Thanks to all supporters who have encouraged me to work on version 4 over the past year — you're all welcome to begin using pre-Alpha test builds, now that it's reached a reasonable level of completeness.
System Requirements:
Windows 7 — 10 (Linux/X11 coming later.)
A reasonably beefy graphics chip (Intel Haswell or better.)
A DVB-T/T2/S/S2/C/ATSC TV tuner.
What's new and exciting?
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A brand new look and feel with a simpler interface, but still fun an exciting with animations and stuff.
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Optional background service integration making it a more suitable Windows Media Center replacement.
- Video now always “Just Works” with no way for 3rd party components to interfere with your shizz, thanks to a completely custom end-to-end media pipeline.
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A fun waveform on the seek bar so you can see/skip where the ads are (mileage varies) and also you can zoom out to see multiple shows in the timeshift buffer.
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Multiple speaker output controls and audio channel up/down mixing.
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There's now a built-in video processing engine so that display drivers can no longer ruin the picture quality.
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A better guide search including a full search as well as quick search and more intuitive scheduling.
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A unified Library system for managing shows, schedules, etc.
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Editing channel lists is now integrated right into the main guide.
- A user system so that family members and friends can have their own channel lists and favourite things streamed to their own v4 clients.
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It's a lot easier to set up multiple SichboPVR clients around your home compared to v3.
- Remote Controls are now a first-class citizen with an on-screen keyboard, custom remote key mappings and everything.
- Custom text scaling for those with limited vision, or if you simply want to cram more guide rows on screen.
- Adaptive layouts so things move around or shrink as the window size changes.
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Simpler colour scheme system with a bunch of fun default options, including high contrast (black on white, or white on black) for folks with limit eyesight.
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Time of day and show rating restrictions for kid's accounts.
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Set up multiple locations for when travelling with laptops and a TV dongle or access TV servers from friends and family.
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A Wish List feature so you can paste in a bunch of movie titles or keywords, and it'll automatically record things if they come up.
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Automatic on-the-fly channel logo generator so that stuff always looks tidy and consistent, but without being boring or needing lame bitmaps.
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Simpler "you just click one button" setup for most over-the-air use cases
- It's now much easier to set up manual one-time recordings or recurring series that don't exist in the guide data.
- Proper translations for a bunch of languages.
- Still fast and lightweight with a reasonably small footprint. Download is only 12MB, which contains both x86 and x64 editions.
- HTTP Live Streaming (live .m3u8) is SichboPVR 4's only mode of video playout from your TV tuner, which should mean easier compatibility for supporting mobiles and things later on.
- No more "hot keys" necessary. For example, the old v3 "F5 always on top mini-mode" is now a simple pin icon.
- OpenGL as well as Direct3D 11 rendering modes.
Still to come...
The initial Alpha release is Windows-only because it's been a marathon getting to this stage and I don't want to plow through another six months of work before people get to try it. Ubuntu Linux releases are coming later.
- Linux/GCC builds.
- EPG grid rewrite (there's a guide already, but I have an idea for something a bit more special/fluid, but it's a big job.)
- Web front end for mobiles/browsers.
- Video editor/meme creator.
- Transcoding.
FYI...
The voluntary supporter programme started 2019 unfortunately has not materialised into a liveable wage. Meanwhile I've got bills to pay. To that end, v4 requires a contribution from anybody wanting to use it. Thank you to the 495 wonderful people who are currently supporting me today — I hope you'll enjoy your v4 builds as well.
Rock on,
- Simon