Components needed? (TV over PC question)

I'm moving into an apartment in a few months, and I'm working on an
"entertainment PC".

I'm working on the TV side of the design at the moment, and I've come across
a lot of information, so I was hoping to get a breakdown of the different
hardware / software essentials.

What I want the system to do:

Get TV input from our cable.

Output to a nearby TV.

Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we can pause and
rewind).

Be able to record one channel while watching another.

Broadcast over my network.


Now, I'm going to list those things again, but this time with my hardware /
software interpretation of what I will need to do this. I'd love feedback
on whether this is correct or even close, please.

Get TV input from our cable. - Tuner Card.
Output to a nearby TV. - Video card with TV out.
Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we can pause and
rewind). - Software, should come with Tuner card.
Be able to record one channel while watching another. - Multiple tuner
cards? A specific tuner card?
Broadcast over my network. - Software such as SnapStream
(www.snapstream.com).

Alright, how off am I in my assumptions?

Thanks in advance,
~Chris

Chris Martin wrote:
Get TV input from our cable. - Tuner Card.
Output to a nearby TV. - Video card with TV out.
Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we can pause and
rewind). - Software, should come with Tuner card.
Be able to record one channel while watching another. - Multiple tuner
cards? A specific tuner card?
Broadcast over my network. - Software such as SnapStream
(www.snapstream.com).

Alright, how off am I in my assumptions?

Sounds about right. For watching one channel while recording another,
you'll probably want two tuner cards. Perhaps a two-tuner card, such
as the PVR-500... assuming the software/os supports it.

I don't have any experience with SnapStream, however. MythTV works
quite well for me.


--
-WD

"Will Dormann" wrote in message
...
Chris Martin wrote:
Get TV input from our cable. - Tuner Card.
Output to a nearby TV. - Video card with TV out.
Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we can pause
and
rewind). - Software, should come with Tuner card.
Be able to record one channel while watching another. - Multiple
tuner
cards? A specific tuner card?
Broadcast over my network. - Software such as SnapStream
(www.snapstream.com).

Alright, how off am I in my assumptions?

Sounds about right. For watching one channel while recording another,
you'll probably want two tuner cards. Perhaps a two-tuner card, such
as the PVR-500... assuming the software/os supports it.

I don't have any experience with SnapStream, however. MythTV works
quite well for me.


--
-WD

I saw something on MythTV, I'll go check that out right now, thanks. Happen
to know pro's and con's of multi-tuner cards versus a card with a single
tuner? The system I'm building is gonne be rather high end, uber-memory,
raid 0, couple gigs of low latency ram.. so I'd hate to have the system
start hiccuping because one tuner can't handle it as well as two can, or two
seperate tuners interfere with each other, etc.

Thanks for the quick response, looking forward to more.
~Chris

ATI 'all in wonder' vidcard.. tuner plus video RCA in/out

"Chris Martin" wrote in
message ...
I'm moving into an apartment in a few months, and I'm working on an
"entertainment PC".

I'm working on the TV side of the design at the moment, and I've
come across
a lot of information, so I was hoping to get a breakdown of the
different
hardware / software essentials.

What I want the system to do:

Get TV input from our cable.

Output to a nearby TV.

Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we can
pause and
rewind).

Be able to record one channel while watching another.

Broadcast over my network.


Now, I'm going to list those things again, but this time with my
hardware /
software interpretation of what I will need to do this. I'd love
feedback
on whether this is correct or even close, please.

Get TV input from our cable. - Tuner Card.
Output to a nearby TV. - Video card with TV out.
Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we can
pause and
rewind). - Software, should come with Tuner card.
Be able to record one channel while watching another. - Multiple
tuner
cards? A specific tuner card?
Broadcast over my network. - Software such as SnapStream
(www.snapstream.com).

Alright, how off am I in my assumptions?

Thanks in advance,
~Chris

I don't think this would allow for watching and recording at the same time
or broadcasting over a network.


"JAD" wrote in message
...
ATI 'all in wonder' vidcard.. tuner plus video RCA in/out

"Chris Martin" wrote in
message ...
I'm moving into an apartment in a few months, and I'm working on an
"entertainment PC".

I'm working on the TV side of the design at the moment, and I've
come across
a lot of information, so I was hoping to get a breakdown of the
different
hardware / software essentials.

What I want the system to do:

Get TV input from our cable.

Output to a nearby TV.

Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we can
pause and
rewind).

Be able to record one channel while watching another.

Broadcast over my network.


Now, I'm going to list those things again, but this time with my
hardware /
software interpretation of what I will need to do this. I'd love
feedback
on whether this is correct or even close, please.

Get TV input from our cable. - Tuner Card.
Output to a nearby TV. - Video card with TV out.
Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we can
pause and
rewind). - Software, should come with Tuner card.
Be able to record one channel while watching another. - Multiple
tuner
cards? A specific tuner card?
Broadcast over my network. - Software such as SnapStream
(www.snapstream.com).

Alright, how off am I in my assumptions?

Thanks in advance,
~Chris

broadcasting over network is a software thing ( I believe there is a
Microsoft TV protocol).. all you need to do just about anything, is to
use the cable box or VCR to supply the the second channel. there are
little restrictions that can be annoying but with a little knowledge
and ingenuity its pretty cheap way to go. also remember that audio
though a computer, is controlled by the sound card.

record and watch 'different' channels? right?

"Chris Martin" wrote in
message ...
I don't think this would allow for watching and recording at the
same time
or broadcasting over a network.


"JAD" wrote in message
...
ATI 'all in wonder' vidcard.. tuner plus video RCA in/out

"Chris Martin" wrote in
message ...
I'm moving into an apartment in a few months, and I'm working on
an
"entertainment PC".

I'm working on the TV side of the design at the moment, and I've
come across
a lot of information, so I was hoping to get a breakdown of the
different
hardware / software essentials.

What I want the system to do:

Get TV input from our cable.

Output to a nearby TV.

Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we
can
pause and
rewind).

Be able to record one channel while watching another.

Broadcast over my network.


Now, I'm going to list those things again, but this time with my
hardware /
software interpretation of what I will need to do this. I'd
love
feedback
on whether this is correct or even close, please.

Get TV input from our cable. - Tuner Card.
Output to a nearby TV. - Video card with TV out.
Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we
can
pause and
rewind). - Software, should come with Tuner card.
Be able to record one channel while watching another. -
Multiple
tuner
cards? A specific tuner card?
Broadcast over my network. - Software such as SnapStream
(www.snapstream.com).

Alright, how off am I in my assumptions?

Thanks in advance,
~Chris

Chris Martin wrote:
I saw something on MythTV, I'll go check that out right now, thanks. Happen
to know pro's and con's of multi-tuner cards versus a card with a single
tuner?

Well, the Linux support for the PVR-500 is somewhat questionable at the
moment. I believe they just added preliminary support (whatever that
means) to ivtv for the card this month:

http://www.byopvr.com/displayarticle252.html

A pair of PVR-250 cards, however, might be the better bet as the support
for them is quite stable.

The system I'm building is gonne be rather high end, uber-memory,
raid 0, couple gigs of low latency ram.. so I'd hate to have the system
start hiccuping because one tuner can't handle it as well as two can, or two
seperate tuners interfere with each other, etc.

Would probably be overkill for a dedicated MythTV machine. Since the
PVR-250 does MPEG2 encoding in hardware, the CPU time required for
recording is nearly zero. Just whatever is required to transfer data
across the PCI bus to the hard drive. The only real requirement is a
healthy PCI bus implementation. Some older VIA chipsets lack in this
department, causing system hangs.

Having multiple PVR-250s in a MythTV system is quite common. While I
don't have this myself (yet?), it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm questioning your choice of RAID0, though. A TV stream from my
PVR-250 requires something like 3-5MB/sec (depending on quality
setting). Two simultaneous streams would hardly stress any halfway
modern hard drive. Are you sure you want to risk losing all your data
if a single drive fails? I currently record to a RAID5 NAS unit.


--
-WD

Yes, record and broadcast different channels. So in that case I would need
two inputs, correct?


"JAD" wrote in message
...
broadcasting over network is a software thing ( I believe there is a
Microsoft TV protocol).. all you need to do just about anything, is to
use the cable box or VCR to supply the the second channel. there are
little restrictions that can be annoying but with a little knowledge
and ingenuity its pretty cheap way to go. also remember that audio
though a computer, is controlled by the sound card.

record and watch 'different' channels? right?

"Chris Martin" wrote in
message ...
I don't think this would allow for watching and recording at the
same time
or broadcasting over a network.


"JAD" wrote in message
...
ATI 'all in wonder' vidcard.. tuner plus video RCA in/out

"Chris Martin" wrote in
message ...
I'm moving into an apartment in a few months, and I'm working on
an
"entertainment PC".

I'm working on the TV side of the design at the moment, and I've
come across
a lot of information, so I was hoping to get a breakdown of the
different
hardware / software essentials.

What I want the system to do:

Get TV input from our cable.

Output to a nearby TV.

Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we
can
pause and
rewind).

Be able to record one channel while watching another.

Broadcast over my network.


Now, I'm going to list those things again, but this time with my
hardware /
software interpretation of what I will need to do this. I'd
love
feedback
on whether this is correct or even close, please.

Get TV input from our cable. - Tuner Card.
Output to a nearby TV. - Video card with TV out.
Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so we
can
pause and
rewind). - Software, should come with Tuner card.
Be able to record one channel while watching another. -
Multiple
tuner
cards? A specific tuner card?
Broadcast over my network. - Software such as SnapStream
(www.snapstream.com).

Alright, how off am I in my assumptions?

Thanks in advance,
~Chris

the all in wonder has a 'tuner' input and a 'audio/video RCA' input
also. you can switch between these inputs from within the software.
while watching TV you can be recording a different station on the
computer.


"Chris Martin" wrote in
message ...
Yes, record and broadcast different channels. So in that case I
would need
two inputs, correct?


"JAD" wrote in message
...
broadcasting over network is a software thing ( I believe there is
a
Microsoft TV protocol).. all you need to do just about anything,
is to
use the cable box or VCR to supply the the second channel. there
are
little restrictions that can be annoying but with a little
knowledge
and ingenuity its pretty cheap way to go. also remember that audio
though a computer, is controlled by the sound card.

record and watch 'different' channels? right?

"Chris Martin" wrote in
message ...
I don't think this would allow for watching and recording at the
same time
or broadcasting over a network.


"JAD" wrote in message
...
ATI 'all in wonder' vidcard.. tuner plus video RCA in/out

"Chris Martin" wrote
in
message ...
I'm moving into an apartment in a few months, and I'm
working on
an
"entertainment PC".

I'm working on the TV side of the design at the moment, and
I've
come across
a lot of information, so I was hoping to get a breakdown of
the
different
hardware / software essentials.

What I want the system to do:

Get TV input from our cable.

Output to a nearby TV.

Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so
we
can
pause and
rewind).

Be able to record one channel while watching another.

Broadcast over my network.


Now, I'm going to list those things again, but this time
with my
hardware /
software interpretation of what I will need to do this. I'd
love
feedback
on whether this is correct or even close, please.

Get TV input from our cable. - Tuner Card.
Output to a nearby TV. - Video card with TV out.
Record shows, in entirety or in part (such as tivo, so
we
can
pause and
rewind). - Software, should come with Tuner card.
Be able to record one channel while watching another. -
Multiple
tuner
cards? A specific tuner card?
Broadcast over my network. - Software such as SnapStream
(www.snapstream.com).

Alright, how off am I in my assumptions?

Thanks in advance,
~Chris

"Will Dormann" wrote in message
...
Chris Martin wrote:
I saw something on MythTV, I'll go check that out right now, thanks.
Happen
to know pro's and con's of multi-tuner cards versus a card with a single
tuner?

Well, the Linux support for the PVR-500 is somewhat questionable at the
moment. I believe they just added preliminary support (whatever that
means) to ivtv for the card this month:

http://www.byopvr.com/displayarticle252.html

A pair of PVR-250 cards, however, might be the better bet as the support
for them is quite stable.

The system I'm building is gonne be rather high end, uber-memory,
raid 0, couple gigs of low latency ram.. so I'd hate to have the system
start hiccuping because one tuner can't handle it as well as two can, or
two
seperate tuners interfere with each other, etc.

Would probably be overkill for a dedicated MythTV machine. Since the
PVR-250 does MPEG2 encoding in hardware, the CPU time required for
recording is nearly zero. Just whatever is required to transfer data
across the PCI bus to the hard drive. The only real requirement is a
healthy PCI bus implementation. Some older VIA chipsets lack in this
department, causing system hangs.

Having multiple PVR-250s in a MythTV system is quite common. While I
don't have this myself (yet?), it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm questioning your choice of RAID0, though. A TV stream from my
PVR-250 requires something like 3-5MB/sec (depending on quality
setting). Two simultaneous streams would hardly stress any halfway
modern hard drive. Are you sure you want to risk losing all your data
if a single drive fails? I currently record to a RAID5 NAS unit.


--
-WD

To be honest, I hadn't really thought about writing to a NAS unit. One of
the reasons I wanted to set this system up was the learning experience it
would give me. I've only used basic networking equipment (low end home
networking stuff, basic linksys routers, some random switches and hubs).
I've never set up or ran a dedicated server or a NAS. Might be something I
should look at.

Here's an odd question, maybe you or someone reading the thread could
answer:

I'm moving into an apartment, which is pre-wired for internet. How would my
home network work across this stuff? If I have a computer in one room, and
a computer in another, and they are both plugged into the wall, what's the
setup like? Are all rooms in an apartment wired together into one loop and
then pulled out at a single point, creating a small subnetwork, or is it
just one big network with no divisions? Is that something that varies from
apartment to apartment? To get my own network, do I need to assign myself a
domain / workgroup so that the people in the next apartment over aren't
going to be browsing my shared folders?

Bit off topic from the OP, so I apologize for this, but it's relevant
because it'll change the way I set up my system.