The XBMC Live TV and PVR/DVR Setup Guide
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As of v12 (Frodo), XBMC features live TV and video recording (DVR/PVR) abilities. This allows you to watch live TV, listen to radio, view a TV guide (EPG), schedule recordings and enables many other TV related features.
Due to the somewhat complicated nature of setting up PVR for XBMC, this guide was created to help users from start to finish.
How does live TV/PVR work in XBMC?
A PVR backend is a second process/application that performs the task of tuning and recording over-the-air and cable television programming, as well as radio. The PVR backend can either run on the same machine running XBMC, on a stand-alone device (able to feed several XBMC machines), or completely by itself with XBMC only running when needed. When paired with a backend, XBMC handles the interface, or frontend, allowing the user to watch live TV, scheduled recordings, time shift (only supported by some backends), etc.
The XBMC Live TV feature allows the user to watch, pause and record both live TV broadcasts or from Internet based TV services, giving the same sort of functionality as the Tivo-style video recorder devices. The TV server function may be on the same or a different host (and even OS) than the XBMC device, dependent on the Add-on client and server properties.
A note about the limits of Live TV/PVR