Newb question about multiple tuner cards...

[bawker]

Be gentle, as I'm very, very new to the world of DIY PVR...however, after TivO decided to make their Series 3 800 bucks (plus the cost of the service), I decided it was time to consider my options. :winkwink:

I'm still trying to map out parts...but for sure, I'll need a dual tuner card (something like the Win TV 500). I'd also like to get OTA HD stuff to put on my plasma...which leads me to believe I also need the MyHD 130 (plus the daughter connector) card as well...all on a Windows Media Center 2005 O/S.

(If there are better dual tuner or HD card choices than the WinTV 500/ MyHD 130, please let me know...I'm still awfully new to all this).

Beyond TV seems to be a nice looking and well-received interface.

Anyway... here's my n00b question...will Beyond TV collate the WinTv (cable box) and My HD (OTA HD) signals together in the guide data, so I have a "one stop" shop for all my programming/recording options?

It appears so from what I'm reading, but I just wanted to confirm before I pull the trigger on buying Beyond TV this week.

Thanks for your help (and guidance). :smile:

[Bigbird999]

The are recently issues with the 500 dual tuner cardes. So you might want to look at 2 150s or an nvdual tuner card. Tell us a bit mor about the computer you are going to use (mobo, video card, cpu, memory, etc.) and we can give you better advice.

For starters I would suggest baby steps. Start with a single/dual standard definition tuner and the BTV trial and play with BTV for a while. Get familiar with all of the tweaks and make sure it is working well. When you are happy with it then add HD tuners.

BB

[bawker]

The are recently issues with the 500 dual tuner cardes. So you might want to look at 2 150s or an nvdual tuner card. Tell us a bit mor about the computer you are going to use (mobo, video card, cpu, memory, etc.) and we can give you better advice.

For starters I would suggest baby steps. Start with a single/dual standard definition tuner and the BTV trial and play with BTV for a while. Get familiar with all of the tweaks and make sure it is working well. When you are happy with it then add HD tuners.

BB

Here's what I have so far parts wise cannibalized from different computers to build this...it's not going to be bleeding edge, but I think it ought to be enough:

MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor (1.8 Ghz, I think)
512MB memory
320GB Western Digital HD (7200 RPM, 8mb buffer)
PCI-E 128MB GeForce 6600 Video Card

Coming into this from TiVo, it's imperative that I'm able to have dual tuner functionality, whether through dual cards or a dual tuner in the 500.

I had seen in some newegg reviews that the 500 had some problems, I guess that doesn't surprise me.

Right now, I only see that I'll have 3 PCI slots to work with...but the MyHD 130 has to have a daughter card for the DVI output as far as I can tell...so I need some sort of dual tuner solution.


Here's what I'm trying to do, in short:

-Get "TiVo" functionality (watch one thing while recording another, pause, rewind, etc....BTV looks like it can handle the front end of this, and whoever created the TiVo skin in the development forum, hilarious! I'll definetly be using that!)

-Get OTA local HD broadcasts (seeing NFL games at a friends house convinced me I need HD! :) )

-Music, photos, very light web surfing.

This rig won't be a gaming machine at all... so I figure even though some of my components are a little behind the curve, I should be okay.




...and:

http://snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/features2.asp ...looks like I answered my own question as far as collating multiple tuners into the guide. Heh. Oops.

[nanook105]

I was in the market for a dual tuner a couple of months ago, and even though I have plenty of hauppauge tuners (and no issues with any of them), I decided to avoid the 500 because of these issues. I bought the NVidia DualTV instead and am very pleased

[Bigbird999]

I agree, your rig has plenty of horsepower, but you should have a small separate hard drive for the OS and use the big drive for video/data storage (there are many threads on this). The reason I suggest baby steps is because even experienced users can have trouble getting OTA HD working well. With HD there are all kinds of possible driver conflicts and possibly system specific issues with stuttering etc. You also mention web surfing which indicates that it is not going to be a dedicated PVR. Are you planning to use a monitor and TV in dual display? Are you planning to use Beyond Media for Photos and Music?

BB

[bawker]

I agree, your rig has plenty of horsepower, but you should have a small separate hard drive for the OS and use the big drive for video/data storage (there are many threads on this). The reason I suggest baby steps is because even experienced users can have trouble getting OTA HD working well. With HD there are all kinds of possible driver conflicts and possibly system specific issues with stuttering etc. You also mention web surfing which indicates that it is not going to be a dedicated PVR. Are you planning to use a monitor and TV in dual display? Are you planning to use Beyond Media for Photos and Music?

BB

Thanks for the info on HD...I can wait on that.

As far as the web surfing goes, the computer will be part of the home network, but would only be to the point of checking e-mail or a one off task like that, nothing even remotely strenous, other than the PVR work.

I'm planning on using a copy of XP Media Center Edition, so I'd just basically put all the photos and music there, although the Beyond Media looks nice too.

I'm planning (although I don't know if it's feasible) to put this all through my 42 inch plasma screen.

[Bigbird999]

So in the same room as your plasma and surf/email on the plasma?

BB

[bawker]

So in the same room as your plasma and surf/email on the plasma?

BB

Yes, and, again...I'm not going to be writing out big ol' business docs or constructing monstrous Excel spreadsheets on this, just a quick check of gmail/business email when I'm too lazy to walk to my office. :winkwink: (at least if all this is do-able, considering I just came up with constructing a PVR a few days ago)

The unit will be in my entertainment center (looking at using a Silverstone casing for it).

[GeorgeH]

I don't know a whole lot about these issues but I did put together a nice system this week.

2 - PCI Vbox Cats Eye 150 (2 HD tuners)
1 - PCIe Vista View (2 SD tuners)
32" HDTV
Firefly remote
Beyond TV 4.???

AMD Athlon64 3700+
2GB memory
2 - 250GB WD SATAs in RAID 0 for recording to.

My big problem was making the tuner in PCI slot 1 work. Removed the PCI video interrupt and all went well.

If I add one more PCIe Vista View ...

[bawker]

I don't know a whole lot about these issues but I did put together a nice system this week.

2 - PCI Vbox Cats Eye 150 (2 HD tuners)
1 - PCIe Vista View (2 SD tuners)
32" HDTV
Firefly remote
Beyond TV 4.???

AMD Athlon64 3700+
2GB memory
2 - 250GB WD SATAs in RAID 0 for recording to.

My big problem was making the tuner in PCI slot 1 work. Removed the PCI video interrupt and all went well.

If I add one more PCIe Vista View ...

Good stuff...the more I research this, the more I think I'm making the right decision with building my own box.

Please let me know how the HD card is working out... I'm still wide open on what to put in my rig.

[GeorgeH]

The HD cards seem to work ok. They installed easily. They pick up all the HD stations we have.