Best New Sage Setup

[mkelly4ca]

I don't have SageTV yet. I have a vision of the kind of functionality I want, but I'm confused about what hardware to get and whether SageTV can give me what I want.

Here's what I want:

I want Tivo functionality on 3 TVs throughout the house, plus on my computer.

I want each of the 3 TVs (and my computer) to be able to view a different live channel at once - ie. four live channels playing in the house at the same time.

I want it to seem as if each of those 3 TVs (and my computer) are connected to the same TiVo, in that they all see the same list of recorded programs.

I want the 3 TVs (and my computer) to be able to view any of the recorded programs at any time (ie. they could all be viewing the same program).

I want to be able to record 4 shows at once. It's ok if each recording show uses up one available live channel.

The three TVs (and my computer) are all in separate rooms.

I want to be able to control the three TVs with a typical remote control. I have no need to control my computer with a remote control.

I would prefer to have only one computer. In each TV room I would prefer to have only the TV, the remote control, an incoming wire and presumably an outgoing wire or transmitter to send the remote control signals to the computer.

Can this be done? How can this be done? What equipment do I need? Can SageTV handle this situation?

Thanks for helping the newbie!

[Opus4]

Most of what you are saying is doable, but I think you'll need either some sort of PC or an MVP from Hauppauge at each of the 3 TVs, since I'm not sure how you would get that single computer to output & playback everything on its own.

Basically, you would have a single server (your main PC) and 3 clients of some sort. The server would need the 4 tuners (or 2 PVR-500s, since they each have 2 tuners).

If the clients were all PCs, then you would install SageTVClient on each system and they would be networked to the main PC. You will need some sort of remote & receiver for each system.

If the clients were MVPs, you would have SageTVClient also installed on the server & you would use the existing MVP plugin to be able to play your recordings at each TV. Each MVP would have a network connection to the server. The MVP has its own remote. The MVP can only play MPEG recordings, so no DVDs or other video formats -- may or may not be important to you.

- Andy

[SprDtyF350]

This same type of question came up recently on the other guys (BTV) forums.

The following is what one of the folks there is doing:

"I don't know what type of space you have, but I've been looking at using these types of connections:
http://www.unicomlink.com/products/i..._devices.asp#1

This could give the the ability to set up a bunch of BTV Link client PCs in another room, run cat5e/6 and then component to your TVs. I just got my first one, and and will be running it to my MBR on the second floor from a computer in a closet in my basement. You would also need to consider, the remotes (I use Fireflys) and running USB extensions."

I don't know how well it worked for him but this way the client PC's could hide in a closet or wherever.

I personally have the PC's sitting next to the TV somewhere. They don't have to be real powerful PC's.

The MVP is a good, quiet way to do what you want also. It's a small little box that makes no noise, can be found pretty cheap sometimes, and the MVP Client that Matt wrote awhile back lets you do everything except for the playback of Divx with it. It looks and acts pretty much the same as Sage. I still prefer a PC over the MVP but it does work pretty good.

[mkelly4ca]

Thanks for the info!

If I had client PCs:

Does the server PC just send mpeg? How powerful would the client PCs have to be to decode mpeg without any hiccups? How does the decoded mpeg get to the TV? How powerful would they have to be if they had mpeg decoder hardware? What mpeg decoder hardware should I get in that case?

What function does the client PC perform besides decoding the mpeg and sending it to the TV? I'm guessing the answer is that it runs the Sage interface program, which responds to the remote and gets the actual live or recorded mpeg feed from the server. Does the Sage interface appear on the TV or do I need the client PC to have a monitor so I can see what I'm doing?

Could I just have the one PC with 3 mpeg decoder cards to service the 3 TVs? I would have to have some way for the three remote controls to get their signals to the PC, and then the software would have to be able to distinguish between the three remotes and serve each of them.

If I had MVPs, what would make me wish I had gone with PCs instead of MVPs? Reading through the MVP page (http://www.hauppauge.com/html/mediamvp_datasheet.htm), it doesn't mention being able to play a live signal. Can I watch live TV (and change channels, browse the listings, etc) through the MVP? I assume I couldn't set up recordings, "season passes" and whatnot through the MVP, since it's not running Sage. Or can I send signals through the MVP to the Sage running on the server, and could Sage then distinguish between the three remotes?

Thanks for answering my stupid questions!

[mkelly4ca]

Can one instance of the MVP software running on the server handle the 3 MVPs at the same time?

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by mkelly4ca

If I had MVPs, what would make me wish I had gone with PCs instead of MVPs? Reading through the MVP page (http://www.hauppauge.com/html/mediamvp_datasheet.htm), it doesn't mention being able to play a live signal. Can I watch live TV (and change channels, browse the listings, etc) through the MVP? I assume I couldn't set up recordings, "season passes" and whatnot through the MVP, since it's not running Sage. Or can I send signals through the MVP to the Sage running on the server, and could Sage then distinguish between the three remotes?

With Matt's MVP plugin, you can basically ignore everything on the hauppauge page, it doesn't apply. the MVP plugin turns the MVP into a complete Sage client. the limitation is that basically it can only play MPEGS, no DVD's or divx/xvids.

edit: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...ght=mvp+plugin

[RedR]

Heya,
Actually, I re-encode my DVD's so it’s ripped to the hard drive with mp2 audio instead of AC3. Each movie works out to be avg. 4GB and takes about 20min per DVD to rip/re-encode. I love it and it works great on SageTV, SageTV PC clients, as well as Matt's MVP SageTV client.
I basically have one PC SageTV client (my main game box), two TV's using the MVP SageTV client (both running on the main SageTV server), and a SageTV server that host to the clients that drives the living room TV as well. For each MVP I have a SageTV client running on the main server, so I bumped the server memory from 512MB to 1GB seeing a slight performance increase when I did. I am VERY happy with the setup and I think you will be as well.

Hope this helps,
RedR

[Deadbolt]

RedR,

What software do you use to rip your DVDs to your HD w/ mp2 audio?

Thanks!

[SprDtyF350]

Originally Posted by mkelly4ca

Can one instance of the MVP software running on the server handle the 3 MVPs at the same time?

Yes it can but each instance uses a good chumk of memory on the server so you need to be sure you have enough. Like 1gb would do.

[jquinlan]

Originally Posted by mkelly4ca

Can one instance of the MVP software running on the server handle the 3 MVPs at the same time?

Using the Hauppauge MVP software then yes, if using the Sage MVP client you will need to run an instance of the Sage client for each MVP. I have the Sage Service and 2 Sage Client running on my PVR Server. I dont use my server as a client, its locked away due to noise and for proper cooling.

[naln]

Originally Posted by SprDtyF350

Yes it can but each instance uses a good chumk of memory on the server so you need to be sure you have enough. Like 1gb would do.

There are also some alternative MVP softwares. Remember having read about this a while ago- but I am not sure if the MVP client plugin would work in that case- the software basically was intended as a replacement for the native MVP software/OS(?). Search the 'MediaMVP Media Center' - forums for further detailed info about this.

[src666]

On the positive side, Andy recently mentioned that the Sage client is licensed per machine, and you can run multiple instances on the same machine without buying additional licenses.

However, I would personally not want to buy a bunch of MVP's at this point in time. They are old, crufty technology that might work today, but I don't think they will be viable solutions too much longer.

[Toddly]

Originally Posted by Deadbolt

RedR,

What software do you use to rip your DVDs to your HD w/ mp2 audio?

Thanks!

I'm interested too. I would really like to do this.

[Wakecrash]

I would say Opus4 MVP suggestion is a good one. Some people have reported really good deals at Radio Shack and Circuit City.

I personally have a server, a PC Client and two MVPs. MVPs are your best cost/performance.

A PC can do more things such as play DVD, surf the net, with the right vid card can support HD TVs, play vidos besides just mpegs, play CDs, etc. Navigating menus on the pc are slightly faster than MVP.

Biggest dowside of PCs include cost such as the PC hardware, remote controls, wireless keyboards, quite fans, special cases, etc. Depending on your A/V cabinet may need to make some mods to that for cooling. So the cost you save by not going with PC clients can go into your addational tuners and hard drives.

If I was starting over, I would only have a server and MVPs.