Thoughts about my plan for a TVtuner Server with HTPC clients? Need advice!

[bacterialbag]

Hey guys,

My name is Ben, and i'm from Holland. I really need some advice;
(Please forgive me for my bad English, I really try to make myself as understandable as possible!)

Me and my parents just moved into a new house, and it is my job to arrange all the tv stuff for my parents.

The thing is, that I can only receive sattelite TV at the place we live. We do want 4 rooms to have TV however, so I did some research, and id seemed to me that the best thing to do is to build a TV-server with 4 tuners in it, and hook it up to a quad-lnb sattelite dish, and place a small HTPC next to every television. ( The other option would be putting a standalone HTPC or decoder with every television ). I choose for the server option because I dont have a home server in my network yet, and next to running the TV software, I could also use it for file sharing, small mail server etc. At the moment my network is 1Gbit double duplex, so transmitting speeds will not be the problem.

I want to be able to use card-sharing, and receive as much HD-channels as possible. (And as much pay-channels as possible, preferably without paying monthly fee, I heard this is possible with a dreambox, but I imagine that with a PC with tuners in it, I can achieve the same result as the dreambox can?

I also want the server to be able to record to other devices in the network, and stream for all 4 televisions at the same time without loss of quality.
'
I'm really not that experienced in this area, so here are some things I need advise on;

What OS should I run on the server? Is it possible to do this with windows Home Server? Or would Linux better suit my needs?
How could I obtain the pay-tv? what hardware/software do I need?

What kind of tuners would you recommend?

What Dish should I use? any recommendations?

What should the specs of the server be? does streaming 4 HD channels at the same time require superb hardware? Or is it not that heavy?

What about the HTPC's next to the TV's? I want them to be able to play full HD at maximum performance. Do i need a dedicated GPU for that? Or can I get away using onboard-video?.

What software do I need? recommendations?

Other advise or tips for my project are also welcome! please share you'r thoughts with me! I really appreciate it. This Could also be a really helpfull topic, because i've searched forums for hours, without finding a single topic summing up a project like this.

Thanks for your help

Ben Smith

 

[NWW]

As I'm in exactly the same process (expanding the TV-side of our house for my parents ^^) I've been through this exact setup.

For your centralised TV-server, Google : DVBlink Network Pack + TV Source. That should give you enough reading, and 21 days trial to try it out. If you don't plan on streaming outside your house (if you stream outside your house, there is a transcoding happening), you won't need a spec'ed out PC. Any relatively new pc would do it. As for the OS, I would recommend Windows 7 instead of WHS, as it can be hard to set up this program with WHS.

Any tuner should do (just look out if your using a motorised-dish, there is a list of supported tuners on that website).

The dish is depending on what satellites you wanna catch. Over here in Belgium (hey, neighbour!) I use a 80cm dish we bought 10 years ago, and it's picking up Hotbird/Astra and Astra 2 just fine.

For the HTPC, I recommend you go on _http://avsforum.com in the HTPC section, and look at the stickied posts up top. I went for a core i5-2500k in my room, and core i3-2100 in the other rooms, as my room is the server. No need for GPU with those CPUs, unless you want something beefier.

As for cardsharing, I'm not sure I can discuss that over here, but Google is your friend.

 

[flemlion]

If you haven't come across it yet, do have a look at _http://www.mythtv.org/
It's not for computer novices, but it does give plenty of possibilities.
A friend of mine also got it working with a card reader and a TV-Vlaanderen (similar to Canal/Digitaal) smart card.

Er is eveneens een nederlandstalig forum beschikbaar: _http://www.mythtv.nl/forum/

 

[Analoguesat]

Hey guys,

My name is Ben, and i'm from Holland. I really need some advice;
(Please forgive me for my bad English, I really try to make myself as understandable as possible!)

Me and my parents just moved into a new house, and it is my job to arrange all the tv stuff for my parents.

Why are you mucking around with HTPC? The basic requirement is very simple, what you are trying to do is making it extremely complicated and not particularly simple to use for oldies..

Just stick a set top box in each room and run cables from the dish to them.

 

[moonbase]

....Just stick a set top box in each room and run cables from the dish to them.

Another option would be to use a decent multiswitch taking feeds from a quattro LNB providing outputs to give coverage in more than 4 rooms. Unless of course, the OP also wishes to be able to view using the TV-Server in locations away from the house in other residences etc.

Multiswitches can be obtained that will accept multi dish setups such as a "9 in" multiswitch or a "13 in" multiswitch for 2 or 3 quattro LNB's respectively and they can also have 16, 24, 32 outputs depending on what you want and your budget.


Regards
moonbase

 

[bacterialbag]

Thanks for the answers so far! My parents have enough knowledge to use a HTPC with a remote. That is no problem. Okay, so full HD can be viewed without the need a high spec pc with dedicated videocard?

I've googled DVBlink!, but there are lots of programs that serve the same purpose. Why is DVBlink best?

Any other thoughts about the set up? or different ways to approach my situation?

 

[bacterialbag]

By the way, do I need to buy multiple license for DVBlogic?

Could someone make a list for the hardware and software I absolutely need for this project?

 

[NWW]

DVBlink integrates into Windows Media Center, which in the end allows you to view your own content (movies, music, pictures) along with other add-ins.

All you need is to buy ONE Network Pack and ONE TV Source from DVBlogic, and install those in your primary HTPC (which houses the tuners).

So, to recap, (I'm giving you an idea of component, feel free to choose your own.)

HTPC/Server:
Core i5-2500k
H67 mobo (=> integrated graphics) in ATX format, to have room for multiple tuners
4Gb ram (maybe more, if you use it for other things)
HDD: as many as you need
SSD: if you have the money and want extra snappiness (when waking up the computer from sleep, etc)
Tuners: The Blackgold BGT3595 was perfect, (2xDVB-S2 , 2XDVB-T) but is now discontinued. Find the Nova HD S2, it seems to be the best, but it is single tuner. Tevii has dual tuners.

Now for the HTPC/clients,

Core i3-2XXX (choose whichever you want)
H67 mobo. You can go as low as m-ITX, if you want it to be small, but beware, 1 extension slot only.
4gb ram, plenty enough.
One SSD or small HDD for the OS. Storage will be on the server.

Use Media Center on each htpc, install the DVBlink CLIENT on every other HTPC, and you're good to go.

Read the manual from DVBlogic. You can have a 3 weeks trial to see if it works for you.

 

[moonbase]

...Could someone make a list for the hardware and software I absolutely need for this project?

You do not need to buy multiple HTPC boxes and configure them with software, the same objective of full HD in every single room in the house can be achieved in a much less complex method.

1. A multiswitch with 16 outputs or 24 outputs, this will give you the option to view 16 or 24 different full HD channels at the same time.
2. A quattro LNB
3. A satellite dish
4. Some decent specification coaxial cable
5. A bag of F connectors
6. A receiver in each room that you run the coaxial cable to.


If you want to make it more complicated then carry on with your HTPC.

 

[NWW]

@moonbay, HTPC gives you flexibity. It gives you the advantage of not only having Live TV via satellite, but also, you can add multiple tuners from other providers (DVB-T, DVB-C). You can also have all of your media on ONE and only one STB in your living room. It gives you access to Bluray's, 3D, music, pictures, it gives you your podcasts, your RSS feeds, even your emails if you want to. All of that into one user experience. "Dumb" receivers are good, yes, but this isn't the year 2000 anymore. Adding a PC to your TV is the best thing that could happen. Yes, it is harder to setup, but soooooo much more usefull.

 

[pgh13]

If you haven't already found it, take a look at h__p://GBPVR.com The software is free (contributions encouraged) and runs on Windows so you don't have to climb the linux mountain. It'll work with remote PC clients or you can use outdated Hauppauge Media MVP or better spec Popcorn Hour

 

[moonbase]

@moonbay, HTPC gives you flexibity. It gives you the advantage of not only having Live TV via satellite, but also, you can add multiple tuners from other providers (DVB-T, DVB-C). You can also have all of your media on ONE and only one STB in your living room. It gives you access to Bluray's, 3D, music, pictures, it gives you your podcasts, your RSS feeds, even your emails if you want to. All of that into one user experience. "Dumb" receivers are good, yes, but this isn't the year 2000 anymore. Adding a PC to your TV is the best thing that could happen. Yes, it is harder to setup, but soooooo much more usefull.

if you say so !!