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Will this setup work?

post #1 of 10
5/18/12 at 11:44am
Thread Starter 
Goal:
I want to ultimately have 1 server to store all my content (live TV, recorded TV, ripped DVDs, ripped Blu-ray) and be able to play that content to all my 3 TVs in the house.

Setup:
1 - Build a WHS 2011 server which will be on 24/7 and install a Ceton 4 card here so it can store all my content, including recorded TV
2 - Build 3 HTPC's (1 per TV, I don't want to matrix any TVs) and install Mediabrowser on each.

The only problem I see with this setup is content that is tagged protected.

Is this the best action to accomplish this?
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post #2 of 10
5/18/12 at 11:34pm
How will this work with Live TV on the clients?
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post #3 of 10
5/19/12 at 6:05am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robbo100 View Post

How will this work with Live TV on the clients?

I was under the assumption that you can assign a tuner from the Ceton on the WHS to WMC on a HTPC win 7 machine.

Also, this would be instantly because the Ceton would be on 24/7 and doesnt have to authenticate every time it boots or wakes.

Thoughts?
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post #4 of 10
5/19/12 at 10:43am
That should work with the exception of copy protected TV as you said. You could also consider going the HDHomeRun Prime route as well for a networked tuner. However, if you are just going to be playing recorded stuff from the server, a full HTPC might be overkill. Have you thought about using a network media streamer (WD Live etc)? Or you could do one HTPC for your main TV and media streamers for the other two.
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post #5 of 10
5/20/12 at 12:35pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ljo000 View Post

That should work with the exception of copy protected TV as you said. You could also consider going the HDHomeRun Prime route as well for a networked tuner. However, if you are just going to be playing recorded stuff from the server, a full HTPC might be overkill. Have you thought about using a network media streamer (WD Live etc)? Or you could do one HTPC for your main TV and media streamers for the other two.

It's for both live tv and recorded content. I want to eliminate renting STBs from my provider and also being able to access everything.
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post #6 of 10
5/20/12 at 1:13pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ljo000 View Post

That should work with the exception of copy protected TV as you said. You could also consider going the HDHomeRun Prime route as well for a networked tuner. However, if you are just going to be playing recorded stuff from the server, a full HTPC might be overkill. Have you thought about using a network media streamer (WD Live etc)? Or you could do one HTPC for your main TV and media streamers for the other two.

Can you assign a tuner to a WD Live (for example)? Or will it just extend whatever is being watched on the main HTPC.

For example, if a HTPC has 1 Ceton 4 card, can 3 different WD Live watch live TV on three different channels assuming those tuners are not being used to record?
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post #7 of 10
5/21/12 at 7:41am
The media streamer would only be for recorded TV. Using a program like MCEBuddy, non-copy protected shows would be auto converted to mkv (with channel skipping which is nice) then streamed. For just watching TV, you would need to either get a cable box with a CableCARD for each TV or use a WMC extender like the xbox, which has a lot of drawbacks. Until the Ceton Echo extender is released it is much better to separate live TV from recorded TV.

For my own setup, I do not use CableCARD and have no experience with copy-protected content but my understanding is that it will be an issue whether you go server + full HTPC or streaming devices. The copy-once content will only be playable on the machine that recorded it. In this case you have no choice for streaming other than WMC extenders (currently xbox 360 but soon Ceton Echo). If you are using OTA or basic cable its much easier as you can just plug the coax into each TV for live TV and then stream the converted recorded TV.

If you are going to be recording and distributing copy-once protected stuff I would build the media server now but wait for the Echo as this should simplify things greatly and allow you to stream all your content (including live TV) from the server to each of your TVs using only a single HDHomeRun Prime or Ceton InfiniTV.
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post #8 of 10
5/21/12 at 8:42am
There is no one right way to do this.

Using multiple computers COULD work, but depending on your cable provider they may not be able to share each other's recordings.

Using a single HTPC and media center extenders will work well for live tv, but all of the available extenders have limited codec support for your movie collection. Hopefully the upcoming Ceton Echo extender gives us a fully functioning device.
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post #9 of 10
5/21/12 at 9:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pittsoccer33 View Post

There is no one right way to do this.

Using multiple computers COULD work, but depending on your cable provider they may not be able to share each other's recordings.

Using a single HTPC and media center extenders will work well for live tv, but all of the available extenders have limited codec support for your movie collection. Hopefully the upcoming Ceton Echo extender gives us a fully functioning device.

My hope is that the Echo makes the following setup work:

- Media server / HTPC with HDHomeRun/Ceton InfiniTV connected directly to main viewing screen. Uncopy protected TV would be auto converted to mkv
- Echos for secondary screens that can stream live TV, recorded copy-once TV and mkv/avi files.

Right now as I mentioned above, for basic cable/OTA you can do all this with regular streaming devices and coax direct to TVs.
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post #10 of 10
5/21/12 at 10:38am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ljo000 View Post

My hope is that the Echo makes the following setup work:

- Media server / HTPC with HDHomeRun/Ceton InfiniTV connected directly to main viewing screen. Uncopy protected TV would be auto converted to mkv
- Echos for secondary screens that can stream live TV, recorded copy-once TV and mkv/avi files.

Right now as I mentioned above, for basic cable/OTA you can do all this with regular streaming devices and coax direct to TVs.

Thank for everyone's replies. I got a handle on how it works now.

I guess if I wanted to watch live tv and non-protected TV I would require a HTPC per TV.

I think I am going to wait for the Echo myself and see how that works.
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