My whole house PVR solution one and a half year later

[leszekm1]

It's interesting to see that Dish with its XiP receivers is only now catching up to the system I have for over a year and a half now. I bet however that the Dish only solution will be cheaper initially but more per month.

History:
A little less than 2 years ago I was looking for a whole house PVR solution that would allow me to integrate OTA/FTA/D* or E* and an occasional DVD playback on 4 HDTVs. At that time, neither D* nor E* had a solution. So was forced to settle with a DVBLogic/Win7 solution - the only solution available at that time.

The setup:
The main PVR machine is simply a mid-grade PC with Windows 7 Home Premium on it running the build-in MediaCenter (Win7 home premium or higher is required for MediaCenter functionality). It has a dual OTA internal tuner (AVerMedia AVerTVHD Duet), a dual FTA internal tuner (TBS 6980), and two Hauppauge HD PVRs connected to two Dish 211k receivers. This is connected to the main HDTV. The other 3 HDTVs have XBox 360s connected to them and setup as MCE extenders. DVBLogic DVBLink virtual tuners are used to integrate FTA (via DVBLogic TVSource) and 211k/HD PVRs (via 1geek1tool HDPVR software) into the 4 satellite tuner slots of MediaCenter.





The advantages of such a setup:

• Single PVR solution for the full house
• Up to 4 OTA and 4 Sat tuners at the same time
• Able to play a DVD at any TV
• Up to 6 HDTVs (1 PC + 5 XBox 360 extenders)
• Able to play videos off of a hard drive
• Able to stream free MMS Internet feeds to any TV. Some MMS feeds duplicate pay content on dish. So I don't have to pay for France24 channel for example as I get it via MMS feed
• Low monthly fees from Dish - standard service + 1 extra 211k receiver
• "Virtually" unlimited storage due to PC capability
• NetFlix integration

The disadvantages:

• High initial hardware & software cost
• Slight loss of PQ due to re-encoding of the 1080i component output via HD PVRs
• IR control of the 211k not 100% reliable, HD PVRs not fully stable. I loose an occasional PVR event due to those (about 1 event every 2 months).
• Uses the analog loophole - unknown how long this will last.
• Internet TV feeds are limited only to MMS and cannot be time shifted.
• NetFlix on the MediaCenter is built-in, but on the XBox requires XBox gold subscription

Overall I'm quite happy with the setup. I don't think I will be switching to XiP any time soon.

 

[mike123abc]

It is an interesting idea to have a bank of 211s to feed into a PC. I wonder what the pricing will end up being for the XiP setup. Your setup could still end up being cheaper an a per tuner basis.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I 'm betting that the 813 XIP receiver will have the same $10.00 dvr fee the 922 has today. Not to mention there will be , I'm sure , a multi room view FEE . DIRECTV only charges $3.00 for their mrv fee. But I wouldn't dare to speculate on how much old Charlie will charge for this one.

 

[mfoster711]

I don't get it, how do you watch live TV on all the remote TV's?

 

[mike123abc]

I don't get it, how do you watch live TV on all the remote TV's?

The Hauppage HD DVR takes the component output of a 211 and makes a stream over the USB connection of the server. The server can then send that stream out to any TV.

It definitely is not as clean of a solution as what the XiP promises, but one never know what one will get with Dish until the box ships.

 

[mfoster711]

The Hauppage HD DVR takes the component output of a 211 and makes a stream over the USB connection of the server. The server can then send that stream out to any TV.

It definitely is not as clean of a solution as what the XiP promises, but one never know what one will get with Dish until the box ships.

So can I bring up the Dish program guide on remote TV's and pick a program? How would you control these remote TV's when watching live TV?

 

[camden]

Netflix integration

You noted Netflix integration issues in both advantages and disadvantages but my question is, with such a setup, do you end up with any more freezing or lagging with streamed content, or does it still run smoothly?

 

[leszekm1]

You noted Netflix integration issues in both advantages and disadvantages but my question is, with such a setup, do you end up with any more freezing or lagging with streamed content, or does it still run smoothly?

Netflix is smooth. The disadvantage is that the extenders require XBox Gold subscription to stream Netflix ($50/year per room). There is no such fee for the PC itself. Netflix streaming is built-in to Windows 7.

 

[leszekm1]

So can I bring up the Dish program guide on remote TV's and pick a program? How would you control these remote TV's when watching live TV?

You use the MediaCenter guide that aggregates OTA/FTA/Dish programming into a single guide provided by zap2it. The Dish receivers are never used for guide info, only for providing content so there is no issue there.

 

[lakebum431]

Cool and unusual setup. I applaud you for figuring out how to get what you want! From a practical standpoint there aren't many people who are going to go to this much trouble. Plus, I'm sure there is quite a learning curve for a new user. @ MikeD lets just wait and see what the fees will be before we get upset about them

 

[MikeD-C05]

Cool and unusual setup. I applaud you for figuring out how to get what you want! From a practical standpoint there aren't many people who are going to go to this much trouble. Plus, I'm sure there is quite a learning curve for a new user. @ MikeD lets just wait and see what the fees will be before we get upset about them

Just reacting to DISH's recent History in the last 10 years. DISH once boasted in their advertisments that they offered Tapeless recording for FREE , NO FEES! Then it was $5.00 dvr fee , then it was $6.00 PER DVR receiver. Then we moved to the new additional Receiver fees that conceal many of the made up "just because we can " charge it fees in to one additional receiver fee + one whole house dvr fee. Then the 922 which is still charging an extra $4.00 more than the other dvrs , so it stands to reason the 813 will have the same dvr fee ,since it has the same software, menus, guides and tiles. Now there will be another opportunity to create another new FEE! Charlie has" never liked leaving money on the table ", as he puts it. SO I can only deduce from this statement there will be another new fee . The question is how much this time?

 

[BMarkus]

Great information. I was planning to use Windows 7 with some combination of Hauppauge PVRs, but was looking for a better solution than XBOX for the Media Center extenders. One would think Google TV would have extender capabilities built in, but that would be too easy.

Couple questions for anyone out there with the knowledge:
1. What is the best option for a Media Center Extender (MCE)?
2. Does Google TV add any value to a PC based system? It can supposedly access media on a PC and play Netflix.

 

[leszekm1]

I think the xbox pretty much killed the extenders market. For the same price as an extender you get not only an extender, but an upscalling DVD player and a gaming console in one unit. What don't you like about the xbox as an extender?