Would this setup work?

[mslade]

Hi, I'm looking to build my first PVR. I already have the house networked and an MP3 server in the garage (serving 3xSlimp3's).

I was proposing to beef up the server in the garage, and stick a Hauppauge TV card in there, and then install SageTv on that server.

I was then going to get a cheap and quiet "Thin Client" PC, put that in the lounge with the TV, and access the server in the garage using microsoft terminal services.

I know I can stream to the thin client from SageTV, but can I use this setup to do all the other PVR things (watch live TV, pause live TV, recorded from EPG, record onto the server, etc)

I had looked at buying a slient (fanless) PC for the lounge (e.g. hushtechnologies, or signum data futureclient) but these are very expensive (about 1000 pounds sterling). I can pick up a fanless thin client for a few hundred pounds.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Mark

[David Lawrance]

If I understand correctly, I'm not sure a thin client would work well, at least out-of-the-box, particularly if you intend to use a wireless network. Perhaps it all depends upon the thin client server software. I frequently us VNC to control my Sage system, essentially a software-based thin client. The screen refresh is fine for control, but would be totally inadequate to watch video.

I fully understand the desire for a cheap and quiet client. A media box is essentially a thin client, or at least a very specialized client. Server software runs on the host. Right now, I'm trying Hauppage's MVP box, $99 here, and if I could settle one wireless problem that causes a loss of connection every couple of minutes, this would be one great box. I also have a PrismIQ box, more expensive, but half the performance. Many of us are looking forward to a possible Sage client that runs on the MVP. That would be so incredibly cool.

[mslade]

Thanks a lot for that, I appreciate you taking the time to comment. My network is actually wired, 100MB/s.

Could this be a possibility using the MVP and the thin client combined? - using the thin client to control the features on the server, and using the MVP to stream the video through.

I'm comfortable with the idea of straeming previously recorded files over the MVP, but could I use it (or the thin client in conjunction with it) to watch live TV, pause live TV, and record via an on-screen EPG? Anyone know?

It sounds like running the sage client on the MVP would do all I'm looking for - does anyone know who soon or likely this is?


Mark

[jmeeks]

I don't know why your thin client idea wouldn't work.

Before SageClient became available I would playback recorded content accross my network (wired) without any issues. All you'd be doing is streaming the video for the monitor accross the network. Is that more bandwidth than playing a file thats on another computer?