MRV - Two DVRS are the recording list shared, can I expect to be able to handle 4 TVs

[personalt]

I am looking at the MRV, my concern/roadblock seems to be that each HDVR only suports one remote stream.

We have 4 viewing locatoins
Living Room, Dining Room, Master Bedroom, Office.

We mostly watch TV in Living room together so I expected to put the DVR there. From everything I read, it appears that the DVR units only support one stream so if the DVR is in the living room I cant watch a recorded show in the office with my wife watching one in the bedroom.

How does that change if we get two DVR units? If we have two DVR units is the recording to-do list shared between the two DVR units? Or do we set up seperate recording lists for each for each DVR?

Along those lines if we had these two DVR units and one was streaming out a show how would I know what shows were recorded on the other DVR and therefor available to watch?

I realize this is a long list of questions here.. I currently run sagetv and I mostly like it. However every so often the windows server has some hiccup and it is back to square one.

[Steve]

[...] How does that change if we get two DVR units? If we have two DVR units is the recording to-do list shared between the two DVR units? Or do we set up seperate recording lists for each for each DVRSeparate lists. I record CBS/NBC on one and FOX/ABC on another. With 2-tuner recording capability, this insures no conflicts and because recordings on the same channel are kept on the same tuner, maximum "auto-padding" on both sides of each recording.

Along those lines if we had these two DVR units and one was streaming out a show how would I know what shows were recorded on the other DVR and therefor available to watch?Shows that can't be watched (because that DVR is already streaming elsewhere) show up in the playlist with a http://www.aopa.org/images/asf/pubs/sa07/tn_no_entry.gif next to them.

[Steve]

Note that you can always play back programs locally, even if that DVR is currently streaming to another room. So whoever of you or your wife is in the living room, in your scenario, would always have access to recordings made on all four DVR tuners.

[personalt]

thanks for the quick response.. All my directv units are in a closet, shoudl I expect to have to worry about moca/deca or so I can I just stick them on my ethernet?

Is the $3.00 fee for the account or per box?

I had seen some video of a CES (i think) that should a server type unit that was supposed to support more streams? Is that a ways out?

[Steve]

thanks for the quick response.. All my directv units are in a closet, shoudl I expect to have to worry about moca/deca or so I can I just stick them on my ethernet?My MRV is flawless over cat5, but sounds like if you want "official" DirecTV customer support, you'll want to go DECA, soon to be available as a $99 upgrade (per account).

Is the $3.00 fee for the account or per box?Per account, AFAIK.

I had seen some video of a CES (i think) that should a server type unit that was supposed to support more streams? Is that a ways out?My guess is that (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i2utytnYYs&feature=player_embedded) box is probably 6 months to a year away. It would also serve your needs, tho.

[Grentz]

Ethernet should be fine and the $3/mo is per account. ;)

[personalt]

Thanks for all the help... Getting away from having to run a PC for sagetv I think it worth the single remote stream shortcoming. Especially if I can upgrade to a directv server down the road, even though I am sure it will not be cheap. :sure:

While it is still in beta - If I were to pick up a HDPVR do I need to get the earlier adopters firmware or can I now enable it with the standard firmware?

[Steve]

Thanks for all the help... Getting away from having to run a PC for sagetv I think it worth the single remote stream shortcoming. Especially if I can upgrade to a directv server down the road, even though I am sure it will not be cheap. :sure:

While it is still in beta - If I were to pick up a HDPVR do I need to get the earlier adopters firmware or can I now enable it with the standard firmware?It's in the standard firmware as a "beta" feature you can opt to activate.

[Grentz]

Yup, no need to join the CE program. MRV is a public beta that you can simply "Opt-In" to in the setup menu.

The CE program is not for early adopters/new features, it comes with its own risks and is often unstable. Plus you need to be active and involved in giving feedback. If it sounds like something you want to do, you can of course join up :)