[soonerlater]

I am sick of paying my cableco (Cox) $20.49/month to rent a tuner/DVR. The only time that that the DVR is useful to me is when I watch live sports. I don't bother to record tv shows on my Cox DVR. I'd rather download them and watch them commercial free. But for $1.99/month I can rent a CableCard instead.

1. Is there a consensus that one CableCard-ready tuner is better than the rest (especially for pairing with Gotham's PVR function)? There are many on the market, but I'm not clear how to pick one over another.

2. Once the ideal tuner is purchased, what is currently the preferred PVR backend?

My XBMC boxes are Intel NUC's running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I store no media on them (and they only have a 64gb SATA card for storage anyway). They are connected to my network by wired ethernet. I assume that I can't (or shouldn't try) run the backend on them.

All of my media is stored on a FreeNAS server. I assume that I can't run the backend on FreeNAS itself.

I have a few Win 7 Pro desktops in the house that could run the backend. Assuming that they are the only practical place to run the backend and given that I have to use CableCARD to access all of my channels, what's the preferred backend?

[sub3]

Keep in mind you wont get *ALL* of your channels. Before you buy, check what your cable company transmits as copy-freely/copy-once/copy-never. You'll only be able to watch/record copy-freely channels. Some cable companies are great and have pretty much everything copy-freely, with only channels like HBO getting more restrictions. Some other cable companies are a lot more painful, and have pretty everything marked copy-never/copy-once.

Personally I'd go for the HDHomeRun Prime over other devices like the Ceton, since it's better supported in 3rd party software (including XBMC backends).

[soonerlater]

Keep in mind you wont get *ALL* of your channels....

Do you mean that, (a) XBMC/backend won't be able to record all of the channels or (b) I won't be able to watch live on my tv (sans xbmc) all of the channels that I'm subscribed to? I assume the former, but not sure.

ADDED by EDIT: This may be a clue. I have two TVs, but only one Cox STB. One tv (a 2013 Samsung) is connected straight to the cable and uses only the TV's onboard tuner. It can get nearly all of the channels that my Cox STB can get. The only channels it doesn't get are a handful of the HD channels (it gets ESPN SD, but not ESPN HD for example). Does the fact that my Samsung can display those channels have any bearing on the copy-freely, copy-once, copy-never issue?

[krustyreturns]

Yes, it means that xbmc won't be able to watch live-tv, or play the shows recorded, on the channels that aren't copy free. You should be able to schedule and record shows on these channels though, at least I know you can with the wmc backend. Wmc will also be able to view all the channels, but that's a whole other discussion.

If that tv you have hooked without the stb isn't configured with cablelcard (and I'm pretty sure you'd know if it was), those channels are copy-free.

[nickr]

Mythtv works well with the hdhr prime. You could install the backend on the nuc but you'd need external storage.

The backend doesn't need to be anything special so maybe repurpose one of your old windows boxes. My backend is a core2 duo e4500 with 4g ram. I record up to 5 programmes at once.

[sub3]

If that tv you have hooked without the stb isn't configured with cablelcard (and I'm pretty sure you'd know if it was), those channels are copy-free.

Usually doesn't tell us too much in relation to CableCard. I suspect these channels are just ClearQAM and/or Analog, and you'd be able to receive these same channels via a non-cablecard device like the Hauppauge HVR-2250 or HVR-950Q.

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Keep in mind you wont get *ALL* of your channels....

Do you mean that, (a) XBMC/backend won't be able to record all of the channels or (b) I won't be able to watch live on my tv (sans xbmc) all of the channels that I'm subscribed to? I assume the former, but not sure.

You wont be able to watch live in XBMC or record (to view in XBMC later) any of the channels marked copy-once or copy-never.

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ADDED by EDIT: This may be a clue. I have two TVs, but only one Cox STB. One tv (a 2013 Samsung) is connected straight to the cable and uses only the TV's onboard tuner. It can get nearly all of the channels that my Cox STB can get. The only channels it doesn't get are a handful of the HD channels (it gets ESPN SD, but not ESPN HD for example). Does the fact that my Samsung can display those channels have any bearing on the copy-freely, copy-once, copy-never issue?

As mentioned above - it doesn't really tell you much about the channels you'll get through your cablecard device (unless you've got a cablecard slotted into your tv..but I don't think that is the case). Its likely most of these channels are analog with some ClearQAM. An Analog/ClearQAM device like the HVR-2250/HVR950Q would receive these same channels as your TV.

A CableCard tuner device will not receive any of the analog channels. It'll probably get the ClearQAM channels (unless they're marked copy-once/copy-never in your cablecard entitlements). You may get a lot more or even a lot less channels via a cablecard tuner, depending on how they've marked the channels (copy-freely, copy-never, copy-once).

Sorry - I know this cablecard stuff is confusing. Reread my replies a few times, and hopefully it'll eventually make sense

(I do software development for cablecard devices as part of my day job, so I'm pretty familiar with the situation)

[soonerlater]

Sub3,

I'm still looking at this and want to clarify:

Homerun Prime -> MS Media Center -> XBMC = will not be able to watch live or previously recorded shows that are marked/tagged as "copy-never" and probably not ones marked "copy-once."

Homerun Prime -> MS Media Center -> XBOX 360 = will be able to watch all live or previously recorded shows.

[sub3]

Homerun Prime -> MS Media Center -> XBMC = will not be able to watch live or previously recorded shows that are marked/tagged as "copy-never" and probably not ones marked "copy-once."

Correct. You will only be able to watch (live or previously recording) 'copy-freely' channels in XBMC. You will not be able to watch 'copy-once' or 'copy-never' channels in XBMC (live or previously recorded)

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Homerun Prime -> MS Media Center -> XBOX 360 = will be able to watch all live or previously recorded shows.

Sorry, I don't know the answer to this - I've never used an XBOX 360 extender.

[cstmstyle]

Ok so a question if you could help could a Homerun prime -> New Android TV OS device with XBMC running be able to view the copy-once, copy-never content? Is this a PlayReady DRM issue and could that ever be added into XBMC to gain these types of functions?

I am considering adding Fios Tv to my internet service and actually save some money from the double bundle package. I would love to use the Homerun Prime and feed TV to devices running off the New Android TV platform when they come out with the possibility of XBMC as the frontend.

[nickr]

Ok so a question if you could help could a Homerun prime -> New Android TV OS device with XBMC running be able to view the copy-once, copy-never content? Is this a PlayReady DRM issue and could that ever be added into XBMC to gain these types of functions?

No. XBMC does not do DRM.

[SikeMo]

I have a similar debate going on at my house. I have two Zotac ZBOX's running XBMC (one with an i3 with HD4000 and Ubuntu, another with OpenELEC and an older AMD E350), a QNAP ARM-based NAS, and a Windows 7 desktop. I will be using an HDHomeRun Plus for OTA ATSC TV. The question is, do I run the backend on the ZBOX with the i3 (I would use MythTV), the Windows 7 desktop (which backend would you recommend so that I can record on the Win7 box and watch live on the ZBOX's?) or do I fiddle with TVHeadend on the QNAP NAS (probably the most difficult, but power efficient option).

Any ideas?

[nickr]

I would run mythtv, the other decisions flow from there...