OTA TV only - Tuner pool questions

Help with tuners from ATI, Hauppauge, AverMedia and more.
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mrjspeed

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OTA TV only - Tuner pool questions

#1

Post by mrjspeed » Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:19 pm

I have 2 7MC HTPCs that I don't use for TV. They access movies/pictures/home videos via shared folders from my file server. House is gigabit wired.

We are thinking of dropping cable and just using local OTA TV as well as Netflix. No cable card. I'd like to get maybe 4 to 6 tuners installed on a server and have my HTPCs access TV over the network. The goal is to pause/rewind live TV as well as access recordings from the server.

Is this possible to have a dynamic tuner pool of say 6 tuners to be used among the 3 machines (HTPC's and server)? I want to eventually expand and have more HTPC's or maybe an extender.

Since it is just OTA HD TV, can the content recorded on the server be available for all machines to watch? The goal is to have a friendly interface through WMC that has a nice wife acceptance factor.

foxwood

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#2

Post by foxwood » Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:51 pm

You don't need (want) to install tuners in a server. Just get a couple of HD HomeRuns. You don't need the Prime model, just the ordinary HDHR3-US. which contains 2 ATSC tuners for $99. Get 2 of them, plug them into your network and whatever antenna is required for your location, and then any PC on the network can dynamically acquire a tuner when needed, and release it when done.

http://www.silicondust.com/products/models/hdhr3-us/

Anything recorded OTA will be "copy freely", so it can be watched on any PC, though you do need to manage the location of the recordings.

mrjspeed

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#3

Post by mrjspeed » Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:04 pm

Thanks for the reply, that might be a viable option. I now have a point of research.

foxwood

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#4

Post by foxwood » Wed Jul 03, 2013 3:19 pm

foxwood wrote:You don't need (want) to install tuners in a server. Just get a couple of HD HomeRuns. You don't need the Prime model, just the ordinary HDHR3-US. which contains 2 ATSC tuners for $99.
Available from Newegg for $60 at the moment: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6815345007

blueiedgod

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#5

Post by blueiedgod » Fri Jul 05, 2013 2:25 pm

foxwood wrote:
foxwood wrote:You don't need (want) to install tuners in a server. Just get a couple of HD HomeRuns. You don't need the Prime model, just the ordinary HDHR3-US. which contains 2 ATSC tuners for $99.
Available from Newegg for $60 at the moment: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6815345007

Was down to $49.99 with coupon but sold out quickly.

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