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Alternative OTA DVR software?

2K views 23 replies 12 participants last post by  MrZoid 
#1 ·
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?

Mr Zoid
 
#3 ·
It would be entirely OTA, so no copy-protection.

Once it is recorded I am interested in migrating the recordings to my file server.

Do any of the options you listed name the file in a convention Plex can recognize? (S01E10 for example.)

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#4 ·
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.
 
#8 ·
The rule I had set up previously was not working with my Android devices. I had set it to output the file as MPEG2 and remove commercials.

The Android devices would stutter, and on my desktop systems the audio was out of sync.

I tried on my desktop converting a file to MKV High and it worked okay.

The only issue is that even on my i7-2600K the conversion took a long period of time for an hour long program.

Worried that if I move to record all network primetime shows we watch the system will never fully catch up.

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#9 ·
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.
 
#10 ·
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.
 
#11 ·
Will JRiver name recordings as something Plex can recognize?

Not all of my playback devices are Windows systems. In fact only one is. Otherwise they are 6 Android devices and a ROKU 3.

That's one reason plain jane MCE doesn't fit my needs. That and the audio bug when HD audio bitstreaming is set.

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#12 ·
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)

It's also coming to Android, but it's quite tough to say when that will ever come to fruition http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/7220-fr-android-live-tv/?p=104215

As for the good ol x86 box, you can also view everything directly within XBMCs recordings area of live tv
 
#15 ·
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
 
#19 ·
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.
 
#20 ·
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.

Mr Zoid
 
#22 ·
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.

Mr Zoid
 
#24 ·
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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