Multi-Unit Setup?

[hollow5555]

I'd be buying new. The STBs can't be stacked because one would be on the tv in the bedroom and one would be on the tv in the living room downstairs. Most of the things I record are most likely not OTA channels... Things on discovery, science channel, BBC... channels like that.

[johnsonx42]

It's too bad then that cable boxes can't be moved to new locations; once the cable company bolts them into place, that's it, you can't ever move them. :confused:

Seriously, one of us is missing some crucial bit of understanding, and I'm honestly not sure which one it is.

[sub]

It's too bad then that cable boxes can't be moved to new locations; once the cable company bolts them into place, that's it, you can't ever move them. :confused:

Seriously, one of us is missing some crucial bit of understanding, and I'm honestly not sure which one it is.

Some people just use the app for recording, and just stick with the cable box for watching regular tv, which is probably the case here, and explains why he'd want cable boxes in both places.

[johnsonx42]

Perhaps that is the missing piece of the puzzle. Everyone has their own preference and vision for how this is all supposed to work, and of course many of us have to deal with WAF issues. I can't imagine wanting to set things up that way, but that's me.

To answer the original question then, if you want a setup where there are 2 NPVR server boxes that can do recordings, and each can watch shows recorded on the other, the simple no-frills solution is to set a Video Library path on each box mapped to the other box's recording directory. If you additionally have regular tuner-less clients you want to connect, they'll have to be set to have one server or the other as their 'master'; again to watch shows recorded by the other server you'd map a Video Library path to that server's recording directory. You'll have to manually manage which recordings happen on which box.

I honestly do not think that's the best way to do it however. If you're willing to have a PC (or an NMT) at every TV, then just put the cable boxes on the server and let NPVR manage everything.

BrettB's post about the various cablecard-based options is worth considering as well, though those are all 'coming soon' options.

[hollow5555]

Some people just use the app for recording, and just stick with the cable box for watching regular tv, which is probably the case here, and explains why he'd want cable boxes in both places.

This. If I move the cable box so that both boxes are in the bedroom then I can't use the cable box to watch tv in the living room. I don't use the LiveTV feature of GBPVR/NPVR. I only use it for recording things I want to see at other times, and then playing them back. In that case I need a cable box with each TV and that means I can't have a single recording source.

Oh well, multiple units it is. Thanks for all the advice guys

[Reddwarf]

This. If I move the cable box so that both boxes are in the living room then I can't use the cable box to watch tv in the living room. I don't use the LiveTV feature of GBPVR/NPVR. I only use it for recording things I want to see at other times, and then playing them back. In that case I need a cable box with each TV and that means I can't have a single recording source.

Oh well, multiple units it is. Thanks for all the advice guys

Just out of curiosity, why don't you use the live-tv of npvr? It works very well...

[hollow5555]

Just out of curiosity, why don't you use the live-tv of npvr? It works very well...

It just seemed unnecessary when I started. When I first got started I had just one machine for my one tv. Then I got another TV so I just added another GBPVR box (no NPVR at the time). I never saw the need to have signal come into my house, go to a PC, then back out across my lan to another box so I can watch it on my tv. It's easier to just watch it on my tv, plus then I get to use the on screen guide features of my STB and what not. The on screen info from the cable provider is often more accurate/wordy then the info I get from downloading schedules and (like I said) it saves bandwidth on my network. Just a preference thing I guess...

[martint123]

Just out of curiosity, why don't you use the live-tv of npvr? It works very well...

I very rarely use live TV mode either.
Reasons, probably trivial ....
TV comes on right away whereas live TV would need server and NMT to startup.
Channel change is absolutely instant.
Only the TV remote becomes involved.

Downsides of course are if an STB comes involved with negates a lot of the above.
No doubt if we used live TV on the PVR more we would become more used to it - so it probably comes down to historical usage.

update: After further thought, I find we use very little live TV at all whatever the source. There is so much rubbish on that we rely on earlier recordings for our viewing.
Live TV is probably just for a quick surf of news or somesuch when first turning teh TV on.

[mikeh49]

Another vote for the live TV on the TV method. IN my experience, TV on the TV is better (stable, reliable, picture quality) than on the computer (no fault of GBPVR or NPVR). If I was in hollow's shoes, I'd use the video library path method as suggested. I use it on a limited basis, but I expect it would have low WAF or kidAF. The file names are too cryptic. It works fine if you know what you're looking for however.

I'm holding out hope for the cable card solution. I use firewire now on our one STB, but there is the occasional tuner conflict or inadvertent channel change to HGTV while recording Covert Affairs.

[johnsonx42]

As I observed, everyone has their own preferences and their own ways of watching TV. Honestly if I had to deal with cable boxes I probably wouldn't even bother with a PC-based PVR; I'd probably just use whatever DVR/PVR device the cable company offers and supplement it with some sort of streaming box. For ME, the whole point of something like NPVR was to eliminate the monthly cable/satellite bill. I find I mostly don't miss the channels I don't have. Years ago when I had DirecTV before they offered local broadcast channels, I just went without ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX and the other local affiliates and largely didn't miss them. Now that I have ONLY ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX and the other local affiliates, I largely don't miss all the other channels (which is not to say I don't miss them at all, I do, I just judge them not worth the price). I supplement the broadcast choices with NetFlix and Hulu, though I don't have either of those working as well as I'd like.