HDHOMERUN users

Which OS?

On Linux, I use MythTV.

When I used Windows, I used NextPVR

You also need to grab schedules. If you don't want to pay, you can try Zap2xml (multi-platform)

And if you want to skip commercials, you can use Comskip. (multi-platform)

Unfortunately, the only video player that I've found that works decently with comskip generated files is Kodi, so you'll be burdened with that.

It takes a bit of effort to set up if you want to go free.

I still have a HDhomeRun setup running on a Windows 7 machine with Windows Media Center. It works like a tank. It does it all.
You get a free digital guide and automatic schedule. You can also run it on Windows 8 with the Windows Media Center plugin.
There is no sense in trying to cobble together something when Windows does it all, and arguably does it better.

I have the old HDhomerun. My DVR needs escalated to the point where I use a dedicated pc just for recording. It runs Ubuntu server (command line only). The program I use is TV headend, but in the past I have used mythTV.

For playback I have nvidia shields which use run Kodi. It can directly interface with TV headend through a plug in. I use scheduled direct for guide data (25$ a year I believe).

I know the Rasperry Pi builds of OpenELEC also support Tv headend and teh like.

But I agree, the old Windows 7 media center is one the best DVR programs around.

might be good to post on their forums too

https://forum.silicondust.com/forum/

mr_raider wrote: ↑ The program I use is TV headend, but in the past I have used mythTV.

Any reason to use TVHeadend over MythTV? I started with MythTV and it was quite difficult to set up (I was essentially new to Linux when I did it). I can't say I've really had any issues. But if TVHeadend is the superior option, then I might put in the effort to try it.

have used mythtv extensively from 2014 until this year, and switched to tvheadend for various reasons. Both are fine PVR programs though they function very differently.

MythTV is purpose built for an HTPC. It uses a large graphical interface designed to be navigated by remote or keyboard. It has a frontend/backend setup. The backend resides on your PC that records the OTA streams, and the front end can be any PC on the network, including the backend itself. It supports most tuners intrinsically, particularly the Silicondust hdhomerun line. It can download TV listings from schedules direct. It has a kodi plugin that can view and schedule recordings, on any frontend, but honestly, mythtvs own frontend is better for scheduling and managing recordings. Over the years, mythtv has added a DLNA server, a web interface, a browser, weather plugin etc... In many ways it actually duplciates much of kodi's functionality

Pros for mythtv:

Graphical config/interface
Easier for noobs
Works well for North American OTA TV
Extermely powerful scheduling tool
Organizes, categorizes episodes, downloads directions, thumbnails etc...
Can detect missed episodes, repeats, reruns etc...
Comemrcial skipping (although this is hit and miss)


Cons:
Complex installation
Heavy software,
redundant for xbmc/kodi since many functions are replicated
USes a mysql database structure that is difficult to backup and transfer
Database errors galore, password problems, effed database errors, etc,
Mythbuntu is no longer maintained
Bug error in xenial that forces you to restart the servcie after every reboot.
Recording file names are not in human comprehensible format


TVheadend is a much smaller program. It operates uniquely as a server on the PC that hosts and records. It has no graphical interface. rather it is accessed via a web browser on your network or machine, and all configuration is done through the browser. Intially the setup was difficult but has improved greatly in versions 4.1/4.2. It has minimal playback facilities and requires some kind of player. Either you use kodi as a frontend or you use a player like vlc to directly play the files.

Pros:
Can operate headless (no GUI, or monitor requried)
Lightweight, lower hardware requirements
Simple setup
Files are named and stored in nice directories with normal names (i.e. Marvels agents of shield s4ep14)
No added crap (DLNA, weather, etc....)
regularly maintained
Good support on Kodi forums (all the open elec and rasberry pi people use it)

Cons:
Setting up tv listings guide data and downloads is more complex
No advanced scheduling features or comm skip
"Barebones and minimalist"
Non intuitive config interface
requires functional kernel driver for your Tuner.


I used mythtv initialy because of native support for my HDhomerun tuner. The hdhomerun kernel driver was broken since Lucid and TV headend had issues. Back 2014, tv headend was just awful. My PVR was actually my desktop so I did not mind having a full GUI interface, and I used the DLNA functionality to playback with WDTV live or a Samsung a TV.

In 2017 I moved the PVR off the main office PC into dedicated PVR in the basement. It has no monitor, command line only and is administered remotely. All my TVs have an nvidia shield with kodi installed and I playback exclusively through kodi now. It made sense to ditch mythtv and move to tvheadend since it was a more focused program.

i did hear allot about tvheadend but never really looked into it. I was really hoping to keep it simple and use my shield tv as the DVR, primary reason is to play/pause live TV so i can skip commercials rather than record shows.

I do run have a old pc running windows server 2012 that acts as a nas and pc backup that i can leverage if needed and tvheadend might be what i need if it lets me play/pause live TV. Already have Kodi setup for my media library but finding most of the family just streams 99% of the time and uses youtube. I really liked the live tv app if that worked like its supposed to.

if i have to pay for guide data i may as well just pay for plexpass.

If you are using a windows pc, try next Pvr.

mr_raider wrote: ↑ Cons:
Complex installation
Heavy software,
redundant for xbmc/kodi since many functions are replicated
USes a mysql database structure that is difficult to backup and transfer
Database errors galore, password problems, effed database errors, etc,
Mythbuntu is no longer maintained
Bug error in xenial that forces you to restart the servcie after every reboot.
Recording file names are not in human comprehensible format
layback facilities and requires some kind of player. Either you use kodi as a frontend or you use a player like vlc to directly play the files.

Those are my biggest irritants with MythTV. mythlink.pl works to get human readable filenames, but it is a clunky implementation.

Setting up tv listings guide data and downloads is more complex

If it can accept .xml data, that would work for me. As I listed above, I use zap2xml for guide data. It's an extra step to do each week, but it's free.

What I'd like to do is automatically run Comskip after a recording is completed. I haven't been able to get that working with MythTV because of the file naming issue. If it's fairly trivial to run a script after a recording is completed on TVHeadend, then I might consider switching.

ugly wrote: ↑

If it can accept .xml data, that would work for me. As I listed above, I use zap2xml for guide data. It's an extra step to do each week, but it's free.

What I'd like to do is automatically run Comskip after a recording is completed. I haven't been able to get that working with MythTV because of the file naming issue. If it's fairly trivial to run a script after a recording is completed on TVHeadend, then I might consider switching.

Yes it's possible. Go through the tvheadend sub forum at kodi forums. Guides for everything. Solid community with good knowledge base.

https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=168

NextPVR was a bit confusing to setup but i got it, combined with zap2xml for guide data it works great. Only downside to this setup is i have to use kodi so i can play/pause live tv.

what about removing commercials from records?

JonSnow wrote: ↑ NextPVR was a bit confusing to setup but i got it, combined with zap2xml for guide data it works great. Only downside to this setup is i have to use kodi so i can play/pause live tv.

what about removing commercials from records?

I use comskip. For Windows I think you can get it here: http://www.kaashoek.com/files/

Comskip doesn't edit the video itself. It generates a file that some video players can use to skip certain points. I find this to be the best option, since commercial detection isn't perfect. Kodi is one player that works well with Comskip (I hate Kodi, but deal with it for this purpose). There are a few ways that Comskip can generate the commercial skipping files. I think if you output an .edl file then Kodi will completely remove the sections from playback (e.g., a 1 hour recording will appear as approximately 42 minutes long). But you can modify the .ini file so that Comskip generates a different output, which enables Kodi to play the whole video but just jump past the commercial sections. I find this preferable since if there are errors in the commercial detection, you can just skip back to watch what you missed.

It's been a few years since I set it up so I don't remember the details. If you run into problems, let me know and I'll look back at my setup.

I have had poor experience with comskip. CTV on particular seems to do something that really screws up comskip. You can miss a whole show segment and not realize it until the plot seems funny. Seems more reliable on CW channel shows. I gave up on it.

mr_raider wrote: ↑ I have had poor experience with comskip. CTV on particular seems to do something that really screws up comskip. You can miss a whole show segment and not realize it until the plot seems funny. Seems more reliable on CW channel shows. I gave up on it.

Yes, that definitely happens. Usually when there is no commercial break after the title sequence. That's why I prefer the output file that allows Kodi to skip over the commercial sequence while making the whole video available. I'd say about 80% of the time it does a really good job. But when it messes up, it's really annoying.

You can tune the .ini file for particular networks, but I can't say I've found too much difference. Also, I'm right near the US so, I get US networks, so I can't really comment on CTV. But, yeah, CW shows are usually reliable.

well i busted my butt trying to get a stable CTV signal since they seem to have most of the shows i watch, that and ABC but ABC is still flaky during the day. I'll give comskip a try when i get nextpvr setup on my WSE2012 server, requires a few hacks for the tuner drivers.

For comskip, is it a manual process? or can it monitor a folder and run whenever a new file is created or run based on a schedule?

JonSnow wrote: ↑ For comskip, is it a manual process? or can it monitor a folder and run whenever a new file is created or run based on a schedule?

I've never done it myself, but it looks like you can run a parallel script to recording. See if this works: https://www.howtogeek.com/251405/how-to ... h-comskip/

ugly wrote: ↑ I've never done it myself, but it looks like you can run a parallel script to recording. See if this works: https://www.howtogeek.com/251405/how-to ... h-comskip/

Thanks the guide indicates that the nextpvr addon does not support the comskip files, are you playing the recordings from the nextpvr recorded area in the addon or as the guide says to play from a new directory/source for recordings?

Playing from a directory might be the way to go, if i understand correctly. I want to be able to schedule a recording and after 10 minutes or so start watching on Kodi, that way it has enough buffer to allow me to skip commercial and watch while it airs.

Currently if i select a channel in kodi and it is already being recorded by nextpvr, it starts the buffer fresh from when it started playing and not when it started recording.

JonSnow wrote: ↑ well i busted my butt trying to get a stable CTV signal since they seem to have most of the shows i watch, that and ABC but ABC is still flaky during the day. I'll give comskip a try when i get nextpvr setup on my WSE2012 server, requires a few hacks for the tuner drivers.

For comskip, is it a manual process? or can it monitor a folder and run whenever a new file is created or run based on a schedule?

Plex has commercial skip built in. Before they added that feature, I had downloaded the scripts/programs and added it myself. Then I found a docker container with that feature built in. Finally plex added it.

The main issue with commercial skipping is results vary. Generally, if you are ripping for upload, you'll take the time to customize the script per TV show...

Otherwise, you just live with the occasional commercial that slips past, and leave commercial skip turned off for news like programs.

JonSnow wrote: ↑ well i busted my butt trying to get a stable CTV signal since they seem to have most of the shows i watch, that and ABC but ABC is still flaky during the day. I'll give comskip a try when i get nextpvr setup on my WSE2012 server, requires a few hacks for the tuner drivers.

For comskip, is it a manual process? or can it monitor a folder and run whenever a new file is created or run based on a schedule?

That the thing, generally you need to have antennas pointed in the right direction. If you gang several antennas together, that drops your signal. If you add a pre-amp, that will raise the noise floor. Probably the best solution is an HD Home Run for each direction. Ideally at my house I would have one antenna pointed to Buffalo, and one to Toronto. That would get me 29 channels reliably. But the best I can do with a single antenna and no pre-amp is 18 channels reliably. I've considered a second HD Home Run, but in the end I concluded it is not worth the investment. My family doesn't watch 98% of what I set to record now. So why in the world do I want to record more? To me the main point of over the air is for the rare case my wife asks me to turn on the TV to check local news. Everything else is just play. At one time she liked over the air enough to invest in 4 antennas, and the pre-amp. But now 3 of the antennas just sit there unused, and I long since given up replacing the pre-amps after stop working...