# DireTV HD TiVo dead! Switching to MCE



## CharlieS (Aug 10, 2004)

My original $1000 tivo with the weaknees upgrade ($300) died and I gave up on TiVo. I hooked up my Xbox 360 as a media center extender to record OTA HD. The cost for the setup was much lower than expected.

Xbox 360 - $400
Media Center Upgrade on PC - $125
2 HD tuners - $150
Extra 400GB HD - $150

Total - $825

I already had the Xbox and MCE so the only additional cost to me was $300.

In comparison MCE is much faster, the guide and record options are just as good, MCE plug-ins offer automatic commercial skip (great feature), you can connect to all data from your PC, and all the great features of the Xbox including the soon to be released HD-DVD for $200.

All of this worked great with my Harmony Remote and best of all there is no subscription fee.

Once the PC Cablecard tuners are introduced I don't see how TiVo will be able to compete.


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## dagap (Dec 5, 2003)

That's great. It's fantastic that you found a solution you're happy with.

Edited: How about I take that dead boat anchor HR10-250 off your hands?


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## Fahtrim (Apr 12, 2004)

CharlieS said:


> Once the PC Cablecard tuners are introduced I don't see how TiVo will be able to compete.


It will always compete because the number of people who are willing to go through all these steps to do this are very low. Most people can't figure all that out and would rather just get a box, plug it in, and go.


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## CharlieS (Aug 10, 2004)

dagap said:


> That's great. It's fantastic that you found a solution you're happy with.
> 
> Edited: How about I take that dead boat anchor HR10-250 off your hands?


You got it! Send me an offer.

It is suffering from the clicking disease.


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## bwaldron (Mar 16, 2003)

CharlieS said:


> Once the PC Cablecard tuners are introduced...


Well, good luck with that part. My understanding is that only Cable Labs approved systems will be able to use PC cable cards. Not systems we build ourselves.

I've thought about doing something similar. Have fun!


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## castylx (Oct 20, 2006)

That's a nice setup, can you comment on what HDTV decoder cards your using? Also are you able to pause live tv?

Thanks!


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## CharlieS (Aug 10, 2004)

castylx said:


> That's a nice setup, can you comment on what HDTV decoder cards your using? Also are you able to pause live tv?
> 
> Thanks!


AVerTVHD MCE A180 tuner card. However, this card will only work with an additional tuner that has an MPEG-2 encoder built in like the AVerTV USB MCE. I went with the USB model because I only have 2 PCI slots in my PC. Dell is really getting cheap with their PC's. It does everything TiVo does except the suggestions. Pause - Skip 30s - Back 7s - ect. I think the real time delay may be a second longer than TiVo.


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## tivolocity (Aug 12, 2002)

I thought MCE only supported a maximum of one HD tuner. And, in order for that one tuner to work, you had to have an analog tuner. Is that no longer the case?


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## vstone (May 11, 2002)

MCE supports:

1) 0 tuners
2) 1 analog tuner
3) 2 analog tuners
4) 1 analog tuner and 1 ATSC tuner
5) 2 analog tuners and 1 ATSC tuner
6) 2 analog tuners and 2 ATSC tuners

Additionally the analog tuners can be set up for cable while the ATSC tuners are set up for ATSC, but I don't think it will handle 1 cable analog and 1 OTA analog at the same time: it confuses the programming since it essentially deals with the system as 2 tuners recording two programs at a time.


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## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

CharlieS said:


> Once the PC Cablecard tuners are introduced I don't see how TiVo will be able to compete.


That's silly. Most people don't have all that stuff laying around and they don't want to mess with a PC to record their programs.

What has any of this got to do with DirecTV? Am I missing something or are you now unable to record DirecTV or Digital cable. And that's your "TiVo killer?"


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## 1003 (Jul 14, 2000)

nrc said:


> That's silly. Most people don't have all that stuff laying around and they don't want to mess with a PC to record their programs.


*The number of*
people with PC skills and former high end gaming hardware that is being retired (rolled over) but is still worthy of becoming a capable Media Center. If OTA is your goal, and your signal is multipath free, dual AverA180 tuner cards are a nice solution. That solution is working for me on three systems and two others with only single A180 tuners. WAF is high although not having suggestions and the TiVo guide are limiting factors.

If you want ESPN-HD or HBO-HD you are going to need a sattellite or cable receiver until the coming "Vista" generation hardware. Rolling your own Media Center was not possible early on, but the market will always find a way to sell consumers what they want. If you have the most recent MCE update the analog tuner requirement is no longer...


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## CharlieS (Aug 10, 2004)

The dead Tivo is sold. Please stop the PM's.


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## drew2k (Jun 10, 2003)

CharlieS said:


> AVerTVHD MCE A180 tuner card. However, this card will only work with an additional tuner that has an MPEG-2 encoder built in like the AVerTV USB MCE. I went with the USB model because I only have 2 PCI slots in my PC. Dell is really getting cheap with their PC's. It does everything TiVo does except the suggestions. Pause - Skip 30s - Back 7s - ect. I think the real time delay may be a second longer than TiVo.





vstone said:


> MCE supports:
> 
> 1) 0 tuners
> 2) 1 analog tuner
> ...


I did some quick and dirty research on the AverA180, but it looks like it's for OTA only? I have several in-the-clear QAM HD channels from Cablevision - I'm guessing this card wouldn't be able to work with QAM?

Can anyone recommend a good HD QAM card under $200, or does such a beast not even exist? If itdoes exist, based on the secon quote above, will MCE recognize it?


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## tivolocity (Aug 12, 2002)

I'm far from an expert in terms of the quality. But, these DVICO cards support clear QAM http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/cName/hdtv-tuner-cards?osCsid=9c88d876453d9c0717f341045aafaf44


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## 1003 (Jul 14, 2000)

drew2k said:


> I did some quick and dirty research on the AverA180, but it looks like it's for OTA only? I have several in-the-clear QAM HD channels from Cablevision - I'm guessing this card wouldn't be able to work with QAM?
> 
> Can anyone recommend a good HD QAM card under $200, or does such a beast not even exist? If itdoes exist, based on the secon quote above, will MCE recognize it?


*MCE*
does not have drivers for QAM on a A180. MythTV (Knoppix) has QAM drivers if you choose the LINUX path...


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## WinstonSmith (Feb 1, 2004)

JJ said:


> If you have the most recent MCE update the analog tuner requirement is no longer...


What version is that?


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## drew2k (Jun 10, 2003)

tivolocity said:


> I'm far from an expert in terms of the quality. But, these DVICO cards support clear QAM http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/cName/hdtv-tuner-cards?osCsid=9c88d876453d9c0717f341045aafaf44


Thanks. I checked these out and may look into the USB HD tuner... this will work on my MCE PC, which currently has an analog tuner, and if I ever add a tuner to my MCE laptop, I could use the USB HD tuner to the laptop...


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## 1003 (Jul 14, 2000)

WinstonSmith said:


> What version is that?


*According to folks*
at AVSforum and TheGreenButton having all the latest updates will allow ATSC use without a qualifying NTSC tuner installed. Since I have stable systems and no specific need for change, I am simply leaving the cards in. If I needed the PCI slot or was having problems I would be temped to remove the NTSC cards. I just bought some cheap M150D cards from Ebay to fill the MCE2005 requirement and while the FM option is potentially useful, I'm not using it right at the moment...


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