Multiple TVs and DVRs in household

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Multiple TVs and DVRs in household - best options?

rjh

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#102432 15-May-2012 21:12

We've had a MagicTV box for ages and are extremely happy with it. It is simple to use and works pretty well.

However, the whole Freeview DVR thing seems pretty braindead, in that 1 DVR <-> 1 TV is the underlying assumption. If you record a program on a particular DVR, that is where you watch it. This is actually worse than how we watched VHS!

What is the best option for situations where a household has multiple TVs and DVRs, and want to watch recordings from any DVR/TV on any available TV/DVR?

I think that Tivos will do this (or at least, they'll do transfer - do the NZ Tivos also do streaming)?

So, 2 or more Tivos might work OK, or one Tivo doing all the recording, and playback in other locations by HTPC - how feasible is that in actual use?

What other options are available? This really has to be as simple to use as the MagicTV or Tivo, or it won't be considered an acceptable solution by all members of the household :-(

Stu

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#625766 15-May-2012 21:35

We have a total of 3 TiVo units. Two in the lounge and one in another room. You can easily watch a program while it's streaming/transferring from the source unit to the one you're using. Works brilliantly!

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JimmyH

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#625783 15-May-2012 21:45

The new Panny recorders (DVD and Blu Ray) are twin tuner recorders that can act as DLNA servers. It should be possible to network them and use inexpensive media clients such as the WD TV Live to watch material over the network in other rooms. Plus:

1. There's less hoops than other options (incl Tivo) if you want to burn recordings to a disk to keep or take somewhere else - just like the VHS days you mention; and

2. Unlike Tivos or other Freeview decoders, you can plug a Sky decoder into a Panny recorder (SD only), and should also be able to record and stream this material around the house as well.

I have an older Panny recorder (without DLNA or a Freeview Tuner) that I love, as well as a Tivo that I hardly ever even turn on. This is one of the solutions I am contemplating to replace them with - I already have the network and the WD Lives. It will either be that, or an HTPC, that I put in with my next upgrade - clincher will be how well I can tune FV terrestrially when they re-stack the Kau Kau frequencies in June, or whether I will still need satellite to get all the channels.

davidcole

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#625882 16-May-2012 08:12

I have one main computer (specs in sig) with 4 tuners. And a popcorn hour/mobile site that can access recordings, schedule recordings and watch live tv.

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sbiddle

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#625899 16-May-2012 09:08

Your best option is to move towards a PC based PVR setup (I use NextPVR myself). With clients on each TV you can watch anything you want, anywhere, at any time.

allan

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#625925 16-May-2012 10:07

Similar to BigHammer, we have two Tivos. One does all of the recording (mainly*) and viewing is done on either, depending on where we are in the house. One really nice feature that the Tivo has is that it lets you stream/transfer from the point at which you paused viewing on the other Tivo. You do need the home networking package to accomplish this (only one copy).

*Tivo also has a completely brain dead "feature" that insists on using the other tuner if you get overlaping programs, even if they are on the same mux or even on the same channel - so 2nd Tivo is sometimes used to get around that.

scuwp

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#625936 16-May-2012 10:21

TiVo's + 1 x home networking pack...job done.

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rjh

57 posts

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#626537 16-May-2012 21:59

BigHammer: We have a total of 3 TiVo units. Two in the lounge and one in another room. You can easily watch a program while it's streaming/transferring from the source unit to the one you're using. Works brilliantly!

Is there any difference in quality when streaming vs transferring? Is the hardware up to the job?

Tivos are $222 at the moment, so it is quite tempting to try this option.

rjh

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#626548 16-May-2012 22:17

Thanks for all the feedback. It seems likely that Tivos may well be the best option, which surprises me. I really thought this problem would have been solved many times over.

BTW, buying 2x Panasonic BR recorders (at $900 ea) isn't really a feasible solution!

I'm extremely reluctant to go for a HTPC/PVR system - the solution really does need to be near bulletproof, and at least as simple and familiar as the standard Freeview interface.

I already run XBMC on a dedicated Foxconn 330 box (it's brilliant, but not bulletproof) but would have a very hard time getting this accepted as the way to view TV.

I also have a Qnap NAS available on the network.

Despite my reluctance, how feasible would it be to use KMTTG to pull content off a Tivo and get it onto the NAS, then use either the XBMC box (preferred) or a WD Live for playback? Could this be completely automated?

Stu

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#626574 16-May-2012 23:06

rjh: Is there any difference in quality when streaming vs transferring? Is the hardware up to the job?

You only have the one option. You basically copy the program from one unit to another, and can view the program as it transfers (TiVo calls it Transfer, not copy or stream). Works well. Would recommend sticking to a wired network as wireless can be a bit on the slow side.

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sultanoswing

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#627098 17-May-2012 21:51

Unghh. TiVO = proprietary (but easy, I'll grant you).

For flexibility and freedom (with configuration headaches potentially, I'll grant you), check out MythTV.

One backend server on a PC can service, wirelessly and wired (and even over the internet) multiple frontend devices, which can be PC's, laptops and Televisions. By service, I mean record, watch, play, schedule etc. etc. And none of the recorded video is encrypted, encoded or in any other way DRM'd.

Here's an old article to get you started on what is possible:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mythtv,1321-2.html

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