Comparison of DVR software packages
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This is a comparison of digital video recorder (DVR), also known as personal video recorder (PVR), software packages.
Note: this is may be considered a comparison of DVB software, not all listed packages have recording capabilities.
General information
Basic general information for popular DVR software packages - not all actually record.
| Name | Windows | MacOSX | Linux | BSD | Android | Price | License | Latest stable release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond TV | Yes | No | No | No | No | Discontinued | Proprietary | 4.9.3 (Build 6535) October 15, 2010; 15 years ago(2010-10-15) | Not compatible with DVB tuners. While Snapstream is providing minor fixes for Beyond TV, they are no longer actively updating and developing the software as they are focusing on commercial applications. Despite the lack of a new version, their fanbase (in the forums) remains active and the program is still available. |
| DVB Dream | Yes | No | No | No | No | US$49 | Proprietary | 3.7.1 March 14, 2019; 7 years ago(2019-03-14) | Focused on DVB and live TV |
| DVBViewer | Yes | No | No | No | No | €20 | Proprietary | 6.1.5 July 22, 2019; 6 years ago(2019-07-22) | |
| Emby (formerly Media Browser) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (client only) | Crippleware | GPL & Proprietary | 4.6.7.0 November 21, 2021; 4 years ago(2021-11-21) | Compatible with SiliconDust HDHomeRun tuners. |
| EyeTV | No | Yes | No | No | No | Bundled | Proprietary | 3.6.9 (build 7521) January 10, 2017; 9 years ago(2017-01-10) | Bundled for no extra charge with all Elgato USB tuners, but also sold separately for use with other tuners. |
| Hauppauge WinTV | Yes | No | No | No | No | Bundled | Proprietary | 8.5 (build 37122) May 2, 2019; 6 years ago(2019-05-02) | Bundled for no extra charge, only works with Hauppauge TV cards and peripherals. |
| InterVideo WinDVR | Yes | No | No | No | No | Discontinued | Proprietary | 5.2 March 29, 2010; 16 years ago(2010-03-29) | Discontinued. Used to be bundled for no extra charge with various TV tuner devices. |
| Jellyfin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (unofficially) | Yes (client only) | Free | GPL | 10.10.7 April 5, 2025; 12 months ago(2025-04-05) | |
| JRiver Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | US$59.98 (multiple installations) | Proprietary | 29.0.22 March 22, 2022; 4 years ago(2022-03-22) | DirectShow video player, madVR, LAV filters, HD audio, images, 10 foot GUI, Remote control, DLNA, Android/iPhone interface, automatic meta-data lookup for Audio, TV and Movies, fully customizable database |
| Kodi (formerly XBMC) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free | GPL | 21.0 "Omega" April 6, 2024; 2 years ago(2024-04-06) | Cross-platform free and open-source software media center application, able to watch live or recorded TV, music, photos and has one of the most expansive collection of plugins/addons, enabling the system to do anything from browsing the web or downloading movies, to dimming the lights in the sitting room. |
| MediaPortal | Yes | No | No | No | No | Free | GPL | MP1: 1.23 October 4, 2019; 6 years ago(2019-10-04) MP2: 2.2.2 October 7, 2019; 6 years ago(2019-10-07) | built on the .NET 2.0 Framework |
| MythTV | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (client only) | Free | GPL | 33.1 February 5, 2023; 3 years ago(2023-02-05) | Under heavy development since 2002, and now contains most features one would expect from a good DVR. |
| NextPVR | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (client only) | Free | Proprietary | 6.1.5.231022 October 22, 2023; 2 years ago(2023-10-22) | Personal video recorder application for Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac and Docker. Supports a wide variety of devices, and a good set of features. Free for personal use. Commercial use requires a license. |
| SageTV | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (client only) | Free (was US$79.95/server, US$29.95/client) | GPL (was Proprietary) | v9.2.16 December 2, 2025 | Java based. SageTV was purchased by Google on June 20, 2011, and on August 10, 2015, it was announced that the project was converting to open-source development. |
| Showshifter | Yes | No | No | No | No | Discontinued (was £30) | Proprietary | 3.12.2945 May 14, 2005; 20 years ago(2005-05-14) | Supports some older TechnoTrend/Hauppauge boxes which are not BDA compliant, such as the Dec 2000-t/3000-s and first generation Nova-t USB boxes, which are unsupported by other PVR software. |
| tvtime | No | No | Yes | No | No | Free | GPL | 1.0.2 November 10, 2005; 20 years ago(2005-11-10) | High quality television application for use with video capture cards on Linux systems. tvtime processes the input from a capture card and displays it on a computer monitor or projector |
| Video Disk Recorder | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Free | GPL | 2.4.1 June 17, 2019; 6 years ago(2019-06-17) | TV Done Right, VDR can use one to eight video cards and support DVB-S, DVB-C and DVB-T. Record and read any DVB flux with a lot of plugins. |
| Windows Media Center | Yes | No | No | No | No | Windows 8/8.1: US$69.99Windows 8/8.1 Pro: US$9.99Windows XP/Vista/7: Free | Proprietary | 6.3.9600.16384 February 23, 2011; 15 years ago(2011-02-23) | Included with Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions and Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate editions. Was available for Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8.1 Pro as part of the Media Center Pack add-on, until it was discontinued on October 30, 2015. Available for Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 unofficially through a windows command script installer. Not available for Windows RT. |
| V@Home | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Bundled | Proprietary | 2.59 April 14, 2018; 8 years ago(2018-04-14) | Bundled for no extra charge with VBox Home TV Gateway - Network TV Tuner, Manage and schedule recordings from any web browser, local or over the internet |
| Name | Windows | MacOSX | Linux | BSD | Android | Price | License | Latest stable release | Notes |
Features
Information about what common and prominent DVR features are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons unless stated otherwise):
| DVR | Subscription free electronic program guide (EPG) | Power management | Multiple TV tuner cards support | CableCARD support | CAM support | ATSC tuner support | Automated commercial skipping | Teletext | Schedule timed recordings | Personalized intelligent recording and scheduling | DRM support | DVB (T/T2, S/S2, C) tuner support | Smartphone /tablet playback | Smartphone /tablet syncing | Smartphone /tablet remote control |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond TV | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| EyeTV | DVB; other guide info varies by region | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | External add-on | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| WinTV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| Kodi (formerly XBMC) | Yes | Yes | External add-on | External add-on | External add-on | External add-on | Yes | External add-on | External add-on | External add-on | External add-on | External add-on | Using Plugin | Using Plugin | Using Apps |
| NextPVR | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| MediaPortal | DVB/XMLTV | Yes | Yes | Partial | Supported on some specific cards | Yes | Using Plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial support | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| MediaPhoenix /ShowShifter | DVB | Unknown | Yes | No | ? | Unknown | No | No | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Yes | No | No | No |
| MythTV | DVB; other services region dependent | Yes | Yes | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Requires external add-on | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| SageTV | Yes (with former purchased license) | Yes | Yes | Partial Using Plugin | ? | Yes | Using Plugin | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Video Disk Recorder | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Using Plugin | Yes | Using Plugin | No | Yes | Using Plugin | No | Using Plugin |
| Windows Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | External add-on | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes; also respects "do not record" flag | Supports DVB-T/T2 and DVB-S/S2; does not support DVB-C | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VBox@TV | DVB Guide info varies by broadcaster and TV service provider | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Video format support
Information about what video codecs are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons) in the PVRs.
| DVR | MPEG-1 | MPEG-2 | MPEG-4 ASP (MPEG-4 Part 2), i.e. DivX, XviD | H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (MPEG-4 Part 10) | HEVC (H.265) | VP8 | VP9 | WMV | AVI | ASF | QuickTime | MP4 | RealVideo | MKV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond TV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Unknown | No | No | No | Unknown |
| EyeTV | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| WinTV | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| NextPVR | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| Kodi (formerly XBMC) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MediaPortal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| MediaPhoenix /ShowShifter | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| MythTV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SageTV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Yes |
| Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown | No | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown |
| Windows Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Unknown |
| VBox@TV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
Network support
Each features is in context of computer-to-computer interaction. All features must be available after the default install otherwise the feature needs a footnote.
| DVR | Tuner Sharing | Hard Disk Pooling | Shared Media Database | Home Automation | Media Extenders | Placeshifting/Spaceshifting | Two-way Remote Control | Second Screen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond TV | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Unknown |
| EyeTV | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| NextPVR | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| Kodi (formerly XBMC) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes4 | Yes | Unknown | Yes3 | Unknown |
| MediaPortal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes4 | Unknown |
| MediaPhoenix/ShowShifter | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| MythTV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unknown |
| SageTV | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Unknown |
| Windows Media Center | Yes6 | Yes7 | Yes | Yes2 | Yes | Yes5 | Yes2 | Unknown |
| VBox@TV | Yes | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Unknown |
1 Yes with registry change 2 Yes with retail third-party plugin 3 Yes with free supported third-party plugin 4 Yes with free unsupported third-party plugin 5 Yes with free third-party software Web Guide 4 6 Yes with add-on software called DVBLink Server 7 Yes with using symlinks, or just adding folders in settings
TV tuner hardware
TV gateway network tuner TV servers DVRs require TV tuner cards to receive signals. Many DVRs, as seen above, can use multiple tuners.
has and that are networked TV Tuners
See also
- List of free television software
- Comparison of video player software
- Home cinema
- Home theater PC (HTPC)
- Digital video recorder
- Hard disk recorder
- DVD recorder
- Quiet PC
- Media server