Lifehacker Picks The Best DVR Software

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://lifehacker.com/5128408/six-best-dvr-applications' target='_blank'>http://lifehacker.com/5128408/six-b...vr-applications</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Earlier this week we asked you to share you favorite DVR applications, and now we're back with the six most popular answers. This week's Hive Five Call for Contenders was one of our tightest races yet, which is why we're featuring six popular DVR apps instead of the standard five."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1232109394.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Lifehacker's most recent Hive Five asked their readers what their favourite DVR applications where and the results are in!&nbsp; Their six choices will not surprise anyone who has looked into setting up their own media center, however, only one hardware solution made the list.&nbsp; I am a Windows Media Center person, but I've used all the choices they have listed at some point or another and they are all solid choices.&nbsp; It should be noted that two of the choices are also free, meaning all that is required to set up your existing computer as a DVR is a capture card.&nbsp; Is anyone out there looking to set up a home media center?</p>

[cfaslave]

fyi, the screen-shot you used in the post looks great but it isn't Media Center. It's Snapstream BeyondTV ;)

[Hooch Tan]

fyi, the screen-shot you used in the post looks great but it isn't Media Center. It's Snapstream BeyondTV ;)

Sharp eye! It is indeed BeyondTV, which is one of the contenders that Lifehacker reviews. I used to use SnapStream back in the version 2 days, and even played with version 3 a bit, but I eventually settled on windows MCE as it tended to be easier to understand for guests when they came over. I'm about due to upgrade my Media Center though, and may give BeyondTV another go. Do you use it? Any gotchas I need to be aware of?

[Kacey Green]

I've been using it for years, it just keeps getting better, I haven't even had to pay an upgrade fee yet. (I will for version 5 though).

I demoed version 2 and liked it but wasn't ready for a media server at the time. Came back to BTV for version 3 and haven't looked back. Version 4 is stable and feature rich.