Sharing Tuner over network

S

synthetikv

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Apr 4, 2011
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OK so this probably has been covered somewhere but I haven't seen anything too current on it.
My home setup is:

HTPC with Ceton Quad Tuner using Windows Media Center on Win 7 - Living Room
Xbox 360 as Media Center Extender - Bedroom
PC on Win 7 - Office

Right now, the living room and bedroom setups are fine. Ideally I'm looking to have some sort of Media Center Extender Software for the Office PC, but as that seems to not exist I'm looking for any other solution to gain access to live tv. Recorded stuff isn't as important although it would be nice. Also it'd have to not interfere with Windows Media Center as I'd like to keep that for my living room/bedroom setup.
 
I think you need to setup Win7 MCE on the Office machine and have it discover the tuners on your network that are being shared. I believe when you share tuners through ceton's utility it bridges the card with your LAN connection so local machines can see the tuners.
 
windows media center doesn't support pcs as an extender which is a huge oversight in my opinion.
You'll have to check if the ceton software supports it, otherwise you could get another xbox extender.
 
Easiest/seamless - get another real extender like Ceton's Echo/Xbox/DMA2100/HPx280n/etc.

You can bridge out one of the tuners on the network with the network tuning support but that does remove from your pool to the rest of the system. That may or may not matter to you.
 
The Lurker said:
I think you need to setup Win7 MCE on the Office machine and have it discover the tuners on your network that are being shared. I believe when you share tuners through ceton's utility it bridges the card with your LAN connection so local machines can see the tuners.
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This is correct. You won't have a unified guide between the pc's, but this is the only way to do it unless you use extenders like x360 or ceton echo.
 
I never setup network sharing with my Ceton tuner when I had it but I know its capable of it. The one thing I do know is that if you share a tuner it will be removed from the pool of tuners and be dedicated to that PC you allocate it for. I ended up using 3 HDHomerun Primes as I liked the network tuner idea and they seem to tune channels faster.
 
Thanks for the replies. I think sharing the tuner and setting up MCE on the second pc would be best.

I have a second extender available but was hoping to view on the pc itself.
 
you can share a tuner from the primary to the secondary but that tuner will be dedicated to the secondary computer.

Ceton makes a good app for W8, WP8, iOS and Android that can help you with the ununified guide.

Also just share the "recorded TV" folder from the primary and use the Ceton app to setup recordings ONLY on the primary.

it works, but it isnt perfect.

we have 3 HTPCs in the house with a HDHR Prime setup similarly and we use the Ceton app on W8 tablets and our iPhones.

My wife can and does use it regularly.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Ceton's new InfinitTV 6 ETH solves the dedicated tuner to each Win MC box issue, meaning I think it pools all 6 tuners across the whole network. I have never tried it but I am interested in hearing if it works well. An ideal setup would be one of these with x360 and ceton echos around the house. It would also be really nice if Ceton could make PC software to make PCs become extenders. ( I am sure there are DRM issues) Good luck. Cheers.
 
hdhomerun makes a box that you plug an antenna into that will send your channels through the network, I don't use win media center but as long as it can read .stm files you should be fine. check hdhomeruns forums I'm sure someone has used it with win media center
 
Sinker said:
hdhomerun makes a box that you plug an antenna into that will send your channels through the network, I don't use win media center but as long as it can read .stm files you should be fine. check hdhomeruns forums I'm sure someone has used it with win media center
Click to expand...

not to be blunt but did you even read the TLP? Operative words are "Ceton Quad Tuner" aka: a CableCARD device, thus it does more than just OTA channels.
 
The Lurker said:
Microsoft already has. Its called Windows Media Center.
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nope, media center won't act as an extender for another media center install.

best you could do is put the record directory in a shared place so it's accessible to both machines but that doesn't share the tuners at all.
 
OP, you've got a pair of options.

First is to configure the Ceton to be accessible over the network, but when playing with mine, it seems that the home media center will lose access to one of the 4 tuners to share that back over the network. Overall seemed a bit wonky and I'd rather have the unified guide/recordings access. In this option, you will NOT have access to any DRM infested recordings (i.e. copy-once flagged content).

Second is to pick up another media center extender - Linksys DMA2100/2200s (discontinued for a LONG time now) can be had fairly cheap, and the Ceton Echo has dipped as low as $100 in recent sales (new, big firmware update allegedly brewing).

FnordMan said:
nope, media center won't act as an extender for another media center install.

best you could do is put the record directory in a shared place so it's accessible to both machines but that doesn't share the tuners at all.
Click to expand...

Even then, if you're recording DRM infested content marked as copy-once, then the other PC won't be able to play any of it.

Sinker said:
They make tuners that you can plug cable cards into as well forgot to mention that http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/prime/ it's only 3 tuners not a quad tuner though.
Click to expand...

OP already has a card that meets his needs. Not sure why he'd need to shop for another?
 
The silicondust hdhomerun prime (cablecard)..is great. Not that you need another tv tuner but it really is just plug (it into your switch) and ta-daa...3 tv tuners shared with everyone on the home network (they all use media center as the front end except for an xbox and a playstation). Nice, simple solution that doesn't mean a pc needs a card and must run 24/7 to maintain tv around the house. Just another option if the sharing thing can't be reolved to your satisfaction.
 
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