Windows 10 - Simple Live TV Software/App?

wissel

wissel

wissel

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I've used Microsoft Media Player for years but as it's no longer available with Windows 10 I wondered if anyone can recommend a replacement?

I just want very simple software that allows me to watch, record and pause live TV through my TBS TV cards. That's all I want it to do.

I tried MediaPortal - hated it
I tried NextPVR - hated it again

You'd think it would be simple. Just nice simple software. That's it.

Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.
 
I use Argus TV backend, and Kodi as the front end. It's not necessarily simple though as it requires a similar amount of setup to MediaPortal/NextPVR.

I'm not sure how many other DVB apps there are for windows, the only other one I can think of is ProgDVB - but it doesn't have the interface of WMC like you're used to and I presume still want?


wissel said:
You'd think it would be simple. Just nice simple software. That's it.
Click to expand...

Microsoft realised that very few people actually do/want this - hence they canned it for Windows 10. People that do want it tend not to mind a bit of setup
 
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Scottland said:
I use Argus TV backend, and Kodi as the front end. It's not necessarily simple though as it requires a similar amount of setup to MediaPortal/NextPVR.

I'm not sure how many other DVB apps there are for windows, the only other one I can think of is ProgDVB - but it doesn't have the interface of WMC like you're used to and I presume still want?




Microsoft realised that very few people actually do/want this - hence they canned it for Windows 10. People that do want it tend not to mind a bit of setup
Click to expand...

Thanks for that.

hominid said:
I use DVBViewer, not so easy to setup with scanning for channels etc but once it is it's fine.
Click to expand...

Just installed it, up and running in a few minutes and just what I needed. Thanks.
It also scans much faster than WMC which is perfect as I use this software on the PC in my campervan. As I stay in different places I need to re-tune, and this does it fast. It also worked straight away without any messing with refresh rates and trying a million codecs :)

EYEREX said:
Another vote for DVBViewer
Click to expand...

Thanks and see above

bulldog147 said:
XBMC Media Center or wait for this brilliant: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1275320038/hdhomerun-dvr-the-dvr-re-imagined
Click to expand...

Kodi looks good but quite similar to MediaPortal, ie it does far more than I need it to.

I really wanted something very simple to set-up as I have to do it often (PC in a campervan).

That Kickstarter looks quite promising, not so much for my van but looks a great solution for my home media system. I've bookmarked it to see what it's like once released.
 
http://sichbopvr.com/

SichboPVR seems to be a promising replacement for Windows Media Centre. Designed for Watching/recording and streaming tv from the start it comes with a modern ui while retaining the simplicity and ease of use and setup of MCE. It doesn't install multiple applications all over the place in order to work and is mostly self contained like mce.

It's not without its issues, but its a promising program I may stick with. Setup is as simple as telling it what region and transmitter you are aimed at and it will scan just those transponders for quick/easy and fast tuning. You set it up for one tuner then slave any other you may have to that one for multiple channel recording. You can of course set the other tuners to other transponders if you wish but not that you may have double/triple entries in the epg if all tuners are listing the same channels. Another feature is that you have control over the codecs used for decoding. By default it will use dvxa hardware decoding if your hardware supports it.

My main issues at the moment is being able to control it. Cycling channels is a little different and I just need to get used to its way of doing things I guess.
 
Basically there is no simple replacement for WMC. There are plenty of alternatives but they're all either lacking in features or a total pain in the neck to set up and get working, usually involving a mixture of different server and client products.

DVBViewer is certainly the best "simple" program for just watching TV but I really strugged to get the recording service working properly and it seemed to just screw things up randomly. Also, can it do timeshifting/pausing live TV?
 
tvheadend on a Pi2 with a cheap USB dongle and then either Kodi or a web browser for viewing. I don't use it very often and it was a bit of effort to get up and running but it does what I need.
 
Vertigo1 said:
Basically there is no simple replacement for WMC. There are plenty of alternatives but they're all either lacking in features or a total pain in the neck to set up and get working, usually involving a mixture of different server and client products.

DVBViewer is certainly the best "simple" program for just watching TV but I really strugged to get the recording service working properly and it seemed to just screw things up randomly. Also, can it do timeshifting/pausing live TV?
Click to expand...

I'm using DVBViewer to record (using the recording service you're struggling with, but the program itself does it too) but watching the live stream of the recording using PotPlayer. Given I use PotPlayer for all my video playback anyway, I'm happy with that.

I used NextPVR the same way before trying DVBViewer, but for some reason it didn't like to automatically update the EPG, so I sometimes found myself having to wing it when going to record a program. There are ways to get it to auto update over the web instead, but frankly it looked like more effort than it deserved and I just bought a license to DVBViewer instead after using the trial.

I've given up looking for a backend/frontend all-in-one Media Center replacement, but I'm more than happy with this set up at the moment.
 
tried most apps for tv but dvbviewer would be the one i recommend , followed by kodi as backend. I use astrometa usb sticks for tuners which are also compatible with acamd and wincsc :)
 
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