Sync schedule recordings on multiple PC's

[Dave221246]

Hi. I've got three Windows 8.1 PC's with Windows Media Centre running linked to Windows Home Server 2011, which work fine and the TV recordings are archived great to a folder on WHS 2011. I do fine that some TV programs are recorded twice due to them being set on there PC's, which isn't a problem as the duplicate programs can easily be deleted.
The thought struck me if anyone has a similar setup and is there a way to schedule the recordings for various instances of Windows Media Centre on PC's, from a central point, i.e. is there a way to look at scheduled recordings on various networked PC's from one PC?

[cwinfield]

You could probably use Ceton My Media Center and connect to each computer individually but I don't think you could view multiple pcs at once. You would also either need a IOS, WP, android, or win 8/8.1 device.

[sbaeder]

this is one of the things that "remote potato" does well - run it on the main recording machine, and the other machines use a web interface to access the schedule and guide of that one central machine. There is the original at http://www.remotepotato.com/ and then the new version used by remote media center at http://myfrem.nl/main.html

for access to the main recording htpc, the original one should be fine...the forked version can also transcode and send video to ipads, android, etc...

[mcewinter]

This may or not help. It was last updated for Vista...

http://babgvant.com/blogs/andyvt/archiv ... ution.aspx

[holidayboy]

I was trying to remember the name of that tool a while ago - I knew there was one!
Thanks

[DavidinCT]

This may or not help. It was last updated for Vista...

http://babgvant.com/blogs/andyvt/archiv ... ution.aspx

That will only work if it was with the TV pack...

[mcewinter]

This may or not help. It was last updated for Vista...

http://babgvant.com/blogs/andyvt/archiv ... ution.aspx

That will only work if it was with the TV pack...

Wow. That's a trip down memory lane.

[eclas]

I have a question about remote potato that I couldn't find a definitive answer to. Will RP stream protected wtv files? I have time warner so almost all of them r protected.

[mdavej]

Definitive answer: No, nothing can play Copy Once/Never except local WMC or an extender.

What do you mean by "protected"? Copy Freely is protected but will play fine. Copy Once is also protected but won't play.

[eclas]

I'm not sure either?
I do know that almost all channels from time warner are SDV (I think that's it, switched digital video?)
Anyway, if I can't stream but a few channels it isn't worth installing RP.

Definitive answer: No, nothing can play Copy Once/Never except local WMC or an extender.

What do you mean by "protected"? Copy Freely is protected but will play fine. Copy Once is also protected but won't play.

[mdavej]

In WMC, pull up the info on some of your recordings. If it says "Copy Protected" as shown below, RP won't play it. If that message isn't there, it will play.

[eclas]

Thanks so much for that.
After checking I think I only have a few that are protected (golf channel etc). Most of my recordings are from a local network feed thru time warner and those are not protected.
Looks like I'll give RP a try.

In WMC, pull up the info on some of your recordings. If it says "Copy Protected" as shown below, RP won't play it. If that message isn't there, it will play.

[Sharks]

This may or not help. It was last updated for Vista...

http://babgvant.com/blogs/andyvt/archiv ... ution.aspx

That will only work if it was with the TV pack...

Stupid question what is a tv pack? (Note: I'm asking because I have Recording Broker working between 2 windows 8.1 machines.)

[mcewinter]

This may or not help. It was last updated for Vista...

http://babgvant.com/blogs/andyvt/archiv ... ution.aspx

That will only work if it was with the TV pack...

Stupid question what is a tv pack? (Note: I'm asking because I have Recording Broker working between 2 windows 8.1 machines.)

Codename: Fiji

"Microsoft later updated Windows Vista Media Center with a feature pack known as TV Pack 2008.[1] This release, which was previously codenamed "Fiji" was only made available via OEMs for new computers that came preinstalled with the update. It is not available as an update for existing Windows Vista Media Center users.[2][3][4] The update tweaked the user interface, replaced the .dvr-ms filetype with .wtv files, added support for digital subchannels, QAM, as well as increased the total number of each type of tuner allowed, added DVB-S and MHEG.[5][6] In the beta there was support for H.264 (which allows for DirecTV) streams, however that feature was removed from the release version.[7]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Center

OEM only...Ha!

[eclas]

can u tell me what version of recording broker you r using or better yet a link to one that works with Win 8?

This may or not help. It was last updated for Vista...

http://babgvant.com/blogs/andyvt/archiv ... ution.aspx

That will only work if it was with the TV pack...

Stupid question what is a tv pack? (Note: I'm asking because I have Recording Broker working between 2 windows 8.1 machines.)

[DavidinCT]

This may or not help. It was last updated for Vista...

http://babgvant.com/blogs/andyvt/archiv ... ution.aspx

As it was made for the TV Pack....the changes were also in Windows 7, so might still work....