I am seriously considering getting a Ceton CC quad tuner, however I have some questions about Win 7 Media and extenders specific questions so that I can lay out the logistics for implementing the solution. I have FiOS, and know that I would need to rent a cable card from them at a minimum. Anything else I need that is not laid out in the detail below, please bring to my attention.
The plan is to convert the HTPC I have listed in my sig as the hub for live TV using a Ceton tuner. I also have a server 2008 R2 box listed in my sig as the server for housing all my media. Whole house wired Cat5e gigabit. I would like to be able to off load storing of my DVR shows to that box if a Ceton card is used. Will this work smoothly? Will media center recognize this as a location to save DVR'ed shows to? How many tuners is Media Center limited to? Right now 4 is more than enough, but I'm thinking expandability, could I have 2x quad tuners for 8 tuners? Double check my HTPC to make sure it is powerful enough to act as this central hub (I think it is, but I want other opinions).
The next step is to make use of extenders, specifically, have an extender at every TV in the house. I would like to be able to watch live TV from the extender. My goal is to use a low power (probably an Atom based) computer running Win 7 Media Center (only Media Center with maybe Media Browser. But no games web browsing) to achieve this. Needs to be met by such a computer: Full 1080p, HDMI, watch live TV from the Ceton, be able to record/ pause and all that jazz, as well as still have access to my media on my 2008 server. More questions on hardware specifics will come later, but right now keep it at a high level... will this work running win 7 media center. I have only used the 360 as an extender and never another full blown machine.
Can media center be an extender to another media center PC; ie- Centon CC tuner HTPC act as the hub, while these low power Atom machines feed off it for live TV purposes? Is it possible to have advanced DVR functions using this setup such as: multi room DVR capibilities (pause from one extender, and play in another without loosing anything), program Media Center/ tuner, to record from anywhere on the internet?
I realize this is lengthy, so thank you for taking the time to read and form a response. $400 is a lot to drop of a card that I am unsure of its full potential and use in my requirements.
The plan is to convert the HTPC I have listed in my sig as the hub for live TV using a Ceton tuner. I also have a server 2008 R2 box listed in my sig as the server for housing all my media. Whole house wired Cat5e gigabit. I would like to be able to off load storing of my DVR shows to that box if a Ceton card is used. Will this work smoothly? Will media center recognize this as a location to save DVR'ed shows to? How many tuners is Media Center limited to? Right now 4 is more than enough, but I'm thinking expandability, could I have 2x quad tuners for 8 tuners? Double check my HTPC to make sure it is powerful enough to act as this central hub (I think it is, but I want other opinions).
The next step is to make use of extenders, specifically, have an extender at every TV in the house. I would like to be able to watch live TV from the extender. My goal is to use a low power (probably an Atom based) computer running Win 7 Media Center (only Media Center with maybe Media Browser. But no games web browsing) to achieve this. Needs to be met by such a computer: Full 1080p, HDMI, watch live TV from the Ceton, be able to record/ pause and all that jazz, as well as still have access to my media on my 2008 server. More questions on hardware specifics will come later, but right now keep it at a high level... will this work running win 7 media center. I have only used the 360 as an extender and never another full blown machine.
Can media center be an extender to another media center PC; ie- Centon CC tuner HTPC act as the hub, while these low power Atom machines feed off it for live TV purposes? Is it possible to have advanced DVR functions using this setup such as: multi room DVR capibilities (pause from one extender, and play in another without loosing anything), program Media Center/ tuner, to record from anywhere on the internet?
I realize this is lengthy, so thank you for taking the time to read and form a response. $400 is a lot to drop of a card that I am unsure of its full potential and use in my requirements.