TWC Copy Once - My Best Options for my current setup?

[rx4speed]

I apologize if this is posted in the wrong area. My 1st post.

I'm on Time Warner Cable and this is my current setup:

Great Room
Panasonic 60ZT60
TWC HD DVR
Denon 2112ci
Xbox 360
PS3
Amazon Fire TV

All of these are ethernet into a Netgear WNCE4004 N900 bridge that communicates wirelessly with my ASUS N66U Router in my office. The office is EXTREMELY close, as the router sits in the office. on my desk with my PC about 20' (through one wall) from the wireless bridge in the great room. I have a very new, fast PC in the office. I have no other TVs, but would like to go the cable card route and watch HDTV in my great room and on my PC and give the HD DVR back to TWC.

Thinking of building an HTPC for the great room, but i have a few question. Keep this in mind, TWC is copy once on almost all channels.

1. Is building an HTPC for the TV area using an internal Ceton PCI card a good option? Will this allow me to also watch TV on my PC in the office using WMC?

2. Or am i better off buying an HDHomerun Prime and placing it in the office and using the XBox in the great room as an extender? Can I use an HTPC with Windows Mdeia Center(WMC) in the great room in this scenario for TV viewing? If so, is the HTPC a better experience than the 360? Are both needed for this scenario?

Lastly, is the new Pentium G3258 ok with a ceton card? Their website says HD4400 or above, but from what ive read, this little CPU would be OK in a starter HTPC.

Thanks so much for the help!! If i need to post this elsewhere, please let me know.

[mdavej]

I like option 2. Requires very little CPU, no video card and no new PC. Just use the PC you already have. WMC experience is identical on Xbox and your local PC, for live and recorded TV and file streaming at least. You can run WMC on any PC (or extender) and share tuners. Extender can play all recordings of course, but other WMC computers can only play copy freely if they weren't recorded on the same box.

If you're just itching to build a PC or don't want to rely on your existing PC 24x7, the option 1 is fine. Internal/External tuner is personal choice. I like external because the host PC doesn't have to be on to share tuners, you can put it anywhere, and I can change out PC hardware all I want without having to reactivate my cable card.

You wouldn't typically use an extender and an HTPC in the same room, usually just one or the other. If you have multiple screens in that room, you could use both if you wanted.

Benchmark numbers for your processor are double those of mine, so that's plenty, as mine handles local playback plus 3 other simultaneous extender sessions just fine.

[rx4speed]

Thanks Dave! I think i will go external and still build an HTPC for the living room. The xbox, which i dont really use to game on anymore can then move to my bedroom as an extender in the future. If i record to the HTPC in the living room, i can watch recording on that and on the xbox extender in the bedroom(future). And, I can still watch TV on my PC in the office, but most likely just live TV and copy freely stuff. I'd watch most recorded things in the living room anyway.

Big Help! Thanks again.

[jjwatmyself]

My 10cents is that the xbox 360 also brings you a big living room UI, with an easy IR implementation, downloadable apps for Netflix, Vudu, FiOS, Xfinity, Xbox Video store, YouTube, plus Media Center. You eliminate the need for a keyboards and mouse unless your really want to use one. The DVR can be a multipurpose PC in an office (away from drive-by/casual users) , or dedicated to the task.

BTW All copy protected content that plays or is recorded on the HTPC will playback on every extender that contexts to that HTPC. An extender is basically like a propriety RDP session with advanced video streaming capabilities.

[Mystic95Z]

WMC experience is identical on Xbox and your local PC

Thats is absolutely not the case depending on HTPC hardware. I've had issues after my HTPC build where video on the HTPC had choppy playback issues and my xbox 360 extender played it back totally fine. I have an AMD A10 7850K and was using the built in R7 gpu. Funny thing is I just added a el-cheapo nVidia GT610 ($29) which is WAY less capable yet all problems vanished after installing it.

[mdavej]

WMC experience is identical on Xbox and your local PC

Thats is absolutely not the case depending on HTPC hardware. I've had issues after my HTPC build where video on the HTPC had choppy playback issues and my xbox 360 extender played it back totally fine. I have an AMD A10 7850K and was using the built in R7 gpu. Funny thing is I just added a el-cheapo nVidia GT610 ($29) which is WAY less capable yet all problems vanished after installing it.

Good point, but I'm talking about the interface, which is identical. Lots of external factors can hurt playback on any platform.

[Mystic95Z]

Good point, but I'm talking about the interface, which is identical. Lots of external factors can hurt playback on any platform.

Yep the UI is exactly the same, playback can vary greatly tho. That said my two HDHomeRun Prime's have been working flawlessly.