Media Center Questions (extenders, HD, etc.)

[Weatherman1126]

Hello,

I just have a few questions about Media Center in Vista. I'm running Home
Premium.

First: I subscribe to Comcast HD, and want to get HD into MC. Can I just
plug a coax cable directly into an ATSC TV tuner and receive HDTV?

Second: How many tuners can MC handle? If I plan to use extenders (in the
future), is there flexibility for the possibility of 2+ tuners?

Third: If I do end up getting extenders, do you think my typical Linksys
router will be able to handle 3 ethernet extenders (wired) running HD ? Do
you think a typical computer would be able to handle all three HD extenders
running at the same time?

Fourth (related to two): Will I actually need a tuner per extender? If so,
this could present a big problem.

Well, that's actually like six questions.

Thanks a ton for any help!

 

[{T!m}]

Wow that is a lot. ....
1. I have DirectTv so I will pass on question 1.
2. My understanding is MCE will handle as many as you can fit as far as the
tuners go. Although currently I have only one dual tuner card.
3. The famous answer depends. Do you think you are going constantly be
watching TV on all the systems? Also since it sounds like you are about to
drop a good bit of money on extenders, what you can do is test it. If your
pictures are choppy then you know you need to get GB ether connections to run
it. If your main media center is only running 100 MB ethernet connection,
that would bottle neck mopst likely before the linksys router. If you have a
10/100/1000 AKA GB ethernet and running an older 100 mb linksys then
upgrading the linksys is not a bad idea, based on performance. Hope that
makes sense. Adon. I believe the extenders have gig ports, so if your
extenders do as well, I would take the plunge and get a gig switch. Their
pretty cheap, compared to an extender for vista

Second part of 3. U have not seen a ton of load on my MCE, even when
watching TV, using laptops to watch different movies and playing music, oops
am I using vista in a partial extender...... =)

4.Tuner to MCE Extender count. There is no simple answer. You need one
receiver per device simultaneously watching TV, plus what ever needs to be in
reserve for recording. So if you have 4 extenders, but know for example you
will never watch tv ion the bedroom and the living room at the same time as
an example then you need 3 receivers for simultaneous wathing and maybe one
more so you can record something. This does not take into consideration
advanced features such as picture in picture and so forth. But at least this
should get the though process for your planning purchases

Word of caution when talking about the extenders and vista, the $100 ones on
Ebay that were built for xp, are not compatible with vista.

Hope this helps!

 

[Barb Bowman]

to get true HD you need to buy a certified computer that supports
Digital Cable tuners (you then get cable cards from Comcast). you
can't just add functionality to an existing Vista machine.

you can order new machines with TWO digital cable tuners, or some
very high end machines with up to 4 (which include a custom
installer coming to your home).

The number of LIVE TV shows you can watch = the number of tuners
(plus others that view the same content at the same time) but other
extenders can display recorded tv and other features.

router - depends on which one you have. there is a list of certified
for Windows Vista at
http://winqual.microsoft.com/HCL/ProductList.aspx?m=v&cid=712&g=d

Hello,

I just have a few questions about Media Center in Vista. I'm running Home
Premium.

First: I subscribe to Comcast HD, and want to get HD into MC. Can I just
plug a coax cable directly into an ATSC TV tuner and receive HDTV?

Second: How many tuners can MC handle? If I plan to use extenders (in the
future), is there flexibility for the possibility of 2+ tuners?

Third: If I do end up getting extenders, do you think my typical Linksys
router will be able to handle 3 ethernet extenders (wired) running HD ? Do
you think a typical computer would be able to handle all three HD extenders
running at the same time?

Fourth (related to two): Will I actually need a tuner per extender? If so,
this could present a big problem.

Well, that's actually like six questions.

Thanks a ton for any help!

--

Barb Bowman
MS Windows-MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/meetexperts/bowman.mspx
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/