HDhomerun or Tivo?

[swbsam]

I've had very mixed results with my HTPC building experience, especially when dealing with HDTV timeshift recording. I'm surprisingly in love with Windows Media Center on Windows 7 but have severely spotty results on HD channels.

Mapping took forever to get right since I was hooking up a cable line to pick up unencrypted channels and, after 3 different tuner cards, I still don't have 100% perfect operation - channels stutter, signals get lost, etc. I'm positive that it's not my computer because I watch cpu-intensive blu-ray and HD-TV rips with ease and my dual core processor and 4 gigs of ram should be plenty based on the requirements of my ATSC /QAM card (hauppauge, with a dedicated on board decoder/encoder chip vs. cheaper software based cards)

I also have had mixed results with my xbox 360 as an extender - tversity works great but the actually WMC integration is choppy and stutters, even on movies that play fine over tversity.

My point is that I'm on the edge of either giving up on Windows Media Center and getting a Tivo or investing in a new tuner solution.

I've heard great things about HDHomerun - will this be the answer to my prayers? I currently pay for cable tv but I'd like to eventually quit, relying on the cable-line coming into my house or, since that's arguable legally, getting a roof top antenna for OTA.

My other option with be to just buy a tivo - is there any way to network a tivo? I have two tvs, 1 media center tv (that I'd convert to a headless server if I get tivo), and an xbox 360 i can use.

Suggestions?

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: swbsam
Mapping took forever to get right since I was hooking up a cable line to pick up unencrypted channels and, after 3 different tuner cards, I still don't have 100% perfect operation - channels stutter, signals get lost, etc. I'm positive that it's not my computer because I watch cpu-intensive blu-ray and HD-TV rips with ease and my dual core processor and 4 gigs of ram should be plenty based on the requirements of my ATSC /QAM card (hauppauge, with a dedicated on board decoder/encoder chip vs. cheaper software based cards)

This kinda doesn't make sense. You don't need an encoder on an ATSC card because ATSC uses MPEG-2 for transmission.

I also have had mixed results with my xbox 360 as an extender - tversity works great but the actually WMC integration is choppy and stutters, even on movies that play fine over tversity.

I never had this problem with Vista. *shrugs* What kind of material are you trying to send over to the WMC-X?

My point is that I'm on the edge of either giving up on Windows Media Center and getting a Tivo or investing in a new tuner solution.

I wound up buying a TiVo, more because I wanted premium channels than anything else.

I've heard great things about HDHomerun - will this be the answer to my prayers? I currently pay for cable tv but I'd like to eventually quit, relying on the cable-line coming into my house or, since that's arguable legally, getting a roof top antenna for OTA.

If the HDHR won't solve your problems, nothing will. Just remember that it can only handle clear QAM and ATSC.

My other option with be to just buy a tivo - is there any way to network a tivo? I have two tvs, 1 media center tv (that I'd convert to a headless server if I get tivo), and an xbox 360 i can use.

Yes, but not in a seamless fashion, IMHO.

 

[Pliablemoose]

How do you share your signal with your XBox? I use draft n networing stuff & it's still slow, I understand using b/g is pretty painful and would recommend against it.

The HD Homerun doesn't play well unless you have draft n networking or wired...

HTPC's are a bit of work & massaging to get them to work well, which drivers are you using with your Hauppauge?

 

[swbsam]

How do you share your signal with your XBox? I use draft n networing stuff & it's still slow, I understand using b/g is pretty painful and would recommend against it.

I have a draft-n router and draft-n throughout the network (including the server), and have my xbox 360 hooked up via ethernet.

The most frustrating thing is that my XBOX 360 loses the link with MCE and I have to do that whole pin number thing again every so often.

HTPC's are a bit of work & massaging to get them to work well, which drivers are you using with your Hauppauge?

I'm using the most "cutting edge" beta drivers, because the drivers that came with it didn't work right - MCE didn't detect anything but analog. After some MCE patching and the new drivers I was able to get my locals in HD, but with the occasional stutters (which is ok) and "searching for signal" - which is weird.

 

[Genx87]

I tried to build an HTPC a few years ago and gave up and got a TiVo Series 2. I have since upgraded to the TiVoHD and got another TiVoHD for upstairs. You can network them. This is what I do. I record movies from the premium channels, copy it to my server via their desktop software, then convert to .mpg.

When I want to watch that movie I can browse from the TiVo to my server and pick a movie. It will stream it over the wire and away I go. I have about 100 movies right now. About 70 standard def and 30 hidef movies. So easy, so nice, so much not a headache.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: swbsam

How do you share your signal with your XBox? I use draft n networing stuff & it's still slow, I understand using b/g is pretty painful and would recommend against it.

I have a draft-n router and draft-n throughout the network (including the server), and have my xbox 360 hooked up via ethernet.

The most frustrating thing is that my XBOX 360 loses the link with MCE and I have to do that whole pin number thing again every so often.

HTPC's are a bit of work & massaging to get them to work well, which drivers are you using with your Hauppauge?

I'm using the most "cutting edge" beta drivers, because the drivers that came with it didn't work right - MCE didn't detect anything but analog. After some MCE patching and the new drivers I was able to get my locals in HD, but with the occasional stutters (which is ok) and "searching for signal" - which is weird.

IIRC, the HD Homerun is HD only, worth a shot to see if it works for you, just sell it to me if it doesn't work which build of W7 are you using? I'm using Build 7000, have heard of issues with the later versions.

 

[kalrith]

What video card do you have, and are any of your channels HD interlaced channels? Some video cards work great with Blu-Ray but don't do well with deinterlacing 1080i HD broadcasts. If that's the case here, then a $50 video card might do the trick.

Also, what Hauppauge card do you have?

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: kalrith
What video card do you have, and are any of your channels HD interlaced channels? Some video cards work great with Blu-Ray but don't do well with deinterlacing 1080i HD broadcasts. If that's the case here, then a $50 video card might do the trick.

Also, what Hauppauge card do you have?

I'm using the integrated chipset on a 780g chipset motherboard, but all reviews point to it being an outstanding card. And the nature of the choppiness (works amazingly smooth 99% of the time and 1% of the time the video breaks up) makes me think it's not video card related.

I should clarify - I *had* a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 that I .. gulp.. broke by moving my tv while the coax was still hooked up to the card.

I need to either replace it with something better or just ditch the idea, hence my post.

I also used an avermedia card that was absolutely dreadful and a Pinnacle that worked great with the included ap but was analog only in MCE

 

[kalrith]

The 780G is actually not very good with 1080i unless it is paired up with an AM2+ or AM3 processor (because those have HT3 instead of HT2). The ginormous HTPC building guide on avsforum talks some more about it. It's possible that that's your problem. A 4550 or 4670 video card would greatly improve the deinterlacing ability of your computer.

RIP HVR 2250

That's the card in my HTPC. I still need to aim my antenna a little better and run the coax under the house to the HTPC, but I have high hopes that it will serve me well. The HDHomerun is supposed to be a very good tuner, but it was $50+ more for me (I found the 2250 for $83), and I didn't want to risk it slowing down my network especially if the HDHomerun is streaming to my HTPC, while at the same time the HTPC is streaming to another computer.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: kalrith
The 780G is actually not very good with 1080i unless it is paired up with an AM2+ or AM3 processor (because those have HT3 instead of HT2). The ginormous HTPC building guide on avsforum talks some more about it. It's possible that that's your problem. A 4550 or 4670 video card would greatly improve the deinterlacing ability of your computer.

RIP HVR 2250

That's the card in my HTPC. I still need to aim my antenna a little better and run the coax under the house to the HTPC, but I have high hopes that it will serve me well. The HDHomerun is supposed to be a very good tuner, but it was $50+ more for me (I found the 2250 for $83), and I didn't want to risk it slowing down my network especially if the HDHomerun is streaming to my HTPC, while at the same time the HTPC is streaming to another computer.

That's why I haven't gotten one either, I use a 2250 also, a little tricky to set up, but am impressed with it.

 

[XMan]

OP, have you tried the SiliconDust forums? They answer questions very, very quickly. Some of the best customer support of any company I've ever dealt with.

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: kalrith
The 780G is actually not very good with 1080i unless it is paired up with an AM2+ or AM3 processor (because those have HT3 instead of HT2). The ginormous HTPC building guide on avsforum talks some more about it. It's possible that that's your problem. A 4550 or 4670 video card would greatly improve the deinterlacing ability of your computer.

RIP HVR 2250

That's the card in my HTPC. I still need to aim my antenna a little better and run the coax under the house to the HTPC, but I have high hopes that it will serve me well. The HDHomerun is supposed to be a very good tuner, but it was $50+ more for me (I found the 2250 for $83), and I didn't want to risk it slowing down my network especially if the HDHomerun is streaming to my HTPC, while at the same time the HTPC is streaming to another computer.

I'll take the video card into account if we go the HTPC route. Another factor that's been bugging me is all the extra wires in our bedroom because of the HTPC, so I'm really considering the tivo.. Or maybe an appletv with hulu on it.. Or another xbox, moving the HTPC to my office and use it like a server.

So confused!

 

[Binky]

HDhomerun is excellent with off-air ATSC, and good with QAM. Nothing is perfect with QAM. The HDhomerun is among the better tuners for QAM but it's still a jumbled mess compared to the way Vista Media Center ("VMC") seamlessly integrates ATSC channels with zero fuss.

Wireless networks are not the best with media center. The M$ specs do not allow the media center computer to be wireless when using an extender. The extender can be wireless. Personally, I can't stand anything wireless so I'm biased here. You might consider putting the HTPC in another room (you mentioned the office) on a wired network, with wired or wireless extenders, including the bedroom.

VMC doesn't need a powerful video card to do HD. An old ATI HD2400, or HD2600, or HD3450 are perfectly fine for playing HD material. Yuor onboard video may or may not be enough depending on the CPU. You can grab a passive Asus 3450 for $20 after rebate from newegg. I have one of these $20 cards in a second HTPC and it works great.

Strong antenna signals are important for stutter-free ATSC recording. This could be the source of your choppiness.

My own setup is a 5 tuner VMC machine (E8500, HD2600XT, 3TB drive space) with two extenders. It all works extremely well on a wired gigabit network.

 

[Trashman]

Originally posted by: Genx87
I tried to build an HTPC a few years ago and gave up and got a TiVo Series 2. I have since upgraded to the TiVoHD and got another TiVoHD for upstairs. You can network them. This is what I do. I record movies from the premium channels, copy it to my server via their desktop software, then convert to .mpg.

When I want to watch that movie I can browse from the TiVo to my server and pick a movie. It will stream it over the wire and away I go. I have about 100 movies right now. About 70 standard def and 30 hidef movies. So easy, so nice, so much not a headache.

Just had to say that would be an awesome setup to do, sorry OP for going off base, hoping Uverse would do something similar.:thumbsup:

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: Genx87
I tried to build an HTPC a few years ago and gave up and got a TiVo Series 2. I have since upgraded to the TiVoHD and got another TiVoHD for upstairs. You can network them. This is what I do. I record movies from the premium channels, copy it to my server via their desktop software, then convert to .mpg.

When I want to watch that movie I can browse from the TiVo to my server and pick a movie. It will stream it over the wire and away I go. I have about 100 movies right now. About 70 standard def and 30 hidef movies. So easy, so nice, so much not a headache.

Am I understanding this right? You can stream from your computer to the Tivo?

 

[s44]

Yup, either with their own program, or with pytivo

 

[tw1164]

Originally posted by: s44
Yup, either with their own program, or with pytivo

I've been using Streambaby for the past week and have been pretty happy.

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: Genx87
I tried to build an HTPC a few years ago and gave up and got a TiVo Series 2. I have since upgraded to the TiVoHD and got another TiVoHD for upstairs. You can network them. This is what I do. I record movies from the premium channels, copy it to my server via their desktop software, then convert to .mpg.

When I want to watch that movie I can browse from the TiVo to my server and pick a movie. It will stream it over the wire and away I go. I have about 100 movies right now. About 70 standard def and 30 hidef movies. So easy, so nice, so much not a headache.

Curious - do you have to pay a subscription fee for each box, or is their a discount?
Also, can tivos share content with each other? Can I record a show on TIVO1 and watch it on TIVO2?

Thanks!

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: Genx87
I tried to build an HTPC a few years ago and gave up and got a TiVo Series 2. I have since upgraded to the TiVoHD and got another TiVoHD for upstairs. You can network them. This is what I do. I record movies from the premium channels, copy it to my server via their desktop software, then convert to .mpg.

When I want to watch that movie I can browse from the TiVo to my server and pick a movie. It will stream it over the wire and away I go. I have about 100 movies right now. About 70 standard def and 30 hidef movies. So easy, so nice, so much not a headache.

Am I understanding this right? You can stream from your computer to the Tivo?

Yes, Tivo has software called TivoToGo that allows you to do this. There are also 3rd party softwares that can do the same.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: swbsam

Originally posted by: Genx87
I tried to build an HTPC a few years ago and gave up and got a TiVo Series 2. I have since upgraded to the TiVoHD and got another TiVoHD for upstairs. You can network them. This is what I do. I record movies from the premium channels, copy it to my server via their desktop software, then convert to .mpg.

When I want to watch that movie I can browse from the TiVo to my server and pick a movie. It will stream it over the wire and away I go. I have about 100 movies right now. About 70 standard def and 30 hidef movies. So easy, so nice, so much not a headache.

Curious - do you have to pay a subscription fee for each box, or is their a discount?
Also, can tivos share content with each other? Can I record a show on TIVO1 and watch it on TIVO2?

Thanks!

Yes each box requires its own sub. But they have deals when you have multiple units so you get a little cut of each full subscription. I believe the standard sub is 12\month. But occasionally they have sales or deals where you can buy a full year for 99 bucks.

And yes you can share the content among every TiVo you own. Either directly streaming from each other or streaming from a PC\Server. It is as simple as going to your playing list and picking the other TiVo or PC\Server and browsing the content on it and streaming it back.

Edit: Also forgot to add on the HD Tivo units or Series 3 units you need a cable card from your provider if you want to view digital, premium, or HD content. Typically this requires a nominal rental charge. I pay 2\month per card.