Thinking of going to satellite...

[flyswatta]

I have GBPVR setup with 3 capture cards on an analog cable feed and am thinking about switching to satellite. I'm thinking that I would need 3 satellite tuners just for the PVR which is about $15 a month, plus the $15 for the tv satellite tuners. I hate to sound cheap, but the whole thing that got me started with GBPVR was avoiding the cost of TIVO and the subscription. I thought about just getting thier DVRs, but the thought of being limited to watching a show only on the TV it was recorded on makes me wanna shudder!

Ever since I got GBPVR working, I stopped watching prime time TV live, and instead spend time with the kids, and then after they go to bed, I usually just play back the shows on my main computer over a mapped drive. I'd hate to be tied to a TV again.

Anyway, I just wanted to get some opinions from people with multiple GBPVR tuners hooked up to satellite receivers... Easy to setup/configure? worth it over cable? Pitfalls to avoid?

[Azimuth]

I used to have Dishnetwork. The quality was not wonderful, their compression left a lot to be desired.
The only thing I can say might be a plus is that you can buy your own STB's, thus avoid paying a rental fee.
You will need to purchase a USB-UIRT also ($50).
Right now I use cable, with 3 STB's plus one analog input for a total of 4 tuners.
The USB-UIRT will only control 3 STB's if they share IR frequencies. (by using the 3.5mm stereo jack on the back for two additional IR LED's)

You could also look into DirecTV which I think is higher quality, though I have no experience with them.

Hope this helps

[nightwalker]

an over the air antenna and maybe even rabbit ears, is better than comcast

[flyswatta]

I did the switch to satellite and it's not too bad. I'm thinking of ir blasting one receiver and doing OTA via antenna for my other cards. 90% of what I record is the main 4 networks anyway. Thanks for the feedback guys!

[Yog-Sothoth]

I have DirecTV and five DirecTiVos, but I am considering switching to Comcast cable, especially since I discovered GB-PVR. I'm pretty sure I can get a bundle deal cheaper than I'm paying for satellite and cable internet separately, not to mention the fact that I am not pleased with the quality of DirecTV's HD programming (GB-PVR with an HDHomeRun looks much better than DirecTV's HD).

[Mysteryman]

I did the switch to satellite and it's not too bad. I'm thinking of ir blasting one receiver and doing OTA via antenna for my other cards. 90% of what I record is the main 4 networks anyway. Thanks for the feedback guys!

Depending on your DTV STB you might be able to do serial channel switching. I have the el cheapo D10s and really like the wired connection instead of the blasters. Cable schematics and the channel changing program are in the gb-pvr wiki.

[flyswatta]

Thanks for the tip, I'd prefer serial over IR anyway. I'll investigate.