I'm interested in a good alternative to MCE for recording OTA programming. I currently use MCE but the output obviously isn't non-Windows device friendly.
I've tried MCE Buddy, but it's hit or miss. Are there any solid alternatives? I don't mind spending a week or two configuring as long as the daily operation remains stable.
I want an output that is Plex friendly, since I have Plex for my Android devices.
Any suggestions? Or should I work on configuring the kinks out of MCE Buddy?
NextPVR and MediaPortal are two that spring to mind, along with JRiver. The only problem might be copy-protected content - but it depends how you receive your TV.
MediaPortal records .ts files of a filename you determine. Series and Episode numbers are not a part of the recording, they're a function of the EPG you use. Schedules Direct provides EPG for $25/year, combined w/MediaPortal would work. Personally, I use MC2XML for a free EPG and Episode Scanner to retrieve episode data from TVDB (not to mention the TV-Series plug-in which also catalogs my series grabbing data from TVDB). I do no Plex.
I used to use BeyondTV for recording OTA channels and it worked great. The only reason I switched to WMC was to use the Ceton InfiniTV 4. BeyondTV is no longer sold, but you might find a copy for sale on ebay or in the Snapstream forums. Thye good news is that Snapstream continues to provide guide data for BTV, as indicated here:
I use it and it works well. I have it set to convert/remove commercials and copy to my server. I have one rule setup for our programs and one for my kids. They each go to a different folder on my server. I have them convert to mkv.
JRiver is worth a look. It does produce a better image than WMC can due to its use of LAV filters for live TV and recorded TV playback. It is cheap and it is has its own server built in. The Guide is a bit wonky but it is usable especially if you are dealing with the hundreds of guide listings you would have with combined OTA and Cable together. It works with a WMC remote.
Argus TV is another option. Has an absolutely awesome scheduler. Isn't as well documented as some of the others. It can control the MediaPortal TV server if you don't want to use the Argus recorder.
It's not there yet, but ServerWMC is *so close* to really giving you what you are looking for IMO
Well, serverwmc and mb3 that is . . . If you run serverwmc alongside your WMC setup on your MB3 server then you can have all of your WMC recordings (assuming they are shared) available in MB3
They wouldn't show up under your TV Shows library, but under live tv instead. Here is a shot of my live tv recordings library (I only have 2 recordings as I don't keep them very long)
Apparently (I didn't know this until last week) the Roku MB3 app already does this
It works well through the browser interface (especially locally)
Honestly. I've tried everything and nothing beats Windows Media Center in terms of UI, simplicity, and functionality. If you badly need to play the recordered files on something else, I'd just set up a program to automatically convert them.
I disagree in that IMO just about every other front end beats its UI (except maybe jriver) and they all beat its functionality. Its only claim to fame is really copy-once cable, but this is an OTA thread. With copy-free cable and OTA, ServerWMC is the best possible solution. It leverages the robust tuner management, recording management, and guide data from WMC and ties into XBMC or MB3. The only downside (if considered that) is that you end up running a windows server, though with wake/sleep you could with some effort just run it on any available WMC box and have it wake when needed
Also, wtv wrapped mpeg2 video with ac3 or aac audio plays back without any conversion necessary in mpc-hc, xbmc, etc
I used ArgusTV for a long time. It's a royal pain to get setup, and you still have to have something to use as a front end to actually organize and play stuff (I used XBMC). There is an external tool (I've totally blanked on the name) that will rename the recordings to XBMC standard Series.SxxExx.Title.ts, and I think that would work with Plex too.
ArgusTV just crapped out on me one day though and wouldn't recognize any of my tuners anymore, so I switched to NextPVR. NextPVR is easier to setup, but the documentation is only marginally better. There is an external tool for that called ImageGrabLite that will rename stuff to the XBMC standard. I've never used the front end of it, as I still use XBMC for that.
What I was afraid has indeed occurred. I fired up a game on my i7-2600K, and the performance was bad. After quitting the game I looked to see what was wrong, and my CPU is pegged at 100%. I had set a job to remove commercials and convert to .MKV some recorded files. Specifically 4 recorded files. This job started at 2:00 AM! It is now 4:58 PM, and it's on the third file.
I haven't had any solid experiences with comskip. Just not worth it to me, I just press the right arrow on my remote in xbmc and blow through commercials 30s at a time
Did you look into mediabrowser / xbmc?
Which android devices are you using? Phones/Tablets only or STB as well?
At this time, phones/tablets. Thinking about Android TV or Amazon Fire TV in the future. I have a ROKU 3 if that counts, but I don't use it often right now.
I might just stick it back at MPEG2, no commercial skip. That should just be stripping out the meta data. I'm not really hurting for space on my server. I have terabytes left at this time.
I did a little investigating earlier, and I think when the new MCEBuddy is released to the general public it will help with my situation by offering hardware accelerated conversions.
I just don't think the program is robust to spend money on at this time.
Maybe if it could monitoring shares for new episodes and write to a share when finished converting.
Mr Zoid
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