How to setup - One HDD record and 2nd HDD for play?

[cgott42]

Background:
I currently have an approx. 8yr old win 7 PC that I use together with Verizon FIOS CableCard+ Ceton Infinitv tuner to function as a DVR. I then access the saved video files remotely (currently via Himachi VPN) for viewing and it did a fine job of recording. I decided to switch to Plex - however the PC had a tough time transcoding and recording at the same time - so I bought another PC Dell T_3600 server Xeon E5-2670, 16GB Ram (and since Plex DVR doesn't work with Ceton, I bought a HDHomerun Prime). For some reason the HDHomerun won't recognize the CableCard (have tried switching to a new card too) and don't want to spend much more time with it - so I'll ditch the Prime and install the Ceton on the T3600)

Question
In the event that the HDHomerun Prime works on the old PC (or if the Ceton doesn't work on the T3600 and will need to be put back into the old PC) - i.e. I use the old PC to record. What is the best setup to have one PC record and the other to "serve" those files for remote viewing - example of a normal setup is to record a 9-10pm show and while the 10-11pm show is recording I'm remotely watching the show that recorded from 9-10pm. If I have the recording and serving/viewing done from a single networked HDD won't that cause a suboptimal setup - also the files are 1080p and often sports - so bottlenecks result in less then optimal PQ. Long reason why I don't just do everything locally, but given the situation - what's the best way to record on one HDD (ia one PC) and have that quickly ready for playback on a 2nd HDD (from 2nd PC)?

 

[Elixer]

First, for the prime, the cable company must authorize it, then send a "hit", and it should work.
IMO, it is miles better than the centon units. If it don't work, it is either a defective M-card, or, they didn't authorize you correctly. The Prime has logs and status of everything, you can check those out.

You would most likely want to RAID up the HDs to make them as quick as possible, so they can be fully utilized, or you may want to transcode on the fly.
When I had my Prime, I didn't have any issues recording 3 shows @1080 on my WD black drive. I didn't bother transcoding them at the same time though, I only did that to shows I liked, and wanted to keep around.

I also think you should have posted this in the other section, https://forums.anandtech.com/forums/home-theater-pcs.61/

 

[cgott42]

Sorry if this is the wrong section, I posted here as my question was in regards to HDD setup - if wrong, mod please move it.
re: the card - I tried with Verizon and even got a new card from them- and in both cases it still says card not inserted (even though it's clearly inserted ALL the way/felt the click)
re: RAID - would both PCs "share" the RAID - how woudl that work
thx

 

[Elixer]

You basically would have the main machine that you record using RAID 0, and you change permissions to "share" to the other machine, and then the transcoding machine would be using your LAN to be reading the file from the main machine.

Come to think about it, if you have the funds, you might just go with using SSDs instead of HDs, that would really increase speeds, both reading & writing.

*Edit, you could also go the NAS route, you still need a fast NAS though, you don't want to have an I/O bottleneck.


Does the Prime tell you that the card isn't inserted? Does Verizon use tuning adapters?