[gauche]

Hi,

I have been evaluating Openelec V3.1.5 and have everything set up how I want it apart from TV. I have a couple of questions before I take the plunge and fork out $$$ for a tuner card.

Here's a summary of my situation:

• I am located in Australia (DVB-T)
  
• I have a spare PCIe x16 slot on the front-end machine
  
• I want to record in digital HD
  
• I want to record two channels at once (potentially both in HD), or watch one whilst recording another (ie. dual tuner)
  
• I want to use a single machine running Openelec as both front- and back-end
  

And here are my questions:

1. If I use a single machine as front- and back-end, will XBMC be capable of powering the machine on and back off for scheduled recordings?
   
2. I've been looking into tuner hardware a bit, and am rather confused as to whether something suitable even exists to meet my requirements (main confusion is around hybrid tuners and whether they would actually allow me to record two digital HD channels at once). Can anyone recommend a card that suits my needs? Obviously it would need to work on linux. I was leaning towards Hauppauge HVR-2200 but am not certain it will be appropriate.
   

Thanks.

[sub3]

The HVR-2200 has two tuners and can certainly record two channels at the same time (whether HD or SD). In fact, with backends like NextPVR you could be recording a lot more than two channels simultaneously. ie, digital tv transmits several channels on the same frequency, and NextPVR is capable of recording/watching one or more channels from the tuner's frequency at the same time. For example, here in New Zealand, I had a test run where I was recording 16 channels at the same time with a dual tuner device.

[negge]

Any backend worth anything can record all channels on the same frequency, not just NextPVR.

@gauche: if you're unable to find a dual-tuner at your desired price point you can just as well buy two tuners. Since you're going to be using DVB-T the options are almost unlimited (compared to DVB-C where eBay is your only hope).

Regarding scheduling and power management, you won't be able to do what you want with just one machine (at least as far as I know). Is leaving the computer on all the time really out of the question?

[gauche]

Thanks guys. That's good news about the dual recordings. I was planning on starting out with Tvheadend as my back-end. Indeed, I installed it yesterday and played around with it a bit (I don't have a tuner yet, so playing was limited).

I suppose leaving the computer on 24/7 isn't out of the question, especially if I can keep the power consumption down (it's around 30W at the moment, but I plan on swapping out for a silent case/PSU).

My other option is that I already have an always-on Synology server that I could potentially leverage. My reluctance to using it as a back-end is threefold:

1. It's not near a coax outlet, so I would need to get one installed.
   
2. I would need an external USB tuner, which would stick out and potentially be knocked.
   
3. It would throw another spanner in the works in terms of hardware selection. I'm not sure on what tuner I could get that would work on my Synolody in conjunction with XBMC. Not even sure a USB tuner would have the requisite bandwidth to do dual HD recordings.
   

Am I crazy for not wanting to use my Synology as a back-end?

I appreciate the help.

[nickr]

Mythtv will wake up to make recordings, and go back to sleep again.

[negge]

Mythtv will wake up to make recordings, and go back to sleep again.

How does it do that?

[teeedubb]

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/ACPI_Wakeup

[photon2000]

I prefer the 24/7 NAS scenario. Please have a look at HDHomerun. It's a dual DVB-T Network Tuner with supported Linux Driver. I've heard that tvheadend and dvbhdhomerun are working on synology.
But if you talk about DVB-T2 in Australia (you mentioned HD), I don't know if there is an upgrade of the HDHomerun?
My (european) version has DVB-T and DVB-C SD only.

[gauche]

Please have a look at HDHomerun. But if you talk about DVB-T2 in Australia (you mentioned HD), I don't know if there is an upgrade of the HDHomerun?

That sure looks like a good option, since it will give me the flexibility to try it with Synology and then switch to using my HTPC as the back-end should I need to. However, I don't understand your point re HD. The product purports to support 1080i with dual tuner so I don't see any limitation in that respect. Am I missing something?

[negge]

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/ACPI_Wakeup

Thanks for the hint, that method could be used by other backends as well.

[photon2000]

Please have a look at HDHomerun. But if you talk about DVB-T2 in Australia (you mentioned HD), I don't know if there is an upgrade of the HDHomerun?

That sure looks like a good option, since it will give me the flexibility to try it with Synology and then switch to using my HTPC as the back-end should I need to. However, I don't understand your point re HD. The product purports to support 1080i with dual tuner so I don't see any limitation in that respect. Am I missing something?

DVB-T and DVB-T2 are technically completely different. HDHomerun has no DVB-T2 support. If your australian provider send HD signals over DVB-T you are lucky....

[nickr]

If your australian provider send HD signals over DVB-T you are lucky....

We get HD over DVB-T in New Zealand. There is nothing to prevent it.

[photon2000]

If your australian provider send HD signals over DVB-T you are lucky....

We get HD over DVB-T in New Zealand. There is nothing to prevent it.

http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/dvbt/ I just saw there is an EU/AU/NZ version of the hdhomerun.
That means hdhomerun looks like a good option for gauches op. Since the hdhomerun is LAN-connected you don't need the coax outlet near your backend.
I have the hdhomerun in 24/7 use a couple of years. My backend is a linux tvheadend server.
The XBMC clients are spreaded over the house.

If you have a android phone I recommend the app tvhclient (available in play store).
So I can schedule my recordings from (almost ;-) ) any location in the world.

Imaging the footy game starts while you're still on the road...

[gauche]

Sorry for late reply - I somehow missed that there was a second page of replies to this thread until now. My kaiser baas (ie. HDHomeRun) arrived yesterday and my coax cords are being fixed on Friday. In the meantime, I have set up tvheadend on my Synology and hooked up XBMC to it. Can't wait to try this!

Thanks for all the help.

[gauche]

OK, I finally got my coax fixed today (long story) and just plugged in my HDHomeRun. I headed to the configuration page for TVHeadend's TV adapters, but I do not see the HDHomeRun listed. I'm a bit confused as to whether I should see it yet, or whether I need to install something else on my Synology before it will work. The TVHeadend I have installed is the one from synocommunity: http://www.synocommunity.com/packages

Reading into things further, it seems a bit of a mess I don't really want to have to deal with. I find it a bit disconcerting using software that clearly isn't being actively maintained, and when people are obviously struggling trying to get it to work. That appears to be the case when coupling HDHR with TVHE. Therefore, I've changed tact...

I am instead using Synology's built-in Video Station software. It is able to detect and scan all channels, and I even have it recording a show right now as a proof of concept. However, I'm at a loss as to what add-on I need in XBMC in order to have my front-end communicate with the Video Station back-end.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Sorry that this is so noob, but I really have no idea what I'm doing with this stuff yet.