I'm currently using Windows 7 Media Center. It works fine. It's still the best DVR I've ever used, but my WMC7 PC has been getting a little laggy lately. It's running on fairly modern hardware that was refreshed in 2013 or 2014. Please don't go off on a tangent about hardware and performance.
CURRENT SITUATION:
WMC7 is getting very long in the tooth. It will eventually need to be replaced. A few years ago, the best hope seemed to be the Silicondust DVR.
I donated to the Silicondust DVR a long, long, long time ago. I still haven't tried using the DVR part of it. The client software looks OK. Some people complain about the lack of a grid-guide. I can live with that. I won't go into the details about that for the sake of brevity.
The last update on the SD DVR kickstarter site is from Feb 2017. It says that they got protected content working for LIVE TV. The last update I got directly from
them was a few days before they posted that on kickstarter. Their answer to my questions was less than what I was hoping for.
I just opened a new ticket with them, asking if they ever got protected content working for RECORDED TV. No answer yet.
HERE IS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU (ONLY IF YOU KNOW):
1) First, and most importantly: Does protected content work for **RECORDED** TV on the SD DVR yet???
2) Second, and also important: How does the SD DVR compare to Windows Media Center on Windows 7?
(Please don't offer a critique of the design of the Guide vs a "grid guide". Instead, I am interested in the differences between the scheduling capabilities [e.g. the ability to exclude repeat episodes, the accuracy of the Guide info when schedules change due to sports events, and the ability to handle back-to-back episodes with pre/post padding without using more than one tuner.]
I would also like to hear about things like:
- usability of the menus
- how well an IR remote control works with the SD DVR/playback software, especially the eHome remote.
MOSTLY though... does this software allow ***RECORDING*** ___PROTECTED___ ####CABLE TV#### !!!!CONTENT!!!! ????
Silicondust keeps ***AVOIDING*** this question.
Without this feature, their software is === USELESS ===.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
I'm willing to build/buy whatever hardware is necessary (according to SiliconDust) for the server and clients... and Win10 is fine if that's what it takes. Please don't turn this thread into a discussion about hardware and/or Win10. The only things I care about are my two questions above.
Thanks.