The DVR is gone, we are now 100% on HTPC for television viewing

The DVR was returned to TimeWarner about a month ago and all viewing is now on HTPC.  The problems with the Hauppauge 2650 cablecard tuner went away when I stopped using sleep mode between viewings/recordings.  With the computer online 24X7 operation has become very smooth and virtually hiccup free.

The switch from the AMD X2 processor to the Intel Pentium G620 has lowered our power useage from ~120 watts idle to ~14 watts idle which makes running the computer continuously reasonable cost wise.
The main issue I am facing with the HTPC DVR is the issue with encrypted content from the cable card tuner.  Several channels encrypt all of their shows, these channels include Disney, Food Network and many others.  When you try to play this content on a PC other than the one that recorded it you get a message saying the content is protected and cannot be played.  This issue also comes up if you have to rebuild your HTPC, it can no longer play back protected content that it had previously recorded.

Low Power HTPC

My HTPC that was connected to my cablecard tuner started acting up.  This was an AMD Athlon 2 Dual Core system.  I have the system on a UPS and am able to monitor it’s power usage through the UPS.  The AMD system was pulling about 120 watts on average.  The system started acting up (it turned out to have a memory problem) so I pulled it and replaced it with another system I had running an Intel Celeron G530 processor.

The G530 is the baby brother to the i3 family of processors.  The G530 is rated at 65 watts TDP, I was surprised to see my UPS indicate about 10 watts of power while idling.  This is with windows up, Media Center running but no shows recording or being watched.  With this low of power usage I’m going to dump  the MCE Standby Tool and stop putting the PC to sleep in between shows.  I think keeping the computer up all the time will make it more reliable and user friendly.

Clear QAM is not looking good in my area

I used SiliconDust’s Channel List by location to determine which channels TimeWarner is broadcasting unencrypted in my area.  The channels I was looking for are not to be found.  No HGTV, SciFi or Discovery for me, looks like I’ll have to keep paying for TimeWarner’s DVR if I want to record those channels.

I really want a Clear QAM tuner for my HTPC

I’ve been running the cable DVR (Digital Video Recorder) for about a month now and I love it.  Being able to record Mythbusters, Dr Who and Torchwood makes it worth the $14 a month.  Damn, $14 a month works out to $168 a year, for that amount I should be able to add a tuner to my HTPC that can pick up these stations.

The question is are my favorite stations broadcast in Clear QAM?  Clear QAM is the format that television is broadcast over cable, it is different than the way television is broadcast over the air.  Clear QAM will not allow you to pick up encrypted channels like pay channels so I need to determine if my favorites are encrypted or not.

I’ve been reading about Clear QAM tuners for months and the absolute best/easiest solutions seams to be  Silicon Dust’s HDHomeRun dual tuner network device.  The HDHomeRun has two tuners, each can be ATSC (over the air HD) or Clear QAM.  The device costs $169 just about everywhere, funny that price seems familiar.

If I determine that most of the channels I want are available unencrypted over cable I think I will buy the HDHomeRun and return the cable box.  I’ll let you know what I decide.

I got the cable box

I did it, I decided to pay the extra and picked up a Motorola cable HD DVR (Digital Video Recorder) from TimeWarner. Now I can watch and record channels that are not offered OTA (Over The Air) like SciFi, Speed, G4, etc. I’m enjoying my new found freedom of being able to schedule recordings for these channels and watching them as I want.

I haven’t given up the HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer), I still need it to access the web and I have found that the Media Center interface in XP MCE is much better and easier to use than the cable box. If a show is on a broadcast channel I tend to schedule the recording on the HTPC rather than the cable box.

Advantages of the HTPC over the cable box include skip ahead/skip back buttons, automatic commercial skip, and easier search / record functionality. I haven’t attempted to connect the cable box to my computer yet, if I could do this then I could record all of my channels on the computer using the cable box to unscramble cable channels.

I intend to, some time in the not too distant future, upgrade my HTPC to a QAM (unencrypted HD over cable) tuner to see what HD channels TimeWarner is carrying in the clear. It’s possible that QAM will give me most if not all of the channels I want so that I can give up the cable box.

I’ll update you as I try new stuff.

My setup as it stands today:

HTPC:

AMD Athlon X2 3800 Processor

2 GigaBytes of RAM

3 hard drives totaling 936 GigaBytes

DVD +- Burner

ION Media Center Case

2 HD ATSC OTA Tuner cards

Microsoft MCE Keyboard

Microsoft MCE Remote

Monitor:

Westinghouse 47″ 47w1 LCD Monitor (not a TV, it doesn’t have any tuners built in)

To HTPC or not?

I’ve got a dilemma, I love my HTPC (Home Theater PC) but I’m being tempted to replace it with a cable HD DVR.  My HTPC is excellent, it records television in HD, plays games and browses the web in beautiful 1080p.  The problem is that my HTPC only receives OTA (Over The Air) broadcast HD channels. I’ve never hooked up the analog cable channels because a cable converter box would still be necessary.  Now my cable company is offering me HD channels and an HD DVR (Digital Video Recorder) for $10 more than I pay them for services now.

I’m currently paying $80 a month for 6MB cable internet, cable telephone with unlimited long distance and basic cable channels.  For $90 they will throw in cable channels in HD and an HD DVR.  I’m not sure which DVR but whichever it is I’m sure it will work fine.  The idea of being able to record my favorite cable channels  is very tempting.  The only thing making me think twice about this deal is the time, effort and money I’ve put into my computer.
As I’ve recounted in prior posts, my HTPC is made up of the following:

ATI TV Wonder HD tuner card

VBOX Cat’s Eye DTA-150 tuner card

HIS RADEON 1800GTO graphics card

2GB of RAM

70GB 10,000 RPM SATA hard drive for the system

400GB  SATA hard drive internal for recording

500GB SATA hard drive external for storage (I manually move shows to the external to free space for recording)

AMD Athlon X2 3800+ processor

DVD Read/Write

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Terrestrial Digital DB2 Multi-Directional HDTV Antenna

Eagle Tech Silver Aluminum HTPC Desktop Computer Case

This is a nice computer and I’ll still use it for games / browsing / burning DVDs but it just doesn’t feel right to give up on Media Center.  Yes, I’ll be getting a lot more channels on the cable DVR but my beloved HTPC will be underutilized.  Maybe all I’m feeling is the fondness that one feels when he/she sells a beloved car to buy a new one.  Part of the loss is the sense of pride I have when I show off my HTPC, the sense of community that I have when dealing with others in the HTPC universe.

The HTPC gives me abilities that a DVR never will.  I can burn recordings to DVD, change them to other formats, share them, the DVR won’t let me do these things.

I’ll try the DVR for a while and see how it goes.  I’ll miss playing with my HTPC, now there is no reason to but the HDHomeRun tuner that I’ve been drooling over.   If the DVR doesn’t work out or if the cable company jumps the price my HTPC will be sitting there waiting to pick up the slack.

Looking to buy a Home Theater PC (HTPC)?

I’ve been looking for a good deal on a “gaming” pc for a coworker. Today Newegg’s latest email advert had a nice Gateway PC listed. After scouring the details on Newegg’s site it turns out that in addition to all the stuff you want in a PC this also has an HD Tuner Card and MCE remote control. This computer is an HTPC all setup and ready to go. Just add rabbit ears or any UHF antenna and you are ready to receive HD broadcasts over the air (assuming your area has broadcast HD in range).

The computer is the Gateway GM5442, for $579 plus shipping and tax it has:
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 processor,
2GB of RAM,
500GB Hard Drive,
Windows Vista Home Premium (Premium includes Media Center!),
16X DVD±RW Drive,
Optical Mouse and Multimedia Keyboard,
7.1 surround audio and stereo speakers,
Analog/Digital TV Tuner w/3-D Comb
Media Center Remote Control

This looks like a great deal, the reviews are excellent for this computer. Check out the pictures and reviews on Newegg’s product page.

to 1080p or not

The question I have beaten to death has come back to life. I was trying to show my wife the difference between 1080i and 1080p last night so I put up a nice 1080p picture of trees and a stream. I pointed out the wonderful detail and then lowered the resolution to 1366X768 and said and here it is at 1080i. My wife couldn’t see the difference.

I couldn’t really tell much difference either. The main difference was not in the picture but in the desktop, we had lost a lot of real estate. I flipped the resolution back and forth several times until my wife finally conceded that she could see a minor difference and that 1080p was better.

I should have brought up a PIP with television, an MCE window with HDTV in it and a browser all at the same time. Then changing the resolution would have shown how much better 1080p is.

I guess the point of this is if you can find a 1080i monitor in the size you like for a lot less than the 1080p monitors then buy it. If the price is close go for the 1080p. You’ll be happy either way. I’m ok with this because the price I paid for this monitor is less than competing 1080i models.

Did I mention I love this monitor?

OK, enough of the 1080p 1080i debate, I promise to bring up new subjects soon.

The wonders of a pc connected to your television

I’m still playing with the new 47″ Westinghouse 1080p monitor connected to the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 computer. I’m having a blast with this combination.
I watched an episode of Jericho on CBS last week, the first that I had seen. I liked the premise of the show so I browsed to CBS’ website and found that they had all of the episodes available for watching online. I’ve now watched four of the twelve available episodes and am enjoying the series.
Prior to purchasing the Westy I would have had to watch the episodes on my computer’s 19″ LCD while sitting in my cramped office. Now I can lounge in my recliner in the front room and watch the shows in beautiful HD.
A problem has appeared in the MCE computer, one of the HD tuners does not appear to be working. I can only watch or record one show at a time right now. When a scheduled recording comes up the computer pops over to that channel wether we are done watching the current show or not. I’ll have to rectify this problem asap.
So, what’s next? I’m getting setup to play “Company Of Heroes” on the big screen, I needed to buy a USB hub and a long, 15′, USB cable to reach the easy chair via the back of the couch. I didn’t want to spend the extra money on a wireless mouse, wired always works out better for gaming and the parts cost about $20 shipped from http://www.newegg.com. I’ll let you know how the gaming at 10′ from the set turns out.