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This is part 2 of my review of using SichboPVR and wanted to share the following tips.
- To quickly schedule a recording, simply left-click or right-click on a programme in the TV Guide so the 'Show Times' window appears, click on the round record button which turns red and the scheduled recording is now set, while clicking on the round record button again cancels the scheduled recording. In the 'Show Times' window clicking on 'Advanced' you can manually set a single recording by clicking on 'New Time' in 'Queue', or setting a recurring recording such as daily or weekly by clicking on 'Specific channels and times'. If you click on the clock symbol next to the round record button it simply schedules a channel change during live TV so you don't miss watching a programme.
- Click on setup > channels > List1 to select your favourite SD and HD channels in List1 which will appear when clicking on 'List1' in the TV Guide. Rename 'List1', 'List2', etc. by selecting the word 'List1' to delete it and type in a new name, and sort the channels by numbers or alphabetical order.
- All recordings can be saved in its own series folder if you add Title in setup > advanced > recording folder so it states TitleTitle ChannelName ChannelNumber Date Time.
- If there's no video or sound in Live TV you would need to download and install decoders such as 'LAV Filters' and then select 'LAV' in the 'Decoders' section in setup > advanced. To change a video or audio decoder, click on 'setup' in the top-left, then on 'advanced', then under 'Decoders' select the decoder's name (e.g. MPEG2Video, H264Video, H265Video, MEPG2Audio, AC3Audio, etc.) and choose the decoder such as 'LAV'. In LAV video and audio settings, ensure mp2, mp3, aac, ac3, mpeg2, h264, h265, etc. are enabled.
- Left-clicking on any Channel name/logo at the left of the TV Guide provides a list of programmes for only that specific channel, just like you could do in the old Windows Media Center TV Guide. When clicking on the Calender symbol on the top-right of the TV Guide (next to the arrow) the days of the week appear and clicking on any day displays the listings for that specific day in the TV Guide. Also, you can use the left and right click of your mouse wheel to scroll left or right in the TV Guide.
- Pressing the F1 button on the keyboard and selecting the word 'Shortcuts' with the mouse provides a list of keyboard shortcut keys.
- 'Reclocking of recorded files' in setup > advanced > tweakage ensures correct timestamps in recordings so they play properly in third-party media players and import into advanced video editing software without issue, unlike occasional 'faulty' recordings made by my old Windows Media Center which sometimes had incorrect timestamps that come from the broadcaster.
- In tv > recordings, click on the recording and an options window appears and then click on 'Edit' to activate the video editor for trimming .ts recordings where, for example, you can manually cut out commercials from recordings if required. Simply find the start and end of the commercials and each time click on the 'Cut' button, then click on the tick which changes to an 'X' which disables that section of the recording. Lastly click the 'Save' button and it saves to a folder of your choice in original (lossless) quality as no video encoding is done.
- In Live TV start typing a channel name (exclude any space, e.g. skynews) and press on 'Enter' once on your keyboard and the channel will change, or use the mouse wheel (up and down) in the lower left corner to find and change channel.
- To ensure scheduled recordings take place, in setup > advanced > tweakage, ensure the following boxes are checked/enabled: 'Add SichboPVR to the Windows start-up folder', 'Minimise to system tray instead of closing', 'Start in the background/minimised to tray' and 'Wake the computer for recordings'.
- In Live TV pressing the round record button at the bottom of the screen instantly starts a manual recording of the current live TV channel and clicking it again stops the manual recording.
- Get at least seven channels listed in the TV Guide in full screen mode by right-clicking on the SichboPVR.exe file in C:Program FilesSichboPVR and clicking on 'Properties', then on the 'Compatibility' tab and checking the box 'Override high DPI scaling behaviour', especially when Display scaling in Windows is set to greater than 100%.
- Timeshifting in Live TV can be turned off (or on again) by clicking on the Settings icon next to the Stop button at the bottom of the Live TV screen and then clicking on the Timeshifting On/Off button. You can set the 'Timeshift Buffer Size' in GB to any number you want in setup > advanced > tweakage (the default is 10GB).
- For Picture-in-Picture hold Ctrl key + Click in the TV Guide to play multiple channels in new windows.
SichboPVR supports DVB-T/T2 Terrestrial, DVB-S/S2 Satellite, DVB-C Cable and ATSC tuners, has support for channels that use the newer H265 HEVC Video Decoder, support for XMLTV EPG files, WMC/MCE remotes and playback of .mpg and .mp4 videos in tv > folders (and in tv > recordings if .mpg and .mp4 videos are placed in your recordings folder).
I've been impressed with SichboPVR and find it easy to use as I don't need instructions as simply clicking on a symbol or word with the mouse usually performs a function. There's a good Help section on the SichboPVR website.
My best PVR was the old Windows Media Center but I find SichboPVR to be the best PVR now. I can't find anything to complain about as it does everything I want and more, and is in regular improvement judging by the Version history / Release notes above (worth a read to learn of its features).
Hope the tips given above are of help to others.
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