cable cutting media server

I have about had it with TWC. My wife is on board with cutting the cord even if it means losing Bravo.. temporarily.

I want to set up a way to DIY DVR for OTA HD and whatever comes in free on the cable after you turn it off with TWC. This will be combined with movies on my server, mostly in iso and mkv and also other downloads and possibly streaming through amazon or other sources. Is there a way to use my current computer (in sig) to basically do all this and access it through a roku or something on TVs in my house? i have the house wired for ethernet, or I can run it where it needs to go and I have strong wifi signal through the house.

I was thinking about 2x homerunplus for the OTA and free cable signals. Rokus for the tvs in the house. How can I make this all work simply and stop paying TWC?

OTA tv recording: http://lifehacker.com/five-best-tv-tuner-cards-1600439009


Cross house sharing:
Xbox 360 has a media share feature that you could use, just be sure to have your xbox corded, but essentially, it all depends on the network features of your TVs.

Separate of that, used old laptops work great for such things: make sure your network is gigabit, little wireless keyboard and mouse combo, just be sure your recorded stuff is on a separate HD or else it'll bog down your computer when you copy over what you want to watch.

Will plex be able to handle all of this or does it only rely on saved media?
I would like to avoid building an HTPC. As it is now. I only fire up the server when we are going to use it to watch movies on the projector in the basement. Most 'TV' watching happens upstairs.

I have been looking at:
http://lifehacker.com/5771670/how-to-turn-your-computer-into-an-internet-personal-video-recorder
http://hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr2250.html or maybe http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/hdhomerun-dual/
hang an antenna in the attic
I am all wired gigabit already

I am not sure about the best way to get the media from my pc to TVs

Check out Chromecast for streaming from your server to the TV

Get a nice ota, roof-mount antenna (check tvfool to see what channels you can expect to get and what type of antenna) for under $50 then as many hdhomerun+'s you need. I'm running 2 of the older hdhomeruns (3 ota tuners each) and a hdhomerunprime. They all plug right into my switch. Every tv, pc, xbox, laptop has access to the central server and any open tuner slots. Two tv's have htpc's connected to them, the other an xbox.

If you're planning on using the blue sig rig...it should be fine (check my server in sig...it has np streaming 6 at a time). The red sig rig is W-A-A-A-A-y overkill.

I went with windows home server for the o/s since it's super easy, integrates with other windows devices really nicely, backs up all connected machines every night, etc. Just added in drivepool (I run full redundancy) and mymovies, install whs connector and mymovies on each pc, set up the tv tuners on each device, set up media center (i like the mychannellogos add-in) and done.

It looks like I should be able to get about 20 channels with an attic mount antenna. There is a big old metal one up there but it is beat up pretty bad.
Is there any way to avoid having an HTPC on each tv? I do have an xbox360 on one.
Can I just dedicate an HD for the homeruns on my red sig pc or am I going to have to have a dedicated rig?

If your tv is really smart, you might be ok but generally each needs some form of extender like an xbox, htpc or (as ATMINSIDE mentioned, chromecast). Any reason you're looking at an attic mount instead of roof mount? Since there's one already in your attic, though I'd say try that first and see what kind of results you get.

Am not sure what you mean by "Can I just dedicate an HD for the homeruns on my red sig pc or am I going to have to have a dedicated rig?". The hdhomeruns are outboard devices that plug directly in to a router or network switch. I see in your blue sig box that you've already got whs...just use that as your server, it'll only have to serve music and movies basically. The homeruns handle everything tv themselves...no need to put them in a pc or anything.

Am not sure what you mean by "Can I just dedicate an HD for the homeruns on my red sig pc or am I going to have to have a dedicated rig?". The hdhomeruns are outboard devices that plug directly in to a router or network switch. I see in your blue sig box that you've already got whs...just use that as your server, it'll only have to serve music and movies basically. The homeruns handle everything tv themselves...no need to put them in a pc or anything.

Click to expand...

I was trying to figure out if there was a way to stream everything from the red pc all the time including live TV with the ability to stop, and record the ota signal. Also stream mkvs and maybe watch some shows on amazon prime.

If the only way to make it work like this is an HTPC, then that is what I will have to do.

Nimblor said:

I was trying to figure out if there was a way to stream everything from the red pc all the time including live TV with the ability to stop, and record the ota signal. Also stream mkvs and maybe watch some shows on amazon prime.

If the only way to make it work like this is an HTPC, then that is what I will have to do.

Click to expand...

As he said, Chromecast, probably fastest and most cost effective method that keeps your TV's abilities out of the loop. Beyond that and what's been stated it depends on the network capabilities of each individual TV (so their make and models would be good for any further assistance). Other than that, it's pick an option for your OTA recording, your file streaming (and/or) your internet streaming if you don't do htpc's networked to your server (provides both over the network vs extending single htpc to each location of TV and a multi-display desktop manager for each TV).

Let us know what you decide and enjoy!

Nimblor said:

I was trying to figure out if there was a way to stream everything from the red pc all the time including live TV with the ability to stop, and record the ota signal. Also stream mkvs and maybe watch some shows on amazon prime.

If the only way to make it work like this is an HTPC, then that is what I will have to do.

Click to expand...

Not sure why you want to stream everything INCLUDING live TV from that pc. If you go with the silicondust devices....plug them into your network, configure the end pc's (or simple extenders) and they each work like dvr's. There are scripts/add-ins out there that can be set up to sweep all the 'end-user' pcs/extenders/etc of recorded tv, edit out the commercials and move them to the central server.

If you really want to have all your tv running off 1 box...then go with one of the ceton cards. You'll have to research that way a bit as I went the hdhomerun route.

Not sure why you want to stream everything INCLUDING live TV from that pc. If you go with the silicondust devices...

Click to expand...

Mainly because I do not really know what I am doing and I was trying to avoid the expense of an HTPC. This effort has been very educational for me.

I think I am going to do some shopping for a Homerun Dual on CyberMonday. From the reviews I have seen it looks like it will do the trick and I have a good place to put it. Hopefully I will get a new modem too so I can ditch this TWC one and pay $5.99/mo less for internet.

After a lot of research into the wee hours last night I figured out a few things.

1. My wife is inexplicably attached to a old JVC CRT. Efforts to turn this into getting a new TV have not worked. It has no HDMI input which is a problem but then I remembered that I have an old RROD XBox360 in the basement. I thought I would give fixing it a go since I have nothing to lose. The XBox360 has component outputs

2. I have read that WMC does the best job with live tv and that is what is usually watched on that beast.

3. I have convinced my wife that even if we can not get bravo, all of the seasons of all of the Housewives shows she watches from that channel we can get through Amazon Prime for WAY less than our current cable bill.

Well I could not revive the old xbox360 RIP old white beast.

I was able to hook up the HDHomeRun Connect through Windows Media Center which is operating on my red sig rig. I am able to get about 35 channels from an old behemoth antenna that is mounted in the attic. It even has a vent pipe running through the middle of it and it somehow still gets an awesome signal with lots of major networks in HD.

Using an old xbox360 as an extender is far cheaper than a HTPC. Also for me it solves another problem because it has component outputs for a beloved JVC CRT.

I do have another xbox360 that I use with a projector and have been messing with that as an extender. No hiccups so far save one where I hit a roadblock with a Bluray rip. Hit play and got a black screen. I ripped the bluray using Make MKV. The weird thing is that a DVD i ripped with MakeMKV worked just fine but the image seemed a little soft. Old ISO rips I have made in the past were automatically mounted.

Movie playback still looks/sounds/works best on my Dune but I CAN still do it over the extender for the most part.

MCEBuddy supposedly will remove commercials and reencode recorded tv for $25. Anyone use this? Does it work? Is it worth it?

I will have to play around with it a bit to see if all the recording and playback works good and get used to it so I can raise the WAF. I might be a new xbox remote away from cutting the cord!