So, we love Olympics here in the household and I think this year I want to make sure we see more of them but, they are always happening all over the channels and times. So, help me come up with the best solution for recording all of them to be watched later. I presume some kind of digital tuner setup will be required but, I am not sure which one. Can a single tuner record multiple stations at the same time? I have a mac mini with an external HD that I can use. What do you recommend?

2 Dish Network HD DVR's would do the trick. :) With that you'd be able to record up to 80 hrs of HD programming from 4 HD channels simultaneously. Can't get much easier than that.

Kidding aside, I don't have HD recording setup on my Mac so one of the other guys will need to answer your question.

Well, thanks but I am a cable guy :|

Can a single tuner record multiple stations at the same time?

No.

What do you recommend?

Well, easiest for a beginner to get up to speed with is EyeTV. Best bang for the buck is the HD Homerun, which is a dual tuner so you could record two QAM/ATSC channels simultaneously. It doesn't have an analog/NTSC tuner, so you'd need something like the El Gato Hybrid or 250+ for that.

Do you know all the different channels the Olympics will be on? You may or may not be able to record all of them in HD. Who is your cable provider, which tier of service do you have and which STB?

I just ordered a HDHomerun last night (I'll update my own thread in a bit :)). I picked it because it was dual tuner, network based and it included two licenses for EyeTV. I think this is probably the best way to go if all the channels are ATSC or QAM. If you need NTSC then you'll need a pair of the hybrid as chefklc mentioned. Standard cable packages that hook straight into a TV are NTSC. If you have "digital cable" then you'll again need the hybrid or preferably the 250+ BUT you'll need to change channels on the cable box to record shows. If you're in a largish metro area or close to one you might be able to get away with OTA HD and the HD Homerun.

ok moto, I just looked up the Olympics television coverage--it wasn't high on my list so I didn't know what NBC was planning--and I think you're going to have difficulty trying to record most of it with a Mac solution.

You'll probably only be able to record NBC in HD with the HD Homerun.

You'll need the Hybrid or 250+ to record the analog/SD versions of MSNBC, CNBC and USA (if your cable company still provides those channels as analog within the typical analog 1-99 range. You might be living in an area where your provider has already removed these channels from analog to free up bandwidth.)

If your local cable provider is like mine, Comcast--you won't be able to use the HD Homerun to record Universal HD, USA HD or the temporary basketball and soccer channels that they're setting up--because all of those will likely not be QAM "in the clear."

What that means is if you're a real junkie and want to record it all--renting cableco supplied DVRs or buying HD Tivos with CableCARDs may be your best bet--because they'll be the only way you can record those encrypted channels.

There is another option, which is complicated and which you may not be able to "learn" how to do in time--recording to your Mac mini over firewire from your cable STB....IF you have the right STB...and IF the firewire port is active...and IF those particular channels (Universal HD, USA HD, etc) are not set to "record never." There's a massive thread on this within the forum. I have an STB, the Scientific Atlanta 3250, with an active firewire port and have been able to record Universal HD in the past to my Mac--haven't tried it recently.

If you can get your hands on the new Hauppauge HD DVR, which takes advantage of the "analog hole" and records high def over component out of your cable STB, that might be an option for you as well.

Thanks for the responses. I need to do some research into what my cable company provides as they are a local (city) operation.

I'll be back.

-mx

Buy a TivoHD.

Buy a TivoHD.

at least 2 x 2 tuners...

Thanks for the responses. I need to do some research into what my cable company provides as they are a local (city) operation.

I'll be back.

-mxYou might be able to just rent a dvr from your cableco for the month for like 10 bucks or so (that's what my cableco charges). Shallow learning curve, compared to trying to purchase everything you need and learn how to use Mac-based tuners and/or firewire recording, like chefklc mentioned.

A good dvr will record all of the channels coming down the cable that you are subscribed to. Analog, digital or HD content. Dual tuners. Amount of time you can record depends on the kind of content, and size of hard drive.

If what you really want to do is watch max Olympic coverage, instead of trying to master the finer art of Mac HTPC in short order, and possibly miss much coverage, then at this late date I'd suggest taking the easy route with a dvr.

I need to do some research into what my cable company provides

well, do you already have a cable box and if so, which one is it? And does it have firewire ports in the back?

You probably won't get anywhere asking these questions of the typical cable customer service rep--they'll have no idea what you're talking about if you ask about QAM or firewire. It's tough sometimes to get them to tell you what model box or DVR they have in stock...

I had a moment to do a quick test for you, since our Comcast lineup includes two of those high def "Olympic" channels: Universal HD and USA HD. I did a couple of manual test captures with Firerecord for you and I was able to get perfect recordings with digital audio, which VLC had no trouble playing back. So at least in my area Comcast is still pretty liberal about leaving firewire open. (Of course, that could be gone anytime with a flick of a switch...)

So, if that turns out to be the case for you, too, you could use EyeTV and any of their tuners which can do QAM/ATSC for the main stuff on NBC HD, then supplement that with some firewire captures of Universal HD and USA HD content.

Or just rent a couple of cable DVRs for the month as wildrock suggested. What makes the most sense for you will vary, depending on whether you just wanted to timeshift all the content, and quickly go through it and delete, or whether you really wanted to archive as much of the content as you could (keeping it for later on your Mac and hard drives.)

I'm happy you posted this, because it reminded me that I had been meaning to snag '2001: A Space Odyssey' in HD, which I did...

I'm happy you posted this, because it reminded me that I had been meaning to snag '2001: A Space Odyssey' in HD, which I did...Hehe. I got 2001 a few months ago. And I just recorded 2010 last night. I haven't looked at it to see how it is, yet.