10+ networked DVRs

Question

Is there a limit to the number of machines that the MRV software will support at any one time? I remember, painfully, that the old ReplayTV software would only allow its networked machines to see nine other Replays at once.

I have 12 (8 HR20s and 4 HR22s) networked and without fail each only sees 10 others -- and the "missing" machine changes after I reset all 12.

In addition, Multi-Room "Status" page only lists five (maximum) DVRs -- not a real problem but an annoyance, to be sure.

dcd · Answer

Every, repeat every, computer based system ever designed has built in limitations. Try putting 12 GB of memory on a Windows 32 bit machine and you'll see what I mean. But, as to the limit, I have no idea what it is and I'll accept your findings. When the system goes mainstream it will require a SWM system, and probably a tiny percentage of Directv customers actually have more than 8 tuners in their system. They would never spend the resources to design a system tailored to meet excessive needs such as yours. Besides, after 5 DVR's, managing the play list could get to be a lot of work.

wordethic · Answer

re SWM requirement and 8-tuner limitation: I hear your doom-and-gloom prophesy/warning that DirecTV will thumb its nose at me, after I went to great lengths to hard-wire the house (complete with two 6x16 Zinwell multiswitches). And I won't shoot the messenger, tempting as it is, given my fury that DTV would screw me after I've paid two bills a month for the past 10 years.

I will maintain, however, that 12 boxes is not an extreme case, especially given the fact that we live in a society of sports bars. Besides, the very fact that I could purchase a 6x16 multiswitch means that at one time DirecTV understood that it shouldn't alienate customers who want (and will pay for) more boxes each month.

IMHO, good business means thinking about (and even better, actively working to retain) the good customers, not just those looking for a new flavor every month (//OK, every two years!). Now it's true that if I owned a 100-box network, I'd feel similarly insulted, but then again if I were paying $5 x 100 boxes every month I'd expect a courtesy call from the CEO to tell me that my brand loyalty was taxing his programmers' pea-sized brains.

scraeling · Answer

i'll shoot back at the playlist the end result of mrv when its finished is that the dvr's will talk to one another to help with recording conflicts so in theory you could have x amount in a closet and one in the living room and only tell the one in the living room to record and the others would pickup the slack and manage the recordings to get everything possible covered

testerx · Answer

There's really no practical limit on the number of receivers you can have on a SWiM system... after all they're being used in MDU installations that support many more than 8 tuners. It just takes a separate SWiM segment for each 8 or fewer tuners. And the fact that the SWiM-16 is on its way shows that they haven't abandoned people with more than 8 tuners. It seems likely there will be some practical limits on the number of MRV'd receivers however, possibly due to things like memory limitations and network bandwidth.

dcd · Answer

And, of course, if you truly want MRV, then the Zinwell 6X16's are likely history. According to all we've heard, MRV will not be activated without a SWM environment. Possibly they will make exceptions in this case. And to be clear, 10 DVR's would require a triple SWM.

wordethic · Answer

to sungam: glad to hear that a SWiM-16 is in the works

However, re memory/bandwidth as limit: All I'm asking, really, is that each DVR see all others, which is merely a matter of its ability to understand 10+ IP addresses. For example, my PS3 sees all 12 boxes just fine -- not that it can do anything with the encrypted files. I'm not asking for all 12 boxes to be MRV-ing at the same time, when bandwidth could be a limiter.

I maintain that this is a simple matter, though perhaps unanticipated. The fact that the Status page only allows for a list of five networked boxes (even though the screen could simply scroll to show more boxes) but yet I can see twice that number from any box is proof to me that all this is merely an oversight. As such, I wanted to alert DirecTV to the problem. If the problem is, indeed, far more complicated than I think, I'd like some clarification from someone official.

to dcd: re triple SWM: Zinwell 6x16s allow for a maximum of 32 HR2x (or 64 tuners), where the first-in-line 6x16 can feed four others. How well do SWiMs stack?

Bottom line: I'm not against using coax rather than Cat-5 to MRV, and I appreciate the heads-up -- although I think it's a little odd that DirecTV would allow me to beta test if they already know they're going to pull the rug out from me later.

dcd · Answer

This is totally unofficial but it seems to me the "beta test" is actually a tease test, exposing large numbers of folks to this neat feature before imposing the limits and fees. It also appears that the software currently in testing has most all the wrinkles worked out. (although the tardy roll out of the H2X software doesn't bode well) My conclusion; we aren't actually participating in a beta test, we just got a free preview before they "pull the rug out".
As to expanding the limit of viewed MRV devices. My basic point earlier was that I doubted they would increase the "capacity" although for folks like yourself that would be a nice feature.

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