"Server PC", InfiniTV 4, MCEBuddy, and FIOS Questions

I personally think your best bet with fios is to put the tuner on the "server" and let it handle the recordings... with this setup the HTPCs won't be doing any recording but will still play most recordings without an extender. The problem is live tv as htpcs can't be extenders so they can't play "remote" live tv, (though it might be possible to play the recorded file prior to it completely being recorded. More after question 4)
Its generally best to record to the local drive... if one of your htpcs is doing the recording it should record to the htpc drive and then move it later to the server. It is possible to map drives and/or use iscsi to record directly to the server but many have problems with this approach
currently most of fios is copy freely so any of those recordings can be viewed on other pcs, but I keep hearing of more and more becoming copy once which will be protected. Someone recently said AMC and others in addition to the premiums like HBO, what I don't know if this was because AMC often uses CGMS and verizon isn't setting the CCI flag properly to override it, or if cci is actually at copy once.... It may vary by market.
as extenders they have access to all recordings and live tv. Can only be paired to one media center pc at a time but each media center pc can watch any folders that others record to and include them in its library (provided there isn't any copy protection)
You can set up the tuner as network tuners and assign two tuners to the server, and one to each htpc if you really need live tv at each htpc and want to be able to press the record button at each htpc... generally for doing what you want, extenders are best for the viewing locations not htpcs. I believe with SD's HomeRun Prime you can configure it as a pool of tuners on each computer but I have heard people having lots of problems with losing tuners when you do this. should work as long as the content is copy freely

Be aware that fios is starting to encrypt some of its content. A user in ny reported premiums like hbo and some others like amc were encrypted last week.

So mce buddy won't work for those and recordings are locked to the pc they were recorded on. Unless you get an extender of course.

Why not go with Ceton in the server, as suggested, and use extenders/xBOX in living room, den, and bedroom?

Or, if you want to separate duties, leave server as the server, and dedicate HTPC 1 to house the ceton, and a smallish hard drive in the livingroom, and use extenders/xbox in den and bedrooms?

This way you elimiate the need to pay for the cable box, when you have perfectly capable 4 tuner unit that can serve the whole house.

WE have 1 HTPC and 4 extenders with 5 TV's in the house, the only up-charge we have from Verizon is $4/month cablecard rental.

How do you plan to hit record on any htpc and have it record on the server? Just curious. WMC won't let you set a networked drive as the recorder. I think it is possible
but not with standard drive sharing. Just curious if you already have that part figured out.
Also do you plan to assign a tuner from the ceton to each htpc? With the Ceton you either need to assign it or they can't use it. Its not use on demand like the silicon dust tuner.

That's why I agree with above poster extenders are the way to go. Although imo the only in production extender (xbox 360) sucks for anything beside TV duties. Thats why I am waiting for the Ceton Echo.

When you use extenders, you can shedule a recording from any TV, and view it on any TV. If you use multiple HTPC's you will only be able to shcedule it on that HTPC and if it is copyright protected, you will only be able to play it on that HTPC.

Unless you have multiple very large TV's, you may be able to get away with HTPC conected to the "main TV" the one that will benefit from high quality MKV's, and while you are at it converting your movies to MKV, you can also encode them in an extender friendly format like DIVX or XVID. But, yeah, if you have four 80" plus TV's ($3,000+) in the house, then cost of additional HTPC's is going to be the least of your concerns.

There is a way to record over the network you need to use iSCSI. Honestly I know nothing about it. Not sure if the pc doing the recording needs to be a server. Heres a recent thread with some info.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1419521/iscsi-windows-home-server-2011-and-live-recorded-tv

You can't set recordings from a different HTPC through media center. But there are things like Remote Potato. You can control recordings and all that from any browser.
As of now if Fios is still copy freely. You will be able to share the main HTPC's recordings with the 2nd htpc. So you could just do all the recordings on the main system.

Your mkv library is easy as far as htpc's go so your good there. Your stuck in the middle, the xbox is good for tv but sucks for movies. The htpc is good for everything except sharing encrypted tv.

Hopefully the Ceton Echo brings the two together.

Why is your HTPC always on? You're just burning money.

I too am in upstate NY and I am using FIOS right now. In fact, I do almost exactly what you're trying to do. I have a server with an InfiniTV card attached, and the tuners are shared out via network bridge to the two HTPC's (no extenders). The only difference is my server is running Windows Home Server 2011.

Answers:

1. You can press "record" on your HTPC's and the shows will record locally (not directly to the server). In my case, Windows Home Server has an archiving feature where you can instruct the client HTPC's to auto archive directly to the server once the recording has finished.
2. Recordings can be played back on anything with a screen (including machines that have no tuner attached).
3. Probably. I don't own an Xbox, so I can't tell you for sure.
4. Yes. You'll have to step through a tuner setup wizard on each client HTPC.
5. I know nothing about MCEbuddy. Can't help you there.

Reading through some of your previous posts, it seems to me that moving to Windows Home Server 2011 on your server would solve most of your DVR/Recorded TV issues. I use the TV archive feature regularly on my client HTPC's, and it works very well. I achieved network bridging with my InfiniTV by following the instructions at http://www.missingremote.com/guide/ceton-infinitv-network-tuner-wizard-access-infinitv-tuners-multiple-pcs. This scenario is supported by Ceton as well: http://cetoncorp.com/product-support/.
Edited by ajkrishock - 1/25/13 at 3:07pm