My ideal cablecard setup

HTPCs have become an integral part of my lifestyle.  Problem is, there is currently no perfect solution for recording and watching TV and watching various types of video formats, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs in a whole house setup.  WMC comes close with extenders, but the extenders lack serious support for many different video formats.  Separate PCs offer more flexibility, but there's no shared recording list that can be accessed from any PC, as with extenders, and recorded programs can't be shared if your provider flags the content as copy once.

I currently have one Ceton InfiniTV 4, two Hauppauge 2250's, and a SiliconDust HDHR Prime cablecard tuner (the HDHR just replaced a 2nd InfiniTV 4 that was installed in my primary HTPC).  I got the HDHR to add flexibility to my tuner pool.  I only have one other PC that would use it at the moment, but I'd rather have the tuners available at either location rather than have them tied to a specific PC,as with the InfiniTV 4 tuner sharing option.  Having all tuners in one box and assigning them to individual PCs can be problematic if the main PC they're installed in goes down for the count.  This leaves everyone in the lurch.  Tuners located in each PC or networked, as with the HDHR, keeps everyone else online and watching TV.  This is the main reason why I got away from using extenders.  I was having issues with my HTPC during the period where I was trying to get my family used to the idea of using extenders.  When the HTPC crashed, the endless grief I endured simply wasn't worth the effort so I succombed to using individual cable boxes or Tivos at each TV.

I regularly use all four tuners in the InfiniTV 4 in my HTPC and I wanted the extras for use in one or more secondary PCs.  The HDHR Prime gives me added flexibility and allows me to use the occasional extra tuners for recording on my HTPC.  Having multiple HTPCs in the house with access to cablecard tuners is a great feature.  Since I'm on FIOS I have the added luxury of being able to share recodings on one PC with all other PCs and have them listed in a single Recorded TV list.  The upcoming Ceton Q DVR and Echo extender may make this discussion moot, but here's what I would like to see developed.  The one huge caveat is that I can't see what's scheduled to record on the other PCs.  You can do this with extenders but individual PCs are isolated.

I realize this probably falls under the category of the mythical "softsled" concept that has been proposed many times, but there it is.  For me, having access to the Scheduled Recordings list on all other PCs would be the final missing piece to the puzzle.  I think it would be as simple as being able to create an add-on for WMC that would allow you to specify the recordings list on other HTPCs just like you can do with folders for movies, video, photos, etc.  An added bonus would be the ability to assign recordings to any PC in the house.  This would be desirable for anyone with a provider using the copy once flag, such as Comcast.

An added bonus would be the ability to have the Recorded TV list broken down so it identifies which PCs contain specific recordings.  Again, this would be desirable to anyone with flagged recordings as they could only be viewed on the PC on which they were recorded.