So after about 3 months of using Media Portal, I decided to give another application a shot. I've steered away from Beyond TV in the past because I was looking for a non-commercial solution. That was closed-minded of me. I decided I would give it a try since I could always go back to using Media Portal if I didn't like BTV.

I downloaded the trial version, and after 1 week of use I'm happy to say it has exceeded my expectations. BTV only does PVR duties, but SnapStream has other products (Beyond Media is the next one I'm going to try out) that extends the functionality by (for instance) allowing you to play / save DVD's, play downloaded videos, stream music, view pictures and stream to clients like a laptop or another computer. The amazing part for me was how fast it took from downloading the installer to being fully operational (two tuners; one for the DirectTV receiver and one for terrestrial HDTV). Media Portal took me several days to get everything working...BTV took me about 15 minutes. The interface is snappy too, compared to MP. MP kept the choices open for pretty much everything, including the TV listings. This is great for some people, but BTV let's you use their own SnapStream.net TV listings service which is as good or better than the service I used for MP. Being able to login anywhere and schedule remote recordings was a big plus as well.

I'm not done trying out the different HTPC / PVR software out there. Next on my list is GB-PVR, which is another freeware application that runs on Windows. I won't forget about MythTV either, although I won't be able to use my ATI HDTV Wonder card so I'll have to buy another Digital capture card before venturing in that territory.