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I am looking at an alternative to windows media center for recording and watching TV. Setting up the TV tuner in media center was super easy, but all the other software I've tried was difficult to set up. My video is coming from an S-Video input, and I would want to have a guide.

Like in Windows Media Center, I would want to be able to change the channel with an IR remote control. I would want it to be free. If there are multiple steps or programs to install, could I have detailed instructions?

Edit: It is ok if it doesn't support an IR remote if that is difficult to find.

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    Am I not clear enough or asking too much? If there is a software offering something similar to what I ask, it would be great to know.
    – jonapap
    Aug 4, 2015 at 0:34
  • Hardly any HTPC builds are still handling IR remotes very well. You could try media portal..
    – Raystafarian
    Aug 10, 2015 at 13:56

1 Answer 1

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Kodi Entertainment Center (former XMBC) will suit "all" your needs - and among other systems - it works on Linux as well, thus for free.

A second option is MythTV, but capabilities are limited.

Updated: Next could be OpenElec, but this is just OS - implementing Kodi. Not sure if the support of whatever standard is better or not.

Update2: OpenElec was transformed into LibreElec which will run on almost any hardware. It is still a standalone OS. A lot of plugins, but a lot of them outdated. At least Youtube plugin works.

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  • Kodi doesn't have good CableCard support (for DRM'ed channels). The OP hasn't explicitly mentioned this as a goal, but this may be an issue if seeking to migrate off WMC.
    – Bala Sivakumar
    Aug 18, 2015 at 17:13
  • @Bala - Kodi does not need any cable card support, as it is a Operating system who should support the hardware. You can run Kodi on Windows or other 5 OSes, and especially plenty versions of Linux. You should choose such OS, which supports your hardware well.
    – Dee
    Aug 25, 2015 at 12:09
  • Thanks for the answer. I already knew about Kodi and I just got it working today(well partialy). I cant really mark this as best answer because I asked for instructions to help me setup Kodi.
    – jonapap
    Aug 25, 2015 at 23:35
  • @Dee: In the case of an ethernet connected tuner like HD HomeRun, it is the player that should support CableCard. CableCard is not exposed as hardware to the OS, but instead is used for DRM.
    – Bala Sivakumar
    Aug 26, 2015 at 19:05
  • Allright, got it.. Well you are probably right.
    – Dee
    Aug 27, 2015 at 21:45

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