Few questions to see if Media Portal is right for me (1 Viewer)

[pilehave]

"the TV server supports watching/recording multiple channels from a single mux" - I'm new to MediaPortal, does this mean with a single USB receiver I can record on one channel and watch on another ?

If so, can you point me at the relevant info in the wiki or wherever ?

If not, what does "a single mux" mean ?

Thanks in advance,

Steve

Yes you can, but only if they are on the same MUX, basically meaning that they are on the same frequency. Typically each MUX can carry a number of 4-6 channels (depending on the compression) and you can watch and record all these at the same time with the same tuner.

If you want to watch a channel on another MUX (frequency) while you are recording one on the first MUX, you need two tuners. To be completely covered (in theory) you would need as many tuners as there are MUX'es on your reception. In real life, two or three tuners may cover your needs (unless you record a lot on many different MUX'es).

 

[miroslav22]

Channels in DVB are grouped and transmitted on a single 'transponder' or 'mux'. A mux might have as many as 8-10 channels sharing the same stream.

When MP tunes to a channel, it is actually tuning to this larger 'mux' and it filters the packets for the channel you are watching. MP has the ability to record (ie filter) more than 1 of these channels from the same 'mux' at the same time.

Edit: pilehave's explanation is better ^^

 

[spwlsl]

Thanks guys - how do I find out which channels are on which MUX ?

 

[miroslav22]

If you're on satellite, check out www.kingofsat.net

Search Results for - KingOfSat

The above example has 3 mux's for BBC channels. You could therefore record "BBC One England", "BBC One Cambridge", "BBC One Channel Islands" and "BBC One West" at the same time with one tuner as they are grouped on the same mux (bad example I know, but you get the idea )

 

[spwlsl]

Ok - Thanks. I think I have the idea now.

In reality I'm not going to want to record varieties of BBC1 - more likely to want to watch BBC1 and record Channel 4 or Dave or whatever.

In which case I'll need two tuners = 2 USB receivers - right ?

So that means a splitter for my co-ax cable going into the 2 USB's ?

 

[jameson_uk]

So that means a splitter for my co-ax cable going into the 2 USB's ?

No. For satellite you need separate connections to dish for each tuner. You can not simply split one cable

 

[spwlsl]

Sorry - should have said I'm not on satellite, just a regular aerial (currently into a freeview box).

 

[jameson_uk]

Sorry - should have said I'm not on satellite, just a regular aerial (currently into a freeview box).

In that case yes you can split the cable but a lot of tuners are dual tuners so you might only need one USB device

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Google your local transmitter, ie mines winter hill so the info is here Freeview on Winter Hill TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

 

[spwlsl]

Sorry - should have said I'm not on satellite, just a regular aerial (currently into a freeview box).

In that case yes you can split the cable but a lot of tuners are dual tuners so you might only need one USB device

I bought a very cheap USB receiver (August DVB-T205) - it seems too work fine so far. If I now buy a dual tuner then do I effectively have 3 tuners so could record 2 channels while watching a third ?

And also, if the dual supports HD (mine doesn't), then will MediaPortal work that out so I can look at HD channels on 2 tuners but not the third ?