Comparison of PVR software packages

This is a comparison of digital video recorder software packages.

General information[edit]

Basic general information for popular DVR/PVR software packages.

Name	Windows	Macintosh	Linux	Prices	License	Latest stable release	Notes
Beyond TV	Yes	No	No	Terminated (See notes)	Proprietary	4.9.3 Build 6335 October 15, 2010	Not compatible with DVB tuners. While Snapstream is providing minor fixes for Beyond TV, they no longer actively updating and developing the software as they are focusing on commercial applications. Despite the lack of a new version, their fanbase (in the forums) maintains active and the program is still available. See also: List of digital television deployments by country
CenterStage	No	Yes	No	Free	GPL	0.6.2 / 2007-08-20	Development ceased December 2008
DVBViewer	Yes	No	No	€15	Proprietary
EyeTV	No	Yes	No	€79.99 Bundled	Proprietary	3.6.1	Free with all Elgato USB tuners, but available separately for use with other tuners.
Hauppauge WinTV	Yes			Bundled	Proprietary	winTV7, CD3.5, current Jul 14	For Hauppauge TV cards and peripherals
InterVideo WinDVR	Yes	No	No	Discontinued	Proprietary	Discontinued. Previously bundled with various TV tuner devices.
JRiver Media Center	Yes	No	No	$49.98	Proprietary	17.0.50 December 2011	DirectShow video player, audio, images, 10 foot GUI, Remote control, DLNA
MediaPhoenix/ShowShifter	Yes	No	No	MediaPhoenix - Unreleased ShowShifter - Discontinued (Was £30)	Proprietary	3.1	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.
MediaPortal	Yes	No	No	Free	Free	1.5.0 (October 1, 2013)^[1]	built on the .NET 2.0 Framework
MythTV	Limited ^[1]	Yes	Yes	Free	Free	0.27.1 (May 28, 2014)
NextPVR	Yes	No	No	Free	Proprietary	3.3.8 (25 October 2014)
SageTV	Yes^[2]	Yes	Yes	Discontinued since it was bought by Google. Prior to that it had been $79.95 software; $29.95 client; $29.95 per mediaMVP client.	Proprietary	6.6	Java based. SageTV was purchased by Google on 20 June 2011 and its online store was shut. No statement has been made about the future availability of SageTV products.
Tvtime	No	No	Yes	Free	Free	1.0.2 (November 10, 2005)	High quality television application for use with video capture cards on Linux systems. tvtime processes the input from a capture card and displays it on a computer monitor or projector
Video Disk Recorder	No	No	Yes	Free	Free	2.0.6 (March 22, 2014)	TV Done Right, VDR can use one to eight video cards and support DVB-S, DVB-C and DVB-T. Record and read any DVB flux with a lot of plugins.
Windows Media Center	Yes	No	No	Free prior to Windows 8 stable releases. US$100 for Windows 8 and 8.1 (respective Pro Pack, retail box pricing); US$10 for Windows 8 Pro and 8.1 Pro (Media Center Pack, online download).	Proprietary	6.3.9600.16384 (© 2013)	Included in Windows XP MCE 2005, Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions, Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate, and some Windows 8 preview/developer editions. Not included in Windows 8, 8 Pro, 8.1 or 8.1 Pro. Not available for Windows RT.
Kodi (formerly XBMC)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Free	Free	13.1 "Gotham rises". 5 June 2014; 7 months ago (2014-06-05)^[2]	High quality Open Source PVR, able to watch/record live TV, music, photos and has one of the most expansive collection of plugins, enabling the system to do anything from browsing the web or downloading movies, to dimming the lights in the sitting room.

^ Porting MythTV to Windows is under development.[3]
^ There is also a Windows Home Server Edition

Digital/Personal Video Recorder (DVR/PVR) features[edit]

Information about what common and prominent DVR features are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons unless stated otherwise).

DVR	Subscription free electronic program guide (EPG)	power management	Multiple TV tuner cards support	CableCARD support	CAM support	ATSC tuner support	Automated commercial skipping	Teletext	Schedule timed recordings	Personalized intelligent recording and scheduling^{[f 1]}	DRM support	DVB (T/T2, S/S2, C) tuner support	Smartphone/Tablet playback	Smartphone/Tablet syncing	Smartphone/Tablet remote control
Beyond TV	Yes	Yes^{[f 2]}	Yes	No	?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	?
EyeTV	DVB;^{[f 3]} other guide info varies by region^{[f 4]}	Yes	Yes	No	?	Yes	External add-on	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?
NextPVR	DVB/XMLTV^{[f 5]}	Unknown	Yes	No	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	?	?	?
CenterStage	No	Unknown	No	No	?	Unknown	No	Unknown	No	Unknown	No	?	?	?	?
MediaPortal	DVB^{[f 3]}/XMLTV^{[f 7]}	Yes	Yes	Partial^{[f 8]}	Supported on some specific cards	Yes	Using Plugin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial support	Yes	Yes^{[f 9]}	?	Yes^{[f 9]}
MediaPhoenix/ShowShifter	DVB^{[f 3]}	Unknown	Yes	No	?	Unknown	No	No	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	No	No	No
MythTV	DVB;^{[f 3]} other services region dependent^{[f 10]}	Yes	Yes	Limited^{[f 11]}	Yes^{[f 12]}	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Requires external add-on^{[f 13]}	No	Yes^{[f 14]}	Yes^{[f 15]}	No	Yes^{[f 15]}
SageTV	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial Using Plugin^{[f 16]}	?	Yes	Using Plugin^{[f 17]}	No	Yes	Yes	No	?	?	?	?
Video Disk Recorder	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Using Plugin	Yes	Using Plugin	No	Yes	Using Plugin	No	Using Plugin
Windows Media Center	Yes	Yes	Yes^{[f 18]}	Yes^{[f 19]}	?	Yes	External add-on^{[f 20]}	Yes	Yes	Yes^{[f 21]}	Yes; also respects the "do not record" flag, not supported by US courts.^{[citation needed]}	Supports DVB-T/T2 and DVB-S/S2; does not support DVB-C^{[f 22]}	Yes	Yes	Yes
DVR	Subscription free electronic program guide (EPG)	Power management	Multiple TV tuner cards support	CableCARD support	CAM support	ATSC tuner support	Automated commercial skipping	Teletext	Schedule timed recordings	Personalized intelligent recording and scheduling^{[f 1]}	DRM support	DVB (T/T2, S/S2, C) tuner support	Smartphone/Tablet playback	Smartphone/Tablet syncing	Smartphone/Tablet remote control

^ ^a ^b A system similar to TiVo's which enables the DVR/PVR application to record programs based on past viewing habits and interests.
^ To take advantage of operating system power management with Beyond TV, the main user interface must be closed.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Supports over-the-air EPG when using cards/boxes which support this functionality, and in areas where such a service is available. For example, over-the-air 7-day programme data is available in the UK for DVB-T services (Freeview, TopUp TV etc; DVB-T2 listings for Freeview HD are encrypted) and Freesat (DVB-S/S2).^{[f 6]}
^ Elgato's contract with TitanTV for the US market expired in 2010. When it expired, TV Guide became the sole EPG provider for EyeTV in the United States. There, one year of TV Guide EPG service costs $19.95.^[3]^[4]
^ No native subscription free EPG built in, but EPG data available using third party services. With analog devices XMLTV is the only choice, with digital devices the simpliest choice is OTA, but after a bit of configuration an XMLTV source is likely to offer more detailed data although won't be updated as often and requires an internet connection.
^ Unlike the UK DVB-T EPG, the Freesat EPG uses its own channel and thus must be specifically set up in order to be used. Consequently support for DVB EPG may be insufficient to access it.
^ Supports XMLTV programme data which is provided by various sources for various costs depending on territory. For example, the (supported) 14-day Radio Times feed for the UK is free of charge.
^ Version 1.5.0 or higher required - only 'Copy Freely' support - No Encrypted 'Copy Once' support^[5]
^ ^a ^b via aMPdroid app; requires WifiRemote and MpExtended plugins^[6]
^ Subscription-free EPG is available in areas where program listings data is freely available without violating copyright laws or data owners' Terms of Service. In North America, Schedules Direct provides legally-licensed EPG data for a nominal fee of $25 per year.^[7]
^ Support is limited to content broadcast as 'copy freely' (DRM Free)
^ Supports hardware-based CAMs supported by LinuxTV framework.
^ External third-party plug-in required, e.g. "tvwish", "MythMiner"; not supported.
^ Supports any tuner card supported by LinuxTV framework.
^ ^a ^b The official MythTV plugin MythWeb allows users to browse the programme guide, schedule recordings, manage media and playback video via a Flash-based player, which works on Android phones and tablets.^[8]
^ Support is limited to content broadcast as 'copy freely' (DRM Free) - Smartphone and tablet control of the full range of Windows Media Center features is possible on iOS and Android.^[9]
^ Supported by 3rd party plugins: ComSkip and ShowAnalyzer
^ Windows Media Center supports two NTSC (Analog) tuners and two ATSC (Digital) tuners out of the box. Using additional tuners requires registry modifications. Windows 7 Media Center supports up to 4 tuners of each type out of the box, DVB-T, DVB-S, NTSC/PAL.
^ Windows Media Center supports CableCard when used on CableLabs certified OEM Hardware.^[10] Windows 7 Media Center supports CableCard on any hardware that passes the Digital Cable Advisor tool in MCE.^[11]
^ Requires an external plug-in such as "DVRMSToolbox", "Lifextender" or "MCEBuddy"; not supported by Microsoft.
^ Vista Media Center can do partial intelligent recordings based on keywords, actor(s) name(s), or genre.
^ DVB-C is achievable using certain cards that are detected as DVB-T tuners. And also using addons such as DVBLink

Video format support[edit]

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), i.e. DivX, XviD	H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (MPEG-4 Part 10)	VP8	WMV	AVI	ASF	QuickTime	MP4	RealVideo
Beyond TV	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Unknown	No	No	No
EyeTV	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Unknown
GB-PVR	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Unknown
MediaPortal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	No^{[v 1]}	Yes	No^{[v 1]}
MediaPhoenix/ShowShifter	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
MythTV	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
SageTV	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown
Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Media Center	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^{[v 1]}^{[v 2]}	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^{[v 1]}^{[v 2]}	Yes^{[v 1]}^{[v 2]}	No^{[v 1]}

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Possible with third-party software.
^ ^a ^b ^c Windows 7 only

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

Network support[edit]

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
EyeTV	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Unknown
GB-PVR	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
MediaPortal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes⁴
MediaPhoenix/ShowShifter	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
MythTV	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes³	Yes	Yes	Yes
SageTV	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Unknown
Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Windows Media Center	Yes⁶	Yes⁷	Yes	Yes²	Yes	Yes⁵	Yes²

¹ Yes with registry change
² Yes with retail third-party plugin
³ Yes with free supported third-party plugin
⁴ Yes with free unsupported third-party plugin
⁵ Yes with free third-party software Web Guide 4
⁶ Yes with add-on software called DVBLink Server
⁷ Yes with using symlinks, or just adding folders in settings

TV tuner hardware[edit]

Main article: TV tuner card

DVRs require TV tuner cards to receive signals. Many DVRs, as seen above, can use multiple tuners.

Notes[edit]

^ "MEDIAPORTAL - Download MediaPortal for free!". Team MediaPortal. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
^ "XBMC 13.1 Gotham rises".
^ Why is there a fee for the EyeTV Program Guide?
^ How do I use TV Guide with EyeTV?
^ "Support for CableCard Tuners".
^ "aMPdroid - Android Apps on Google Play". Retrieved 2012-09-27.
^ Schedules Direct
^ http://code.google.com/p/mythdroid MythDroid
^ http://www.evoscan.com/home/
^ http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060131-6081.html
^ http://www.anandtech.com/show/3588

External links[edit]

FLOSS Media Centers Comparison Chart

v t e Home theater PC software, devices, and related articles

Windows	Beyond TV DVBViewer GB-PVR JRiver Media Center MediaPortal ShowShifter Windows Media Center

OS X	Centerstage Front Row iTheater

Linux	Element OS GeeXboX LinuxMCE MythDora MythTV Mythbuntu OpenELEC Ubuntu TV Video Disk Recorder

Cross-platform	Plex SageTV Serviio XBMC/Kodi

Set-top boxes/ Digital media receivers	Amazon Fire TV Apple TV Boxee Box Chromecast DBox2 Dreambox Ericsson Mediaroom Google TV Hauppauge MediaMVP HP MediaSmart Connect Inview Technology Netgear Digital Entertainer Ouya PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 ReplayTV Roku TiVo Vu+ WD TV Windows Media Center Extender Xbox 360 Xbox One

Related hardware	ATI Theater Cards Elgato EyeTV devices Hauppauge Computer Works WinTV PVR Cards HDHomeRun Mac Mini Nvidia TV-Tuner Cards Quiet PC Touchscreen

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