AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › 1 HTPC, 2 tuners, 2 TVs....possible?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

1 HTPC, 2 tuners, 2 TVs....possible?

post #1 of 21
9/25/08 at 8:22am
Thread Starter 
Hello, and thanks for any help you might be able to provide. I'm looking to upgrade my current gaming rig, and take the replaced parts to make my first HTPC.

What I want to be able to do, if possible, is actually have the HTPC connected to 3 different TVs, each in the same room (my soon to be constructed man-cave). The first TV is the 50" HDTV, and it can be connected with HDMI, DVI, or component connections, it doesn't really matter to me. The other 2 TVs will be much smaller TVs that will be on the shelves, and can be connected with anything, as I don't have those TVs yet so I can go buy whatever is needed there.

The purpose of this is, as I mentioned, for my man-cave/sports room in the basement. I'd like to be able to watch the "big game" on my big TV (though will be using DirecTV for that), as well as use the HTPC with it's 2 tuners to output 2 other games captured OTA and each displayed on the other 2 TVs. I'll also use the HTPC to display games that I can watch through ESPN 360 or something similar.

So, can a HTPC display 2 different OTA channels or game feeds over the internet on 2 or even 3 different TVs at the same time?

I hope everything I've said makes sense, please let me know if it doesn't. Also, if I can figure out how to, I'd love to put some pictures up of the man-cave as well as HTPC building process and get ideas and tips. Thanks!!
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 21
9/25/08 at 10:09am
AFAIK there is not a way watch 2 LiveTV programs concurently on a PC. It may be possible if you used two totally different sources and two different player programs
What is going to be the program source(s) for the 2 smaller TVs
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 21
9/25/08 at 5:44pm
You could do an HTPC running VMC or SageTV and then get extenders for the other two
TVs. Outside of that it would be very difficult, borderline impossible, to do.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 21
9/25/08 at 7:32pm
One option is to use software like TVersity ( google it, I cant post URLs ) to stream video from your PC to hardware hooked up on your other TVs. It supports the 3 major Game consoles, plus other PCs with Media center.

I must confess, I havent tried this software myself yet... but It was recommended to me by co-workers who are very happy with it ( they both use it to stream to Xbox360 ).
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 21
9/25/08 at 10:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigAl View Post

You could do an HTPC running VMC or SageTV and then get extenders for the other two
TVs. Outside of that it would be very difficult, borderline impossible, to do.


This option would probably be your BEST bet for getting it setup the way you want, with ease of use, great gui, ect....

You'll set up the PC with the tuner cards if you already have vista home premium or ultimate you already have media center so really it would be a no brainer for doing MCE and MCE extenders.

If you have an Xbox 360, you already have a media center extender that away as well so again no brianer there.

If you don't even want the PC in the "Man Cave" if you have an office PC running vista you can do two extenders, one for each of the smaller tv's, and each extender would be streaming live TV of the other games.

- Josh
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 21
9/25/08 at 10:18pm
This is not that hard - you need a pc with two tuners, one graphics card with two DVI ports and two TVs with HDMI. Connect the PC to each TV with a DVI - HDMI cable and set the graphics card to span mode so your desktop is extended across both monitors. Load two instances of VLC (www.videolan.org), one on each display, and open each tuner in VLC. Done.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 21
9/26/08 at 10:47am
The big problem is sending sound to each TV, is it not?

Peter
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 21
9/26/08 at 10:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshDorhyke View Post

The big problem is sending sound to each TV, is it not?

Peter

Correct it is. unless your pc had two sound cards, and in VLC you can assign that instance of VLC to a specific card.

Sounds like a lot of manual work to me.

- Josh
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 21
9/26/08 at 10:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by umdivx View Post

Sounds like a lot of manual work to me.

- Josh

Agreed.

Multiple instances of VLC is really only viable if you want to set it up once or twice to impress the buddies that come over to shoot pool during the Superbowl or something.

If you actually want to use it on a daily/weekend basis, get a copy of Sage for the server and a Sage HD extender for the other TV.

-Suntan
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 21
9/26/08 at 11:13am
Thread Starter 
Actually, this is getting more and more complicated for me. I never thought about the dual sound cards that I would need. With at least one video card, 2 TV cards, and 2 sound cards, I'll filled up a standard ATX board.....

I think the thing to do is just run my OTA antenna right into the TVs themselves, and connect one of them to the computer for ESPN 360 games and such.....

Thanks for the advice!!!
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 21
9/26/08 at 1:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by matttyl315 View Post

Actually, this is getting more and more complicated for me. I never thought about the dual sound cards that I would need. With at least one video card, 2 TV cards, and 2 sound cards, I'll filled up a standard ATX board.....

And you haven't even figured out how you're going to control those two outputs independently or easilly.

Quote:


I think the thing to do is just run my OTA antenna right into the TVs themselves, and connect one of them to the computer for ESPN 360 games and such.....

What's wrong with the extender suggestions? They will do exactly what you want.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 21
9/26/08 at 1:45pm
Doh! Sorry for confusing you! You don't need two sound cards! The other posters are right - the simplest/most elegant way to solve would be with SageTV/Vista Meda Center and the appropriate extender. Best bet for a tuner would probably be the HDHomeRun (www.silicondust.com) - it has two ATSC tuners and works over the network (rather than a PCI slot) and is supported well in SageTV and Vista Media Center. So, again, if you have Vista Premium or Ultimate all you need is a Media Center Extender (you absolutely can not beat the Xbox 360 Live at $199) and HDHomeRun. If you don't have/want Vista, the best XP alternative is probably SageTV software/HDHomeRun/SageTV HD Media Extender.

Yes, you could settle for the using the built-in ATSC tuner but the HTPC/extender route will impress your friends!
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 21
9/26/08 at 1:51pm
Oh yeah, and you'll probably want the offical Microsoft Media Center IR/remote control kit for the PC and maybe the xbox 360 media remote if you choose that route for your extender.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 21
9/26/08 at 1:52pm
So, after all said and done, the bottomline answer to the OP's "original" question would be that "No, it's almost impossible to do what you are asking with a single PC, even with a bunch of tuner cards, video cards, and sound cards".

You need to look at other alternatives as mentioned by folks here.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 21
9/26/08 at 1:53pm
While I commend you for trying to have 3 TVs to watch, the people talking about sound issues are overthinking it I think. You can have a multitude of things to watch, but you'd probably only have the sound on for the main TV. If you were really focussed on one of the games on the other TV, you could just switch the main TV to that I suppose.

Interesting project though. Worst case scenario, why not just eliminate the HTPC and run OTA to the smaller TVs? That would take ESPN 360 out of the equation, but really simplifies things.
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 21
9/26/08 at 1:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nvmarino View Post

Doh! Sorry for confusing you! You don't need two sound cards!

Well, with the way most apps, and most soundcards work you do. The only way to get multiple independent audio streams out of a PC (other than ASIO) is multiple soundcards.

Quote:
Originally Posted by perpetual98 View Post

While I commend you for trying to have 3 TVs to watch, the people talking about sound issues are overthinking it I think. You can have a multitude of things to watch, but you'd probably only have the sound on for the main TV. If you were really focussed on one of the games on the other TV, you could just switch the main TV to that I suppose.

I don't think the OP want's to watch two thing at once "personally", I think what he wants is a setup like a lot of us have, a single DVR/PVR system feeding multiple TVs, ie you watch the game on the main TV, and another family member watches a different show in another room.

The simplest, easiest, most robust way to do that is with extenders. It's neigh impossible to do it with a single PC alone.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 21
9/26/08 at 2:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stanger89 View Post

I don't think the OP want's to watch two thing at once "personally", I think what he wants is a setup like a lot of us have, a single DVR/PVR system feeding multiple TVs, ie you watch the game on the main TV, and another family member watches a different show in another room.

See I read the OP totally different. I was under the impression that he wanted a "sports bar" type thing going on with multiple games on multiple TVs
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 21
9/26/08 at 2:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by perpetual98 View Post

See I read the OP totally different. I was under the impression that he wanted a "sports bar" type thing going on with multiple games on multiple TVs

See, if I'd have really read the OP, I'd have got that

Yeah, just run the OTA to the other TVs, no reason to bother with an HTPC for that.
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 21
9/26/08 at 2:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kapone View Post

So, after all said and done, the bottomline answer to the OP's "original" question would be that "No, it's almost impossible to do what you are asking with a single PC, even with a bunch of tuner cards, video cards, and sound cards".

You need to look at other alternatives as mentioned by folks here.

I don't want to confuse the OP even further but I still don't agree with this. The Sage/VMC/Extender route may be the simplest/most elegant but it's far from "almost impossible" to do from a single PC. To solve the sound problem you could simply use a 3.5mm splitter on the audio out to route to both TVs and simply mute which ever one of the VLC instances you didn't want to hear. perpetual98 hit the nail on the head - will you ever really need to hear more than one audio source at a time? Also, VLC is far from the only app you can use - it was just the first that popped in my head. You could use ANY TV playback software that allows launching multiple instances. You could use graphedit. Far from impossible or even very hard if you don't mind driving from a wireless keyboard/mouse.
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 21
9/26/08 at 4:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nvmarino View Post

I don't want to confuse the OP even further but I still don't agree with this. The Sage/VMC/Extender route may be the simplest/most elegant but it's far from "almost impossible" to do from a single PC.

If you want multiple, independent, easily controllable outputs, along the lines of what you get with extenders (ie two different people in different rooms can pick different shows without knowing the other is there), the that truely is, "almost impossible" with a single PC.

Quote:


To solve the sound problem you could simply use a 3.5mm splitter on the audio out to route to both TVs and simply mute which ever one of the VLC instances you didn't want to hear.

That doesn't get independent audio to the second "zone".

Quote:


perpetual98 hit the nail on the head - will you ever really need to hear more than one audio source at a time?

Yes you do, but I think many (myself included) missread what the OP wanted. I know I originally thought the OP wanted truly independent, multi-user type setup.

Quote:


Also, VLC is far from the only app you can use - it was just the first that popped in my head. You could use ANY TV playback software that allows launching multiple instances.

But how do you control them all independently. How do [i]more than one users[/u] control them?

Quote:


You could use graphedit. Far from impossible or even very hard if you don't mind driving from a wireless keyboard/mouse.

If you're a single user, who want's multiple video streams running sure, but for a mutli-user setup, it is "almost impossible".
Reply
Reply
post #21 of 21
9/26/08 at 6:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stanger89 View Post

If you want multiple, independent, easily controllable outputs, along the lines of what you get with extenders (ie two different people in different rooms can pick different shows without knowing the other is there), the that truely is, "almost impossible" with a single PC.



That doesn't get independent audio to the second "zone".



Yes you do, but I think many (myself included) missread what the OP wanted. I know I originally thought the OP wanted truly independent, multi-user type setup.



But how do you control them all independently. How do [i]more than one users[/u] control them?



If you're a single user, who want's multiple video streams running sure, but for a mutli-user setup, it is "almost impossible".

Agree with all of your points but none of them are what the OP, which is who/what I was responding to, asked about. And, even for multi-zone/multi-user, "almost impossible" is still a bit strong. I'd be willing to settle for "prohibitively difficult". Hell, even really f'in stupid. But "almost impossible" it most definitely is not.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Home Theater Computers

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › 1 HTPC, 2 tuners, 2 TVs....possible?