InfiniTV for live TV distribution only, no timeshifting?

[RD9000]

tl;dr: Need to stream from Ceton tuners without timeshifting/hard drive recording.

I am the IT director for a fitness facility that has 8 TVs all with cable. We pay the cable co. $15/month per TV, so in an attempt to save money I have come up with a plan to use 2 InfiniTV 4s, 2 WMC PCs, and 8 Xbox extenders to watch Live TV. While this works in theory, my testing with just one Ceton card and 3 extenders has already presented some unique problems that I hope to eliminate.

First, my total budget for the entire project is $1200, or what we would pay in STB fees in one year, which I know I can achieve using gently used equipment and PCs we already have running all day (for WMC).

I was shocked to find out that WMC, MythTV, and other PVR/DVR split front/backend software all require "timeshifting", or recording everything to the hard drive and reading it back. This seems completely pointless for me application and a huge waste of PC processing power and hard drive wear and tear. I never need to record anything ever, just want to save on STB fees by distributing a linear video stream direct from each tuner to our Fitness Center TVs!

I have not managed to find any software/hardware solution that would work for me and be efficient. Does anyone know how I can achieve this seemingly simple distribution of video using Ceton or HDHomeRun equipment without unnecessary timeshift recording and PVR software? I am willing to use any hardware/software combo, including solutions on any operating systems.

Thanks,
RD9000

[adam1991]

Ummm...while it's true that all the PVR/DVR stuff does shuttle the stuff to hard drive first, they do so the same way any cableco DVR system does: for the purposes of pausing live TV and going back and forth. But they all, every one of them, provide live TV. There is exactly zero requirement to record and timeshift.

That all being said, it looks like your cableco charges $15/month per TV for a cable box on each TV? What alternatives does your cableco have that don't involve that particular $15/month charge? Can you bring the cable directly into the back of the TV for basic channels? Can you get simple digital adapters that aren't full-on cable boxes?

You will hear from some folks here about setting up a minimal PC--maybe even a NUC box--per TV, and network based tuners. You can assign a tuner to each minimal PC, and achieve what you want--a one-to-one mapping of inbound cable signal to each TV. But again, does your cableco not provide basic cable in the clear that each TV can tune by itself? Or at least a simple digital adapter that does the same thing for free, or for a couple bucks a month and not $15/month?

[RD9000]

Thanks for the reply adam1991.

Yes, we are on Comcast Business TV, and they charge $15/month per HD box, regardless of the type of box. So no DVR is offered as we are a business customer, and they offer SD boxes for $10 or HD boxes for $15. Everything is encrypted, no ClearQAM. However, I can use CableCards as they are required by FCC to provide them as an option. Still a monthly cost, but much less with multi-tuner cards.

I am starting to think a commercial solution from Ceton http://cetoncorp.com/commercial-products/, or ATX Networks may be my only option for a system that needs to run 15 hours/day, everyday consistently.

[adam1991]

I was going to mention Ceton's commercial solution, for sure.

You're too late for cableCARD TVs, I guess.

So if not the Ceton commercial product, we're back to the homebrew alternative solution to the Ceton commercial product: tiny dedicated WMC-capable computers connected to displays with integrated speakers, with each computer taking a single tuner feed from an ethernet-connected tuner such as the Ceton 6 tuner unit. 3 such units plus 15 tiny computers with HDMI out would serve you. I'm not an expert in doing something like this, but plenty of people here have much experience with the concept and can discuss it.

[STC]

I am starting to think a commercial solution from Ceton http://cetoncorp.com/commercial-products/, or ATX Networks may be my only option for a system that needs to run 15 hours/day, everyday consistently.

I'm not sure 1.2k will get you much

[adam1991]

well, of course, that's the real problem.

[Tracer]

What about using HD Homerun Prime and streaming to a dlna device? Not sure if this is a solution but, might be worth looking at.

[erkotz]

If the channels are Copy Once, you can set up an Ethernet unit to stream via Multicast IP using the instructions at http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 508#p74508

Note that this only works for Copy Freely channels. For Copy Once, you will need a solution that supports protected content, or something like the UCrypt from your cable operator.

[blueiedgod]

Sorry to redirect, but you would need something like SiliconDust HomeRun Prime to do that. It has a built in DLNA server. You would use the TV's built in DLNA client (for non-copyright protected content) to tune a channel. If the channels are never changed, it should not be a problem to tune a channel using TV's DLNA client.

If I am not mistaken, only premium content is copyright protected on Comcast, so you should be good.

If the content you want to distribute is copyright protected, then you would need a PS3 by each TV to play back.

However, despite the talks, SiliconDust only comes with a 3-tuner solution per CableCARD.

[EZEd]

DLNA might sort of work with Ceton and Jriver MC too. In that use case Jriver acts as the DLNA server and bridges the Ceton ETH to the rest of the network. I assume you could then use either Rokus or other Jriver pcs to tune at the tvs. Don't know if Jriver can stream DLNA directly to smart tvs or not. Again this only works with non-copy protected content. Comcast & FIOS would probably be okay. It didn't work on TWC (what I have) because of the CCI flags on everything.

[blueiedgod]

If OP has already invested into InfiniTV tuners, then going the HTPC route with EChoes at each TV should work. There is a limit of 5 extenders per HTPC, but if his/her gym is anything like mine, they are really only showing maybe 4 channels on all those TV's spread out through the facility.

So, maybe OP can get away with HTPC and 4 extenders, split the outgoing signal from each to 2 TV's, thus covering all 8.

One of the advantages of going with the extender vs. DLNA, tuning the same channel on multiple extender/TV's only uses 1 tuner. So, let's say TV's 1 and 5 (extender 1) are tuned to ESPN, TV's 2 and 6 (extender 2) are tuned to CNN, TV's 3 and 7 (extender 3) are tuned to FOXNews, and TV's 4 and 8 (extender 4) are tuned to Local News/WEather then OP really only needs 4 tuner card.

OP stated that a WMC machine is already available, so the only added costs will be the CableCARD tuner ($100 for quad, $190 for hex), 4-5 extenders $99 each, 4-4 HDMI spliters $10 each, and network wire/switch.

It is not as clean as DLNA (no additional boxes hanging behind TV's), but, if I am not mistaken, when multiple DLNA clients tune the same channel, they use individual tuners, so OP would need to get 3x SiliconDust HomeRuns, and rent 3x CableCARDs, vs 1.

Edit: Another advantage of the extender model, especially for a facility like this, OP could broadcast facility messages on the TV's by making a media file out of power point, and using "play to" function in Windows.