My questions for the forum

[Floydyisms]

hey all

there is a ton of information on here and I am getting a little confused by it all...LOL..this is what i would like to do

I have 4 Tvs, 1 is an HD
is it possible to build one PVR, that you can record and watch on all TVs?
I would like to be able to record 2 shows at once
I would like to be able to watch say, a recorded program on one TV, live TV on 2 and a different recorded program on the 4th or any variation of that
Each TV has a cable converter box

I guess in my mind, I picture all 4 DVRs we have currently (brighthouse) all sitting on top of one another and cables ran to the Tvs...so if that will work is it feasible to build one unit to do the same thing...

I hope this makes sense....

Thanks for any input!!

Glenn

[Miller]

Yes you can and you've come to the right place. A couple of questions first...

What kind of calbe setup do you have? (This really determines everything else.) More importantly, do you need a box to watch the channels you want to record or can you get those channels without a box? (Whether that is with cable striaght to the wall from your cable company or with an antenna.)

[Floydyisms]

Hi Miller

thanks for your reply!!

my cable is through Brighthouse. I have 4 DVRs total, one for each TV. One of those is an HD DVR.

the shows I record are both thru the box, (HBO, SHOWTIME) and some are channels I could get without the box (USA, DISNEY) but I would definitely have boxes on all 4 TVs

hope this helps!

Glenn

[Miller]

Ok if you need boxes to watch the channels the most economical way to do what you want is this...

You need a dedicated box running Windows 7. You will need a cablecard tuner. They come with 2,3, or 4 tuners so you'll need to decide how many tuners you want. A tuner will let you either record or watch tv. So if you want to record two shows and watch a third show live all at the same time then you'll need 3 tuners. Once a show has finished recording then the tuner is no longer involved and you can do whatever you want there.
Your cablecard companies are Hauppauge and Ceton. Both make good products.

You will set up your cablecard tuner with Windows MediaCenter and it will take card of all your recording needs with a nice TVGuide type interface that you're used to with your current dvr.

You can hook that computer directly to one of your four tvs. For the other three you will need the most basic version of the XBox360 you can find. It will interact with your computer and give you the ability to access your shows, the TVGuide, and everything so it feels like you have the computer hooked up to each tv.

Total cost probably around $700-800, but you will not need to rent any boxes or dvrs anymore from Brighthouse.

[Floydyisms]

Miller,
again, thanks for the quick reply!
i am not what you would call a PC guru...L...so my first question now is, what do the Xbox360s do? Do i need 3 of those for the non HD TVs and leave my built DVR on the HD TV? also, when you say a win 7 Box, should I build one from the ground up?? and have like a huge hard drive like 2 or 3 TB?

a lot of this may have already been answered on here and I have no problem reading thru older posts but where do I look?? which forum??

[Miller]

It's no problem. We can answer those questions here...

The 360s provide the cheapest way for you to access everything on the computer on your other tvs. You could build a computer for each tv, but that costs more. You have to use something.

It doesn't matter which tv gets the XBoxes and which tv gets the computer. You could even use a computer you already have (as long as it's Windows 7) and use 4 XBoxes.

You can build from the ground up, but if you have stuff to use already that will save money and usually be fine.

You will want a somewhat big hard drive just for recordings. Mine is 750GB and holds plenty.

Other questions?

[Floydyisms]

oh there are plenty more questions...LOL..we are heading out camping for the weekend but Sunday night I will post some more.

Bottom line is, I will have to be lead from the beginning to the end, once I understand what I am doing then it will all make sense to me..

you have a great weekend and thanks for all the help!!

Glenn

[Miller]

Sounds good. Keep the questions coming and if you want to make it happen then we'll help.

[Floydyisms]

Ok, so here we are at the beginning...
I have no PC lying around, a few laptops for the kids and I have a mac, from what I have read on here win 7 is the way to go so Im thinking since this PC is for a specific purpose I should build from the ground up?? If so I would prefer what used to be called a desktop box, not a tower. And why not throw in a blu ray player...so I guess the first question is...
build my own??
have a computer shop build the basics??
Buy a used one on craigslist or such and upgrade, or
buy a new PC (If desktop units are even made anymore)

this sounds like its going to be fun!!

Thanks

Glenn

[Miller]

The only reason Win7 is the way to go is because of your cable needs. That being said, I would go with a barebones kit and build yourself. That's usually the best bang-for-the-buck. However if you have certain needs you might want to build from the ground-up.

Question, when you say desktop do you mean a case that site horizontally? Are you looking to put this with your tv in the living room next to a receiver? If so, they do make some nice HTPC cases that fit in there really well. Here's a good place to start:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product_case.php?tno=0&case=c_htpc&area=en
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product_case.php?tno=0&case=c_sff&area=en
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product_case.php?tno=0&case=c_slim&area=en

That's just one company, but it's a good one. So if you find one you like there great, but if nothing else it will give you some ideas as to what's out there.

You can also go pre-built. I have this as a client in my living room:
http://www.asrock.com/nettop/index.us.asp

It works great. I don't use it as my main machine, but it does fit in very nicely with my living room.

I think we had originally talked about building a computer and then using XBox360s as clients. If that's still what you want to do, I would probably just go with a cheap tower barebones and put the XBox360 in the living room.

[Miller]

I just got an ad from CompUSA (same as TigerDirect) today and they had this deal. You could probably build something yourself and be a little cheaper, but not much. It's also a small form factor pc and would fit in ok in your living room.

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1188410&srkey=A180-140001

[Floydyisms]

that is a deal! I am checking my local computer store to see what he can build for me at what price. I forgot to ask...these Xbox 360s, how are they used?? can they get the HD stuff? and just out of curiosity, are there any screen shots on here of a working DVR? like what the menus and such look like?

Thanks Miller!

Glenn

[Miller]

I don't have any screenshots for you, but there are some on the pvr sfotware's website.

The 360s act as HD extenders. That means they will let you interact with your pvr software through the XBox360 and everything will be in HD.