers of recordings to other devices, but only recorded in standard definition. TiVo did make some HD DVRs at the time, but the channel package I wanted and still want I can only get through DirecTV here in the US and the only TiVo HD DVR that works with DirecTV does not allow recording transfers apparently for legal reasons. I decided to build my own DVR given my knowledge of Windows-based systems and the availability of Hauppauge's Colossus and used the opportunity to not only integrate Bluray into this HTPC to condense the TiVo and Bluray player I had into a single device, but also upgrade to 3D Bluray, which I did with PowerDVD Ultra so that it plugs into W7MC, as well as the ability to burn TV recordings should I ever see the need to. Over time I've also added other features that I've come to take for granted, mainly the Keyspan ER-V2 RF remote for WMC to eliminate line-of-sight issues and STB blasting via USB-Serial cables with the help of GBDVR's DirecTV channel control tool.
http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...nelControl
While this has been working great for me, one issue I've been running into more and more frequently is that, as a college hockey fan, a lot more of the games I want to watch and often record are being relegated to the subchannels as those are getting to be more common. These channels are not added to the guide during the setup and since WMC was conceived before subchannels were much of a thing, very few circumstances have support for subchannels and sadly as WMC becomes more and more of an afterthought, no real ability to add them is expected from Microsoft, especially since the "Add Missing Channels" feature is only shown for tuning cards/devices, not PVR cards/devices like the Colossus. This presents an issue if I'm not home when the games are on and although I could set the STB's autotune feature, it gets tedious after a couple of dozen times. I have found a way around this using something called GuideEditor developed by WMC enthusiasts, but it involves adding 668-2 as, say, 6682, then writing a tiny app that intercepts that channel number and reparses it back to 668-2 before it is sent to the STB. I can do that and I am actually almost finished, but the clearly decreasing support for WMC makes me want to look elsewhere as I start working on my second HTPC.
In researching Kodi as a candidate to replace W7MC, I have noticed that a lot of the discussions about Bluray playback are about ripping and playing them as either mounted ISOs or video files like MKVs, but I actually prefer to leave more space for TV recordings and therefore would rather play them from the Bluray discs themselves. I know there are options for Bluray playback from the actual media, but I haven't found much as far as support for 3D Bluray playback from the discs. If I were to make the jump to Kodi, would any of you recommend any particular 3d Bluray software that integrates into it much like PowerDVD does in WMC? Reusing PowerDVD would be nice and I am willing to spend some money if I can't and no freeware equivalent is currently available.
How about subchannel support? I see NextPVR (GBDVR) now has that support for American users, but I'm curious what people think of it and other solutions out there.
Is there support for the RF remote and USB-Serial blasting? I'm guessing there is, but since I'm already asking questions, might as well throw that in there to be absolutely certain.
I'm not really into gaming and honestly have neither the time nor patience to invest that much into it with my professional obligations, so while it would be nice to leave things open for that, it isn't necessary to do when I don't see that in my future. TV with high number subchannels, PVR, and 3D Bluray support is what I am focused on right now.
Also if anything I am looking for isn't immediately available, but expected soon, please feel free to still bring it up. I can manage on W7MC for the time being since the hole I am trying to plug is not urgent, but at some point I will need to leave WMC behind and it would be good to know that feature X, Y, or Z is coming as Kodi continues to mature.
So what do you guys think?
A brief history of how I got to where I am starts with TiVo Series 2. Not too expensive and convenient to use while allowing transfers of recordings to other devices, but only recorded in standard definition. TiVo did make some HD DVRs at the time, but the channel package I wanted and still want I can only get through DirecTV here in the US and the only TiVo HD DVR that works with DirecTV does not allow recording transfers apparently for legal reasons. I decided to build my own DVR given my knowledge of Windows-based systems and the availability of Hauppauge's Colossus and used the opportunity to not only integrate Bluray into this HTPC to condense the TiVo and Bluray player I had into a single device, but also upgrade to 3D Bluray, which I did with PowerDVD Ultra so that it plugs into W7MC, as well as the ability to burn TV recordings should I ever see the need to. Over time I've also added other features that I've come to take for granted, mainly the Keyspan ER-V2 RF remote for WMC to eliminate line-of-sight issues and STB blasting via USB-Serial cables with the help of GBDVR's DirecTV channel control tool.
http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...nelControl
While this has been working great for me, one issue I've been running into more and more frequently is that, as a college hockey fan, a lot more of the games I want to watch and often record are being relegated to the subchannels as those are getting to be more common. These channels are not added to the guide during the setup and since WMC was conceived before subchannels were much of a thing, very few circumstances have support for subchannels and sadly as WMC becomes more and more of an afterthought, no real ability to add them is expected from Microsoft, especially since the "Add Missing Channels" feature is only shown for tuning cards/devices, not PVR cards/devices like the Colossus. This presents an issue if I'm not home when the games are on and although I could set the STB's autotune feature, it gets tedious after a couple of dozen times. I have found a way around this using something called GuideEditor developed by WMC enthusiasts, but it involves adding 668-2 as, say, 6682, then writing a tiny app that intercepts that channel number and reparses it back to 668-2 before it is sent to the STB. I can do that and I am actually almost finished, but the clearly decreasing support for WMC makes me want to look elsewhere as I start working on my second HTPC.
In researching Kodi as a candidate to replace W7MC, I have noticed that a lot of the discussions about Bluray playback are about ripping and playing them as either mounted ISOs or video files like MKVs, but I actually prefer to leave more space for TV recordings and therefore would rather play them from the Bluray discs themselves. I know there are options for Bluray playback from the actual media, but I haven't found much as far as support for 3D Bluray playback from the discs. If I were to make the jump to Kodi, would any of you recommend any particular 3d Bluray software that integrates into it much like PowerDVD does in WMC? Reusing PowerDVD would be nice and I am willing to spend some money if I can't and no freeware equivalent is currently available.
How about subchannel support? I see NextPVR (GBDVR) now has that support for American users, but I'm curious what people think of it and other solutions out there.
Is there support for the RF remote and USB-Serial blasting? I'm guessing there is, but since I'm already asking questions, might as well throw that in there to be absolutely certain.
I'm not really into gaming and honestly have neither the time nor patience to invest that much into it with my professional obligations, so while it would be nice to leave things open for that, it isn't necessary to do when I don't see that in my future. TV with high number subchannels, PVR, and 3D Bluray support is what I am focused on right now.
Also if anything I am looking for isn't immediately available, but expected soon, please feel free to still bring it up. I can manage on W7MC for the time being since the hole I am trying to plug is not urgent, but at some point I will need to leave WMC behind and it would be good to know that feature X, Y, or Z is coming as Kodi continues to mature.
So what do you guys think?
