Antenna and Sattelite ?? Setup??

[A320]

I have the following setup/hardware:

An antenna where I can recieve 5 channels.
A set-top-box which can recieve about 50 channels.
TWO hauppauge 250 cards.

Now, here is the problem: The set-top-box can "deliver" the recieved signal on either SVGA or "emulating a channel" on the antenna cable (bad quality).

How do I "tell" GbPvr about this setup. I would like to loop the antenna-cable to BOTH my tuner-cards, and the SGVA output from the set-top-box to (i guess) only one of them.

I start with only one hauppauge 250 board:

I have tried to make two capture-sources both pointing to the same "board", one using "internal tuner" the other using "external tuner - svga". But now there is no conflictchecking - GbPvr allows me to schedule two recordings using the same board (but different capture-sources).

So back to my original question:

How to setup "half antenna" and "half set-top-box" (the latter utilizes channel selector)

Thanks for a great program


Thomas
Denmark

[sub]

I've just made the change now, so that GB-PVR now recognises multiple capture source on the same device correctly and will be aware of this type of conflict. This will be included in the next release.

[A320]

Thats perfect!

Just out of curiosity, what was the criteria for "conflict" before?

Another thing - In my setup, I need further "intilligense" to find the best board to "block" during recording.

Recap:

2 boards, both connected to coax/antenna with 5 channels.

One of the boards also connected to set-top-box via svga input.

Now assuming I start recording a "coax" channel on board 2, this would block any attempt to view/record anything from the set-top-box. Therefore the system needs to "know" when to use which board.

If I was to put my old video as svga-input on the other board you would clearly have a need to some kind of "select board" feature (either intilligent or at least manual).

--

Last question: Does the program "protect" against channel-change on the set-top-box during recording of input from this. Eg. what will happen if i (using gbpvr) tries to view another channel requireing channel-change on the board "in action"? (In my scenatio the board could be used in several capture-sources, so again here the system should "know" not to touch the board "in action" but use a capture-source utilizing another board).



/thomas

[sub]

GB-PVR has the concept of a capture source. Each capture source can record one thing. If you try to schedule a programme to record, it checks with each capture source to see if it is already busy for any of that time period, if it is, its a conflict. I've now added logic to let GB-PVR know that two (or more) capture sources may be the same device, so takes this into account when looking for an available capture source.

GB-PVR assumes that as long as there is no conflict (as descibed above), a capture source is safe to record. I wont be adding logic to handle you connecting multiple capture sources to the one cable box (that can only supply one signal).

[A320]

I can understand you for not wanting to add logic - but can you then make it possible to select which capture-source or board you want to use for view or (more relevant) recording.

Or - as a bare minimum, always select them in "order" so recording will always take the "first" of possible boards (even if its used for viewing).

Or - maybe support "changing board" during viewing or recording would be neat. I don't know if its possible to do this while recording though.

/thomas

[sub]

It should already search for an available board, in the order the capture sources were setup.

[A320]

Yep, but that might not do the trick.

Let me explain:

Assuming:

Board 1 has coax only
Board 2 has coax + set-top-box.

Now I want to view coax-channel 1.

I guess that the system would select board 1, tune the channel and thats it.

But 5 min's later, a recording of coax-channel 2 is scheduled.
I guess that the system now select board 2 for that recording.

Just when the recording has started I want to watch a set-top-box channel, but now board 2 is "blocked" by the recording of coax-channel 2.

Can you see the problem?

I can see following ways to solve this:

1)
Total manual control (let me decide which board to use).  I think this is a bad idea, but might work as a backup - and might be nice to have for the advanced user.

2)
Make a "switch board" feature that - during recording - would be able to switch to another board to solve a conflict.  I think it might be hard to make this...

3)
Make sure recordings always uses the "first" board not currently being used for recording.  This would mean, that a person using board 1 for viewing in my example above would be "pushed" to board 2 when a recording starts.  This would make it more "predictable" what will happen, and make your setup more easy.

4)
A "simple" implementation of solution 3 could be that recordings seek a board from the bottom, but a view always seeks a board from the top.  But even though, you would still have the scenario where a "viewing" person blocks the board needed for recording so a "push the viewing person to the other board" would still be needed.


Any comments?

/thomas

[sub]

Just another peice of information for your planning - the capture source is picked at the time the recording is scheduled, not when the recording starts.

[A320]

Ok, thats way better than "at start".

So, if I could have a "select board" on the "record with properties" page, I'm fully happy....

PS: What happens if a viewer is "using" the planned board when the recording is about to start? - And would it be possible to "push the viewer" to the other board (selecting his viewed channel on the new board)

[sub]

If the user is currently viewing LiveTV and a tuner was scheduled to be doing a recording, they'll be chucked back to the main menu. Yes, not ideal I know.