Questions from a new guy

[Skeen]

So I'm trying to figure out how to setup a PVR system at my parents house. They have been using Time Warner digital cable (with HD) without any recording devices. The cable box/audio units/etc. are all in a utility closet behind the viewing area. The TV is mounted about 20' away with the center channel speaker above it and an IR repeater, nothing else near by. There's also a room upstairs with a digital cable box and a few other TVs in the house with basic cable. Their wireless router is in the basement with the cable modem, quite a ways from said closet. Much of the house has Cat5 wiring, but I don't remember the details.

Basically, the minimum we want to have is a system that will allow recording of one channel and viewing of another on the downstairs TV. What I haven't been able to tell is whether another Digital Cable box will be required or not. I'd like to add DVD functionality and maybe the ability to record 2 channels and watch a third. If I get ambitious, I may play around with sharing recorded shows around the house.

So, please help me out. I'm new to the PVR stuff, but not an imbecile. I've got a decent idea of what I'm doing but haven't been able to answer all my questions by just reading the archives.

Multiple digital cable boxes required?
Keyboard/mouse necessary/handy? Just use remote?
Which OS is best on the computer?

[Khris]

For each digital channel you want to watch concurrently, you will need the equivalent number of digital cable boxes AND input channels (tv card) with BTV.

If you wanted to watch 3 different digital channels simultaneously you would need 3 digital boxes, and a BTV setup with 3 tuner cards (assuming you were using BTV Link to watch the other to channels elsewhere).

I don't have a keyboard or mouse hooked up to my dedicated HTPC, just a Firefly remote. I do have VNC installed on it however in case I need to log in remotely to do any changes.

BTV only runs on Windows (and I'd recommend using XP over Vista)

[Terminal]

Originally Posted by Skeen

Multiple digital cable boxes required?
Keyboard/mouse necessary/handy? Just use remote?
Which OS is best on the computer?

If you want to watch one channel and record another then yes multiple cable boxes will be required. If you can still use analog cable then technically no. But if recording a channel on the cable box you will only be able to watch analog channels. Also as of right now you can only record HD OTA, BTV can not record HD channels from cable. That should change pretty soon however.

You don't necessarily have to have a keyboard/ mouse. You can use something like VNC so you can use the keyboard mouse of another system. As far as day to day usage a remote is all that is necessary, but when updating or patching having a keyboard/ mouse available is much more convenient.

As of 4.6 Vista is supported, I can't make any comments on Vista since I am still using XP.

[Skeen]

So I would need to get more cable boxes from Time Warner? Or are there generic boxes I could get? I assume I could take the cable box from upstairs, put both downstairs, then use BTV Link with some cheapo PC running the upstairs TV.

Though, if I could reocrd one DC channel, one basic cable channel, and one OTA HD channel, that might get them by. That would just require 3 tuners, right?

[Khris]

Originally Posted by Skeen

So I would need to get more cable boxes from Time Warner? Or are there generic boxes I could get? I assume I could take the cable box from upstairs, put both downstairs, then use BTV Link with some cheapo PC running the upstairs TV.

Though, if I could reocrd one DC channel, one basic cable channel, and one OTA HD channel, that might get them by. That would just require 3 tuners, right?

You are correct