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Hi,

I have just moved from windows media centre to a beyonwiz box. (So I could upgrade to Windows 10 across the board, loosing WMC in the process)

While the WMC EPG had a heap of extra information, first release year, actors and directors, can't remove movie from the title, repeat flag, etc
The beyonwiz EPG is disappointingly underwhelming.

A quick search of the beyonwiz forum and it is clear they feel the ball is squarely in ICETV's court to correct.

I might be wrong but both WMC and beyonwiz use EIT (Event Information Table) as the EPG data (converted/mapped from the xml supplied by ICETV)

I suspect the WMC ICETV interactive can convert the xml to the correct EIT mapping however beyonwiz standard expects the xml to already be in a standard format.

This missing information has broken the previous process I was able to do with the WMC recordings. e.g. looking up additional posters information.
and as a result ICETV's EPG value has dropped considerably.

Assuming ICETV ran into the same issues of mapping with their new Skippa, I'm hoping beyonwiz users will no longer be short changed soon?


Beyonwiz forum post http://beyonwiz.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=9114

[Currently the HDD is not sharable = Deal breaker]

The recorded file container is a regular mpeg2-ts (transport stream) file with a .ts file extension. The .ts file contains the video, audio and closed captions when available.

I'm not sure if the metadata is included in the .ts file or in a separate file (of the same name but different file extension) but I suspect it's a separate file.

I'm also not sure about the filename but it would be a fairly standard format of year-month-day_hr-min-sec_showname.ts

As Ian pointed out, Plex is available on the Opera TV Store and the skippa has Opera TV Store.

Currently the HDD is not sharable.

Currently 2 skippas in the 1 account would be seen and treated as 2 separate devices each with their own series recordings.

Dave
IceTV Support

Thanks Dave,

IceTV AutoSkip (automatic Ad-Skip Technology) - Watching a movie or TV show without constant interruptions at the worse possible time is one of those things that will make you later wonder how you ever watched TV without AutoSkip.
I have been 30 sec skipping adds 10 secs back with my mouse for years. A little annoying sure, but I'm used to it.
What will be really annoying is to get through most of a movie and realise it skipped a crucial 5 mins of plot dialoguge
So this might not last long turned on.

IceTV Smart Recording and IceTV Electronic Program Guide - IceTV will be more tightly integrated into skippa than in any previous recorder that is able to use IceTV. This also makes future improvements and new features possible to be more easily added to skippa.
But that dosen't mean no development on other integration apps?

Record up to 6 programs simultaneously and watch a 7th program (either live or pre-recorded)
6 Programs as long as they are all only on 3 networks and padding may or maynot be maintained
Less flexability than my current setup, would need to use 2 Skippas to be sure

1080p Video Output - Sharp, clear images on even the largest TV or projector. Most PVRs only upscale to 1080i. Some don't do a good job of upscaling the SD channels.
As long as the file is saved as up to 1080p, I have no need to up scale on a device which handles 1080p natively (PC is 4K)   
Currently the HDD is not sharable = Deal breaker

1 TB Hard Drive - The goldilocks of hard drive sizes (just right). Hard drives smaller than 1TB are too small. Hard drives larger than 1TB hold more hours of recordings than you could ever watch.
27 TB NAS. being able to move all my files into a central raided location, 1 access point for all my devices.   
Currently the HDD is not sharable = Deal breaker

HbbTV Enabled - All of the Catchup TV channels and Freeview Plus (and whatever else becomes available via HbbTV in future).
I would like this, maybe it's good maybe it isn't

Opera TV Store - 100s of apps (mostly free) including Plex, games and Internet TV channels and radio channels etc. etc.
As Ian pointed out, Plex is available on the Opera TV Store and the skippa has Opera TV Store.
Great, I can use Plex to watch everything on my network EXCEPT whats on the Skippa HD.
Currently the HDD is not sharable = Deal breaker

Media playback via USB and DLNA Streaming - play your home videos or recordings off other devices, even if they are mkv format.
I already have a number of devices, players all DNLA capable, but not as pretty enhanced as a proper media library e.g. plex
Currently the HDD is not sharable = Deal breaker

Plug and Play (intuitive setup wizard) - User friendly so anyone can set up a skippa.
Yep, I'm sure it will be for those whose only media device will be Skippa.

Closed Captioning - Any PVR that does not have closed captions is not suitable for a growing percentage of the market.
Glad it's available, but not used in my household 


From my round up of comments
The biggest issue is not being able to access the files on Skippa directly from other devices
i.e. Move them somewhere to be catalogued

Even if this were solved with the addition of Samba etc
The mpeg2-ts has no capability of storing metadata (.WTV has some great information)
And the filenaming won't even help look up additional data without at least title , year, and episode name

Looks like I will be cancelling my order of 2 x Skippas :( and after quite a wait :(   

My current setup is Windows Media Centre (Intel I5, GTX960, Hauppauge 22XX x 2, Plex Media Server, etc)  to Synology NAS to Plex
This takes some file conversion, getting Movie/Series info from MovieDB/TVDB, file renaming and moving to the NAS.

Hoping to replace the WMC PVR part (and avoid some of the conversion, internet lookup steps) with 1 or 2 Skippas

I can't answer this question myself with the current information provided  :'(


Hi,

Answers to any or all of the following questions would be a big help.
What format/container do the recordings get written as?
What will the filename be?
How much of the Guide metadata is included in the file.
Is the hard drive sharable?
If I purchase 2 Skippas will Smart recording treat them as 1 and assign recordings to the main one first and then the other if conflicted?

These all have to do with
1 increasing the tuner count, I'm not convinced 3 will be enough as I have 4 now and still have conflicts on some days.
2 automating conversion (hopefully not required),  metadata lookup and renaming the file for Plex recognition and finally moving to my NAS

Movie Title (Year)
Series Name - s01e01 - Episode Name

Hmm, not sure the specs page answered any of my questions
.MP4 MPEG4? maybe which is fine...

If it's hard/impossible to get it off the PVR across to my NAS

PS specs are similar to Altech Uec - 1TB High Definition PVR Triple Tuner, Black PVR9600T
For ~$250 minus the ad skip, which I don't see as mandatory

Hi,

Answers to any or all of the following questions would be a big help.
What format/container do the recordings get written as?
What will the filename be?
How much of the Guide metadata is included in the file.
Is the hard drive sharable?
If I purchase 2 Skippas will Smart recording treat them as 1 and assign recordings to the main one first and then the other if conflicted?

These all have to do with
1 increasing the tuner count, I'm not convinced 3 will be enough as I have 4 now and still have conflicts on some days.
2 automating conversion (hopefully not required),  metadata lookup and renaming the file for Plex recognition and finally moving to my NAS

Movie Title (Year)
Series Name - s01e01 - Episode Name

Thanks, not the best news, but news none-the-less

was hoping this week, early next  :(

Hi,

Answers to any or all of the following questions would be a big help.
What format/container do the recordings get written as?
What will the filename be?
How much of the Guide metadata is included in the file.
Is the hard drive sharable?
If I purchase 2 Skippas will Smart recording treat them as 1 and assign recordings to the main one first and then the other if conflicted?

These all have to do with
1 increasing the tuner count, I'm not convinced 3 will be enough as I have 4 now and still have conflicts on some days.
2 automating conversion (hopefully not required),  metadata lookup and renaming the file for Plex recognition and finally moving to my NAS

Movie Title (Year)
Series Name - s01e01 - Episode Name

Hi,

It's May and no extra details/specifications :(

I really think I need to switch to a PVR from Windows Media Centre (2 x 2200 Huappauge dual tuners) as much as I hate to.
But .wtv container is causing al sorts of issues extending my library to newer applications (Plex etc)

Not sure I can wait much longer, unlees I win one in the draw, wink, wink.

Shame cause I was all set to order maybe even 2

However If I can confirm that it will do everthing I need it to I might be willing to wait....

Hi,

I came looking for Motor sport solutions too.
Just highlights for V8s and F1 :(

I thought I may gotten my recording schedule wrong, prefer HD first run only but perhaps not

Well I have learnt a lot since my first post; I now have 4 tuners working and have seen how VMC handles back to back shows ( a tad annoying having a couple of mins in the wrong file most of the time)

I am finding it hard to justify handing over some cash with no replies though

The question still remains what is the best method(s) for getting the most out of IceTV?
I haven't really used interactive since the post, just scheduling stuff in VMC
I'm afraid using both will create some problems. i.e. If I cancel a program who gets priority? will the next sync just override 1 or the other?

Hi,
Looking for the best approach to using IceTV with my media centre.

Vista Media Centre
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2200 (dual tuner)
IceTV padding 5 mins before 10 mins after.
CRT TV  :(

After a long session trying to get the CRT set up I was finally up and running.

Excitedly I went through the whole 7 days EPG setting series after series to record and a few movies here and there

As I went along I could see a few conflicts popping up (stupid need to pad programs, bah limited to 2 tuners :( )

A day or 2 of recording and all seems to be going well (very happy with the hauppauge so far)

Unfortunatly there is no way to see a list of recordings coming up withn VMC (that I could find) so I decided to go have a look at IceTV interactive website.

Although "My upcoming shows" was just what I was looking for; all the series recordings were shown as 1 off recordings with no series recording options available.
For the life of me I couldn't find the series recording options that I read were available :(

In desperation I cancelled most of the recordings and tried keyword search/record.
The advantage of the "prefer HD" option seemed to be just the ticket but...
The thought of adding all the keywords was a bit of a turn off.

Accidentally I came accross the series recording options (because the single recodings were cancelled) but there was no prefer HD option :(
This would be my preffered method (its consistent with VMC) but the missing HD option is just a deal breaker :(

On a side note the listings were not showing conflicts (even though IceTV knows how many tuners I have and the padding settings?) does it need to wait for VME to report the conflicts?

So after all that I need to come up with a best practice strategy to get the most out of IceTV/VCM/Tuners.

1. Should I only use 1 of either VCM or IceTV website
i.e. VCM for scheduling, IceTV for viewing info only
or just use IceTV website for everything?

2. Depending on answer to 1
Keyword record only
or series record all channels and remove duplicates (SD) manually daily

3. Back to Back programs like simpsons, two and a half men, red dwarf etc are going to be a real pain I believe with padding and only 2 tuners
How best to handle them?

4. Has anyone successfully installed  2 x Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2200 (dual tuner) which would eliminate most of my conflict woes