Does my upgrade plan sound right?

[budgie]

Hi all,

I'm planning on building my second Sage system from scratch. The first one was five years ago and had a pretty steep learning curve. Between what I've forgotten since then and all the new stuff I have to take into account (for example, this is my first foray into HD TV), I'm hoping to get some feedback to make sure my plan is feasible before I start buying things.

Current setup: old-school CRT TV with two digital cable (Comcast) boxes running off a splitter, plugged into 2 Hauppauge cards in an HP PC running Windows XP Pro. Each cable box has a UIRT and I'm using Girder with a Firefly remote. Don't even remember the version of Sage, probably 2.x.

Goal: Have basically the same setup, with updated hardware and Sage.

Plan: Purchase new HD TV and PC (at least 3GHz). Get the Hauppauge 2250, which I understand is a dual-tuner and you can get the package that comes with two UIRTs. Get a PCI video card that has an HDMI output (and preferably supports DXVA). I've also been advised that all HDMI components should be at version 1.4. On the new PC, install the hardware, plug in the cable boxes and TV, install Girder, copy over the Girder and UIRT config files from my existing installation (I'm a little fuzzy on this, but I seem to recall there are text files that I can drag-and-drop so I don't have to manually reconfigure this stuff, yes?). Install and configure the latest Sage. Continue to use the Firefly remote.


Questions:
1. We only have room for a 36" TV at most. Is my understanding correct that at this size, there is no major advantage or quality difference with regards to getting LCD vs. plasma and 720 vs. 1080?
2. Can I still use a splitter for two cable boxes if they're both showing/recording HD content at the same time, or will it likely be unable to handle the amount of data? (Pardon me if my ignorance is showing.)
3. Are there any gotchas when shifting between recording HD content and standard content, or is it seamless?
4. On my current setup, I have black borders around the edge of the screen. I don't recall what the cause is, but back when I built the system, I read that it was a common issue and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Is this still a common issue that I might expect to see in my proposed new setup, or has this been resolved with newer versions of Sage and/or newer TVs?
5. Anything I'm missing?

If you're still reading ... thanks!!

Ron

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by budgie

1. We only have room for a 36" TV at most. Is my understanding correct that at this size, there is no major advantage or quality difference with regards to getting LCD vs. plasma and 720 vs. 1080?

Plasmas start at 42" but in looking recently it has the best picture in the price segment. LED-LCD has the best picture quality on the LCD side but they are pricey. LCD looks like an easy decision.

At 42" I can't tell the difference between 1080 and 720 for TV playback. I can tell on my new 50" so I would say the line is somewhere in there. I would note that only applies to TV. I keep the 42" at 1080 because the better resolution does help when I surf the web from the couch. If it will be TV only then I would say 720 is fine.

Not sure how you decided on 36" but screen size is a diagonal measurement and the footprint of the actual set varies wildly from model to model. If you just went to Wal-mart and measured a few I would look around a little more. There are some sets that are almost all screen. They are also thin and can be mounted on a wall if your room layout would support it.

Originally Posted by budgie

Can I still use a splitter for two cable boxes if they're both showing/recording HD content at the same time, or will it likely be unable to handle the amount of data? (Pardon me if my ignorance is showing.)

The cable will have encrypted and unencrypted signal. The only thing you can tune with any tuner card directly from the cable are the Unencrypted QAM channels which are usually just the local Networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox etc. The cable company will probably leave a few non HD stations unencrypted as well and you will get those also.The Hauppauge 2250 is probably a good fit if you have cable. You can split the coax to feed the 2250 but you will only get two at a time recording of Network stations for the most part.

If you want to get HD from the new cable box (you will probably need to upgrade) you will need an HD-PVR. It is the only device that will capture HD from a SAT\Cable box at this time. (Aver is about to release one soon but it may be awhile before it is supported by Sage) You will need to run the Component cables (Comes with the HD-PVR) from the Cable box to the HD-PVR. The HD-PVR comes with a IR blaster that will change the channel on the box when needed. YOu can get a good 4-way splitter that will feed the 2250 and the cable box.

With two at a time recording of locals and one HD-PVR you may be fine depending on you viewing habits. Many cable shows air several times a day or week and Sage will record them at night if necessary. You will have less conflicts then you would think.

If you need to add a second HD-PVR you will need to get a USB-UIRT since the Hauppauge does not support more than one IR blaster per PC.

Another option to adding another HD-PVR is to run the SVideo output from the Cable box to the 2250. It also comes with a IR Blaster (most packages). The signal will still be analog but if the source is HD then it will still look pretty good from my experience. (Not HD good but DVD good.)
** I think you can do 3 at a time 2xHD 1xAnalog but I am not sure since I have not set it up that way before.

Complicated. I know.

Originally Posted by budgie

Are there any gotchas when shifting between recording HD content and standard content, or is it seamless?

Not really, once the setup is done then you are good. Codec setup can be an issue but it is manageable. You will need a h.264 codec but it will come with the HD-PVR. Going to Window 7 will make good playback much easier.

Originally Posted by budgie

On my current setup, I have black borders around the edge of the screen. I don't recall what the cause is, but back when I built the system, I read that it was a common issue and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Is this still a common issue that I might expect to see in my proposed new setup, or has this been resolved with newer versions of Sage and/or newer TVs?

You will need a decent Video card with HDMI output. Depending on you set you may need to adjust the video for Ocverscan or Underscan but there is a adjustment for this in the Video Card software. It should go Edge to edge.

Originally Posted by budgie

Anything I'm missing?

I would start with getting the new HDTV and the Hauppauge 2250. Get a good 4-way splitter and run coax to the exiting cable boxes and the 2250. Upgrade Sage to current version and set it up with HD locals from the 2250 and Analog cable from your current cards. See the difference HD makes and then decide to upgrade the other components if you can no longer stand watching Analog. (You Will)

How old is the current PC? AGP or PCIe slot? If AGP upgrade the PC.
The ATI 4350 is only $35 and if only using 720p resolution it will be more than adequate for HD. If you are going to 1080 than maybe something a little better ATI 5450\5570.

Hulu, Youtube, and Netflix stream HD over the internet. Netflix is a great deal at $10 a moth for one DVD at a time and unlimited Internet content. The Netfix content is limited but decent.

HD uses a lot more disk space. Get a 1.5TB drive.

The SageTV Extender at $180 is a good option for playback if you do not care a lot about Internet TV sites. (Work arounds for much internet content as well ) Still need a PC for recording. I do not use an Extender but would consider it for any TV except for my main set because of the Internet content.

List specs of current PC for comments on HD compatibility.

[heatvent]

I have a 50" plasma. It's a power pig so I would go with LCD if I was buying today. It's 720p and at 10ft+ you can't tell its not 1280. Closer I think it's distinguishable. Not sure of the same range for a 36" but conceivable closer.

[davephan]

Wow! Still running version 2.x after all these years, and haven't upgraded? I started at version 1.4, and have been upgrading over the years.

You can control at least three set top boxes with one USB-UIRT. If the set top boxes use different IR codes, you can run more than 3 boxes with one USB-UIRT.

What do you plan to do with the HVR-2250? OTA Digital, analog cable, or clear QAM cable? I've been using my HVR-2250 for Comcast analog cable. In a couple weeks, analog cable is going away in my area, except for locals and a few other channels, maybe this will also happen in your area. I setup two Comcast DTA boxes which connect to the cable TV coax and output channel 3 or 4. I run the outputs of both DTAs, one on channel 3, the other on channel 4 into a signal combiner (a splitter in reverse doesn't work, it cancels both signals), the output of the signal combiner goes into the single HVR-2250 RF connector. One problem with the HVR-2250 it has only one RF connector. You have to use both turners for analog, OTA digital, or clearQAM.
The other choice is a HDHomerun. You can use one tuner for OTA digital and other for clearQAM. Analog isn't an option with the HDHomerun though.

If there isn't much clearQAM on your cable system, you'll probably have to get a HD-PVR for HD.

If you haven't already selected a system board, you might look for one with a lot of SATA connectors and built-in RAID. I alot of USB connectors and dual 1 gig nics are nice too.

You'll have to decide on the operating system too. WHS cannot be imaged, so it can have painful time-consuming recoveries with lengthy system outages if something goes wrong. Windows XP and 7 both can be backed up with imaging, and recovered in less than 30 minutes. Windows 7 isn't officially supported yet.

It will take awhile to get everything setup and configured with your new system. I also used the 3 gig benchmark goal for my last dual core system and my current quad system. I'm on my forth SageTV system now, so I've been through that process a few times.

Dave

[SWKerr]

Good HDTV buying guide:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/how-to/...uying-an-hdtv/

Useful Chart on where resolution become relevant.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-th...ght-size-tv/2/

Also consider a surround sound system. TV sound is always weak. Even a cheap surround sound system will make a big difference.

[budgie]

First off, thank you all for your responses. The main reason I'm still running 2.x is because it's been working just fine and I've dreaded opening the can of worms of doing this whole thing again! I don't know that I'd even bother if it wasn't for the kind folks pointing me in the right direction on here.

So if I'm really only interested in being able to record SD and HD from two cable boxes at the same time (and not have to worry about encryption), should I simply skip the 2250 and instead buy two HD-PVR units (one for each box), effectively using them as "capture cards?" In which case, the setup would be this:

-- Two cable boxes with one HD-PVR each
-- A USB-UIRT (or two) coming out of the Sage PC (and still using Girder and the Firefly remote) to change the channel on the PVRs, which in turn would change the channel on their respective cable boxes
-- The PVRs are connected to the PC via USB only

If this scenario is correct, and I am using Sage/Girder/etc. to control the PVRs, is it also correct that the audio and video outputs on the PVRs would be unused, because everything would be spooling onto the PC via USB (again, essentially making the PVRs boxes function the same way my capture cards do now)?

Thanks!!