Which service best serves multiple TV's?

I think you're right about CableCard and switched channels. I seem to remember someone talking about not getting certain HD channels like Universal HD because it was switched.

Currently, I have Time Warner Cable and a Windows Media Center PC. The PC has two over-the-air digital tuners connected to an antenna and two cable tuners. Now I'm only able to tune standard channels at the present time. I haven't yet experimented interfacing my HD receiver with WMC but I don't believe it would work without having a CableCard tuner anyways, and then there's the same snafu mentioned above. I do have a Time Warner HD DVR I use ONLY for recording national HD channels.

My Media Center PC is set up in a closet in the bedroom and can record four shows at once (two off antenna and two off cable). I have that connected by component cable to the HDTV in the bedroom and watch live/recorded TV directly off the PC. The Media Center is connected to a network and my Xbox 360 serves as a Media Center extender. It gives you the whole Media Center interface, including the guide, live TV and recorded TV. I have that connected to the HDTV in the living room. I'm trying to find a cheap used Xbox 360 to use in the spare bedroom as another extender, so my Media Center PC would more or less act as the TV recorder and server for the whole apartment (I know, I'm fairly more connected than I need to be for a single guy living alone in a 2-bedroom apartment!)

TiVo is a pretty good option with multi-room viewing and everything, however the upfront hardware costs and service fees do take a bite. Then at the end of your commitment (and there is a minimum commitment of at least a year), you're left with TiVo boxes that are likely going to drastically drop in resale value. I know... I used to have a pair of Series 2 DT units.

I like Windows Media Center because I can access my recordings, dump them onto my laptop or (with some somewhat complicated tweaking) onto my iPod. With a Time Warner HD DVR, there's no mobility of your recordings and the interface is famously bland, clunky and limited. I love the TiVo interface and extra features, but for HD, the hardware costs and limited resale value soured me on it.

DirecTV is supposed to be coming out with a unit for Windows Media Center that connects by USB and has dual tuners. When it ships and how much it is hasn't been seen yet.

Just another little option you might wanna think about... in my old duplex, I had a DVR in the basement but also wanted to view my recordings on a TV in my bedroom upstairs. I connected a coax cable out and ran it upstairs and got a little IR-blaster thingie direct from Scientific Atlanta that plugs into the USB port on the front of the DVR. That has a 25-foot IR-extension that I could run upstairs. I could then take my remote up to my bedroom and control the box downstairs. Don't know if something like that would be an option for you, but it works and I don't know that too many people know Sci-At sells IR-extenders for their DVRs.

Thanks for the ideas. I love hearing how other people are setup since obviously I'm not the first person to go through this.

I think you're right about the Tivo route ... seems like a huge investment for technology that will be outdated quickly and I'm a bit of a geek that likes to have the latest and greatest although when it comes to TV technology I'm not quite an early-adopter.

I've been reading a lot and started a thread on a DISH Network forum and got some great ideas from them. Using what they call a 'Super Home Node' I can get the output signal from two DVR's broadcast to the entire house over existing coax which solves my "DISH doesn't have a multi-room option like Tivo" problem. Although I think this will require me to have two remotes in each room... I'll have to look into this more yet.

I also found some technology that runs HDMI signals over two Cat5 cables which would allow me to put both of my DVR receivers in the basement. They're always coming out with technology to run HDMI signals through coax but Geffen said it won't be ready till late 2008. I'm going to the new house tomorrow so I'll see if there are two runs of Cat5 in the two rooms we'll have HDTV's in. I know there's Cat5 run to all rooms but I'm not doubtful there's 2 lines.

So much technology!

I have zero experience with Windows Media Center otherwise I would be a little more adapt to give it a try. Right now I'm so comfortable with the DISH DVR ... it's really a great system and I have zero complaints especially since it starting mixing OTA signals in with the regular guide from my antenna. I guess the world is trying to adopt a single HDTV and I'm pushing for 2 (I'll actually have 4 HDTV's in the house but I won't push it!) :)

Thanks again.

Price will be the biggest driver here. Tivo HD recievers aren't cheap, especialy if you want one with some actual storage capacity. Even after your initail hardware costs you will still have to fork over the $13 a month for the Tivo service plus the $60ish a month to TW. If money isn't an object Tivo would be the best option. New networking options will be coming out in the next year or so that will allow wireless transfer of video all over the house. HP has started doing this with their MediaCenter TV's but it's still pretty rough.

Hehe...someone with 7 TVs in a house...now I don't feel so bad about my 5 TVs.

One of the major things that has kept me from switching to satellite in the past is the multiple TV concern. It's good to see that there are several options out there now that don't require a satellite box in each room.

My current set up is rather low-tech, but since I only have 1 HDTV at the present moment it works well for me. My current home was easier to deal with than my last one in that my basement is unfinished and I was able to access and run good quality RG-6 coax to all the rooms where there is a TV (the previous owner had run cheap RG-59 throughout the house).

I have 2 coaxial cables running to each TV- 1 for the cable TV signal and then one coming from a switch box in the living room to the other 4 TVs (actually from the switch box to a RF modulator to the RG-6 coax to the other TVs). Using the switch box I can watch whatever I'm watching in the living room (the DVD player, the VCR, the cable box) from any room in the house in addition to having cable TV directly at each TV.

So it's a lowtech solution, but the picture quality on the SD TVs is good and it works well.

The HDMI via Cat5 is an idea I'd like to see. If it ends up working works well, I may have to run some Cat5 and give that a try whenever I get another HDTV.

In my last house where I wasn't able to run my own cable as easily as I can in this one, I tried several things that were better than nothing but still not very good- a Leapfrog system that used the home's existing phone wire, a converter that converted component video to a UHF signal, etc. That was all before wireless networking became as advanced as it is today.

I also have a Sony LocationFree system hooked up to my home network. It's not anything I'd use to watch TV at home because the quality isn't good, but up until recently I was traveling a lot for work and it was nice being able to get my home cable TV channels via my laptop and a broadband connection anywhere I went.

Directv now has what's called SWM technology in which a single cable from Directv's dish supports multiple signals. So homes wired with single cables to each room now can be split at the DVR to record multople HD programs at the same time. The old connections required 2 coax cables to each DVR so you could record 2 programs at once and watch a 3rd. There HR20 DVR has 4 tuners, 2 HD and 2 OTA, all outputs are active. HDMI, Component, Fibre, and of course analog (red/white/yellow)

I saw at a show about 3 weeks ago a product called Xtender from BOCS www.bocsco.com. They use coax cables to distribute video signals around a home. Any TV, even 7, connected to the coax can receive the video signal. You can't watch different channels on each TV, but you can watch a channel on one TV and a DVD on another one and a TiVo on another one. Looked cool, but haven't found many reviews. The prices that I have seen on the internet are around $4-500.

I have the Charter Bundle. Everything, the cable, the internet, the phone, is hooked up in the living room. The problem is that I live in a townhouse. Charter refuses to wire the other 3 rooms with or without a box.

Is there anyone who can help me in splitting the cable to the televisions in the other 3 rooms without the use of additional boxes?

What kind of splitter will I need?

Can anyone explain to me step by step how to do it myself since Charter will not?