Multiple (ie 2-4) TV Tuners in 1 CORE

[ferdies]

Hi,

How many feeds can 1 TV tuner accommodate? I am currently a Vista MCE user and having only 1 TV tuner, obviously, will allow only 1 LIVE TV viewing OR 1 on-going recording.

Since I am planning to setup a CORE server to service 4 rooms, I am planning to install 4 TV Tuners in the CORE server. THis is to allow 4 rooms to watch simultaneous TV should my kids prefer it. Also, hopefully, this setup will allow that 1 media director can do the recording while others 3 Media directors can watch live TV.

Is this possible? or 1 TV Tuner in LinuxMCE be able to accommodate several channels, ie feeds, at the same time.

A question from a LinuxMCE noob.

Thanks.

[ferdies]

BTW, I am planning to install analog TV tuners.

[totallymaxed]

Hi,

How many feeds can 1 TV tuner accommodate? I am currently a Vista MCE user and having only 1 TV tuner, obviously, will allow only 1 LIVE TV viewing OR 1 on-going recording.

Since I am planning to setup a CORE server to service 4 rooms, I am planning to install 4 TV Tuners in the CORE server. THis is to allow 4 rooms to watch simultaneous TV should my kids prefer it. Also, hopefully, this setup will allow that 1 media director can do the recording while others 3 Media directors can watch live TV.

Is this possible? or 1 TV Tuner in LinuxMCE be able to accommodate several channels, ie feeds, at the same time.

A question from a LinuxMCE noob.

Thanks.

I guess you'll be using MythTV... and i have to admit my experience is with vdr and not MythTV. But assuming you have the slots I cant see a reason why your multi-TV card setup will not work.

Here in the UK we have often configure Cores with 6 x DVB-T tuners (we use vdr as the PVR) so the underlying LinuxMCE environment is not a limiting factor at all... its hardware limited and possibly MythTV limited (but I'm sure a Myth user will respond on that point).

All the best

Andrew

[pedplar]

one card = one feed.  if you need 4 simultaneous feeds then you will need 4 cards or 2 dual tuner cards.  I have 2 pvr 500's in my core.  with 3 MD's receiving live simultaneous streams and it handles it fine.

[ferdies]

Thanks for the info.

Also, I have learnt that my provider has the availability of DVB, thus shifting from analog.

They will be using DVB-C Box.

I am assuming that I will still need a hardware decoding card, right? Is Happauge DVB-C compatible with LinuxMce. Any other recommended brands.

Appreciate the input.

[colinjones]

Go with Haupauge. You can get DVB-C cards - the decoding isn't done in hardware, and you don't really want it to as in MPEG2 format it uses much less bandwidth when streaming to a remote MD on your network. MPEG2 isn't a big deal to decode for a decent CPU.

When using any of the DVB's VDR is the up and coming option as it is designed specifically for DVB and can get the EPG from it too (if transmitted). Only problem is at this stage the integration doesn't allow you to stream from the core containing the card(s) to a remote MD without some hacking. I believe that is coming, but Andrew can advise on that.

Col.

[totallymaxed]

Go with Haupauge. You can get DVB-C cards - the decoding isn't done in hardware, and you don't really want it to as in MPEG2 format it uses much less bandwidth when streaming to a remote MD on your network. MPEG2 isn't a big deal to decode for a decent CPU.

When using any of the DVB's VDR is the up and coming option as it is designed specifically for DVB and can get the EPG from it too (if transmitted). Only problem is at this stage the integration doesn't allow you to stream from the core containing the card(s) to a remote MD without some hacking. I believe that is coming, but Andrew can advise on that.

Col.

There will be an update to lmce-vdr soon... its in testing now. This will definitely include a much updated mce remote functionality with some bug fixes (and all vdr remote functions are now mapped nicely) and it also fixes a number of tricky little bugs in the vdr-plugin thats sometimes cause LinuxMCE to display a black screen (UI2 & menus work but no TV picture). These are not bugs in vdr but in how we've integrated it in the plugin. We are testing an update for these now...

Streaming to MD's and to Windows & Linux desktops using vdradmin-am and vlc or mplayer is also being tested now. But I cant say yet if this will make it into this update or a subsequent one.

All the best

Andrew

[ferdies]

Pardon my ignorance in this area.

My provider mentioned that:
----------------------------------------------
DIGIBOX
SkyCable Digital is using a DVB-C Box, which can also be called a Digital Set-top Box or simply called a “DIGIBOX”.

With the "DIGIBOX", you can avail these functionalities such as:
= EPG =
---------------------------------------------
Thus, when I subscribe they will provide the DVB-C Box. 

With the LinuxMCE installation, can I just physically connect the COAX cable (link to provider's digital broadcast) to the DVB-C connector of the PCI card install in LinuxMCE, without using the Digibox?

Will the setup be:

A) provider ---> digibox ---> DVB-C PCI Card --> Linux MCE

or

B) provider ----> DVB-C PCI card ---> Linux MCE

Thanks.

[totallymaxed]

Will the setup be:

A) provider ---> digibox ---> DVB-C PCI Card --> Linux MCE

or

B) provider ----> DVB-C PCI card ---> Linux MCE

Thanks.

Well ideally it will be (B) as this will give you the best integration and also the best picture quality in LinuxMCE. We have not tested any DVB-C cards but several are supported by v4l/vdr and I cant say for sure whether the EPG data will work but it is likely too.

See here for info on DVB-C cards; http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-C_PCI_Cards

Andrew

[ferdies]

[/quote]



There will be an update to lmce-vdr soon... its in testing now. This will definitely include a much updated mce remote functionality with some bug fixes (and all vdr remote functions are now mapped nicely) and it also fixes a number of tricky little bugs in the vdr-plugin thats sometimes cause LinuxMCE to display a black screen (UI2 & menus work but no TV picture). These are not bugs in vdr but in how we've integrated it in the plugin. We are testing an update for these now...

Streaming to MD's and to Windows & Linux desktops using vdradmin-am and vlc or mplayer is also being tested now. But I cant say yet if this will make it into this update or a subsequent one.

All the best

Andrew
[/quote]

1. The Changelog 0710 states that " Integrated VDR to LMCE and added support for few dvb-s cards"
    http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/ChangeLog_0710
   
    Any idea if DVB-C card support has been included?

2. Any timeline as to the update of LMCE-VDR?

Thanks.

Thanks.

[samuelmukoti]

Hi,

I'm also looking to put have multiple TV feeds for LIVE TV from my CORE, I'm currently using a DVB-S card with MythTV.  I want to try out VDR and was wondering, from the VDR forums they talk about a Multiplex stream capability if you're watching channels that are on the same multiplex.  Is/Will such features be supported in LinuxMCE anytime soon.  I know MythTV now has this feature in the current stable version, but don't know if and when that will be available on LinuxMCE?

regards,

Sam

[gazlang]

The multiplex stream capability is available in the current LMCE using VDR.

The mythTV version in LMCE does not support multiplexing. I'm not sure if myth will be updated to the latest version (supporting this feature) for the next LMCE release.

If you are using a DVB card, then VDR is probably the best option

[totallymaxed]

There will be an update to lmce-vdr soon... its in testing now. This will definitely include a much updated mce remote functionality with some bug fixes (and all vdr remote functions are now mapped nicely) and it also fixes a number of tricky little bugs in the vdr-plugin thats sometimes cause LinuxMCE to display a black screen (UI2 & menus work but no TV picture). These are not bugs in vdr but in how we've integrated it in the plugin. We are testing an update for these now...

Streaming to MD's and to Windows & Linux desktops using vdradmin-am and vlc or mplayer is also being tested now. But I cant say yet if this will make it into this update or a subsequent one.

All the best

Andrew
[/quote]

1. The Changelog 0710 states that " Integrated VDR to LMCE and added support for few dvb-s cards"
    http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/ChangeLog_0710
   
    Any idea if DVB-C card support has been included?

2. Any timeline as to the update of LMCE-VDR?

Thanks.

Thanks.


[/quote]

If the DVB-C card is supported by v4l/vdr then it will work with vdr inside LinuxMCE.

No timeline for the update I'm afraid as of yet.

Andrew

[totallymaxed]

Hi,

I'm also looking to put have multiple TV feeds for LIVE TV from my CORE, I'm currently using a DVB-S card with MythTV.  I want to try out VDR and was wondering, from the VDR forums they talk about a Multiplex stream capability if you're watching channels that are on the same multiplex.  Is/Will such features be supported in LinuxMCE anytime soon.  I know MythTV now has this feature in the current stable version, but don't know if and when that will be available on LinuxMCE?

regards,

Sam

Vdr has supported the concurrent viewing/recording of any channel from a tuned MUX for a long time. The current vdr integration in LinuxMCE-0710 supports this also.

Andrew

[ghope5]

Has anybody tried the WinTV-HVR 950 USB Hybrid  stick It is mentioned as one of the tuner's that work, out of the box. I have not been so lucky. this tuner is not recognized when setting up tuner's in myth I don't know what to check as the type of tuner in the setup screen there is only 1 USB card mentioned in the list and it doesn't work I get a message "no card present" I have tried everyone on the list non of them work. Can anyone HELP.

Gord