[BigBlarg]

Hello!

I'm sure this is a common question, sorry about that. I've read a lot about it and I'm still not sure about which way to go since there are many options.

I'm looking into using Kodi (on Windows 10 HTPCs) with some PVR backend software (on a Windows 10 "home server" or in a headless Linux VM) to replace my existing power hungry HTPC running Windows 7 and WMC. Actually, I've got two HTPCs and wants my recordings to be synced on both. The tunners are two HDHomeRun Connect, connected to an antenna on my roof.

What would be the best software these days that I could just set and forget?

As of right now I'm specifically looking at NextPVR and TVheadend but I'm not quite sure which one to pick. I'm open to other suggestions if there are really better alternatives as well.

For the EPG, I planned to use Schedules Direct.

(I did consider Plex Pass and SiliconDust DVR Service but these two options are more expansive than going with a free software with paid EPG)

Thank you

[black_eagle]

TVHeadend for me, although I did used to run vdr (http://www.tvdr.de/index.htm ).  Vdr was more involved to configure, but tvh seemed to be going through a 'flakey' stage at the time whereas vdr was rock solid.  TVH is stable for me now and was easier to configure and get my EPG working properly with.

Can't comment on NextPVR as I've never used it.

[Atreyu]

Hi,

If you are going for a windows backend, NextPVR is easy to try.

Personally, i didn’t have great experiences with it (or Mediaportal, for that matter) so i choose a paid solution that proved to be very much a ‘set and forget’ solution.

You might want to try TVMosaic, it’s by Dvblogic and they have a trial period you can use to evaluate.

If you go the linux route, tvheadend is widely used, stable and very well supported.

Just install any of ‘em and see what it does for you

Let us know how it goes ..!

Regards,
Atreyu

[BigBlarg]

Does TVMosaic comes with EPG? Is it really is a one time 40€ fee?

[bry]

• TV Tuner(s)
  
• DVR Service
  

[Atreyu]

Yes and yes.
It will, by default, grab the epg from the ota signal and there are optional subscriptions to external epg grabbers.

[BigBlarg]

Thanks for your recommendations.

It took me a while but I finally got TVHeadend to work in a VM and make it record to a folder on the host and also to make it grab EPG from Schedule Direct. I already had tried NextPVR like I said.

In Kodi, here are the differences I noticed so far.
- With NextPVR, in the TV Guide I will see show artwork with the show description, but not on TVHeadend (is there any ways to make the artwork works on TVHeadend?)
- With TVHeadend, loading and switching channels is twice as fast (2-3 seconds) compared to NextPVR (6-7 seconds)
- TVMosaic is also slow when loading/changing channel. I couldn't get working EPG from it (it does NOT provide EPG, other than from OTA despite not being free). It seems that by default there's also no way to use Schedule Direct to get EPG data without a third party app. I'll skip this one.

Edit : Tried TVMosaic

[elsmandino]

Thanks for your recommendations.

It took me a while but I finally got TVHeadend to work in a VM and make it record to a folder on the host and also to make it grab EPG from Schedule Direct. I already had tried NextPVR like I said.

In Kodi, here are the differences I noticed so far.
- With NextPVR, in the TV Guide I will see show artwork with the show description, but not on TVHeadend (is there any ways to make the artwork works on TVHeadend?)
- With TVHeadend, loading and switching channels is twice as fast (2-3 seconds) compared to NextPVR (6-7 seconds)
- TVMosaic is also slow when loading/changing channel. I couldn't get working EPG from it (it does NOT provide EPG, other than from OTA despite not being free). It seems that by default there's also no way to use Schedule Direct to get EPG data without a third party app. I'll skip this one.

Edit : Tried TVMosaic

Just to let you know, there is a way to show artwork with descriptions in TVH (if you are using Schedules Direct).

I assume that you are happy with TVMosaic but if you ever change you mind, post back here.

[nakquada]

Thanks for your recommendations.

It took me a while but I finally got TVHeadend to work in a VM and make it record to a folder on the host and also to make it grab EPG from Schedule Direct. I already had tried NextPVR like I said.

In Kodi, here are the differences I noticed so far.
- With NextPVR, in the TV Guide I will see show artwork with the show description, but not on TVHeadend (is there any ways to make the artwork works on TVHeadend?)
- With TVHeadend, loading and switching channels is twice as fast (2-3 seconds) compared to NextPVR (6-7 seconds)
- TVMosaic is also slow when loading/changing channel. I couldn't get working EPG from it (it does NOT provide EPG, other than from OTA despite not being free). It seems that by default there's also no way to use Schedule Direct to get EPG data without a third party app. I'll skip this one.

Edit : Tried TVMosaic

Just to let you know, there is a way to show artwork with descriptions in TVH (if you are using Schedules Direct).

I assume that you are happy with TVMosaic but if you ever change you mind, post back here. 

Sorry to hijack this months later, but how does one go about getting artwork to work with SD and TVHeadend.
My TVHeadend server has been great and works fantastic, and my listings work from SD with no issues. But I cannot get any artworks to show in TVHE or via TVHE Client in Kodi.
I'd really love to find out how to do it!

[elsmandino]

Thanks for your recommendations.

It took me a while but I finally got TVHeadend to work in a VM and make it record to a folder on the host and also to make it grab EPG from Schedule Direct. I already had tried NextPVR like I said.

In Kodi, here are the differences I noticed so far.
- With NextPVR, in the TV Guide I will see show artwork with the show description, but not on TVHeadend (is there any ways to make the artwork works on TVHeadend?)
- With TVHeadend, loading and switching channels is twice as fast (2-3 seconds) compared to NextPVR (6-7 seconds)
- TVMosaic is also slow when loading/changing channel. I couldn't get working EPG from it (it does NOT provide EPG, other than from OTA despite not being free). It seems that by default there's also no way to use Schedule Direct to get EPG data without a third party app. I'll skip this one.

Edit : Tried TVMosaic

Just to let you know, there is a way to show artwork with descriptions in TVH (if you are using Schedules Direct).

I assume that you are happy with TVMosaic but if you ever change you mind, post back here.  

Sorry to hijack this months later, but how does one go about getting artwork to work with SD and TVHeadend.
My TVHeadend server has been great and works fantastic, and my listings work from SD with no issues. But I cannot get any artworks to show in TVHE or via TVHE Client in Kodi.
I'd really love to find out how to do it! 

Do you know which grabber you are currently using to add the SD listings to TVH?

[emveepee]

Since this is a thread on recommendations,  the Schedules Direct integration with NextPVR is great for art and channel icons as well as the guide data.  NextPVR v5 is now multi-platform too.

Martin

[acegolfer]

If you don't need to timeshift, then NextPVR. If you want timeshift, then TVHeadend. (Major timeshift bug in NextPVR + Kodi)
You can install TVH on win10 windows subsystem for linux. It's tricky though. https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?pid...pid2881106

[sub3]

If you don't need to timeshift, then NextPVR. If you want timeshift, then TVHeadend. (Major timeshift bug in NextPVR + Kodi)

It's not so much a bug. It's intentional. We're changing how NextPVR sends it's stream to kodi when using timeshift mode, to make it cleaner and more reliable. It'll likely be Kodi 19 when the new addon includes v5 timeshift mechanism. Until we get that update out there, v5 is still fine with Kodi with timeshift disabled. 

NextPVR v4 continues to work fine for timeshift.

[emveepee]

IMO NextPVR v4 is not that great with timeshift there are on going hanging problems (see a recent post today) I find that only extended timeshift works well.

Martin