Media Center Extenders

Conar

Hi All

Sorry if this has been answered before but I was not able to find it and the search function is disabled.

I was wondering if there are any media center extenders out there that work as 2 way devices (Video in and out).
What I was hoping was that I could connect my Sky digibox to some kind of media center extender which would then send the video to my PC upstairs where I would record it etc, then the extender would also be used for playback.

Is there a product available that does this?

The reason I am looking into this kind of setup is that I have a pretty good gaming PC upstairs and I cannot really afford to build a HTPC for the living room. My digibox is in the sitting room and I can't easily move it up beside the PC. So I need to be able to send the video upstairs when needed aswell as pulling it back downstairs when needed.

I hope that I have made sense. Let me know if you can advise anything!

8T8

MCE extenders are for remote viewing only I'm afraid.

However there is a theoretical solution if you can lay down ethernet cables ?

Use two of these with two ethernet cables to transmit the video from the Sky box to your Tv tuner and from the graphics card to the TV. Like I said I've no idea how much or little that will affect the video signal but it is going over ethernet so it may not be bad at all.

Throw in a USB over ethernet extender for your MCE remote and you "could" have full control over MCE on your downstairs TV but it will require running three ethernet cables.

SouperComputer

mythTv would be a good way to go for this.

HTPC's dont have to be expensive, the one I have in the living room is a P4 1.7 @ 2.2/512/300GB/FX5200

In other words, built from scraps and far from cutting edge.

What you could do, is setup a MythTv backend (circa 1ghz/256Mb) machine and install either the windows frontend on the PC upstairs or use the streaming plugin on the backend.

If you dont want to play with linux, you could try GB-PVR. AFAIK its networkable, but I havent had a chance to try it yet.

What 8T8 suggested could also work, but dont forget that your Sky digital STB will need to be controlled by your HTPC.

Conar

These look like they may be an affordable solution:
http://www.cyberselect.co.uk/range/817

What do you guys think?

8T8

That is not too different from what I suggested that box just sends the picture from whatever you have plugged into it (in this case sky) over ethernet to other TV's it would be cheaper to just use an adaptor and send the output from the Sky box straight into the computer over ethernet.

The only other thing I can think of is to use a wireless TV sender then get a scart/composite converter so that you can plug the wireless TV receiver into your computer TV tuner that will give your computer the TV signal to record with but no means of controlling the Sky box without the MCE IR blaster present in the room.

Then get an Xbox 360 not exactly cheap at €300 but with it's built in extender over wireless you should be just able to control the MCE machine. Of course the X360 wireless may conflict with the wireless TV sender unless you use the A and not B/G kind of WiFi plus it may or may not work but the wireless TV sender might allow the MCE IR blaster to send commands through it to the Sky box but really I'm just guessing & I'd wager it wouldn't work.

One other crazy notion I once heard of a VGA->TV wireless sender, never seen it or heard were you can find them but that with a wireless TV sender if they actually don't cancel each other out : ) could also work.

Tricky scenario alright....

FrankGrimes

you could install Media Center 2005 on the PC upstairs and put the Sky box right beside it. Sky box feeds into PC, PC then acts as server for one or more Extenders (xbox 360 is the best, noise is the only quam I have with it) which will act as clients over either a wired or wireless network. That way you get Sky to all locations with extenders.

Not the cheapest and the same principles will apply regardless of the htpc software you use, so MythTV with super cheap clients as extenders may be more suitable.

Conar

Problem is that I already have sky installed in the sitting room and don't really want to have to run cables up to my study as its upstairs and on the other side of the house.
I also wanted to steer clear of having any more bulky kit in the sitting room.

Appreciate the suggestions though.

SouperComputer

do you have CAT 5 running through the house?

Conar

No, but I could use these (or similar) which should be more stable than wireless and just as neat!

http://cgi.ebay.ie/85-Mbps-Network-Ethernet-over-Mains-Homeplug-Powerline_W0QQitemZ9726097554QQcategoryZ40995QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Conar

I reckon I might just wait till this comes on to the market:
http://www.homeplug.org/en/docs/alliance_press/HomePlugWinHEC_FINAL[1].doc

Looks like it could be the way forward, for me at least.