Multiple Tuners & BTV Link question

[MrWolfinWV]

How does BTV Link work when connecting to a server that has multiple tuners? What I envision is a machine with 4-6 tuners in it, possibly 2-3 dual tuners, acting as a core server and using that to control all the video distribution in my house over the network. We have 7-8 TVs but never are more than 3-4 of them in use at any given time. I'm hoping that someone will tell me that when you connect to the server with BTV Link that it will automatically choose the next available tuner or give you the choice of watching a tuner that is recording but not already in use. Can multiple users simultaneously connect to the same BTV server and access different tuners?

[Mistergq]

From my experience, BTV Link uses the next available tuner. If you are watching a show and continuation of watching the show will prevent a record, a warning message will pop up on the screen.

As to accessing different tuners from multiple links - yes, different users will be able to access different tuners - assuming those turners are not already in use. Now if they want to watch what that turner is taping, that is no problem. I often start watching a program after it starts taping. Some times I catch up to the turner, other times I never catch up.

[pvrguy]

You need enough tuners to support how many Live TV sessions you want to support. BTV will manage your tuners for you. It will give you the tuner that has the channel available since you can customize the tuner's available channels. I.e. one tuner may have a set top box and therefore have extra channels available. You can also prioritize your tuners within the webadmin. I actually never use Live TV...I record everything I want to watch. Multiple Links can access the same recording at the same time.

[AllenL]

BTV will manage multiple tuners and will select the next one in line for the application. So it will choose the next ATSC tuner if you are doing HD stuff or the SD tuner if you are watching SD.

If you have preferred tuner you can "promote" or move up that tuner in the list of tuners so that BTV will choose that one more often.

[Ninety-9 SE-L]

I've never used the BTV link, but the beauty of the system is that the server (usually the main TV in your livingroom can support multiple tuners (say up to 10) and it'll automatically pick the next tuner available for any of the other TVs using BTV link. All TVs can draw from the same recorded library. You should never have a tuner conflict unless all the tuners are in use (including live TV and current recordings).

One thing I want to know. Can you limit a BTV link computer to access only certain tuners and certain recordings? Let's say little Johnny is in his room watching a BTV link system. Tuners 1 and 2 have access to HBO, tuners 3-6 are basic cable, possibly edited lineup in the web admin. Could you limit Johnny's TV to only using tuners 3-6. Can you also lock certain recordings from being viewed on certain TVs?

[MrWolfinWV]

Originally Posted by AllenL

BTV will manage multiple tuners and will select the next one in line for the application. So it will choose the next ATSC tuner if you are doing HD stuff or the SD tuner if you are watching SD.

If you have preferred tuner you can "promote" or move up that tuner in the list of tuners so that BTV will choose that one more often.

So if you have one with a cable box and one that is analog cable, can you have the ability to choose which one you want to watch or does it strictly work off the priority setup?

If all tuners are in use, can you connect to an existing stream and view what someone else is watching?

Also, how do the Hauppauge MediaMVP boxes work, are they basically the same as BTV Link except hardware or what?

[kandlg]

So if you have one with a cable box and one that is analog cable, can you have the ability to choose which one you want to watch or does it strictly work off the priority setup?

It works off priority only.

If all tuners are in use, can you connect to an existing stream and view what someone else is watching?

It gives you the option to watch the existing stream or watch a recorded show.

[pvrguy]

Originally Posted by MrWolfinWV

So if you have one with a cable box and one that is analog cable, can you have the ability to choose which one you want to watch or does it strictly work off the priority setup?

Not exactly...BTV will choose the tuner that has the channel available.

Originally Posted by MrWolfinWV

Also, if all tuners are in use, can you connect to an existing stream and view what someone else is watching?

No, but if a tuner is recording, multiple Links can watch the recording which is just a variation of Live TV IMHO.

Here is what I have done for example...I have 2 Hauppauge 150's and one Diamond 600. I feed regular analogue coax to each tuner's coax connection (3 in total) and they have the same channel lineup available. I then feed the Diamond 600's s-video connection from my STB and it only has the extended channels defined/available. So when I choose a channel, BTV will select the tuner that is highest priority and available.

[MrWolfinWV]

Originally Posted by pvrguy

Not exactly...BTV will choose the tuner that has the channel available.



No, but if a tuner is recording, multiple Links can watch the recording which is just a variation of Live TV IMHO.

Here is what I have done for example...I have 2 Hauppauge 150's and one Diamond 600. I feed regular analogue coax to each tuner's coax connection (3 in total) and they have the same channel lineup available. I then feed the Diamond 600's s-video connection from my STB and it only has the extended channels defined/available. So when I choose a channel, BTV will select the tuner that is highest priority and available.

Ok, I think I get it...so when you launch BTV Link it's not like you choose Tuner #3, you select a channel and if there is one available, it just gives it to you and you don't really know (or care) which tuner is being used to do this. Am I correct?

Anything about the MediaMVP boxes? Looks like they do not do live TV like the Sage boxes do?

[pvrguy]

Originally Posted by MrWolfinWV

Ok, I think I get it...so when you launch BTV Link it's not like you choose Tuner #3, you select a channel and if there is one available, it just gives it to you and you don't really know (or care) which tuner is being used to do this. Am I correct?

Correct. However, when setting up a recording you can direct that recording to a specific tuner if you want to...but you don't need to.

Originally Posted by MrWolfinWV

Anything about the MediaMVP boxes? Looks like they do not do live TV like the Sage boxes do?

They do Live TV. The MVP has a BTV 4 skin developed by a brillant user (romanj) which makes it quite good. I used one prior to setting up a Link PC and it's sitting not used right now.

I don't use Live TV since I record everything and watch it later or start watching 15 minutes into the show. That way I am at the end of the show when it's about to finish recording and I haven't watched any commercials!

[MrWolfinWV]

Originally Posted by pvrguy

They do Live TV. The MVP has a BTV 4 skin developed by a brillant user (romanj) which makes it quite good. I used one prior to setting up a Link PC and it's sitting not used right now.

So since the MVPs do live or recorded TV, is there any advantage or disadvantage to using an MVP vs. Link?

[pvrguy]

Originally Posted by MrWolfinWV

So since the MVPs do live or recorded TV, is there any advantage or disadvantage to using an MVP vs. Link?

There have been many discussions on this in these forums...search a little.

However, I started with a MVP and switched to a Link PC.

MVP Pros - IMHO

• Small
• Quiet
• Does Mpeg SD fairly well

MVP Cons

• Lacks all features of Link
• Skip forward/backward is "jumpy" and reduces WAF
• WMV SD streaming is not as smooth when skipping forward/backward

Link Pros

• Full featured
• Smoother playback of Mpeg and WMV
• Can load Beyond Media to do more stuff

Link Cons

• Cost of PC
• Noise
• Cost to maintain BTV Link

[MrWolfinWV]

I've done a ton of reading about everything and discovered that the forums are the place to read about features/capabilities and not the web site. With all the plugins, it seems there is almost no limit to what you can do.

I think the biggest obstacle I'm faced with is the inability to choose which tuner you want to connect to from Link. I will be putting up an antenna this weekend for OTA HD and that is the only content I would be using those tuners for, otherwise I'll want to use another tuner that has cable connected.

I do have another question regarding inputs, though. I have a PVR-150 currently and it has one A/V input and a connector on the board for a 2nd, which you can purchase the additional add-on for it for about $15. Would it be possible to use two PVR-150's each with using the two inputs and connect four cable boxes to it using BTV? I have a feeling I'm reaching on this one.

[tscales]

You can do that with a PVR-500, which has dual tuners, but not with a PVR-150, which only has one tuner.

As for choosing the tuner, you don't need to. When you pick a channel, BTV chooses the tuner that can get that channel. OTA HD channels get their own channel number. Works flawlessly.

[MrWolfinWV]

Originally Posted by tscales

You can do that with a PVR-500, which has dual tuners, but not with a PVR-150, which only has one tuner.

This confuses me because it shouldn't have anything to do with the number of tuners if you use the A/V inputs. I guess the question is whether or not BTV can be configured to recognize the two separate A/V inputs from a PVR-150, or any card that has more than one input, for that matter.

Originally Posted by tscales

As for choosing the tuner, you don't need to. When you pick a channel, BTV chooses the tuner that can get that channel. OTA HD channels get their own channel number. Works flawlessly.

Ok, so if on one tuner channel 19 is a cable channel and on another tuner channel 19 is an OTA HD channel, how would the tuner know I want to watch the OTA HD?