Confused about which TV tuner to get to work with my Direct TV.... & also plugin issues (1 Viewer)

[rhilary]

Hi there!

I am new to Media Portal. My goal is to be able to access to both my PC, Music,Movies & Direct TV all in one place for ease of access & because it seems like a fun thing to have!

I did some research & read over the wikis, however,I am still having issues figuring out which TV tuner to use that will work with my Direct TV. I found 2 tuner cards at best buy & I am wondering if either of these would work.(I will post links below)

Hauppauge - WinTV-TV Tuner

Hauppauge - 1213 WinTV-Hvr-2255 Mc-Kit Dual TV


If possible I'd like to buy from best buy if I can just because it's here in town & I wouldn't have to wait on the part to come in, but if there are other suggestions I wouldn't be opposed to buying online.

Also, I have already downloaded Media Portal 1, & installed the Pandora MusicBox plugin to test the waters. I signed in & it verified my login info ok, but when I try to access the plugin it gives me an error message. I figured I could go ahead & get pandora to work since I already have access to the internet regardless of the tv card. Is this just an issue with the plugin or am I doing something wrong? I tried to uninstall/reinstall with no luck. Also cannot access online videos via the online videos plugin.

Here are some print screens of the errors I am getting.

I am going to keep playing with it & keep searching online for answers, but any help would be appreciated!

 

[mm1352000]

Hello and welcome!

I am new to Media Portal. My goal is to be able to access to both my PC, Music,Movies & Direct TV all in one place for ease of access & because it seems like a fun thing to have!

Indeed, it is.

I did some research & read over the wikis, however,I am still having issues figuring out which TV tuner to use that will work with my Direct TV. I found 2 tuner cards at best buy & I am wondering if either of these would work.(I will post links below)

Are you talking about DirecTV, the satellite provider?
...as in this DirecTV:
http://www.directv.com/

If so, what you need is a capture card... or a tuner card with capture inputs. You'd connect your set top box outputs to the capture card input... and optionally also have the PC control the set top box (so you can view the guide and change channels from inside MediaPortal) for which there are 2 options:

1. The TV Server DirecTV SHEF plugin. This is the preferred option, because it's cheaper (no need to buy a blaster), easier to setup, and more reliable. However, it can only work if your set top box supports the SHEF protocol.
2. Connect a blaster from the PC to the set top box.

The 2 tuners that you linked are almost identical. In fact the 2250 (first link) is just an older model of the 2255 (second link). Both would work... however you'd have to connect your set top box using composite or s-video, which means pretty low quality SD video. You'd get better video quality with either an HD-PVR or Colossus:
http://hauppauge.com/site/products/prods_hd-recorders.html

...though they may be more expensive for you, I'm not sure. The advantage of the tuners that you linked is that you could also receive free over-the-air digital ATSC broadcasts if you have an aerial. So, you need to make a choice:
HVR-2250/2255 = cheaper (???), lower quality video, receives over-the-air ATSC
HD-PVR or Colossus = more expensive (???), highest quality video, no over-the-air ATSC

Also, I have already downloaded Media Portal 1, & installed the Pandora MusicBox plugin to test the waters. I signed in & it verified my login info ok, but when I try to access the plugin it gives me an error message. I figured I could go ahead & get pandora to work since I already have access to the internet regardless of the tv card. Is this just an issue with the plugin or am I doing something wrong? I tried to uninstall/reinstall with no luck. Also cannot access online videos via the online videos plugin.

Log files would be needed to help you with both of these problems. You can use our debug tool with option 2:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/16_Support/3_Forums/2_Log_Files

Regards,
mm

 

[rhilary]

Are you talking about DirecTV, the satellite provider?
...as in this DirecTV:
http://www.directv.com/

Sure am! (unfortunately....)

This was extremely helpful! Will try all of the things! Thanks for the quick response.