# DirecTV HD DVR and Media Center PC



## ladytonya (Feb 20, 2006)

I have the HD DVR and we're thinking about getting a Media Center PC. Would we be able to use the TV portion of the PC while still using the HD DVR receiver? I've read several FAQ's about hooking up the PC with a satellite receiver, but nothing about TiVO and nothing about HD. Has anyone done this?


----------



## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

I am not entirely sure what you're asking. The PC is almost certainly not going to be able to change channels on the HD TiVo. The last I heard, the Media Center PCs did not accept an external HD input. You could get an HD tuner card (or two) for off-the-air, and ATI has announced a CableCARD tuner for PCs, but that doesn't help you.


----------



## ladytonya (Feb 20, 2006)

I want to continue to be able to use my HD DVR to record most things. I don't get locals (not available where I am and too far out in the country for OTA to work) and I rarely record in HD. Most everything I record is in SD. I'm not looking for the Media Center PC to be able to change the channel, wasn't even sure if that was possible. What I want to do is be able to record something that I want to make a hard copy of onto the Media Center PC. I want to be able to get the music content on my home theatre system and I want to be able to view pictures that I have on my PC on the television. I know this is already possible if I burn them on to a CD, but it would be nice to just stream them to my TV. I really just want to know if I would have any capabilities in the My TV portion of the Media Center operating system or if it would be completely unusable because I'm using the HD DVR.


----------



## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

Yes, you can use both an HR10-250 HD DVR and Media Center PC. I am. If you follow the connection diagrams in the HR10-250 manual you can connect your Media Center PC like it's a VCR and record from the DVR to the Media Center. You just have to set the HR10-250 to standard definition (480i) video when you do that. And you're TV or AV Receiver will need enough inputs to handle the DVR and Media Center PC as separate audio/video sources.


----------



## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

If some of the current solutions are too costly or to "crazy" for you to setup...

You might want to hold off for a while doing anything drastic... as at CES this year, DirecTV and Microsoft announced a partnership... which amongst things will include a PC based tuner for DirecTV (for MCE).

No dates or Costs yet... but it would end up being a more elegant solution then what is currently out there....


----------

