Turn Window Media Center to DVR with WinTV-HVR-1850 Tuner Card ?

Airbander

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Jun 1, 2013
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Hello Guys,

I have WinTV-HVR-1850 which has 2 coaxial input in the back, i wanted to recod tv shows from my Paid Programming "Cable TV" from COX Communications.

See i am running into few problems and wanted to see what are my best options. My HTPC With Win 7 64bit OS and Windows Media Center and i have 3 Hard drives in it. First drive is OS SSD , Second drive is 250GB Empty , Third Drive is 250 Empty

I want to be able to:

1- Recode TV Shows
2- Be able to Recode 2 or 3 shows at same time if they are air in same schedule date and time
3- When i try to select the Big bang theory it actually selected all 51 episodes that was suppose to be broadcasted in that week which will take a lot of space.

So what you guys recommend me to do here

Thanks in advance
 

cklaubur

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Oct 4, 2006
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Are you using a set-top box, or just a direct connection from the wall?

To be able to record multiple shows at the same time, your tuner card must have at least as many tuners as the number of shows you want to record. Basically, one tuner is set to one channel to be recorded, while another tuner selects another channel to record.

In Media Center, you should have an option to record one episode or an entire series.

Casey
 

cklaubur

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Your tuner card can record a maximum of two shows at the same time.

As for why I asked about using a set-top box, the tuners on the card cannot record scrambled channels. If you have to use the set-top box to watch the channels, you will need to have your tuner card hooked up to it. You should be able to record the basic channels without issue, though.

Casey
 

cklaubur

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A set-top box is the cable box provided by Cox if you have digital cable or any packages other than basic cable (movies, sports, etc.). If you have an OnDemand option, you should have a set-top box.

A DVR provided by Cox counts as a set-top box.

Casey
 
I would note that your cable box only outputs one channel at a time. You cannot record two shows simultaneously from the set top box. That tuner only has a single ClearQAM tuner for recording digital cable programming. The best you're going to be able to do is record one channel from the set top box and one channel from an ATSC source (free, over-the-air, local digital broadcast).

In order to record more than one channel at a time from your cable subscription, you're going to need either another set top box from COX or a cablecard ready TV Tuner.

-Wolf sends