·How do I control my DirectTV box i.e. have my PC PVR change the channel, etc when I'm not home?
DirecTV Serial Control Utility - Control your DirecTV® satellite receiver with your computer via a serial cable (from your PC to the DirectTV reciever)..
·Is there a dual input capture card available for use with PVR software?
That's a good question. I don't believe there is a true simulataneous TV tuner card encoder.
People use multiple pvr250's (for example) with SageTV (for example) to record concurrent streams/different programming simulataneously.
There ARE cards out there designed for surveilance video cameras that take multiple feeds (like up to 8 or more!) and record the streams to your hard disk... although I have no idea how well, if at all they'd be supported by "PVR" software (probably would depend on the chipset of the device in question). Hope that helps, if not ask the question again with more detail in the forum =)
·I want to put my PVR in a back room and play the recorded video (and other media) from my TV in my main room. How can I do this?
First, let's create some definitions to make this easy to understand:
Server - the computer that performs all of the recording and hosting of media files (like MPEG2 and MP3s).
Client - the computer that plays the media stored on your server and plays them on your home entertainment center (video will show up on your TV, and audio will play through your speakers).
The important part of understanding how to connect a client with the server, is to understand the kind of clients out there (and what servers they support).
There are many kinds of clients, and I will list a few of them here:
* Hauppauge MediaMVP - Highly recommended home theather appliance that can play music, video, and pictues (M.V.P. see?). This requires that you have Windows installed on your server and the MediaMVP application installed and running on your server.
* Microsoft XBox - This is not recommended because it requires modding the XBox (which is currently under some legal constraints). But, there are great applications that will run on a modded XBox similar to what you will find with a MediaMVP.
* Mini-ITX (or other small home-built computer) - This is recommended only for more advanced builders, but is a great method to get exactly what you want. This solutions will give you the most flexibility in the choice of client and server. Linux is fully supported allowing you to run Linux on the server or the client or both.
All of these products rely on having a wired home network (or at least a cross-over cable between the client and the server).
·I purchased an OEM Hauppauge PVR150 MCE, which apparently does not officially work with XP (XP MCE only). Are there any unofficial drivers/software to use with it?
There's little difference between the PVR150 and the PVR150MCE, except for the packaging and the inclusion of the remote/IR blaster with the "retail" pvr150.
