Let's try this discussion again, but this time without going off topic.
WMC and HDHR Prime Setup Question
Hey folks...
Been using my HDHR Prime on WMC for about a month now and its great.
The only thing that I don't love about my setup is that, at least with my current setup, there is no option for whole home DVR. I currently have a "server" running Win7 Pro and it has WMC on there. Is there any way to record and stream live and recorded TV off of the main server?
Thanks!
Hey folks...
Been using my HDHR Prime on WMC for about a month now and its great.
The only thing that I don't love about my setup is that, at least with my current setup, there is no option for whole home DVR. I currently have a "server" running Win7 Pro and it has WMC on there. Is there any way to record and stream live and recorded TV off of the main server?
Thanks!
1 - 20 of 27 Posts
You will need a Windows Media Center extender. That means a Xbox 360, Linksys DMA 2100, HP x280n or Ceton Echo.
The Linksys and HP extenders will not wake the HTPC/server from sleep when powered on. The Xbox and Ceton will. The Xbox is also the only one that will work with Windows 8/8.1, none of the others will (if you ever decide to upgrade the HTPC/server). The Xbox and Echo are the only one still produced/sold. The Linksys and HP can still be obtained second hand though.
The Echo has numerous bugs that do not creep up on the other extenders. Ceton appears to have no intention to fix these bugs as it has been about a year without any firmware updates/bug fixes. You can read about the bugs/problems/reviews of it at these links and decide for yourself if it is a viable option or not:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1386351/official-ceton-echo-extender-info-thread
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewforum.php?f=69
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815706003
http://www.amazon.com/Ceton-Echo-Windows-Center-Extender/product-reviews/B008TZJ126/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1
After owning a Linksys DMA 2100, 2x Ceton Echos and now 4x Xbox 360s - I recommend the Xbox 360. I currently use 4 of the current E models as my WMC extenders. It is the most reliable, and best performing of all the other extenders in my experience. Just avoid the old white/fat models. They have a problem with being prone to overheating. The Slim version or newer E revision doesn't have this problem at all.
The Linksys and HP extenders will not wake the HTPC/server from sleep when powered on. The Xbox and Ceton will. The Xbox is also the only one that will work with Windows 8/8.1, none of the others will (if you ever decide to upgrade the HTPC/server). The Xbox and Echo are the only one still produced/sold. The Linksys and HP can still be obtained second hand though.
The Echo has numerous bugs that do not creep up on the other extenders. Ceton appears to have no intention to fix these bugs as it has been about a year without any firmware updates/bug fixes. You can read about the bugs/problems/reviews of it at these links and decide for yourself if it is a viable option or not:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1386351/official-ceton-echo-extender-info-thread
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewforum.php?f=69
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815706003
http://www.amazon.com/Ceton-Echo-Windows-Center-Extender/product-reviews/B008TZJ126/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1
After owning a Linksys DMA 2100, 2x Ceton Echos and now 4x Xbox 360s - I recommend the Xbox 360. I currently use 4 of the current E models as my WMC extenders. It is the most reliable, and best performing of all the other extenders in my experience. Just avoid the old white/fat models. They have a problem with being prone to overheating. The Slim version or newer E revision doesn't have this problem at all.
So there's no way to build a WMC extender?
So there's no way to build a WMC extender?
Not if any of your content is marked anything other than copy freely, no. Check on that first.
If it is all marked copy freely (or QAM or OTA for sake of argument in regards to those type of setups), then you would have to dedicate one of your HDHR Prime tuners to the 'pseudo-extender' (if you ever want to watch live TV on it), share your recording folder on the Server/HTPC with the 'pseudo-extender, and install this for shared guide/scheduling recordings from the 'pseudo-extender' guide: http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=523
There's also ServerWMC for XBMC, but all the same rules apply about flagged content. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=ServerWMC
If any of your channels/recordings are flagged anything other than copy freely, an actual WMC extender is your only option.
If it is all marked copy freely (or QAM or OTA for sake of argument in regards to those type of setups), then you would have to dedicate one of your HDHR Prime tuners to the 'pseudo-extender' (if you ever want to watch live TV on it), share your recording folder on the Server/HTPC with the 'pseudo-extender, and install this for shared guide/scheduling recordings from the 'pseudo-extender' guide: http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=523
There's also ServerWMC for XBMC, but all the same rules apply about flagged content. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=ServerWMC
If any of your channels/recordings are flagged anything other than copy freely, an actual WMC extender is your only option.
Thanks!
How can you tell if something is copy freely or not?
Thanks!
How can you tell if something is copy freely or not?
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/09/mc_copyprotected_md.jpg
I think if you see that, you're screwed (as in it's marked 'Copy Once' or 'Copy Never', meaning you can only use actual extenders). I might be mistaken though on if you'll see that or not. I don't use CableCard cause my cable is all QAM fortunately. So someone else who knows for sure can chime in.
I think if you see that, you're screwed (as in it's marked 'Copy Once' or 'Copy Never', meaning you can only use actual extenders). I might be mistaken though on if you'll see that or not. I don't use CableCard cause my cable is all QAM fortunately. So someone else who knows for sure can chime in.
Cool - I've never seen the "copy protected" icon on any of my stuff so it might be a viable option. I'm going to go through and double check through the HDHR Tuner.
Thanks for the help, guys!
Cool - I've never seen the "copy protected" icon on any of my stuff so it might be a viable option. I'm going to go through and double check through the HDHR Tuner.
Thanks for the help, guys!
Another option would be to open your recording folder in windows and try playing your recordings outside of media center.
If your main goal is watching TV, the Xbox 360 will provide a stable experience out of the box without major video playback problems. I don't love the way that the video looks-it's kind of soft and lacking in detail. Others don't seem to mind so it may just be an issue of personal preference. It also has trouble with certain other types of non-TV content.
If you don't have any copy-once flagged content, you have a bunch of options, including XBMC, or a separate 7MC machine that uses the HDHR for live TV and streams recordings from a shared folder.
F
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate Miller /t/1519454/wmc-and-hdhr-prime-setup-question#post_24401865
Cool - I've never seen the "copy protected" icon on any of my stuff so it might be a viable option. I'm going to go through and double check through the HDHR Tuner.
Thanks for the help, guys!
Another option would be to open your recording folder in windows and try playing your recordings outside of media center.
If your main goal is watching TV, the Xbox 360 will provide a stable experience out of the box without major video playback problems. I don't love the way that the video looks-it's kind of soft and lacking in detail. Others don't seem to mind so it may just be an issue of personal preference. It also has trouble with certain other types of non-TV content.
If you don't have any copy-once flagged content, you have a bunch of options, including XBMC, or a separate 7MC machine that uses the HDHR for live TV and streams recordings from a shared folder.
F
There was also a Ceton Echo extender that was smaller and less energy demanding than the Xbox 360. Some people were able to get it working well, but some people (myself included) could not, even after a lot of effort. Since it is kind of a heated topic I will merely suggest that you search for the thread and draw your own conclusions.
Also Nate, you should know your cable company can change what/how they flag channels at any time. So while you might be able to build/use a 'pseudo-extender' now, your cable company could change its flagging method making the 'pseudo-extender' worthless for recorded TV. This is why we mainly suggest an actual extender (especially for CableCard content). They might never change it, or they could change it it the next day/week/month/year/etc. With an actual extender, this would never be a concern.
Just wanted to make you aware.
Just wanted to make you aware.
I had thought of that and its a fair point.
I suppose if that ever happens I'm not entirely out as I can go back to how things are right now.
I had thought of that and its a fair point.
I suppose if that ever happens I'm not entirely out as I can go back to how things are right now.
Why can't I just share the recorded TV folder on my server and then set WMC to pull from that shared location?
Why can't I just share the recorded TV folder on my server and then set WMC to pull from that shared location?
You can do that and it's what I do ... sort of.
My server runs WHS2011 which has a plugin that installs on each of my HTPCs that archives my recordings every night. The recordings and live TV buffer are local and then each night the recordings are swept to the server. My WHS2011 has a shared Recorded TV folder and that folder is included in the Recorded TV media library on each HTPC.
To handle the "Copy Once" content (usually HBO/Starz/etc.) you can either just keep it on the HTPC that recorded it or create a share for each HTPC and then include the appropriate share in each HTPC's Recorded TV media library so the other HTPCs can't see it. This takes some manual intervention so how much of a PITA that is depends on your recording volume. I record probably 3-4 movies a month off HBO, etc. so it's not a big deal.
If you don't have WHS2011 you can just move the recordings manually to your shared Recorded TV folder or write a script to do it. I know in my Googling of this I've seen folks offer up scripts that run at a certain time each night to move recordings.
Copy Once isn't about where the file resides (it can reside anywhere) but about which client is allowed to play it (only the one that recorded it).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate Miller /t/1519454/wmc-and-hdhr-prime-setup-question#post_24441655
Why can't I just share the recorded TV folder on my server and then set WMC to pull from that shared location?
You can do that and it's what I do ... sort of.
My server runs WHS2011 which has a plugin that installs on each of my HTPCs that archives my recordings every night. The recordings and live TV buffer are local and then each night the recordings are swept to the server. My WHS2011 has a shared Recorded TV folder and that folder is included in the Recorded TV media library on each HTPC.
To handle the "Copy Once" content (usually HBO/Starz/etc.) you can either just keep it on the HTPC that recorded it or create a share for each HTPC and then include the appropriate share in each HTPC's Recorded TV media library so the other HTPCs can't see it. This takes some manual intervention so how much of a PITA that is depends on your recording volume. I record probably 3-4 movies a month off HBO, etc. so it's not a big deal.
If you don't have WHS2011 you can just move the recordings manually to your shared Recorded TV folder or write a script to do it. I know in my Googling of this I've seen folks offer up scripts that run at a certain time each night to move recordings.
Copy Once isn't about where the file resides (it can reside anywhere) but about which client is allowed to play it (only the one that recorded it).
I will be running Win7 Ultimate so I should be able to do the same thing - thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by StardogChampion /t/1519454/wmc-and-hdhr-prime-setup-question/0_100#post_24441746
You can do that and it's what I do ... sort of.
My server runs WHS2011 which has a plugin that installs on each of my HTPCs that archives my recordings every night. The recordings and live TV buffer are local and then each night the recordings are swept to the server. My WHS2011 has a shared Recorded TV folder and that folder is included in the Recorded TV media library on each HTPC.
To handle the "Copy Once" content (usually HBO/Starz/etc.) you can either just keep it on the HTPC that recorded it or create a share for each HTPC and then include the appropriate share in each HTPC's Recorded TV media library so the other HTPCs can't see it. This takes some manual intervention so how much of a PITA that is depends on your recording volume. I record probably 3-4 movies a month off HBO, etc. so it's not a big deal.
If you don't have WHS2011 you can just move the recordings manually to your shared Recorded TV folder or write a script to do it. I know in my Googling of this I've seen folks offer up scripts that run at a certain time each night to move recordings.
Copy Once isn't about where the file resides (it can reside anywhere) but about which client is allowed to play it (only the one that recorded it).
I will be running Win7 Ultimate so I should be able to do the same thing - thanks!
The main benefit of using standalone HTPCs vs. extenders is that you have a much wider range of codec support for all types of video and audio formats. I have a server with over 20TB of ripped DVDs and Blu-Rays as well as various other video formats that can be viewed on any TV. I cannot watch the vast majority of them using extenders. I have a HDHomeRun Prime tuner on my network so each of the NUCs can also be used to watch live TV. One other thing to consider is that by having extenders you are reliant on the main HTPC to be always on line and functional. If the main HTPC goes down for any reason, you lose connectivity with the extenders, resulting in the loss of TV or available recordings for playback on the extenders. If you have a main HTPC that is stable and working fine then this won't be an issue, but it is something to consider.
The only downside of this is that you can't schedule recordings on the remote HTPCs like you can on an extender. An extender accesses the central HTPC so you can see what else is scheduled to record and allows you to schedule recordings such that there are no conflicts. With the standalone HTPCs, you can only see what's already been recorded on the main HTPC and not what's scheduled to record. However, anything you schedule for recording on the remote HTPC will reside on that PC and will be available for sharing with all ther PCs with WMC. You can, however, use the Ceton app for a smart phone to access the scheduled recordings list on any of the PCs you have it configured to control. It is supposed to work with any cablecard tuner and not just the Ceton tuners.
You can do exactly that. WMC allows you to expand the Recorded TV folder to include a 2nd drive location. The 2nd drive can be on the current HTPC or on a networked drive that's shared. I have two Intel NUCs connected to HDTVs in the family room and an upstairs bedroom. I have my main HTPC located in my finished basement where all of my recording is performed. I'm on FIOS so all channels I subscribe to are flagged as copy freely so they can be shared with the two NUCs. I have the Recorded TV folder on the main HTPC shared with the NUCs so when I access recordings on the NUCs they also show recordings in the main HTPC Recorded TV folder. I can play them back on the remote TVs as if I was using the main HTPC.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate Miller /t/1519454/wmc-and-hdhr-prime-setup-question#post_24441655
Why can't I just share the recorded TV folder on my server and then set WMC to pull from that shared location?
The main benefit of using standalone HTPCs vs. extenders is that you have a much wider range of codec support for all types of video and audio formats. I have a server with over 20TB of ripped DVDs and Blu-Rays as well as various other video formats that can be viewed on any TV. I cannot watch the vast majority of them using extenders. I have a HDHomeRun Prime tuner on my network so each of the NUCs can also be used to watch live TV. One other thing to consider is that by having extenders you are reliant on the main HTPC to be always on line and functional. If the main HTPC goes down for any reason, you lose connectivity with the extenders, resulting in the loss of TV or available recordings for playback on the extenders. If you have a main HTPC that is stable and working fine then this won't be an issue, but it is something to consider.
The only downside of this is that you can't schedule recordings on the remote HTPCs like you can on an extender. An extender accesses the central HTPC so you can see what else is scheduled to record and allows you to schedule recordings such that there are no conflicts. With the standalone HTPCs, you can only see what's already been recorded on the main HTPC and not what's scheduled to record. However, anything you schedule for recording on the remote HTPC will reside on that PC and will be available for sharing with all ther PCs with WMC. You can, however, use the Ceton app for a smart phone to access the scheduled recordings list on any of the PCs you have it configured to control. It is supposed to work with any cablecard tuner and not just the Ceton tuners.
This is kind of what I used to do. I have a WHS2011 server that runs a Windows 7 Home Premium VM. That VM does all of my recording. My recording folder is shared and my other HTPCs just use that shared folder as an additional library. What I do now is move my recordings nightly to my workstation which strips the commercials and encodes them to mp4(x264) then moves them to my Plex Media Server. This way they are available everywhere. I think that may not be an option for Copy Once though. I use FiOS so I haven't had to deal with any Copy Once content yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StardogChampion /t/1519454/wmc-and-hdhr-prime-setup-question#post_24441746
You can do that and it's what I do ... sort of.
My server runs WHS2011 which has a plugin that installs on each of my HTPCs that archives my recordings every night. The recordings and live TV buffer are local and then each night the recordings are swept to the server. My WHS2011 has a shared Recorded TV folder and that folder is included in the Recorded TV media library on each HTPC.
To handle the "Copy Once" content (usually HBO/Starz/etc.) you can either just keep it on the HTPC that recorded it or create a share for each HTPC and then include the appropriate share in each HTPC's Recorded TV media library so the other HTPCs can't see it. This takes some manual intervention so how much of a PITA that is depends on your recording volume. I record probably 3-4 movies a month off HBO, etc. so it's not a big deal.
If you don't have WHS2011 you can just move the recordings manually to your shared Recorded TV folder or write a script to do it. I know in my Googling of this I've seen folks offer up scripts that run at a certain time each night to move recordings.
Copy Once isn't about where the file resides (it can reside anywhere) but about which client is allowed to play it (only the one that recorded it).
This is kind of what I used to do. I have a WHS2011 server that runs a Windows 7 Home Premium VM. That VM does all of my recording. My recording folder is shared and my other HTPCs just use that shared folder as an additional library. What I do now is move my recordings nightly to my workstation which strips the commercials and encodes them to mp4(x264) then moves them to my Plex Media Server. This way they are available everywhere. I think that may not be an option for Copy Once though. I use FiOS so I haven't had to deal with any Copy Once content yet.
You can also run remote potato on your main HTPC/server and use an ios or android app to schedule recording as well as watch recorded content.
This is what I would like to do. Can you share how you have windows 7 set up on the WHS2011. I'm thinking of using Virtual Box for doing this type of set up. I also use Plex as my main media player and would love to do as you do for commercials, awseome!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by captain_video /t/1519454/wmc-and-hdhr-prime-setup-question/0_100#post_24441998
The only downside of this is that you can't schedule recordings on the remote HTPCs like you can on an extender. An extender accesses the central HTPC so you can see what else is scheduled to record and allows you to schedule recordings such that there are no conflicts. With the standalone HTPCs, you can only see what's already been recorded on the main HTPC and not what's scheduled to record. However, anything you schedule for recording on the remote HTPC will reside on that PC and will be available for sharing with all ther PCs with WMC. You can, however, use the Ceton app for a smart phone to access the scheduled recordings list on any of the PCs you have it configured to control. It is supposed to work with any cablecard tuner and not just the Ceton tuners.
You can also run remote potato on your main HTPC/server and use an ios or android app to schedule recording as well as watch recorded content.
Quote:
Originally Posted by techmattr /t/1519454/wmc-and-hdhr-prime-setup-question/0_100#post_24442003
This is kind of what I used to do. I have a WHS2011 server that runs a Windows 7 Home Premium VM. That VM does all of my recording. My recording folder is shared and my other HTPCs just use that shared folder as an additional library. What I do now is move my recordings nightly to my workstation which strips the commercials and encodes them to mp4(x264) then moves them to my Plex Media Server. This way they are available everywhere. I think that may not be an option for Copy Once though. I use FiOS so I haven't had to deal with any Copy Once content yet.
This is what I would like to do. Can you share how you have windows 7 set up on the WHS2011. I'm thinking of using Virtual Box for doing this type of set up. I also use Plex as my main media player and would love to do as you do for commercials, awseome!!
You can definitely get elaborate with this type of setup and use a bare metal hypervisor like ESXi but I went the lazy route with this setup and just used VMware Player. VMware Player just gets installed in Windows and then you can create and launch VMs right from the player. It's pretty limited in how many procs you can assign and things like that but it has everything you would need to create a WMC recording machine. Another thing I did was somewhat isolate the traffic for TV recording. I have an Intel Gigabit CT PCIe card I use for the VM. VMware Player does allow you to assign a physical NIC to one machine. So I have that NIC and my HDHomeRun Prime connected to a switch off my main router. Everything else in my house is connected to another switch off my main router. If you have a decent switch this really isn't necessary but at one point I was getting a lot of pixelation in my recording and I wanted to create as clean of a recording setup as possible and just dropping a separate switch off the router does eliminate a lot of network chatter the box was seeing.
I use VideoReDo TVSuite for my commercial removal and encoding. The commercial detection is ok. It works flawlessly on some channels but pretty poorly on others. ABC is a bad one. They don't have blank frames between their show and commercial so there is no way for the software to detect the commercial. So some manual editing is involved sometimes before I move it over to the server.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oman321 /t/1519454/wmc-and-hdhr-prime-setup-question#post_24442073
This is what I would like to do. Can you share how you have windows 7 set up on the WHS2011. I'm thinking of using Virtual Box for doing this type of set up. I also use Plex as my main media player and would love to do as you do for commercials, awseome!!
You can definitely get elaborate with this type of setup and use a bare metal hypervisor like ESXi but I went the lazy route with this setup and just used VMware Player. VMware Player just gets installed in Windows and then you can create and launch VMs right from the player. It's pretty limited in how many procs you can assign and things like that but it has everything you would need to create a WMC recording machine. Another thing I did was somewhat isolate the traffic for TV recording. I have an Intel Gigabit CT PCIe card I use for the VM. VMware Player does allow you to assign a physical NIC to one machine. So I have that NIC and my HDHomeRun Prime connected to a switch off my main router. Everything else in my house is connected to another switch off my main router. If you have a decent switch this really isn't necessary but at one point I was getting a lot of pixelation in my recording and I wanted to create as clean of a recording setup as possible and just dropping a separate switch off the router does eliminate a lot of network chatter the box was seeing.
I use VideoReDo TVSuite for my commercial removal and encoding. The commercial detection is ok. It works flawlessly on some channels but pretty poorly on others. ABC is a bad one. They don't have blank frames between their show and commercial so there is no way for the software to detect the commercial. So some manual editing is involved sometimes before I move it over to the server.
1 - 20 of 27 Posts
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