can i share an epg over 2 mce machines

subway

setting up my second mce machine in the next couple of weeks
[love this software too much ]

anyway the big question is can i share the epg and the recorded tv with each other and if not, what options do i have, by way of other media programs?

the set up is this -
ntl digital in front room with mce
connected via lan to
ntl digital in back room with mce
ill have the same progam lists for both as they share the subscription.

i dont want to record to a network share - too much hassle for my liking.
what i do want is both pcs to record to their local hard drive and then for the recorded program to be visible in the other machines recorded tv list.
should be easy enough.

the second part, im not so sure,
i want each pc to know what the other has scheduled so i dont end up recording the same thing twice and miss somethning i do want to record.

ill be investigating this over the coming days and will report back with what i find,
but if anyone has any tips to get me going, ill gladly take them

SouperComputer

basically:

Share the recored TV folder on both PC's, perhaps use Static IP addresses help thing along. Map each drive on the other computer.

Use Tweak MCE to add the directory of the "other" computer to the watched TV folders.

After a while you will have access to the recorded TV on both machines.

2nd part I dont think you can do it. You could setup MCE Webguide to run a http server on rach machine containing the guide. Lot of messing around though!

How about an Xbox360 instead?

subway

SouperComputer wrote:

How about an Xbox360 instead?

if your offering, ill take it
either way, i dont think an xbox does a lot of the stuff i want,

also, i want mce for the free epg.
ntl's one is crap so i never know whats on.

SouperComputer

either way, i dont think an xbox does a lot of the stuff i want

What exactly do you want to do?

From the XB360 you have access to all the media stored on the HTPC with the same UI. You will be using the same EPG and recording schedule (as if you are at the HTPC), playing the same music and viewing the same videos. Basically its as of you are at the HTPC. One bummer is that you can't rip CD's from it to the HTPC.

One caveat however is if you have a lot of Divx's, Xvids, etc., you'll need to get the HTPC to transcode the video into a codec that the XB360 Likes. Its a good bit cheaper than a HTPC though

In this case, you would have dual tuners in the HTPC and both NTL boxen connected to it.

You can get cheaper MCE extender from linksys, HP and a couple of other companies. But they are NTSC only so be sure your TV supports it.

Some extenders on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Linksys-Dual-Band-Wireless-A-G-Media-Center-Extender_W0QQitemZ260013001402QQihZ016QQcategoryZ44996QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-X5400-Media-Center-Extender-PL441AA-unused_W0QQitemZ190011597886QQihZ009QQcategoryZ44996QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

8T8

Over in the The Green Button downloads section there is a utility called Share Recorded TV that shares the "recorded TV" MCE menu between MCE PC's on a LAN.

As for the second one I'm not sure it's probably been tried the difficulty is in digging up the links as to where & who did it.

subway

SouperComputer wrote:

What exactly do you want to do?

From the XB360 you have access to all the media stored on the HTPC with the same UI. You will be using the same EPG and recording schedule (as if you are at the HTPC), playing the same music and viewing the same videos. Basically its as of you are at the HTPC. One bummer is that you can't rip CD's from it to the HTPC.

One caveat however is if you have a lot of Divx's, Xvids, etc., you'll need to get the HTPC to transcode the video into a codec that the XB360 Likes. Its a good bit cheaper than a HTPC though

In this case, you would have dual tuners in the HTPC and both NTL boxen connected to it.

You can get cheaper MCE extender from linksys, HP and a couple of other companies. But they are NTSC only so be sure your TV supports it.

Some extenders on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Linksys-Dual-Band-Wireless-A-G-Media-Center-Extender_W0QQitemZ260013001402QQihZ016QQcategoryZ44996QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-X5400-Media-Center-Extender-PL441AA-unused_W0QQitemZ190011597886QQihZ009QQcategoryZ44996QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

them extenders are a bit extortionate - plus the danger of taxes.
i got my htpc for around the same as that.

thanks for the link 8t8.
i use low end machines for htpc, as you may have guessed by my budget option
either way, theres no room for a third pci card in my htpc.
so transcoding on the fat end is not going to happen.
i generally watch xvids in the highest possible resolution, with dd5.1 so im not sure if my network or any extender will support that.
i also like to run emulators through mce so i dont think an xbox will support that any time soon.
various other things like burning shows to dvd and so on will not be possible through an extender.