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I've been using NextPVR for over 10 years now. If you're primary requirement is to schedule and watch TV shows over the air, then I don't think there is any better software out there. It may lack some of the pzazz of some other media players but often that is all they are (media players) and don't offer intelligent scheduling of all your favourite TV shows from one or multiple TV tuners. For example did you know that if the channels you want to watch are on the same DVB mux, it can record multiple shows at the same time, all from a single tuner. It can avoid recording the same show, reschedule a show to resolve a conflict with recordings, keep the last X episodes of a series etc.
I would say the software is pretty much bullet-proof and I don't recall the last time I ever had the software barf on me. (There were a few issues with FF/RW when the playback code was rewritten but these gremlins are pretty much all ironed out now). You do however need to ensure that you have the necessary codecs installed (not supplied with NextPVR) if you wish to playback other formats as NextPVR just asks windows to use whatever the default codec is for that file type. Most folks use decoders from LAV , MS or various codec packs that are available.
If you just want software to playback movies that you have downloaded or ripped off a disc, NextPVR can cater for these files just fine although there may be other products that can provide more bling to your viewing experience.
As a true client/server app, it supports playback from other pcs/laptops/browsers and mobile devices (being actively developed).
The author has also been investing a lot of time in ramping up support for IPTV during the last 12 months.
I would prefer to call it donateware rather than freeware as I feel that regular users of the product should support the author who dedicates a huge amount of his time to this project and the forum is friendly, responsive and helpful.
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