Number of Media Extenders vs Number of Tuners

[jahouse]

I have a quick question. If I have 4 media extenders say all HD300 and 4 tv tuners in my WHS SageTV server is there a point to add another extender? For instance if all 4 HD300 where on the same channel would they all use the same tuner or would each HD300 be dedicated to a tuner?

[sleonard]

If all 4 extenders were watching the exact same show live then only one tuner would be utilized.

S

[GKusnick]

Unless you do a lot of channel surfing, the number of TVs you have doesn't really impact the number of tuners you need. The relevant factor is what shows you want to watch or record, and how many of them are on at the same time (with no repeat airings at later times).

But if you really want to be able to just flip channels at random and watch whatever's on, and do that separately on all your TVs simultaneously, then you'll need at least one tuner per TV. (Or you could just use the TV's own built-in tuner, if it has one.) Most of us find we stop doing that once we have a backlog of recorded shows to watch.

[Suntan]

O’l Pappy used to spin yarns ‘bout how they would sit ther hours on end. Just sit ther. Clicking the channel button. Up up up, then down down down....

Said they liked to do it cus they could see what else was on the TV. ...”What else?” we’d ask. “You mean you didn’t just pick the show you wanted to watch and it would start playing?”



-Suntan

[jahouse]

Thanks for the replies. The reason I asked was because I am getting a nuvo system installed and didn't know if I needed a 4x4 hdmi switch since there are two tvs in the basement which will primarily be on the same channel for sports, etc. I did not want to use two tuners so with an hdmi switch each tv could select the same input source and hence save one tv tuner. but thanks to your answers that is not needed as it was stated that as long as I am watching the same program on the same channel only 1 tuner will be used.

[GKusnick]

Why, when I was your age, we had to get up and walk across the room to change channels.

[sleonard]

I remember a new TV we got when I was a kid. My brother and I thought it was cool because instead of a dial to turn it had 13 little buttons and you didn't have to push the buttons all you had to do was touch one to change to that channel. For weeks we fought over who got to get up and change channels

S

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by jahouse

Thanks for the replies. The reason I asked was because I am getting a nuvo system installed and didn't know if I needed a 4x4 hdmi switch since there are two tvs in the basement which will primarily be on the same channel for sports, etc. I did not want to use two tuners so with an hdmi switch each tv could select the same input source and hence save one tv tuner. but thanks to your answers that is not needed as it was stated that as long as I am watching the same program on the same channel only 1 tuner will be used.

Just be aware that if you have two Extenders watching the same source, they may not necessarily be perfectly in sync. If you pause or rewind one, the other will keep playing. Even if you try to make them both "live" there will probably be a small (~1 second?) difference. So, if you have both TV's in the same room and have the sound turned up so you can hear them both, you will probably get an echo.