DirectTV and HTPC

G

grooveht

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Jul 24, 2011
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Hey Gents, long time reader, first time poster. Moving to a new area soon, and the only available TV service, besides rabbit ears, is DirectTV. I was thinking of assembling an HTPC, and was looking at TV tuner cards, in particular the Ceton Infiniti. For those of you that have DirectTV, do you utilize your HTPC in a DVR role at all, or mainly as just a media playback station/computer in your TV room?

Also, what sound card are you using? My HTPC will be how I primarily route my audio, so I think I'll need some sort of audio in for my Xbox360...how would you set up yours in that situation?
 
I have Dish Network, but it applies. I have an HTPC but I don't use it for any TV watching. I let the DVR handle that, and the HTPC handle everything else.
 
Dish is a satellite service and the Inifinity is a cableCARD tuner which only works with cable TV services. As it is now there is no direct HD capable tuners made specifically for satellite. The closes thing is the HD PVR/ Colossus component input capture card.

http://www.missingremote.com/review/hauppauge-colossus
http://www.missingremote.com/review/hd-pvr

As for audio, don't bother with that. The PC isn't made to handle multiply audio streams like that, it's a major pain in the ass. Get a receiver and hook everything up via HDMI. A sound card isn't needed in an HTPC.
 
Have you looked into just getting a DirecTV DVR? The newest model, the HR24 is quite good. Also, they now have multi-room viewing so any DirecTV box can watch stuff off the DVR.
 
Thanks guys...I have looked into the DVR, but I do a lot of travelling with my job...my preference would be to be able to take it with me on my laptop, if you know what I mean. I've done a few google searches and here on [H]ard, cable is talked about a lot, but little or no mention of Direct in the past year or two, so I didn't know if there had been any developments. Looking at a Llano A8 3850, 4-6 gigs RAM, SSD OS drive and a media drive, possibly an Asus Xondar, stuck into an Antec Fusion case. Any recommendations as far as PSU and remotes? I've seen the little Lenovo get bumped a bit, as well as the Logitech Harmonys.
 
I'm interested in this topic as well as I have a friend that uses DirectTV and is planning on building a computer for his room in the near future. He wants the ability to watch/record shows off DirectTV onto his computer so he can watch them through his computer.
 
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