So.... I'm gonna ask for some help here, somewhat because I'm to lazy/busy to figure it out on my own. However, I figure I help enough people from time to time that I can afford to call in some favors on this one.
I use MC for all of my long-term media management needs. My entire substantial music, photos, and videos library is all managed-by and generally used through MC14. However, the one other major media application that I've been using for years is BeyondTV for my "TiVO-like" functions. Since moving my entire home network (sans the OSX machines) over to Windows 7, I've become increasingly displeased with the performance of BeyondTV in this role. I've had a number of issues with it, which impact everyday use, and have been making me (and perhaps more importantly, my wife) annoyed with it on a daily basis.
So, I'm considering abandoning BeyondTV for an alternative. I know that MC's Television support has advanced substantially over the past year or so since I last investigated the possibility of using it, but I'm really not sure where we stand on a few make-or-break features that I need for my setup. So, I'm going to write up a list of a few features that I'm unsure if MC can handle... Can someone help me out by letting me know if MC can do these things, and if so, how it works? Thanks!
1. Tuner and Hardware support. I have three tuners currently, and I need to make sure they'll all work with MC. I'm also very likely going to replace the oldest of these tuners with a new device shortly, so I need to check that one as well. I might, if it comes out soon and works well, choose to replace this tuner instead with a Hauppauge CableCard tuner, depending on pricing, availability, and other factors.
a. ATI Theater Pro 550 PCI Tuner (hardware MPEG-2) - this one will likely be replaced in a month or two
b. ATI Theater Pro 650 PCI Tuner (hardware MPEG-2)
c. Hauppauge HD-PVR, connected to my Motorola Digital Cable box via component and SPDIF coax.
d. Replacement Card: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 2250 Dual Tuner PCIe Combo card (dual, independent hardware MPEG-2).
2. External cable box control. I have my Hauppauge HD-PVR connected to my Motorola Digital Cable box. The Hauppauge HD-PVR includes a built-in IR Blaster, that I use to change channels on my cable box. On BeyondTV, this function is all integrated. During initial setup of the tuner you simply "teach" BTV each of the number keys (plus "enter") on your remote control for the cable box one at a time, set some other delay, repeat, and number padding settings, and then it handles all of the channel changing for you seamlessly. Is MC capable of this? Can I use two or three separate external tuners via additiona USB-UIRT blasters if I eventually purchase additional HD-PVR devices (and have them properly keep track of which device they're attached to and change the channels appropriately)?
3. Local Network Placeshifting This is the feature that I need that I think is most likely to prevent me from using MC at this time. All of the tuners listed above are attached to my server machine in the basement exclusively. In fact, I don't even have cable TV coax run throughout my house. It only runs into my server area in the basement. The way I have it set up now is that one copy of BeyondTV is always running on my server machine in the basement. It handles all recording and capture functions. I rarely (if ever) actually WATCH TV down there, but it has all the hard drives and noisy fans and big, ugly equipment. When I want to actually watch TV, I use BeyondTV Link on one of my other computers in the house (mostly my HTPC, but also the office PC and my laptop) to connect to this "server" and I'm able to watch and use BeyondTV just as if the tuners were all connected locally. This includes BOTH watching pre-recorded content AND Live TV. The full channel guide is available on any machine on the network where I install BeyondTV Link, and I can watch anything I want. It even works across my wireless network (though not super-reliably, which is one of my issues with BTV currently).
I know that I'd probably be able to watch pre-recorded content on remote copies of MC (because I could connect to the server's library and they'd be in the library for me to watch them). However, do I also have access to the program guide data and the ability to watch live TV seamlessly just as if the tuners were actually locally attached?
4. WAN Placeshifting. The three things listed above are my only "dealbreakers" for using MC for this task. However, one other function currently available in BeyondTV and much of it's competition is the ability to also placeshift pre-recorded content across the Internet. I can actually just use a web browser and go to the webserver built into the BeyondTV server from anywhere in the world and browse all of my pre-recorded content and watch shows through a silverlight player component that it uses. It is pretty slick, and it actually compresses the content to H264 on-the-fly to a bitrate appropriate for the connection you happen to be using at the time (it tests the speed of the connection before starting the stream). Is this possible using MC in any way? Like I said, this isn't a dealbreaker, because I actually use it fairly rarely in practice, but it is cool to be able to watch a show here or there while I'm traveling -- especially during the holidays and for business trips. I can't watch live TV using this method (though I think SageTV can even do this), but that's not a big deal.
So, that's it. All of the rest (integrated program guide, scheduling, and all of that) I'm reasonably sure has been brought up to speed over the past version or two of MC. Any general description of how setting up this stuff, and how you set up the tuners as well, might be useful, but only if my three dealbreakers don't exclude MC for possible use.
Thanks in advance!
