View Full Version : DVB Webscheduler - Unified PVR Backend Candidate?
I have been using DVB Webscheduler for about 2 years now, and have had great sucess in recording TV.
My Setup has a Win2003 Server as the backend (could be Vista or XP).
DVB Webscheduler installs and runs as a service on the Windows box.
This app listens on port 8420 and has a great web interface, you can veiw the EPG and select the shows you want to record.
My partner has been trained to record TV by opening a browser and navigating to http://pvr:8420
Playback of the recorded content takes place on one or more of my three XBMC installs.
(2x XBOX, 1x Win7)
I simply ensure that the TV is recorded to the server in a shared folder (\\pvr\RecordedTV)
This is a read/write/delete share, so from any XBMC we are able to delete files once they have been watched.
Why am I posting?
Well DVB Webscheduler has just been made open source (it was originally open source).
I beleive that DVB Webscheduler is the perfect choice for XBMC to adopt for the Unified PVR project.
I would really like to be able to schedule recordings and view an EPG from within XBMC.
Why DVB Webscheduler?
Lightweight app (less than 2 meg!)
Installs as a Service
Compatible with all flavours of Windows (not sure about Linux)
Dedicated TV Recorder, no fancy playback
Now Open Source!
Supports any TV card with BDA Drivers (this is what Microsoft Media Center uses)
Downside:
This app may not the best choice to do TV Streaming, but from memory there was a plugin that allowed this years ago when the product was open source
Download it and give it a go
http://www.bluebit.com.au
Why not MythTV ?
Myth is monolithic and difficult for non Linux users, it has 1000's of features.
At the end of the day, people want to record, XBMC is already a vastly superior playback tool, Myth cant compete on playback. DVB Webscheduler can compete with the recording functionality.
Must admit I always like it on my windows box too but I went away from it when it went sharware nice to see its back to freeware again I may have to update fromt he last freeware version I had
And yes it should be pretty easy to incorperate since the web nature of it makes everything open to anyone acessing it but you are right about live tv streaming
Why not MythTV ?
Myth is monolithic and difficult for non Linux users, it has 1000's of features.
At the end of the day, people want to record, XBMC is already a vastly superior playback tool, Myth cant compete on playback. DVB Webscheduler can compete with the recording functionality.
Myth is divided into a backend and a frontend which is extensible by plugins, I wouldn't call that monolithic (on a sidenote: If you don't like monolithic apps, why use xbmc?;)). And while Myth may be difficult fon non-Linux users, your suggestion seems to be a no-go for non-Windows users, simply because it's only available for Windows.
(About playback: What makes you think that myth can't compete? I have yet to see a file that xbmc can play but myth can't. Imo the part where xbmc shines most is it's user interface but not it's playback capabilities)
But if i got things right, the point of the unified-pvr branch is to build an infrastructure that makes it possible to create a frontend for any tv-backend, so i don't see the point in saying "don't use x, but instead use y" (but maybe i simply misunderstood you there).
Why not MythTV ?
Myth is monolithic and difficult for non Linux users, it has 1000's of features.
At the end of the day, people want to record, XBMC is already a vastly superior playback tool, Myth cant compete on playback. DVB Webscheduler can compete with the recording functionality.
Why not use MythTV?
It's prefect for XBMC.
My mythtv box is mere a pentium III 900M HZ with 256M Memory. It comes with everything, nice web interface, internet streaming, upnp, auto wakeup, auto idle shutdown, and a very very powerful schedule system, not to mention the auto fetech EPG and all sorts of brilliant stuff.
By the way mythtv has an auto expire system (enabled by default), so if you were using mythtv, your partner does not need to remove all the recordings manually, it will do it automatically for you....
If your windows' application can do all this in a very limited environment ( the backend does not even require a 500M Hz CPU and 256M Memory is absolutely fine), then a lot people will certainly be interested in.
I like the idea of the Unified PVR, and yes I think that the goal is to support multiple backends.
I think that it is easy for nerds to get hung up on specific features of certain recording apps.
I beleive that there are TWO major reasons why XBMC is so much stronger than any other media solution on the market.
1) Easy to use/intuitive interface.
I can had the remote to a guest at my house, and they can navigate an use XBMC (PM3-HD) without instruction.
2) Easy to install
Just run the installer on a Windows box, 3 clicks and you are there. For the Linux guys, 1 apt-get command and you are done.
With the addition of the Unified PVR I think that the sucess will depend completly on the same two items.
I am sure it is unwise to bash MythTV in any forum, I understand that MythTV is very flexible and efficient etc.
There is a good chance that people would suggest that Searching, and Recording groups are important for the Unified PVR, infact some would suggest that because the MythTV Frontend can do it so should XBMC.
This is where I disagree, although these are cool features at the end of the day, XBMC doesnt need a keybord and nor should it. Excessive complexity/features will kill the usability
I really think that DVB Webscheduler is a prime candidate (particulaly for Windows), the main reason is that it is JUST a recorder.
I beleive that DVB Webscheduler is Java based, so I am not sure how hard a Linux version would be. Also the system requirements are very low. OK maybe not P3 low. But certainly very comfortable on P4 2gz, 512Ram.
to lx01: Im not saying dont use Myth, I am trying to say "Dont re-implement the MythTV Frontend". Doing this will limit other platforms, and be a waste of time.
If you want the MythTV frontend, use the MythTV fronend!!!
theophile
2009-02-13, 01:41
Why not MythTV ?
Myth is monolithic and difficult for non Linux users, it has 1000's of features.
At the end of the day, people want to record, XBMC is already a vastly superior playback tool, Myth cant compete on playback. DVB Webscheduler can compete with the recording functionality.
This is all manifestly false. If you're only going to set up a backend, it can be done in minutes with a simple GUI. Furthermore, MythTV is vastly superior to XBMC for playback. XBMC chokes to death on HD content on my machine, the same content MythTV can play back with perfect fluidity and no dropped frames. MythTV's settings for playback are extremely configurable and the user can have far more control over playback profiles than XBMC. As a "TV" player, MythTV is hands down the best of the best.
Even if XBMC had seamless MythTV integration (and the MythBox plugin comes close), the core player is currently not at a place where it can keep up with MythTV's player.
Sorry, that's just the way it is.
Sorry if this is off topic.
I like the concept of using Linux as an OS for a dedicated HTPC. The problem is, when I want to use the box to surf the web, check email, copy files from other PCs in the house over to the box, setup shares etc, setup intranet type web access to the box, etc, etc... my knowledge of Linux very quickly runs out. For me, it is not a matter of which is technically better, it is a very practical problem of what I can do without investing HUGE amounts of time to upskill myself. And I consider myself to be ver IT literate, having a development background (in Windows :)
So MythTV is just ruled out for me unfortunately. I like the look of this DVB Webscheduler, and hope that one day people will implement this as a back-end. Or possibly Mediaportal TVServer which also runs as a service.