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Comparison of DVR software packages

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ryanburnett (talk | contribs) at 00:37, 6 March 2009 (Added three references supporting that the EPG service for MythTV and EyeTV is not free. ~~~~). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The following is a comparison guide for popular DVR (digital video recorder, sometimes PVR, personal video recorder) software packages.

General information

Basic general information for popular DVR (PVR) software packages.

Name Official Website Windows Macintosh GNU/Linux Price Latest stable release Notes
Beyond TV Beyond TV Yes No No $69.99 - $79.99; $29.99 client; $49.99 network media playback; Free mediaMVP client 4.9.0 Not compatible with DVB tuners
See also: List of digital television deployments by country
CTpvr CTPVR Yes No No $29.95 - Media Center; $14.95 - Client ? UPDATE Mar-08: CTpvr has sold its products and TV Listings service to an (as yet) unknown company. Currently not available.
EyeTV Elgato No Yes No Bundled / €79.99 3.1 Free with all Elgato USB tuners, but available separately for use with other tuners.
Freevo Freevo Limited Yes Yes Free 1.8.3 Open source
GB-PVR GB-PVR Yes No No Free 1.3.7 (November 2, 2008) Includes Integrated EPG, media server; PC client (local or networked), MediaMVP clients, web-scheduling.
Got All Media Got All Media Yes No No $49.95/copy, $39.95 for previous owners who want to upgrade ? ?
CenterStage CenterStage No Yes No Free ? Development ceased December 2008
MediaPortal MediaPortal Yes No No Free 1.0 (December 22, 2008) Open source (built on the .NET 2.0 Framework)
Meedio TV/Yahoo Go! TV Meedio TV/Yahoo Go! TV Yes No No Discontinued/Free 2006 Only available in the U.S.A.
MeediOS MeediOS Yes No No Free ? Open source (built on the .NET Framework)
MediaPhoenix/ShowShifter MediaPhoenix Yes No No MediaPhoenix - Unreleased ShowShifter - Discontinued (Was £30) ? Supports some older TechnoTrend/Hauppauge boxes which are not BDA compliant, such as the Dec 2000-t/3000-s and first generation Nova-t USB boxes, which are unsupported by other PVR software.
MythTV MythTV No¹ Yes Yes Free 0.21 (March 8, 2008) Open source
SageTV SageTV Yes Yes Yes $79.95 software; $29.95 client; $29.95 per mediaMVP client; 6.4.8 Java based.
SesamTV SesamTV Yes No No Free ? ?
TVedia TVedia Yes No No $34.95 ? ?
Windows Media Center Windows Media Center Yes No No $110-$319 (OS Price) 6.0.6000.16484 (November 8, 2006) Included in Windows XP MCE 2005 and Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions, Windows 7 Home Premium and Ultimate.

¹ Porting MythTV to Windows is under development.[1]

PVR features

Information about what common and prominent PVR features are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons).

PVR Subscription Free Electronic Program Guide Power Management Multiple TV Tuner Cards Support CableCARD Support ATSC Tuner Support Automated Commercial Skip Teletext Schedule Timed Recordings Personalized Intelligent Recording and Scheduling 1 DRM Support
Beyond TV Yes Yes6 Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
CTpvr Yes ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ?
EyeTV No12 Yes Yes No Yes External add-on Yes Yes Yes Yes
Freevo Yes ? Yes No ? External add-on ? Yes ? No
GB-PVR Yes ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Got All Media ? ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ?
CenterStage No ? No No ? No ? No ? No
MediaPortal Yes5,9 Yes Yes No Yes Using Plugin10 Yes Yes Yes9 Partial support
Meedio TV/Yahoo Go! TV ? ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ?
MeediOS ? ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ?
MediaPhoenix/ShowShifter Yes5 ? Yes No ? No No Yes Yes ?
MythTV No5,7 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes External add-on3 No
SageTV Yes Yes Yes No Yes Using Plugin9 No Yes Yes No
SesamTV Yes ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ?
TVedia ? ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Media Center Yes Yes Yes10 Yes4 Yes External add-on2 Yes Yes No11 Yes

1 The Personalized Intelligent Recording and Scheduling feature, similar to TiVo enables the PVR application to record programs based on past viewing habits and interests.
2 Windows Media Center has the ability to skip commercials automatically after installing an external plug-in called "DVRMSToolbox" (which is not supported by Microsoft) or "Lifextender" .
3 MythTV has the ability to perform Personalized Intelligent Recording and Scheduling after installing an external plug-in called "tvwish" (which is not supported by MythTV).
4 Windows Media Center supports CableCard when used on CableLabs certified OEM Hardware. [2]
5 Supports over-the-air epg when using cards/boxes which support this functionality, and in areas where such a service is available.
6 To take advantage of operating system power management with Beyond TV, the main user interface must be closed.
7 MythTV has switched from the now defunct Zap2It to the $20 per year Schedules Direct.[1]
8 EPG is supported via WebEpg
9 Is Supported by 3rd party plugins
10 Out of the box MCE supports Two ATSC tuners and Two NTSC tuners, to get additional tuners you have to perform registry modifications to get more than two ATSC or two NTSC tuners.
11 Vista Media Center can do partial intelligent recordings. You can do recordings based on key words, actor(s) names, or other genres.
12 Elgato's contract with TitanTV will expire in 2010. When it expires TV Guide will become the sole EPG provider for EyeTV. One year of TV Guide EPG service costs $19.95.[2][3]

Video format support

Information about what video codecs are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons) in the PVRs.

DVR MPEG-1 MPEG-2 MPEG-4 ASP (MPEG-4 Part 2) H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (MPEG-4 Part 10) WMV AVI DivX Xvid ASF QuickTime MP4 Real Video
Beyond TV ? Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
CTpvr ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
EyeTV Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Freevo ? Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
GB-PVR ? Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Got All Media ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mac Media Center ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MediaPortal Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No1 Yes No1
Meedio TV/Yahoo Go! TV ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No1 ? ?
MeediOS ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MediaPhoenix/ShowShifter ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MythTV Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SageTV ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ?
SesamTV ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes
TVedia ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Media Center Yes Yes Yes No1 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No1 No1 No1

1 Possible with 3rd party software.

Information about what video codecs are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons) in the PVRs.

Network Support

Each features is in context of computer-to-computer interaction. All features must be available after the default install otherwise the feature needs a footnote.

DVR Tuner Sharing Hard Disk Pooling Shared Media Database Home Automation Media Extenders Placeshifting Two-way Remote Control
Beyond TV Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
CTpvr ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
EyeTV ? ? Yes ? ? Yes ?
Freevo ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
GB-PVR Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Got All Media ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mac Media Center ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MediaPortal Yes No No No No Yes No4
Meedio TV/Yahoo Go! TV ? No Yes1 ? No No No
MeediOS ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MediaPhoenix/ShowShifter ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
MythTV Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
SageTV Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
SesamTV ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
TVedia ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Windows Media Center No No No No2 Yes No5 No2

1 registry change.
2 Yes with retail third party plugin
3 free supported third party plugin
4 Yes with free unsupported third party plugin
5 Yes with free third party software Web Guide 4

TV Tuner Hardware

Main article: TV tuner card

DVRs require a TV Tuner in order to work. Many DVRs, as seen above, can handle multiple tuners.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Schedules Direct
  2. ^ Why is there a fee for the EyeTV Program Guide?
  3. ^ How do I use TV Guide with EyeTV?
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