Any plans to support recording multiple channels from a single multiplex?

[Nil Einne]

I'm in the process of looking for a utility to replace BeyondTV given their apparent abandonment of the non-US market (lack of once promised DVB-T support with no signs they plan to change any time soon). SageTV was suggested as a replacement and from my trials, it does seem decent. But one disappointing thing it the lack of support for recording several channels from one multiplex. Several other things I've tried or read about do support this and as far as I'm aware most cards have no problem with it (I guess if you have a very high bandwidth, e.g. 6 HD channels it could be a problem). Obviously you may have HD issues if you try to record too many at one time as well but this is no different from using multiple cards.

I've personally tried it with a VLC 0.9.0 nightly build in Windows but from what I've read; MythTV, MediaPortal, DVBViewer and GB-PVR at the very least support it. Heck I came across this post which suggests Compro (who make DVB-T cards) software even supports it and I think we all know card manufacturers aren't reknown for having the best software...

Perhaps I'm mistaken but it sounds to me it won't be too hard to support it, all you really need to do is to enhance the demuxing engine so it can demux multiple program streams from the one transport stream.

This would be incredibly useful since I suspect for many it means having two to four DVB-T or DVB-S tuners will allow you to simulatenous record the vast majority of unencrypted channels that you're likely to be interested in. (Here in NZ, at the current time two DVB-T tuners is basically enough for all channels available on DVB-T that most people are going to be interested in and 3 is enought to cover everything. In the UK, I suspect most people would be happy with 3 or 4 and 6 covers everything http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Multirec) It may be confusing to some, but I'm sure you can explain it in the manual or worst case scenario disable it by default if think it makes more problems then it's worth.

P.S. Reading a bit further, it appears ATSC and DVB-C can do this at well (provided the channels are unencrypted of course) so even Americans don't lose out!

Cheers

[Fuzzy]

Being in the US, I can't vouch for it, but there is a Network Encoder for DVBViewer use in SageTV. Whether this supports multiplexed channels, I don't know, but it is a good place to start (as I believe DVBViewer DOES support it). Check out StephaneM's DVBViewer Encoder here: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30442

As a note though, it wouldnt' be much use in the states, even though ATSC supports multiplexing multiple streams, most broadcasters put a very high bitrate HD feed in there, and then just one or two very low quality news and/or weather feeds, which I'd imagine, no one ever actually watches.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

but there is a Network Encoder for DVBViewer use in SageTV. Whether this supports multiplexed channels, I don't know, but it is a good place to start (as I believe DVBViewer DOES support it).

Unfortunately with the network encoder you loose the ability to record two or more channels from the same multiplex. Because SageTV is doing the recording and it doesn't know that it can do it through the encoder (even if you create multiple lineups, for instance one for each transponder, you'll have conflicts)