Is Win7 MCE & IceTV ready for use as a 'real' PVR?

[chrisb]

I'm curious if Win7MCE and IceTV is a good and viable option compared to other PVR's like the Beyonwiz or Tivo?

If I built one it would definitely have 4 tuners - something that just isn't offered elsewhere. I've read about issues with hard and soft padding resulting in similar issues to what I see on my Beyonwiz with consecutive recordings. ( this issue annoys me, it's easily fixed in software especially with Beyonwiz's multipart storage!)

Will MCE record multiple channels off the same tuner if that's required?

Are  there any other issues?

[cam]

MCE is a bit annoying in that if you have two consecutive programs on the same channel, it ties up two tuners during the overlap caused by padding.  I have four tuners also, and at times they're all maxed out simply because microsoft can't think through that one a bit better and use one tuner during the overlap.

Soft padding is a disaster, as TV stations never start/finish on time.  I always use a hard pad.

I use MCE to set the timers, and just use IceTV for EPG.  That works well for me.  I'm pretty happy.  Come to think of it, I don't that IceTV supported a hard pad at the time I started out, so that's why I used the MCE to set the timers.  I don't know if IceTV has added the hard pad feature since.

Cam

[bodogbodog]

I'm curious if Win7MCE and IceTV is a good and viable option compared to other PVR's like the Beyonwiz or Tivo?

Well I've been using it since Media Center 2005 so I guess it doesn't do too bad a job  ;D

In fact we have 2 media center systems in the house now (both Win7 - one 64 bit and one 32 bit) - both have dual tuners in them so 4 tuners available altogether

I suggest you have a look around Australian Media Center Community @ http://www.pcmediacenter.com.au/forum/index.php?app=ccs and the forums there - you'll find plenty of helpful people over there

[raymondjpg]

I'm curious if Win7MCE and IceTV is a good and viable option compared to other PVR's like the Beyonwiz or Tivo?

If I built one it would definitely have 4 tuners - something that just isn't offered elsewhere. I've read about issues with hard and soft padding resulting in similar issues to what I see on my Beyonwiz with consecutive recordings. ( this issue annoys me, it's easily fixed in software especially with Beyonwiz's multipart storage!)

Will MCE record multiple channels off the same tuner if that's required?

Are  there any other issues?

I have WMC 7 installed but don't use it much, so cannot answer your question about multiple channels off the same tuner.

I do know that using TV Scheduler extensively with one aging Leadtek PCI tuner that this software allows for (apparently) any number of concurrent AND overlapping recordings from channels on the same broadcast frequency with the one tuner. It does not have a TV viewer though, and the WinFast PVR2 application seems to suffer from a decaying signal strength over time. Another limitation for me under Windows is that any applications that access my single tuner lock out the other applications - this could be different with other more up-to-date tuner hardware and software installations.