Dumb TV Streaming question

[Knobby]

If I want to watch tv on 2 computers (1 with the tv card installed, the other on the network) do I need 2 tv cards or a card with dual tuners?

[stefan]

Either or. One card with dual tuners equals two single tuner cards. If you never want to watch on the both computers at the same time, then you could get by with only one single tuner card.

[Knobby]

With only 1 tuner card, is it possible to watch the same tv program on 2 computers?

[sub]

No. One tuner equals one PC watching live tv.

[Knobby]

Thanks guys,
So to the next question:
If I use a dual tuner card (so 2 PC's watching TV at the same time), and connect to this card an STB (Sky TV from the UK), can I watch the feed from the STB on either PC?

[stefan]

Um... not sure... I'd guess you'd need two single tuner cards for that, and even then it would be awkward. When the "second tv person" starts watching, gbpvr will send a command to the STB to change channels (if you have a channel changer, which you will want to have). It will send a command to change channels to the STB even if the STB is already on the correct channel (because GBPVR cannot know which channel the STB is on). This "change" will probably be seen by the "first tv person". And if either of the "tv persons" decide to change channel for some reason, the channel will obviously be changed for the second person, too.

[Knobby]

Oh no, not something else to learn about:confused: What's a "channel changer"?

(sorry if these questions seem really dumb, but I'm new to all this stuff)

[stefan]

That's ok A channel changer is usually an ir blaster, but can in a few cases (not with sky boxes, I think) be a serial cable. The ir blaster is connected to the gbpvr computer, and gbpvr uses it to send signals to the STB so that the STB is set to the correct channel to use.

The three most used channel changers are (in no specific order)
1) One included in some hauppauge pvr-150 packs.
2) The MCE 2005 remote
3) The usb-uirt (http://www.usbuirt.com)

[nia]

Well - there is sortof a workaround to some of your issues depending on what you are trying to acheive.

If you both want to see the same TV program, then you can schedule it to be recorded. Then you would be able to both go into the pending recordings and chase-play independent of eachother. This would work even with just one tuner.

You would however be trailing live-TV by some seconds (but independently of eachother).

Watching a programme still being recorded is one of the many things I find really cool and useful in GBPVR.

If you're more into having two independent TV locations for normal day-to-day watching by different people, it's more tricky, as Stefan already mentioned above.

/N

[Knobby]

I think this is half my problem - I don't yet know what I want to achieve! There seems so much I "can" achieve with GB-PVR. So I think it's a case of finding out as much info as possible (what can and can't be done), then deciding which way to go.