GB-PVR

GB-PVR

A screenshot of GB-PVR main menu (default theme)
Stable release 1.4.7 / August 29, 2009
Operating system Microsoft Windows
Type Personal video recorder
License Proprietary (core)
Website http://www.gbpvr.com/

GB-PVR was a PVR (personal video recorder) application, running on Microsoft Windows, whose main function was scheduling TV recordings and playing back live TV. GB-PVR is no longer under active development and has been superseded by NextPVR.[1]

GB-PVR also acts as a home media center software with a digital video recorder, a radio station online tuner, a music and movie player, a library of images and other features. The program has been succeeded by a new PVR program, called NextPVR or nPVR for short. [2]

Although GB-PVR supports open interfaces, the core engine code is closed. However developing personal plug-ins is an option to extend the application and these can be closed or open source, depending on the developer's interests. These plug-ins can be developed in C#, VB.NET or C++ and exist some examples available in the GB-PVR official Forums and the GB-PVR Documentation wiki websites. Moreover the software has been developed with an interface which allows to change the skin view or other graphic elements as the wallpaper.

GB-PVR is mostly an MPEG recording and playback system, but may also play other non-MPG content such as AVI (DivX/Xvid), WMV, and other formats that are supported by the codecs installed into a computer's.

It requires a supported TV tuner card, a VMR9 capable display adapter (video card), and a supported MPEG2 Decoder. Other requirements are listed on the GB-PVR web site.

Features

Supported Capture Cards

Capture or tuner cards are devices that allows a computer to record video signal, receive television signal and playback video. Some examples of capture cards are:

Analog TV cards

These capture cards are the most popular as they allow to receive television signals with a computer, moreover some of them also act as video capture, recording television programs in the computer. Some examples are:

Digital TV cards

Depending on the type of device these cards can allow to tune the reception of digital signals as DVB-T and DVB-S, ATSC HDTV or QAM HDTV signals. These devices also can include BDA drivers. Some examples are listed below:

DVB-T AND DVB-S DEVICES

ATSC HDTV DEVICES

QAM HDTV DEVICES

GO7007SB BASED DEVICES

Remote Control

IR or RF signal transmitters and receivers are used for GB-PVR remote control. Software makes the interpretation of the signals. With few buttons the user can interact with GB-PVR. Some manufacturers have developed remotes for remote PC wake up.

Playback

Plug-ins

For the installation of the dll, it should be in the gbpvr/plugins directory. The plug-ins skin should be copied to the skin directory. Normally the plug-ins are distributed as zip files and they can be extract to the gbpvr root directory. When there is a skin which is not available in the plug-ins zip file, it has to be copied into the current skin directory.

Some plug-ins may be configured in the GB-PVR configuration tool, but most of them are configured by editing the plugins Manual/ Skin (skin.xml)

Available in version 1.3.7 (current version 1.3.11 to be confirmed)

Client/Server support

When configuring the machine which is running GB-PVR, the possibilities are client and server mode. The server is responsible of recordings that the clients can schedule. Therefore clients do not need a recording service. A client PC just can watch TV and recordings from the server, which has to share them. Clients can also use the EPG which runs in the server. There are two different sharing modes:

Other clients supported:

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.gbpvr.com/pmwiki/ GB-PVR Homepage
  2. ↑ http://www.geektonic.com/2010/06/popular-freeware-htpc-gb-pvr-becomes-n.html

References

External links

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