Which PVR application is the best for me?

May 25, 2009 9:29 PM

I'm looking for an open source PVR-like application for my vista computer (which is dedicated solely to playing downloaded videos).

I'm looking for an open source PVR-like application for my vista computer (which is dedicated solely to playing downloaded videos). I've seen things like Freevo and Media Portal, but all the reviews seem to be really focusing on the PVR aspect of it.

I don't have cable and just want a clean app that will display all the videos I have available on my hard drive.

Which program is the best for my simple needs?

posted by nitor to computers & internet (9 comments total)

What you want is XBox Media Center, most likely, although a Windows version of Boxee is in private alpha.
posted by kindall at 9:57 PM on May 25

I have sung the praises of GBPVR previously for PVR capabilities but I think you could trim it down to do what you need it to do. I'm pretty sure in the config app there are places to turn components on/off such as PVR, music, video, etc. That is also where you'll set the folders where it will look for media.

Full-screen media centers love remotes too. Double check the website of whatever you decide to see if you can pick up a (compatible) remote & receiver from newegg for $20.
posted by ijoyner at 10:12 PM on May 25

The very best media player available for any OS that I know of, hands down, is the videoLAN project's VLC player—and that's including all of the commercial media players I've seen. It's played every video I've ever thrown at it: flv (flash video) files I've downloaded from youtube and elsewhere, every bitrate of mp3 and also VBR, m4a, FLAC and other high-fidelity audio files, every different codec of mpeg (ogg, mpeg1, mpeg2, mpeg4), wmv and wma files, and some other stuff I had no real clue about. Also, I've had a huge problem with those flash video files and their speed (the sound is twice as fast as the video or vice versa) but VLC player has an option to adjust the sound speed and the video speed so I can actually watch these problematic videos. It has a amazingly large feature-set that I'm convinced I will never actually plumb the depths of: flexible and customizable closed-captioning features that range from creation to optimization, deep and tight integration with media-playing hardware even over networks, muxing functionality, album art integration, full replay of things like DVD menus…the list goes on and on.

It's really an exciting piece of software, in my mind, and it's available for a ridiculous number of OSes: nine (Windows, OS X, GNU/Linux, BeOS, Syllable, BSD, MorphOS, Solaris and Zaurus.) Highly worth checking out.
posted by koeselitz at 10:52 PM on May 25

Oh, and one last thing: it's open-source and completely free in every way.
posted by koeselitz at 10:52 PM on May 25

I vote for XBMC too. (Also, it is officially called "XBMC" now, and it don't stand for "xbox media center". This is partially since it is on PC/Mac/Linux too now, and partially because they don't want to get in trouble for using xBox in the name.)
posted by OwlBoy at 1:20 AM on May 26

Why not just use vistas built in media center? As long as you have all the right codecs it should play everything.
posted by majortom1981 at 4:49 AM on May 26

Another vote for XBMC. Simple and plays everything. VLC Media player isn't what you're looking for. It's fantastic, but not a PVR-like thing, it's just a player and doesn't allow you to navigate all of your media nicely or anything like that.
posted by jozzas at 7:24 AM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Thanks! I'll try XBMC and post what success I have. I already use VLC and althought I really like it, jozzas is right-- not what I'm looking for. I want to be able to browse within the software, in part so that I can use a remote instead of a mouse.
posted by nitor at 8:50 AM on May 26

Unless you're running Vista Business or Basic (and hence don't have access to Media Center), I can't figure out why you wouldn't want to use Vista's included Media Center software, which is optimised for use with remotes and a 10ft interface.

Add Shark007's Codec Pack to maximise compatibility, and Media Browser (formerly Sam Saffron's Video Browser) to manage your collection - you may also want to add Daemon Tools Lite (make sure you deselect the toolbar option when you install it) to allow direct playback of .ISO and other image files through the Media Browser interface.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 6:59 PM on May 26