What CableCard Tuner should I use with NPVR
#1
Ok I am finally taking the plunge into building a HTPC. I've really been eyeing NPVR as my backend for live TV recording. Currently I subscribe to Comcast (no premium channels) which I read is a copy-freely broadcaster for non-premium channels. I keep going back and forth between the Ceton InifiTV 4/6 PCIe card and the HDHomeRun Prime (only 3 tuners). Both are CableCard tuners but the InfiniTV is a PCIe card and the HDHR Prime is a network attached device. I am not looking into the InfiniTV ethernet version as I've read about a bunch of issues with them specifically tuners dropping out when the device heats up.

I'm starting out with only one HTPC that'll do it all, but I plan in the future to upgrade to a central server that does all the recording when a client commands the server to record and streams the Live broadcast to my two client HTPCs in the house. I will say that I am a TVaholic and like TV more than movies so the I'm leaning toward the 6 tuner infiniTV. So based on this goal which Tuner would work the best with a recording and stream server?
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#2
I use the HDHR and love it, I use mythtv as the backend but have used npvr in the past and was pretty happy with it as well.
I will probably eventually upgrade to the 6 tuner infiniTV but for now I am happy with the HDHR capabilities.

Just my 2 cents...
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#3
NextPVR supports the HDHomeRun Prime and Hauppauge DCR-xxxx devices. It does not support the Ceton devices.
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#4
(2013-10-19, 03:18)sub3 Wrote: NextPVR supports the HDHomeRun Prime and Hauppauge DCR-xxxx devices. It does not support the Ceton devices.

Sub, thanks for the response. I was trying to go through the wiki to find which device had official support but could really find anything. The best I fould was about network device which both the HDHR Prime and the Ceton InifiTV fell under. I think it was for a network record plugin wiki.

Just a quick question about NPVR. The Server backend will act like a distribution hub right. It'll own all the tuners, whether they're ethernet based or pci based tuners and stream the output of the tuners to the clients on the network? Am I correct with this statement.
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#5
(2013-10-19, 17:22)Talguy Wrote: Just a quick question about NPVR. The Server backend will act like a distribution hub right. It'll own all the tuners, whether they're ethernet based or pci based tuners and stream the output of the tuners to the clients on the network? Am I correct with this statement.

Yeah you are correct about that, you can also connect to an Ethernet based tuner like the HDHR without a backend with strm files.
If you do it this way you will not have EPG or be able to schedule recordings this was the original setup before PVR functions in XBMC.

But yeah for the most part you setup a backend system like NPVR or MythTV and the XBMC clients manage the recordings and view EPG and tune into channels.
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#6
(2013-10-19, 17:22)Talguy Wrote: Just a quick question about NPVR. The Server backend will act like a distribution hub right. It'll own all the tuners, whether they're ethernet based or pci based tuners and stream the output of the tuners to the clients on the network? Am I correct with this statement.
Yes.

It does bring advantages over watching the stream directly from the HDHR though, like being able timeshift live tv, ie to pause and skip back etc.
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#7
I have been running NPVR with the HDHomerun Prime for a month or so. I've been streaming TV to my main XBMC (Windows) and another Raspberry Pi. For me it has been 80% great. Setup was pretty easy and relatively lightweight, and the software does its thing in the background without any required interaction. Set and forget.

The remaining 20% (where's it's not so great) is this: When I enable the "experimental" timeshift feature in the NPVR PVR add-on, I often get "tuner not available" error messages. Sometimes they can't be corrected without restarting XBMC. If I turn off the timeshift feature then it seems to clear up the problem (mostly, but not completely), but of course then I have no timeshift features. If there's a fix for this then I'd love to know about it. Outside of this issue it seems like a great PVR backend.

I had previously been using Argus, which was pretty solid, but it does not seem to support the HDHR Prime.
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#8
Thanks for the info. I'm starting to go back and worth between if I want to use NPVR or MediaPortal TVServer.
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