General info for a complete newbie (1 Viewer)

[sensimilia_uk]

Hi all

Ive been looking at mediaportal and really like its design but im trying to find certain info that is probably answered somwhere I just cant find it.

I wondering about this setup

1 IBM server with a USB HD Tuner and windows 7
2 Windows 7 64Bit laptops with HDMI Full HD out

Im wondering if I buy a USB HD Tuner (suggestions on any) would suffice as the TV/Steaming server, that has no HD Video card.

Then use the laptops to stream HD Tuner access tot he TV's

Can you point me in the direction of this kind of setup and if im missing some bits, id like to be able to record but not sure if you need a capture device for that.

any help would be much appreciated

Thanks

 

[mm1352000]

Hi and welcome sensimilia_uk

Your proposal sounds fine. The server doesn't have to have a video card if you're not going to watch TV on it - it can be completely "headless".

Laptops are also fine as clients although keep in mind that if you're intending to stream HD h.264/AVC content then the video capabilities do need to be reasonably good.

Recording doesn't require anything more than the tuner and some HDD space. If you can set up the base streaming setup then recording should "just work".

I'd strongly recommend you get a dual tuner if you intend to record or have multiple clients - the investment will be well worth it. MediaPortal is more flexible that WMC with limited numbers of tuners, however if you only have one tuner then you may find yourself a little limited in what you can record and how many clients you can have going simultaneously without conflicts.

You asked for a tuner recommendation. Could you please clarify: do you intend to get a digital terrestrial or satellite tuner? I'm guessing terrestrial but I just want to be sure.

Welcome once again...
mm

 

[sensimilia_uk]

Hi Thanks for the response, its a great help

I Was looking at freeview HD tuner but I also have a quad LNB Satellite connection im using 2 from the sky downstairs but have 2 spare so if I can get a Freesat HD tuner dual they woud be good, but im limited on budget at the moment so if you can also recommend an Freeview HD tuner through terrestrial Aerial that would also be good, I have been looking at these USB dual tuners but not sure how to check if they are supported.

Im assuming that form what you said the server is where the tuner should be and as this will probably be sat in my attic I wont need to watch anything on it, My laptops are Graphics laptops capable of outputting 1080p, im again assuming I don't need to get tuners for these as they will just stream from the server.

Thanks for your help once again

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again

Thanks for the response, its a great help

No problem - its what we're here for.

I Was looking at freeview HD tuner but I also have a quad LNB Satellite connection im using 2 from the sky downstairs but have 2 spare so if I can get a Freesat HD tuner dual they woud be good, but im limited on budget at the moment so if you can also recommend an Freeview HD tuner through terrestrial Aerial that would also be good...

Okay, so a DVB-T2 tuner then? They're still relatively new so there aren't too many available and they're a little pricey. There are more PCIe options than USB. Anyhow, here's a shortlist of the ones I know about (note: I think these are all single tuner models):

MyGica T200
PCTV Systems nanoStick T2
Anysee E7 T2C

(There are many many dual DVB-T [not T2 => not fully compatible with Freeview HD] tuners out there for very reasonable prices.)

Any of those should work - they all have BDA drivers, which is the main requirement for tuners to be compatible with MP. If you could take a PCIe model then Blackgold and TBS have some good options... the Blackgold models might be especially attractive if you think you might add satellite at some point.

I have been looking at these USB dual tuners but not sure how to check if they are supported.

As mentioned above: almost any tuner with a BDA (Broadcast Driver Architecture - Microsft standard) driver will work fine. There aren't too many tuners with non-BDA drivers around, especially for DVB-T or T2, so you can't go too far wrong. The basic rules of tuner support in MP are -->here<--, top of the page.

Im assuming that form what you said the server is where the tuner should be...

Yep.

...and as this will probably be sat in my attic I wont need to watch anything on it...

Absolutely fine.

My laptops are Graphics laptops capable of outputting 1080p...

1080i is more taxing than 24 fps 1080p Blu ray content because of the higher frame rate and deinterlacing. 1080i tends to be used for HD broadcast TV so if you want HD TV then that is where you need to set your benchmark.

...im again assuming I don't need to get tuners for these as they will just stream from the server.

Correct.

mm

 

[sensimilia_uk]

Hi Thanks for this its a great help ill look into sourcing one soon although by the loks of things it would be better to spend the extra money and get a Satellite tuner

 

[Owlsroost]

For simplicity (as you are new to MP) I'd get a cheap USB DVB-T tuner stick to start with e.g. Dual Tuner DVB-T Digital TV USB Stick : External PCTV : Maplin Electronics - use that to get everything set up and working (DVB-T should work out-of-the-box in MP), then look at the HD tuner options.

I bought my PCTV-290e (Freeview HD DVB-T2) usb stick second-hand via eBay, so that might be worth a look if the budget is tight.

Tony

 

[sensimilia_uk]

Yer I ddi see that but thought if im gonna spend the cash id rather put it towards something decent, im assuming that id need dual tuner for the ability to watch and record different channels at the same time

Thanks

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again

im assuming that id need dual tuner for the ability to watch and record different channels at the same time

It depends. With WMC and some other software the answer is an absolute yes. With MP the answer is a maybe - it depends on the channels. With digital TV multiple channels are multiplexed (mixed together) on each frequency. MP allows you to use a single tuner to view/record all channels on a given frequency. That means if the channels that you wanted to watch/record were on the same frequency then you could do it with one tuner in MP. The next question that many people ask is "how can I tell if channels are on the same frequency?". The answer is that you can check the tuning details for each of your channels. That is quite tedious though - a local channel lineup might give you the same information at a glance. Broadly speaking channels from the same provider tend to be on the same frequency. In other words, the channels from BBC would be on one frequency and the channels from ITV would be on another etc. If you wanted to record a BBC channel at the same time as another BBC channel you could, but BBC + ITV would require two tuners.

mm

 

[sensimilia_uk]

OK that's great although I have sky plus hd to do allot of my recordings, so I probably wont be recording much, however what I may be doing is watching 2 different channels on 2 different devices streaming from the TV server, does the same rule apply?

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again

Yep, different devices can share a single tuner - same rule applies.

mm