Recommendations: TV Tuner cards and Recording devices

[oasistech]

I'm wondering if you have a recommendation for TV Tuner cards (low profile) and/or recording devices. I'm in the process of building an HTPC using running XBMC.

[U]TV Tuner[/U]

To minimize the number of devices, I'd like to use an internal card for the TV Tuner. I've been reading about the InfiniTV 4 PCIe card from Ceton. Has anyone used it with success? In our area, Charter Communication offers a CableCard that should work with the InfiniTV card. Any concerns?

Are there cards available as a TV tuner compatible with Satellite Providers (Dish Network and/or DirectTV)? Has anyone used them with success?

Note: I have a PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 avaiable

[U]Recording Devices[/U]

What recording devices are recommended and what is the video/sound quality does it provide? What type of connections are required?

Ideally, I'm looking for a small external device that can be stored in a closet (out-of-sight).

Just for the record, I have a Dazzle DVC-100 recording devices that I've used to record old video tapes. Any chance it would work for this situation? I've tried to install it, but NextPVR doesn't seem to recognize it.

In case you need to know, here are the components in my system:

TV: Samsung HDTV
XBMC: Windows 7, 32bit
HT Receiver: Yamaha RX-V367
DishTV/DVR:VIP722K DVR

Any assistance/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[sub]

To minimize the number of devices, I'd like to use an internal card for the TV Tuner. I've been reading about the InfiniTV 4 PCIe card from Ceton. Has anyone used it with success? In our area, Charter Communication offers a CableCard that should work with the InfiniTV card. Any concerns?

Instead of the Ceton card, I'd go with either the Hauppauge DCR-2650 or SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime. Both of these are natively supported by NextPVR. The Ceton card is not natively supported (though some people have used them with the Network Recorder plugin combined with SageDCT).

[oasistech]

Thanks for you help. A couple followup questions.

The SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime appears to have 3 TV tuners and enables DVR functions (I thought I need separate devices). If I'm understanding the HDHomerun, it supports up to three TVs simultaneous and each TV can be watching different channels. Correct?

Do I need a computer (separate instance of XBMC) near each TV or will extenders do the trick? What extender do you recommend?

Last question, regarding remote controls, I'm using an IPad in the HT room. What type of remote controllers do you recommend for the secondary TVs?

Thanks again.

[Graham]

Forgive me if I have misunderstood your posts ...

There are 4 "components" in an XBMC PVR setup ... A tuner is connected to a TV source (antenna or cable or a set top box) ... NextPVR runs on a 'puter and receives video from the tuner and stores the video on the 'puter ... XBMC runs on a 'puter (can be the same machine as is running NextPVR or a second machine ... a display to view the recording (a monitor or TV attached to the XBMC machine just like any other display). The tuner can be internal (e.g. PCIe) or external (e.g. USB) or a network device (via ethernet) but the process is the same (tuner captures video and passes it to NextPVR).

XBMC is optional ... NextPVR includes a fully functioning client that can play the recordings ... the NextPVR client software can run on the machine that is recording from the tuner or on some other machine (as can XBMC). There can be several 'puters running the NextPVR client (or XBMC) and the several machines can play recordings simultaneously. The NextPVR client software needs a Windows machine ... XBMC runs on Windows & Apple and Linux and dishwashers and all sorts.

A single tuner can record a single frequency. For digital broadcasts (ATSC or QAM) there can be more than one channel on a frequency so NextPVR can record more than one show simultaneously if all of the shows are on the same frequency. Some TV devices have more than one tuner and NextPVR can record more than one show from each of more than one tuner simultaneously. For example, I have recorded about 20 shows (using several tuners) simultaneously (just to see if it was possible).

In summary, a device with three tuners such as a Homerun Prime would allow three TVs to watch three different Live TV shows simultaneously. Alternatively, the three tuners could record three (or more) shows simultaneously.

I have omitted any reference to the incomprehensible stuff about copy protection on US cable TV. Caveat emptor.

[sub]

Yes, the HDHR Prime has 3 tuners. With a NextPVR PC somewhere on the same network, you can be using each of these 3 tuners for either recording or live tv - so yes, you could be streaming live tv to three XBMC clients connected to three TVs.

I cant answer your question about remotes. I'm not using a remote with XBMC. I'm using keyboard/mouse.

[Graham]

Do I need a computer (separate instance of XBMC) near each TV or will extenders do the trick? What extender do you recommend?

Each TV needs to be connected to a device ... I'll let other recommend specific extenders ...

http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Client.Client

Good Luck

[mikeh49]

@Graham

Well said sir (post #4, but #6 is pretty good too). This should be a sticki or wiki.

[Braklet]

Regarding the "computer (separate instance of XBMC)" issue, I am THOROUGHLY impressed with the Raspberry Pi US$35 computer running the Raspbmc Linux distribution which provides an XBMC example completely tuned and dedicated to the RPi hardware. It is the first cigarette-box-sized computer I've found that can play full 1080p H.264 HD material, completely silent (as it is passively cooled). It blows away everything I remember from Hauppauge's MediaMVP.

The only reason I'm working to migrate my long-running and very stable GB-PVR HTPC to NPVR is the fact that Raspbmc includes an NPVR client, built in. I already determined that the embedded MythTV client works really well.