Need some advice on setting up my whole house DVR

[goobee]

I have a DirecTV high def DVR that I want to watch in three rooms in addition to the living room where it is connected to the main entertainment center.

I picked up a case of CAT 6 and will be pulling double pairs to each location to run HDMI over ethernet. My plan is to use wall plate extenders that have IR repeaters to control the DVR.

The wall plates I'm looking to get are these:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10425&cs_id=1042501&p_id=8008&seq=1&format=2

I'm not sure how to connect everything together. I assume I will need something like a 4 way amplified HDMI splitter for the output but I am confused on what I need for the return IR signal.

I am not married to this idea so if you have a better solution, please feel free to offer your suggestion(s). I plan to set up a network closet so cabling space is not a problem.

Thoughts, suggestions. Thanks.

 

[frowertr]

I really don't have much input as I don't use DirecTV so I am unfamiliar with your box. But, if I am reading this correctly, you are simply wanting the one output on the back of your DVR box to be broadcast in every room of the house you run ethernet, correct? I guess the downside of this is that you can only watch ONE thing at a time on the whole ethernet/HDMI network. So if you have one person in one room watching something from your DVR box, then another person in another room will have to watch the same exact thing (at the same point in time mind you) as there is just ONE direct stream out of the DVR box.

It seems a bit "unelegant" but if you are by yourself I don't know what this wouldn't work. As you said you would have to find an HDMI splitter/amp. But how will the splitter know what TV to switch outputs to? Are all the outputs active to avoid having to switch between each room?

With the Sat compaines they kinda have you "hemmed in" with DVR capability. Basically you either have to puchase their "whole home DVR solution" or put together your own which you are trying to do.

I wish I had options but I'm drawing a blank. Perhaps someone else will chime in. Here is what I do as maybe it will give you some ideas. I use SageTV (defunct as Google sold it) for my whole home DVR capability. I, too, ran ethernet to every room in my house via the attic and down the inside of my walls over a 2 week period about a year ago. I then have a dedicated SageTV server running in a closet that interconnects my entire home. Each room/tv has a Sage Extender which connects the TV back to the Sage server for DVR/Live Tv viewing.

For tuners in the server I use a Hauppauge 2250 (useless to you as you are not on cable) which is a dual QAM digital tuner. For premium HD channels and those that are not QAM, I purchased a Haupauge HD PVR that connects to the component video outputs on the back of my cable company set top box that I had to rent. This allows me to record directly out of whatever the cable box is tuned to right to the hard drive in my SageTV server so it can then be steamed around my house by the SageTV server to the extenders.

A lot of guys on the SageTV forums use two Hauppauge HD PVR's with two Sat boxes they rent from the Sat company. That way they give themselves two channels to work with and don't have to worry about recording scheduling conflicts.

Unforunately, SageTV was sold to Google about a year ago and its development is dead. As soon as Ceton comes out with the Echo and "Q", I'm jumping ship and moving to that as it is a M-card based solution. But, again, this really doesn't help you as you are on Sat but I just wanted to give you an example of how it can be done.

The bottom line is this: You are locked into doing it like you suggest or capturing audio/video directly out of the back component/audio ports on your Sat box with a HD PVR or equivalent device and saving that directly to a hard drive in a server. However, you still need a computer (HTPC) at each TV to enable playback of what the HD PVR recorded (my Sage Extenders take the place of this). Complicated enough?

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Seems like a big hassle for getting so little functionality in return. Why not just have DirecTV install Whole Home DVR? Or an alternative, if you don't want to pay for the WH-DVR install and 2 year contract, is to buy 3 DirecTV HD set-top boxes on eBay, hook them up via ethernet, then call DirecTV and tell them you want Whole Home DVR enabled and that you use your own ethernet network. That doesn't require any contract extension.

 

[NutBucket]

How can one still buy DirecTV receivers as they are all supposedly "leased"? I never understood this but then again I haven't really dealt with DirecTV in quite a few years.

 

[goobee]

@ NutBucket - Yep, you can only lease them.

@ TasteLikeChicken - You have to pay for each additional box and you have to pay for the whole house coverage. Adds up fast since I am locked in for 2 years.

@ frowertr - I may try Media Center later. If I set this up right, any device with HDMI would work.

There's only the wife and I and we shouldn't conflict too much on what to watch. (famous last words) :whiste:

 

[NutBucket]

I think WMC and a few extenders is really your best bet.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

@ TasteLikeChicken - You have to pay for each additional box and you have to pay for the whole house coverage. Adds up fast since I am locked in for 2 years.

A lot of people believe that but it is not true. Look on eBay for "owned HR-21." You can also search for non-DVR DirecTV STBs as well. Not all are leased. If you are dubious about purchasing one ask the seller for the serial number off of the box, call DirecTV, and verify that you can run it on your system. If you want it to function as a standard HD-DVR box through a RG-6 you will have to pay DirecTV a one time fee of $20 for an access card.