Any PVR solutions?

[Sadie]

I'm trying to build a PVR to receive 3 local over the air stations plus a few satellite channels from G10 and AMC21, it looks like I should be able to get EPG data from Schedules Direct (PBS will be a problem except Montana).
The main problem I'm having is finding support for Diseqc 1.2 with a rotor and a Twinhan 102g card, so far the 2 windows based solutions I've looked at GBpvr and MediaPortal use BDA drivers that don't officially at least support Diseqc, the may be a work around but I haven't figured one out.
I'm a Linux newbie and have been struggling with Mythtv since it seems to offer everything, I succeeded it getting it partially working and fell in love with the ad skipping feature, its great and has sold me on the concept of a PVR.
With Mythtv the learning curve is steep and after spending weeks trying to get the satellite scan and database working correctly, I thought I would ask what solutions other people had found?

Windows, Linux, free or good commercial software, anything?

 

[gillham]

I'm using mythtv. DiSEQc switching works well for me, motor control has improved quite a bit since I first used it and I would say it is good enough. The major problem I still have is scanning in channels. The 'scan' tool from dvb-utils (or dvb-apps) works quite well, but mythtv often has trouble locking the same transponders / channels. With some fudging of channels.conf I can use scan & mplayer to lock & watch almost anything, but getting some transponders into mythtv is a challenge. Also changing DVB channels is fairly slow, but when used mostly as a pvr it doesn't really matter.

I haven't yet used ATSC with mythtv as my OTA antenna is waiting on some parts. Analog cable is solid and clear QAM works decent.

I have a TiVo so I don't use mythtv all that much via TV/remote. Usually it is with mythfrontend on my laptop or desktop.

I've tried a couple different Windows apps (including Vista's media center) with NTSC/ATSC/QAM/DVB, but really I didn't like any of them that much compared to mythtv. It has its issues, but at least I can generally figure out what is going on versus commercial apps that print something like "pTunerBlah not available" and dump.

 

[Sadie]

Sounds like your having similar problems as I am with Mythtv.
The DisEQC and rotor control is working good, I can go to most satellites and scan a transponder or in some cases all transponders using a transport scan as per the instructions, getting the information into the data base so I can actually view them in a reliable manor is another mater.
97w works good I can scan one transponder and then do a full transport scan and get everything on the satellite 200+ channels, exit the backend and start the front end and view them.
The problems start if I go to 123w and scan one transponder, it finds channels but the channels numbers are the same as are used in 97w, changing them with channel editor doesn't seem to help, I can't view them and the channels on 97 west no longer work.
If I then delete all channels I can go back to 123w scan and view one transponder with no trouble, however if I scan another transponder (a full transport scan won't work) the channel list is again messed up and I can't view anything.
125w is even worse, after deleting all channels again I can scan a transponder say 121800 it finds 4 channel but lists them as unknown, they can't be viewed as the frontend only indicates a partial lock. In this case it seems the is a problem with Mythtv scanner as it does lock but appears to pull down incorrect data.
I'm not sure about the database I may still be entering the channel scan data incorrectly, I found a few more tips on another site last night , so I will have another go at it in the next few days.

They say Mythtv can be a bit of a struggle but is worth it in the end, that ad skipping feature is sure addictive.