Can a single beyond tv instance use tuner cards in other machines?

[scorpion]

So HD Homerun is a network dual tuner setup and beyond Tv can see that and use it for programming...for my setup it won't work because I'm using analog cable and distributing it throughout the house.

Right now I have two tuner cards in a machine that is the "media server" for the house. As you can imagine, having only two tuner cards for a house with 4 TVs isn't working so good (my son doesn't like watching my football or my wife's home shows). The media server is plenty of beef (dual proc w/ 4gig memory) but it's out of slots. Many multiples of USB tuners won't work so I want to re-allocate one of my other machines to share the media responsibilities. If I stuff 2 - 3 cards in it I should be able to get where we need to go for the house and the family.

Question is, can I do all of my programming through a single instance of Beyond TV or do I need to install another beyond tv server instance to conrtol the cards in the new machine? With folder pooling I should be able to get two instances sharing all of the recorded shows but setting up the programming of two will be a long-term pain. Having only one would be much better...can this work or is there an application out there that handles the "two servers are better than one" approach?

thanks in advance!

[vidiot1985]

I can't answer your question about multiple servers, but can you describe what your current BTV server has in its slots already (and what kind & # of slots it's got)?

You've probably thought about these already, but just in case:

- if you've got an internal modem taking up a slot (maybe for the occasional fax job), trash it and pick up a cheap external modem if needed
- swap out a single tuner card for a dual, e.g. the HVR-2250 (one PCI-e 1x or larger slot, two analog tuners, and it might be good for digital locals via QAM on your system)
- if you have integrated video but upgraded to some super duper video card, are you sure you really need it? SD video from analog cable can probably play back fine on pretty much any video chip from the last decade or so

Maybe one of those BTV -> external recording app integrations (by Fonceur??) can be configured (or extended?) to tell the tuners in the other machines to do records, which you then put on a share that BTV watches and adds to your library of shows. I don't know how well that works for live TV though.

[tscales]

Won't work. Machines with tuners need licenses. Gets complicated.

Not sure why USB tuners won't work.

SD or HD? Hd, just use HDHRs. SD, use multiple PVR500 or 2250.

[scorpion]

Originally Posted by vidiot1985

I can't answer your question about multiple servers, but can you describe what your current BTV server has in its slots already (and what kind & # of slots it's got)?

Unfortunately this is one of my few limitations. The machine is a server handed down to me by the IT guy at work. It's a very healthy dual proc that had a power supply issue the company didn't want to deal with it. $100 and I was back in business but, being the Dell machine it is, it only has room for 3 PCI cards - I have a GigBt Ether card in it and two Haupg 1600 tuner cards. If I could use the on-board ether I could up to 3 cards but can't. The processors and memory can handle much more but the mobo is just maxed.

I don't mind getting another license, writing an app to handle the scheduling using multiple servers should be easy. I was more concerned with figuring out how to make multiple servers appear to be a single one from by the BTV Link instances. I've not payed with their Dev toolkit so I don't know how much is exposed. No matter, seems like I got the answer to the question I was really asking unless, of course, someone knows of an existing app that does what I'm asking for BTV and Link...