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Help? Making the transition from BeyondTV4 to Windows 7 Media Center?!?

822 Views 11 Replies 5 Participants Last post by trek6500mt, Feb 23, 2014

trek6500mt

Discussion Starter · Feb 21, 2014

Hello All

My cable provider is going all digital in a few more days.

I've used BeyondTV3/4 on several HTPC builds with 4 internal Haupauge WinTV-PVR-250's for close to 10 years now. All recordings were of the Kids and my sitcom's and the wifes CSI, NCIS, and shows like this. I was able to set up multiple recording directories for the entire family. They have become very used to find their recorded shows in these directories. I have HTPC's running Win 7 Ultimate connected to each TV in the house. It has been a pain free ride to say the least.

So now I did some looking around and since the Olympics has been causing "repeats", I decided to try and move on to digital. I purchased a Ceton InfiniTV6 and rented a Mororola M-Cable card from my local cable company "Charter Communications Suffolk VA". The unit install and setup went without a hitch, and I can record 6 HD channels at once through Windows 7 Media Center.

It seems that WIN7 Media Center is like playing with sticks and rocks compared to BTV4.. Yes WMC records HD/Digital, but it seems no where near as tailor-able as BTV4 was. This confuses me because how old BTV4 is compared to WMC.

Am I on the right track? Am I the only one who wants to record his TV shows having them recorded on one Server centric HTPC HHD running W7MC, in a Mom, Dad, or kids sub directory? Then allow viewing of said shows from any of the other HTPC's on the network connect to the "Server HTCP's" shared sub directory's? Thus ensuring that no viewer has to look through a lot of piddle poo shows to find theirs.

It seems This is exactly what WMC expects its users to do... Is WMC incapable of doing this, and if so why???? Trying to set up shared directories without having each person have to login has been a pain..

Does WMC run as a service, or must the program be running at all times so TV shows will record?

I could go on forever. So if there is a way with WMC, or another program out that will allow for digital recordings to be saved to multiple directories on a single/server type HTPC, could someone please point me in the right direction??

Thank you very much for your time!

And if anyone is looking for 4 awsome WinTV-PVR-250's feel free to give me a yell..

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hammerdwn

· #2 · Feb 21, 2014

Do the other htpcs run wmc to watch the recorded shows? or some other software?

Does your cable company mark the channels with copy protection flags preventing the other PC's from playing them back?

There are people around that let WMC record to a specified drive, then have scripts that copy them off to a shared server. I don't do it, but it is possible.

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trek6500mt

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 21, 2014

Hello, Hammerdwn;

As per your questions all PCs run Win7 Ultimate.

At first I thought the cable company tagged every show, but thankfully I was misstaken.

scripts, that sounds in depth...

So do you record the way I do? What is your set up?

Thank you

trek6500mt

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captain_video

· #4 · Feb 21, 2014

If your channels are flagged as copy once you cannot share them with other PCs. You have to use Media Extenders, such as the Ceton Echo or the XBox 360. If the channels are flagged as copy freely then they can be shared with any other PC. You can share the RecordedTV folder on one PC with any other PC running Windows Media Center. If you want to access recordings from a central server instead of a HTPC, then there are scripts available that can automatically transfer shows once they have finished recording. I've personally never used one, but lots of others here have so hopefully someone will chime in with a recommendation and a link.

If you're looking for a way to organize recordings in WMC then you might want to take a look at this add-on:

http://www.recordedtvhd.com/

It will group recordings by show title with poster art and show descriptions.

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trek6500mt

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 21, 2014

Quote:
Originally Posted by captain_video /t/1519029/help-making-the-transition-from-beyondtv4-to-windows-7-media-center#post_24390055

If your channels are flagged as copy once you cannot share them with other PCs. You have to use Media Extenders, such as the Ceton Echo or the XBox 360. If the channels are flagged as copy freely then they can be shared with any other PC. You can share the RecordedTV folder on one PC with any other PC running Windows Media Center. If you want to access recordings from a central server instead of a HTPC, then there are scripts available that can automatically transfer shows once they have finished recording. I've personally never used one, but lots of others here have so hopefully someone will chime in with a recommendation and a link.

If you're looking for a way to organize recordings in WMC then you might want to take a look at this add-on:

http://www.recordedtvhd.com/

It will group recordings by show title with poster art and show descriptions.

Yea I understand but don't agree with the copy once flag. So far none of the TV shows I have recorded have been Flagged as copy-once. Though there are many that haven't been on due to the Olympics.

Do you use Homegroups as your shares to get around logins for users?

The scripting would be nice if it isn't to in depth. I'll be looking into it. Hope someone else chimes in to give some insight.

Thanks for the Info, and advice.

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dfkimbro

· #6 · Feb 22, 2014

I believe MCEBuddy will allow you to move to specific network folders via custom profiles (one for Dad, one for Mom, etc.).

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captain_video

· #7 · Feb 22, 2014

Quote:
Originally Posted by trek6500mt /t/1519029/help-making-the-transition-from-beyondtv4-to-windows-7-media-center#post_24391383

Do you use Homegroups as your shares to get around logins for users?

I never really thought about it, but I do have my PCs configured in a Homegroup. I've got them all configured so no login is required.

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trek6500mt

Discussion Starter · #8 · Feb 22, 2014

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trek6500mt

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 22, 2014

Quote:
Originally Posted by dfkimbro /t/1519029/help-making-the-transition-from-beyondtv4-to-windows-7-media-center#post_24391563

I believe MCEBuddy will allow you to move to specific network folders via custom profiles (one for Dad, one for Mom, etc.).

Thank you! Ill check it out.

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trek6500mt

Discussion Starter · #10 · Feb 22, 2014

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Roginator

· #11 · Feb 23, 2014

Since you are using Windows Media Center, I would recommend you use the XBox 360 (newer versions about $98-$150?) as extenders for TVs.

Also, automated commercial skipping using Comskip and DVRMSToolbox. Cost is minimal ($10 each?). Setup is a little wonky.

And finally a little remote for each XBox (

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trek6500mt

Discussion Starter · #12 · Feb 23, 2014

Thanks for the input!

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