cabling dual PVR 250's

[Martice]

I currently have two lines running to my Direct Tivo unit in my living room.

In my HTPC room I have third Directv Line (no Tivo) line connected to a TV. I just ordered a PVR 250 card to connect to my HTPC while using the single cable line that the regular Directv box is using.

I am very intrigued about purchasing a second a PVR 250 for dual channel recording but would like to know if I could use one of the lines currently running to my Direct Tivo in my living room and extend it to my HTPC room and make it the second line. Common sense tells me yes but you never know with these things.

[dgage]

I am not an expert with DirectTV but I think I can help answer this. Each TV you want to use with DirectTV needs to have its own DirectTV receiver. This should be the same with the PVR-250s. To use the PVR-250s, you will need two DirectTV receivers and some sort of IR control for each DirectTV box.

The reason you are taking two lines into the DirectTivo is because it has two tuners capable of recording two different shows at the same time or recording one while watching another. To my knowledge, most DirectTV dishes only allow a hookup of four receivers so you will have to use your current DirectTV (not Tivo) to go to one of the PVR-250s and buy another DirectTV box to go to the other PVR-250. As far as the DirectTivo, I guess it could run with just one line but I don't know how that would affect the functionality. You might want to test to see if it is smart enough to realize that the second line isn't available.

This is a guess but one worth researching. Can you control both tuners on the DirectTivo such that you can manually change the channel on either tuner? If so, you could move the DirectTivo into the HTPC room and setup IR control for each tuner on the DirectTivo and have the output of each tuner go to each of the PVR-250s. But to me, this is a waste as the DirectTivo could at least be used for time-shifting live tv. You would probably also need to delete any Season Passes on the Tivo so it doesn't try to record anything. Turn off Suggestions as well.

This knowledge is secondary as I haven't actually worked with DirectTV or DirectTivo but I did research them quite a bit when I was looking into getting them. I hope most of my information is correct and helps some.

David

[Martice]

I think I should've made myself more clear in my original post. My goal in the HTPC room is to run the cable straight into the HTPC bypassing the directv receiver outright. Is this not possible? I already have one line running to the HTPC room and that would go with the PVR-250 that I just ordered.

The second line for the additional PVR 250 I'm considering buying would come from line #2 that is now connected to the DIrect Tivo in my living room which would leave the Direct TIvo with only one line to record from.

Can this configuration be done?

[gplasky]

Yes that can be done.

Gerry

[Martice]

That's funny because I just got off the phone with someone at Hauppauge and they said that you cannot have two of the same cards in one computer. I thought either this guy had no clue as to what he was talking about or their is some other reason whythey can't say it to the public.

Either way I just thought it was odd that I would get that kind of answer.

Can anyone shed some light on this subject?

[gplasky]

I believe that is Hauppauge's standard answer for this question. As you can see on the forum it works for a lot of people-but there a lot of if's and specifics that you need to follow to make sure it works. So Hauppauge's answer is to absolve them of any responsibility to make a multi-card install work. In my instance 2 cards, 2 different IRQ's on the cards, same IVC-16 chip on each card and I don't have an issue. Works like a champ and my system has been running 24/7 since I did my last driver change to fix an issue. (10 days ago) (Driver version is very important.) Currently 21288 works the best for me and fixed my issue. Longest I had a system running was about 45 days straight. Had to update somethi8ng else on it was the only reason it didn't go longer.

Gerry

[stanger89]

Originally posted by gplasky
Yes that can be done.

Gerry

If you're referring to multiple tuners then yes.

However, it is not possible to bypass the DTV boxes, they are needed for demodulation/decoding/decrypting the DTV signal, there is no way around this.

I think there are a handfull of channels on Dish network that can be received by a DVB card, but those aren't supported by SageTV.

[stanger89]

Frey had a multituner SageTV setup at CES, 2 250s, and 1 USB2 in on pc and another network PC with 2 more cards, so that was a 5 tuner setup.

[Crashless]

You can't run the cable directly from the satillite to the 250. You need a converter box to decode the stream. I'd suggest getting the cheapest DTV box you can buy over at radio shack, and using that for your second tuner. You probably won't be able to use the DTivo as your second tuner because it's going to be doing it's own thing with it's channels, and it's other tuner (the 2nd one you're not using) will be un-usable b/c the DTivo can only output one of it's channels at once.

[Martice]

[quote]You need a converter box to decode the stream. I'd suggest getting the cheapest DTV box you can buy over at radio shack, and using that for your second tuner[quote]

So if I find a dtv box for cheap I can use it as a descrambler/tuner making it possible to have a dual tuner setup in my HTPC room. We do most of our watching in the HTPC room so I really need a dual setup in there.

I would have put the Tivo in the HTPC room but I want to archive on DVD and with Direct Tivo, you know I don't have that option without doing a long song and dance.

Thanks for the responses again. I'm off to find a second dtv box.

[Crashless]

Originally posted by Martice
So if I find a dtv box for cheap I can use it as a descrambler/tuner making it possible to have a dual tuner setup in my HTPC room. We do most of our watching in the HTPC room so I really need a dual setup in there.

That is correct. Also, instead of pulling a new feed from your dish (which you may or may not be able to do) you can re-route the cable from your DTivo. Be careful about extending the cable though, I know sat dishes have limits on cable length.

Oh yeah, you may want to make sure you have serial control on your new box, it will make controling it much easier.

Good luck!

[Martice]

[quote]Be careful about extending the cable though, I know sat dishes have limits on cable length.[quote]

Any ideal what those limitations might be?

[quote]Oh yeah, you may want to make sure you have serial control on your new box, it will make controling it much easier.[quote]

Now you've got me!! What is this serial control and where do I find it?

Thanks for your patience.

[Crashless]

unfortunately I don't now what the limit is, though for some reason 250ft jumps out. Though it is probably half that. This should be easily found on google, or someone on this board who has it. Anyone??

As for serial control, I wish I had it on my dish network 301s. Instead of an IR blaster, you connect your box to your computer via serial cable and com port, sage then directly controls the box's channel and you'll never miss a channel change. Also, using this method, you shouldn't need a USB-UIRT.

Again, sorry I can't be more specific, but I have dish network, not directv. Though many people on this board do have your service, so I'm sure they'll chime in.

[Martice]

I did some searching and combining what I've read and your post I think I have a good idea about the "serial" part of the message.

I really think once I get my PVR 250 up and running with sage, the experience along with this forum will be a lot more clearer.

See you guys next week because that's when it shoule be arriving.

[Crashless]

Absolutely. If you're anything like me, once you get it in front of you, the light bulb over your head will go on.