[intertan]

here is my proposed setup
1 decent computer
3 hdmi capture cards (Colossus) includes ir blaster
3 satellite receivers dish network
all this goes into the computer not xbmc based more of a server (server)

5 tv's with xbmc
tv1,tv2,tv3,tv4,tv5

now here is what happens
I turn on tv 1 and select live tv
xbmc talks to server (allow me to control a receiver) server says receiver 1 is all yours. when you channel surf or do what ever, the commands are relayed to the server then the receiver. example you are on tlc and you want the history channel you select history channel and xbmc tells server to switch receiver from tlc to history.

now tv 2 turns on
exact same thing happens but now receiver 2 is assigned

tv 3 receiver 3

now tv1 turns off server gets notified and frees up receiver 1 and puts it in standby.
tv 5 turns on and wants live tv. Since receiver 2&3 are used server selects receiver 1.

so now when ever xbmc requests live tv the server automatically selects a free server that is not used #1-3.

Now for some reason you have 3 people watching live tv, meaning all receivers are being used. your mother in law comes over and wants to watch a show, unfortunately since all receivers are being used server could say
(all receivers are being used, ether add another receiver/card or select from one of these channels/shows) a list will then come up 1.discovery, mythbusters 2. cbs, Big Bang Theory 3. Movie channel, In time. These are what the other people are watching.

think this could be possible?

One thing I was thinking that if you are using hd the bandwidth issue. Could have 2-3 100/1000 connections. As well couldn't you assign port numbers?
receiver 1 5001
#2 5002
#3 5003
this does not change so when xbmc requests live tv server tells xbmc to go to port 500x 192.168.0.111:500x depending on what receiver is assigned by the server.

[Kirky99]

I'm actually a bit confused, there's not much of a question here. I think though what you're asking about is a PVR backend. You need to find one or more than support your capture card and I think your problems would be solved.

I used MediaPortal, I have three capture devices that it controls. XBMC justs requests a free tuner, MediaPortal looks for one that can play back the channel requested and the rest, it magic as far as I'm concerned.

You would of course need the PVR version of XBMC which is very much a beta right now. But it works pretty darn good.