Seeking Advice: GB-PVR + PCH A-110

[smiley2billion]

Greets to everyone, I'm new here at the gbpvr forums and found my way here after I ordered a Popcorn Hour A-110 for media playback on my home theater. I found out that I could replace the awful cable box altogether using gbpvr running on a server with some tuner cards and decided to give it a shot.

I've got 2 Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 ATSC/ClearQAM/NTSC on order from newegg and should be here within the week. I'm also waiting for the PCH box to arrive.

My question is what is the easiest OS for gbpvr to operate on? I've experimented with Windows Server 2008 but it seemed like it had some problems during installation. Obviously I can't tune any channels yet due to the cards not being installed but I'm more concerned with whats going to provide me with a smooth set up process.

Should I stick with XP or is it worth it to use Server 2008? I know 2008 can use NFS for networking but supposedly the SMB networking speed is going to be increased a lot in the next firmware upgrade.

RAM isn't an issue because I'm only going to be using 2GB of DDR2 800.

Also, I'm a little confused as to how watching live TV works. With recorded shows I'm assuming they'll be saved on the server in a shared folder that the PCH can "see" and play from. I might be wrong about this as I don't have all my equipment in yet. Is it better to use the plug-in for everything (Live TV & recorded shows)?

Also, how does one go about changing the channel while watching live TV through the PCH? I see everyone talking about IR blaster remotes and using a Logitech Harmony (which I have) remote to control it and what not, but can you not just control it through the software running on the PCH?

Also, does anyone use the PCH to interface with an instance of Sabnzbd running on the server machine? Is that even possible?

Thanks so much for reading and I'm looking forward to getting my feet wet with all this stuff.

[sub]

Should I stick with XP or is it worth it to use Server 2008? I know 2008 can use NFS for networking but supposedly the SMB networking speed is going to be increased a lot in the next firmware upgrade.

I dont really have any recommendation on that one. I know XP works fine, but I've never tested on Server 2008.

Also, I'm a little confused as to how watching live TV works. With recorded shows I'm assuming they'll be saved on the server in a shared folder that the PCH can "see" and play from. I might be wrong about this as I don't have all my equipment in yet. Is it better to use the plug-in for everything (Live TV & recorded shows)?

With recordings you can either do what you mention here, and record to a shared directory, then simply play the files from the regular PCH user interface from the shared directory. Alternatively you can view the grouped lists of recordings in the Recordings screen in the GB-PVR user interface running (via mvpmcx2) on the PCH.

Also, how does one go about changing the channel while watching live TV through the PCH?

When you start live tv in GB-PVR, you can type the channel number followed by the enter key on you PCH to change channels. Behind the scenes it starts a recording on that channel and asks the PCH to start playing that recording.

Due to the buffering performed on the PCH (& 'mono' startup time), its pretty slow changing channels (about 8 seconds).

I see everyone talking about IR blaster remotes and using a Logitech Harmony (which I have) remote to control it and what not, but can you not just control it through the software running on the PCH?

You only need to use an IR Blaster if you're trying to control an external set top cable/satellite box. In this type of setup GB-PVR will use an IR Blaster to tell the set top box to change channels at the appropriate time.

[mvallevand]

Should I stick with XP or is it worth it to use Server 2008? I know 2008 can use NFS for networking but supposedly the SMB networking speed is going to be increased a lot in the next firmware upgrade.

For typical recordings and playback the PCH and GB-PVR communicate with http. NFS only has an advantage now in DVD playing (which can be accessed via GBPVR's interface) and it can be installed on XP too. I find DVD playback fine with a Windows share, but this is really a decision you have to make whether or not you use GBPVR

Martin

[smiley2billion]

8 seconds to change the channel? Ouch.

I could understand 2 to 3 seconds as that's what I see on my cable box now. I'd be nice if there was a way to decrease the buffer time.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions everyone. I most likely will not have any more until I get all my hardware in.

[sub]

The access we have to the hardware is limited to the software and information that Syabas have made available on the PCH. Its great device for playing recordings, but not that great for watching live tv (mainly because of this channel change time). To improve that aspect we'd really need Syabas to open things up a bit more. I'm not sure we'll see that happen though. Its not a huge concern to me though since we mainly watch recordings.

[smiley2billion]

I agree, the primary use will be for watching recordings. That's mostly all I do now with the Motorola cable box (when it's not crashing).

The only time I really watch "Live" TV is for the news.

Is there a way to have the PCH box default to a certain tuner when I select "Live TV"? If so I could leave one of the tuners on CNN and just use it for watching that when I want.

[sub]

Is there a way to have the PCH box default to a certain tuner when I select "Live TV"? If so I could leave one of the tuners on CNN and just use it for watching that when I want.

It defaults to the last defined capture source for live tv. It wont stay on a channel when not in use though. The resources associated with the device a released when the device is not in use for recording or live tv, but you can at least predict which tuner will be used for live tv when you use it.

[mvallevand]

The actual delay on channel change is not buffering it is reloading the video player on the NMT. I have worked out a solution with another group working on a linux based PVR called VDR where the channel changes take about 2 seconds and sub is free to use this logic too.

Martin