Best third party software

is there any good third party software that can allow for recording and playback? Preferably free. Thanks

I heard good things about GB PVR. It's free. I'm going to install it one of these days.

http://www.gbpvr.com/screenshots.htm

BeyondTV is rather expensive, US$ 70 if I remember right from their Web site. At this price we're better off waiting for a FutureShop or BestBuy sale and then buying a PVR card with software included. A few months ago they had a Hauppauge 150 PVR on sale for CDN $70 and it included BeyondTV.

------- I don't really know what I'm talking about, just reading from other forums, so take this info with a grain of salt, OK? Good luck, and please post what you find out -------

I picked up BeyondTV last black friday for $30 with $30 rebate (aka $0 AR).

I'll report on it as soon as I find a suitable PCI-E video card that's not expensive to use with DVI...

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

I've got a question though: MediaPortal says it creates dvr-ms files. Can you record shows with it on a computer and then watch them on another (a laptop, for example)? I'm reluctant to record my favourite shows with Windows MCE because I'll lose them all when I change computers or move to Linux. Can MediaPortal create mpg files without any of the DRM garbage?

I have used Beyond TV and think it is ok, I personally only use playback of movies and shows that I already have so use orb for that, which is free.

http://www.orb.com

I think it does have recording features but I can't remember atm.

i have a tv wonder 650 and the media center that came with it is ok, but it takes nowedays longer to load up after i recorded couple shows, and i cant pause teh recording, so that sux