NextPVR Forums

I am a current BTV user (on my computer only) and I'd love to switch over to a MVP + GBPVR setup. Please excuse my ignorance but I want to make sure I understand the setup.

Inventory:

1. Dual tuner card (pvr500) in my computer in my home office.
2. Cable box sitting near the computer.
3. TV in the living room.
4. MVP in the living room.

Setup:

1. I setup GB-PVR on the computer to use the pvr500 card.
2. I run the output from the cable box into the pvr500 card.
3. I then use the IR blaster from the pvr500 to change channels on the cable box.
4. I hook up a network cable from my computer to the MVP.
5. I then use the MVP to control the GB-PVR software.

Am I missing anything?

I am a long time Tivo user (4+ years) and I would LOVE to be able to get rid of it. I just purchased two 250 gig drives for a home built PVR but if I can use the MVP and the new drives in my current PC and not have to build another box then all the better!

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Robert Basil

Yes, that should work just fine. That is the way I have my system set up less the cable box, I just use regular cable, no premium channels.

The blaster will control your box fine as far as changing channels for recordings.

However, there are a few limitations with this setup. The biggest is that live TV over the MVP results in rather slow channel changing. Also, playing back Divx files stored on the computer with the MVP can be a little flaky.

The good points though are that there is no big PC box in the living room and that the mvp is silent. I have mine setup so that the mvp simply feeds into an auxilliary input so anless we are watching recorded TV, the MVP is not even turned on.

Is the delay from changing the channel during live TV a long one? I really need to keep the wife happy as she is use to the fast switching of the Tivo.

Oh, and thanks for the reply.

It usually takes two or three seconds to change channels on the MVP.

Ouch.

Looks like I'll have to continue my work on my stand alone HTPC. But at least I found some great PVR software to use with it. (GB-PVR of course!)

Thanks for the fast answers.