Jump to content

Idiots guide for a first timer?


Ian-Highlander

Recommended Posts

Ian-Highlander

My current set up is a large server in the loft running Emby server. The machine itself is an i7 with 16GB RAM on Server 2008 R2 and with about 24TB of storage attached.

 

I have two dedicated client machines, one in the living room and one in the bedroom, both running Windows 7 Pro with Emby for WMC as clients to the server in the loft and with WMC remote controls for convenience.

 

The above works beautifully for everything so far (give or take a minor issue with music I've raised in another forum) and we have full access to a fairly large library of tv/film/music/music videos/playlists etc via either system with watched files being remembered between the two systems etc, one happy wifey which means one happy me.

 

However I now want to go down the live TV route and as HDHomerun availability in the Uk is pitiful at best currently with only one model available last time I looked, I would prefer not to go down that road.

 

I have just purchased a TBS6281 PCI-E dual tuner digital HD terrestrial card as a test with the idea being to buy quads with matching satellite cards to sit alongside it once I've tested everything and am happy it works.

 

I was under the assumption I could fit these cards into the server in the loft (which would also be very convenient for all the aerial feeds as they come through there already) and that I could use the WMC/Emby live TV functionality on both clients. However I've been doing a lot of digging and reading around and just completely confused myself with some things seeming to say this will work and others saying it won't.

 

Can someone put this poor old bugger out his misery and advise? Have I wasted my money or can this be done the way I want?

 

Any help/advice much appreciated. Have recently cancelled Sky TV and wife is antsy to be able to have more choice and record again.

 

Thanks :)

Edited by Antitheft2
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spaceboy

no, no support for anything but the HD HR yet. you want dvblink / next pvr / tv headend / media portal. dvblink would be my rec but i'm a paid up customer, i believe others are free but not as good

 

sorry that is to say that one of the products i linked would do all the recording and emby would access it. the devs have suggested that they may look at alternatives to the HDHR in time but i would suggest that is unlikely to include anything non-US in the foreseeable future

Edited by Spaceboy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ian-Highlander

But DVBLink or some other system will do what I want? Using WMC remotely from client pcs?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a similar setup.

 

As already advised you will need a back end "recorder", however, there is an additional problem, Emby for WMC does not support the Live TV option, it's not clear whether it will in the future, so you'll have to think about using different software on the client machines.

 

Emby Theater does support live TV but, in my personal opinion, the interface needs a lot or work to as good as the WMC one, a new release is due so this may change, the web interfaces support live TV but can't be eaily controlled with a remote.

 

The other alternative is to use another front end entirely, Kodi is good and well supported, but replaces a lot of the Emby functionality, I'm looking at this for my system at the moment. Media Portal has a good front end, but does not handle media in a consistent manner and the front end can require a lot of setup and maintenance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ian-Highlander

Thanks for the reply. That's kind of what I was expecting if I'm honest, not really the answer I was hoping for as I've spent a lot of time and effort getting this entire system up and running how I want it to but appreciate the answer.

 

I actually downloaded kodi to try it last night as a test, installed it on my laptop and watched it freeze the entire machine solid after the first button press, in the end I couldn't even kill it with task manager and had to force power off the laptop and boot back up. It was promptly uninstalled again. It looked very pretty until I pressed the first button, maybe I'll try it again and see how it goes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You also would have the option of Roku, Fire TV or Nexus Player as your clients and free up those other two PCs you are using now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

dvblink would be my rec but i'm a paid up customer, i believe others are free but not as good

I'm sure plenty of others would disagree with this.

Edited by sub3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ian-Highlander

Thanks for all the replies guys, currently rebuilding my server raid array after a hardware failure this afternoon (seriously bad timing) but will look at the options suggested once everything's back up and running again.

 

Much appreciated :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Following this topic with interest as it its exactly the same scenario I am in.

 

I have a server with 20TB of movies, but I think its too slow to install the Satellite cards in.

However I have 3 other Desktop PC's, one with 2 Sat tuner cards and the HTPC in the lounge with a Sat HD card. I would like both PC's to be able to watch and record live TV, which can the be viewed on any client.

I want a reliable EPG (WMC has not proven to be great for reruns and series)

 

With Windows 10, I would consider dropping WMC on the client and use Emby directly on Win10 instead.

 

So please let us know how you get on and which way you go forwards.

 

BTW - I agree its all very confusing, I have not seen an idiots guide to Live to with Emby yet...

Edited by Blue407
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ian-Highlander

Well the TBS-6281 card arrived Friday but I'm short of spare time right now have just installed it in the main living room client PC for now and am using WMC with it and it's fantastic to use, don't know why I didn't do this years ago to be honest so definitely more tuner cards and satellite cards on the horizon.

 

I do want to explore options to see if I can fit the cards in the server in the loft for use round the network by other machines, but for now until I get time to sit and read up the plethora of info out there and see what's possible, this will do for me temporarily.

 

Thanks for the advice and help so far, if anyone has any further tips or advice to add please chip in :)

Edited by Antitheft2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...