Flexibility

[loopy29]

OK, first off, great product you produced there Sub. I really admire it. I tried ALL (or nearly) other options out there:

SageTV: Nice, but I live in Belgium where you can't use regular xmltv. You have to use a somewhat modified version of it that produces the required .xml file. Sage has an import plugin for such files, but it failed to update correctly. I always had to rename and reorder all channels... Also, Sage has a unintuitive UI

BeyondTV: Only TV, but for the rest it looked OK

GOT all media: Didn't get it to work correctly with my PVR350, but that could be my fault. I didn't try too hard...

myHTPC: development stopped

Showshifter: nice, but not better than GBPVR and paying.

Myth: My PVR350 isn't supported yet (newest LG tuner), neither is my compro gold (although that one worked with TVTime)

Some others...

But GBPVR is the first that get's it all right: PVR350 TV-out support, great XMLTV import feature, nice UI (although my GF says she can't read the onscreen text very well, maybe a larger text skin might solve this?), extensive functionality, ...

Now my question: We are moving to a new appartment in a few weeks. What I would like to do there is this:

*Imagine 3 rooms. One bedroom, one study and one living room.
*The study contains the gbpvr server with two PVR350 cards (have to buy one more, but that's no problem.
*The bedroom contains a 16:9 projector with scart input
*The living room contains a 4:3 tv with SCART input

Can I do the following:
*Connect both the projector and the tv with the GBPVR server via a hauppauge media mvp with a WirelessG ethernet bridge?
*Watch a different channel on each screen (because of the dual tuners)?
*Do all selections (what to record, what pictures to watch etc.) with the mediaMVP remote?
* Watch e.g. different pictures, or different recorded movies on each screen?
*Watch a DVD in the servers DVD drive on the projector via the MVP, with 5.1 sound provided by digital cable coming out of the audigy card in the server (so screen via MVP, 5.1 sound via a long audio cable between bedroom and study)

I know these are a lot of questions, but I just get excited about the possibilities...

Best regards,
Jan

[fini]

if you're not going to use the tv-out on the 350 can I ask why you don't just get a 250 instead?

fini

[colin]

Quote[/b] ]*Connect both the projector and the tv with the GBPVR server via a hauppauge media mvp with a WirelessG ethernet bridge?

Others have connected with wirless bridges though we really need to get some info on how good or bad this is. Ie. what is the maximum bit rate without stutter. This should work fine, but hey, we talking technology here

Quote[/b] ]
*Watch a different channel on each screen (because of the dual tuners)?

Yes, GBPVR supports mulitple tuners so this should be possible. Well Sub will confirm this.

Quote[/b] ]
*Do all selections (what to record, what pictures to watch etc.) with the mediaMVP remote?

GBPVR works as is on the mediaMVP. LIke your girlfriend points out, sometimes the skin can be hard to read on a TV (depending on the type/size of tv) but play with the skins.

Quote[/b] ]
* Watch e.g. different pictures, or different recorded movies on each screen?

Each MVP, I believe, is seperatly controlled so each one can do different things.

Quote[/b] ]
*Watch a DVD in the servers DVD drive on the projector via the MVP, with 5.1 sound provided by digital cable coming out of the audigy card in the server (so screen via MVP, 5.1 sound via a long audio cable between bedroom and study)

This is where you may have problems. the MVP was not designed for DVD playback so by doing picture through one route and sounds through another you may get audio/video sync issues.

What you may be interested in, is the thread over at shspvr.com's forum on the mediaMVP. There is a bit on hacking this back and getting to audio pass through. If you are good with a soldering iron you might be interested.

At the minute (inmy opinion) you are probably better off picking up a cheap DVD player for this.

And as fini points out, unless you are using the TV-out of the 350 or the radio features it has, you would be better off with the 250,

Cheers,
Colin.

[loopy29]

sorry, double post...

[loopy29]

Quote[/b] ]Others have connected with wirless bridges though we really need to get some info on how good or bad this is. Ie. what is the maximum bit rate without stutter. This should work fine, but hey, we talking technology here

I have searched the forums here and at the hauppauge site, and shspvr.com, and the general consensus was that 802.11b will sometimes suffice and sometimes not. 802.11g was always sufficient.

Quote[/b] ]GBPVR works as is on the mediaMVP. LIke your girlfriend points out, sometimes the skin can be hard to read on a TV (depending on the type/size of tv) but play with the skins.

I will try that.

Quote[/b] ] This is where you may have problems. the MVP was not designed for DVD playback so by doing picture through one route and sounds through another you may get audio/video sync issues.

What you may be interested in, is the thread over at shspvr.com's forum on the mediaMVP. There is a bit on hacking this back and getting to audio pass through. If you are good with a soldering iron you might be interested.

Sounds like an interesting project. Another option would be to place the server in the study against the bedroom wall and use all cables to connect the projector (via TV-out of 350 or via DVI of Radeon 9800) and the 5.1 receiver. That would probably not give sync issues? On the other hand, I haven't tried, so I don't know... If I do go that route I guess I can't really use the TV-out of the 350 now can I (because the sound would also go through the 350 and I want 5.1...)? Guess I have to use software decoding (which shouldn't be a problem because I have a fairly fast computer.)

Quote[/b] ]At the minute (inmy opinion) you are probably better off picking up a cheap DVD player for this.

That would probably be the more sensible solution, but I like the idea of one central media device that does everything in the background and silent clients that connect to it.

Quote[/b] ]And as fini points out, unless you are using the TV-out of the 350 or the radio features it has, you would be better off with the 250

You are correct.

[colin]

Quote[/b] ]Sounds like an interesting project. Another option would be to place the server in the study against the bedroom wall and use all cables to connect the projector (via TV-out of 350 or via DVI of Radeon 9800) and the 5.1 receiver. That would probably not give sync issues? On the other hand, I haven't tried, so I don't know... If I do go that route I guess I can't really use the TV-out of the 350 now can I (because the sound would also go through the 350 and I want 5.1...)? Guess I have to use software decoding (which shouldn't be a problem because I have a fairly fast computer.)

If doing something like this would you consider an Xcard? I'm not sure about the sound for these things as I do not have one, but this would be another option for you if it meets you needs,

Colin.

[loopy29]

I would consider it, but do you think it will be better than the audigy sound + 9800 DVI output? That wouldn't cost me any money. The CPU would be tasked some more, but it is a Athlon 64 3000+ with 1gig RAM so that shouldn't be a problem.

I can get the xcard card for around 100 euros.

something else: I guess it is possible, but I want to make sure. Could I use the above setup (either with or without the xcard) for the bedrook along with a media MVP solution for the living room?

Edit: I noticed you don't own the xcard. I will search some other forums too to get an opinion on sound and video quality.

[jquinlan]

Yes you can. You can use the server through a video & sound card and the MVP or 2 MVP's can be used and each one will work indipendant of one another. Watch live TV in the bedroom, watch another live channel/pre-recorded show in the living room and for a third (2nd MVP) in the kitchen watch a pre-recorded show, or browse the comics plugin; or should it be the recipe database.

[loopy29]

Flexibility, you gotte love it

[colin]

Quote[/b] ]I would consider it, but do you think it will be better than the audigy sound + 9800 DVI output?

I don't know. Go with what you have and try it out. If you like what you see then stick with it.


Colin.