initial support for Hauppuage HD-PVR (1 Viewer)

[ixian]

If you already have the HDPVR set up and working with Media Portal than believe me, you're past the hard part. USB-UIRT setup is as easy as installing IR-Server suite (what I use, anyway, you can do it with other software as well if you are feeling fancy) and clicking through the setup in that. Took me about 5 minutes with my Dish STB.

 

[goomba516]

okay got everything running i am blasting over to the cable box. Now my only question when i wanted to record a program it blocked out all of the TV my question is what do people use to watch TV while recording do you install and new HD-PVR. Any help would be great that is the only hurdle i left at the moment.

 

[ixian]

Well, you need two tuners. Think of the combo of your HD-PVR and your set top box as one complete "tuner". It doesn't matter how many tuners are in the set top box because the HD-PVR can only capture off one of them.

Therefore, to view/record two or more channels, you need two or more "tuners" i.e. a second HD-PVR and set top box.

It's unfortunate it has to be this way, but that's the way it's going to be for a long time if not ever when it comes to premium content HDTV and any media center other than MCE.

 

[goomba516]

Okay final question cause after doing some research found out its possible to set up a client. However i am still unsure on 1 thing. I am going to set up 2 HD-PVR's Connected to to 2 different STB. Then my plan is to set up the comp in another room as a TV client my question is can i watch something different on the client than what is playing on the main machine. Any help would be great thanks. Also is there anything special i need to know when i set up another HD-PVR or do i just repeat everything that i did in order to set up the first one

 

[chesh]

If you add a second HD-PVR and it's going to be hooked up to the same type of interface (both HD-PVRS will be hooked up to the same cable company STBs) then all you'll have to do is map the channels to the new HD-PVR interface and setup will be complete. As for part 2 of your question, yes, you can watch something on both machines or have both machines tune into the same channel and another channel recording on the unused HD-PVR.

 

[goomba516]

Okay one more question I believe I am close to setting everything up but I tried setting the other HTPC up as a client but I don’t see any tv or hear any audio. I am not sure if it’s the computer could someone take a quick look at my specs and tell me if this is enough to run the HD-PVR tv on a client machine Processor * Type Intel Pentium D 920 / 2.8 GHz dual core RAM * Installed Size 2 GB (max) Technology DDR2 SDRAM * Type PCI Express x16 - Plug-in card * Graphics Processor / Vendor NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT * Video Memory DDR SDRAM * Installed Size 128 MB
Thanks

 

[ixian]

If you aren't seeing or hearing the stream you have problems that are unrelated to how fast your machine is. Do you get the guide with your channels and shows to show up? That at least will tell you if you are connecting to the tv server.

 

[Mithrandir]

Assuming you do get the channel listing..

Don't forget you need a H264 decoder on the client as well.
E.g. PowerDVD H264 Decoder, MPC-HC, CoreAVC or anything that can decode H264.

Specs are more then enough to decode H264. (Despite the very weak Videocard, your CPU and RAM will handle it.)

 

[goomba516]

forgot to check, I realized as i was driving to work i forgot to check the codecs so i have a feeling its either a codec issue or strength of computer. My question is will the master server help the client at all or will it all fall on the client to decode and play the TV seamlessly

have SAF installed on the machine but didnt check to see what everything was set it. It plays 720 P MKV fine but suttters on 1080P so im worried it is not strong enough

 

[Mithrandir]

I'm assuming you mean 1080i as the HD PVR doesn't support 1080P, nor do cable companies air 1080P, nor can normal component cables supply enough bandwidth for 1080P. (Need HDMI for that normally..).

If you do not have a wireless network, all of below comments are useless

If the PC is on the network via wireless, it may be that one of the components in the wireless link is not able to output the bandwidth for 1080i. (1080i might have a higher bitrate, i think it does judging from the Arcsoft TME).

This might be:

- Upload from the TV Server to the network (Likely)
- wireless Router itself (Also likely with some cheaper brands)
- Download from the network to the wireless client / tv client (Less likely).


Wireless-B (802.11b standard) is not sufficient.
Wireless-G supports up to 54mbps, in practice its usually much lower. The upload speed on a wireless-g network can even be restricted at 20mbps or lower due to distance, interference, and so on. Also even if you do maintain a good average bandwidth, it might be hard to pull the 8-13mbps consistently without drops in throughput. Also, other traffic is most likely going over the network as well.

Because of above points i have a wireless-n (802.11n) stream going from my TV server to the network to ensure it can grab enough bandwidth, especially with multiple clients. My clients all have wireless-g.

Ofcourse the best is still a cabled network

I still doubt a dual-core CPU + 2 GB ram cant maintain 1080i. I'm even running 1080P on a much weaker laptop without issue with various codecs.