Beyond TV Yes No No No No Discontinued Proprietary 4.9.3 (Build 6535)
October 15, 2010;
15 years ago Not compatible with DVB tuners. While Snapstream is providing minor fixes for Beyond TV, they are no longer actively updating and developing the software as they are focusing on commercial applications. Despite the lack of a new version, their fanbase (in the forums) remains active and the program is still available. DVB Dream Yes No No No No US$49 Proprietary 3.7.1
March 14, 2019;
6 years ago^[1] Focused on DVB and live TV DVBViewer Yes No No No No €20 Proprietary 6.1.5
July 22, 2019;
6 years ago^[2] Emby
(formerly Media Browser) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
(client only) Crippleware^[a][b] GPL & Proprietary 4.6.7.0
November 21, 2021;
4 years ago^[5] Compatible with SiliconDust HDHomeRun tuners.^[6] EyeTV No Yes No No No Bundled Proprietary 3.6.9 (build 7521)
January 10, 2017;
9 years ago Bundled for no extra charge with all Elgato USB tuners, but also sold separately for use with other tuners. Hauppauge WinTV Yes No No No No Bundled Proprietary 8.5 (build 37122)
May 2, 2019;
6 years ago Bundled for no extra charge, only works with Hauppauge TV cards and peripherals. InterVideo WinDVR Yes No No No No Discontinued Proprietary 5.2
March 29, 2010;
15 years ago Discontinued. Used to be bundled for no extra charge with various TV tuner devices. Jellyfin Yes Yes Yes Yes
(unofficially) Yes
(client only) Free GPL 10.10.7
April 5, 2025;
10 months ago^[7] JRiver Media Center Yes Yes Yes No Yes US$59.98
(multiple installations) Proprietary 29.0.22
March 22, 2022;
3 years ago^[8] DirectShow video player, madVR, LAV filters, HD audio, images, 10 foot GUI, Remote control, DLNA, Android/iPhone interface, automatic meta-data lookup for Audio, TV and Movies, fully customizable database Kodi
(formerly XBMC) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Free GPL 21.0 "Omega"
April 6, 2024;
22 months ago^[9] Cross-platform free and open-source software media center application, able to watch live or recorded TV, music, photos and has one of the most expansive collection of plugins/addons, enabling the system to do anything from browsing the web or downloading movies, to dimming the lights in the sitting room. MediaPortal Yes No No No No Free GPL MP1: 1.23
October 4, 2019;
6 years ago^[10]
MP2: 2.2.2
October 7, 2019;
6 years ago^[11] built on the .NET 2.0 Framework MythTV Limited^[c] Yes Yes Yes Yes
(client only) Free GPL 33.1
February 5, 2023;
3 years ago^[13] Under heavy development since 2002, and now contains most features one would expect from a good DVR. NextPVR Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
(client only) Free Proprietary 6.1.5.231022
October 22, 2023;
2 years ago^[14] Personal video recorder application for Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac and Docker. Supports a wide variety of devices, and a good set of features. Free for personal use. Commercial use requires a license. SageTV Yes^[d] Yes Yes No Yes
(client only) Free
(was US$79.95/server, US$29.95/client) GPL
(was Proprietary) v9.2.16

December 2, 2025

Java based. SageTV was purchased by Google on June 20, 2011, and on August 10, 2015, it was announced that the project was converting to open-source development.^[15] Showshifter Yes No No No No Discontinued
(was £30) Proprietary 3.12.2945
May 14, 2005;
20 years ago Supports some older TechnoTrend/Hauppauge boxes which are not BDA compliant, such as the Dec 2000-t/3000-s and first generation Nova-t USB boxes, which are unsupported by other PVR software. tvtime No No Yes No No Free GPL 1.0.2
November 10, 2005;
20 years ago^[16] High quality television application for use with video capture cards on Linux systems. tvtime processes the input from a capture card and displays it on a computer monitor or projector Video Disk Recorder No No Yes Yes No Free GPL 2.4.1
June 17, 2019;
6 years ago^[17] TV Done Right, VDR can use one to eight video cards and support DVB-S, DVB-C and DVB-T. Record and read any DVB flux with a lot of plugins. Windows Media Center Yes No No No No Proprietary 6.3.9600.16384
February 23, 2011;
15 years ago Included with Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions and Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate editions. Was available for Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8.1 Pro as part of the Media Center Pack add-on, until it was discontinued on October 30, 2015.^[18] Available for Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 unofficially through a windows command script installer.^[19] Not available for Windows RT. V@Home Yes Yes^[e] Yes No No Bundled Proprietary 2.59
April 14, 2018;
7 years ago^[20] Bundled for no extra charge with VBox Home TV Gateway - Network TV Tuner, Manage and schedule recordings from any web browser, local or over the internet Name Windows MacOSX Linux BSD Android Price License Latest stable release Notes