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I do not know much about HD homerun products. I have been looking at a cable card (centon) device that will take a cable card and provide tv across the network.
To my understanding and testing, in order to use the Centon I wuold need to install tvheadend as a backend and xbmc+dvr as a frontend, including the xbmc+dvr release on my other xbmc boxes within my home.
Now, for a bit cheaper I can install an HDHR3-CC or Prime and with cable card
and be able to access three virtual tuners as opossed to 4 with Centon.
But, do I need TVheadned and xbmc+dvr installed for the HDhomerun devices?
I thought I have seen that for a while now XBMC supported HDhomerun devices. Does that mean it will support the latest 3 tuner ones? It would be great if it would support dvr, epg, time shifting, etc. etc. right out the box without any major xbmc upgrades. Hey, I've been using TVheadend and xbmc+pvr using a OTA setup and it works great, except for the darn epg and xmltv stuff. They work, but I have been concerned about them keeping up with the latest xbmc releases.
Thanks
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I'm not that familiar with the applications that you are mentioning (tvheadend & xbmc+dvr) but let me just say this...
If you are planning on using a cablecard tuner (ceton or HDHR) to record encrypted content then you must use PVR software that is certified by cable labs. Right now the only one that I am aware of is Windows Media Center. I hope someone here will tell me that I'm wrong but I believe that this is correct.
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rdoac
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It will be the same with the HDHomerun. Using a non WMC backend you can only get a subsection of channels. In fact, you can see which channels are possible to get if you connect a firewire cable to your cable box (Comcast Motorola box in my case) and send the output to your PC. If it streams then it'll work with the HDHomerun, if not, then it's encrypted up a tier and you'll need WMC or a cable box to decode it.
A solution could be to use the HDHomerun for the majority of channels, and a Hauppuage PVRHD for the remaining off a cable box.
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2011-05-18, 07:17
(This post was last modified: 2011-05-18, 08:53 by speed32219.)
"HDHomeRun PRIME supports CableCARD™ conditional access, providing access to the premium cable channels from your PC. Insert an M-Card from your cable provider and you’ll be able to watch and record all the digital cable channels you subscribe to, including HD and premium channels in 100% digital quality. Do away with that $16-22 per month set-top box rental."
This really sucks, for Ceton and HDhomerun Prime, you need MS 7 WMC!
PS. Sorry for the mispelling, but Ceton (not Centon) is the other cable card company with a 4 tuner pcie device.
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Ah excellent information, thanks for the clarification. Yes I do use Fios, so let's hope they keep it this way. I tell you what though, if they don't it will be the final straw for me and I will simply shut it off. As it is now there are so many other options and with addons like PseudoTV, FreeCable, and the MyLibrary tool, all I need is the Internet connection
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I'm on FIOS and it works for everything but Premium channels, I don't subscribe or care to have those anyways! So it's no big deal! Best to check with your cable provider first to know which channels are Copy Freely though...
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My advice would be this - do not buy a Ceton or Prime unless you are planning on using WMC otherwise you are just setting yourself up for a major disappointment.
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^^ That's the truth... The HDHomerun concept is great, until you pull a cable company into the mix. I use mine to distribute OTA channels and it works great. Cancelled cable a year or so ago, and until I can do what I need to do with cable , I'm fine with my current setup.