Proposed setup .. please comment

[xred]

Hello all Sage Aficianados.. I am preparing to setup my first SageTV setup and I would appreciate any comments or obvious problems with this setup. Heres what I am working with

PC #1
P4 2.4Ghz / 1 gig Ram / 120 gig HD
ATI All in Wonder 8500DV
ATI e-home Wonder

PC #2
P4 3.0Ghz / 1 gig Ram / 120 gig HD
ATI All in Wonder 9000
Plextor ConvertX 402U-TV

Restrictions:
I can't switch the hardware tuners from there respective PCs. The 3Ghz MUST have the external Plextor tuner, it is a small Dell system and has no free PCI slots.

Goals:
Ideally I would like to be able to watch live TV on PC#1, and have PC#2 act as the recorder. I have read that SageTV Recorder won't work with the 402U, so the obvious solution is not available to me.

Questions:
- Would it possible to use the Network Encoder software I see mentioned in the forums on PC#2 (perhaps even with the All in Wonder 9000)?

- If I purchased a second full version of Sage for PC#2, would that allow the Plextor to work as networked PVR?

All help appreciated.

Thanks.

[mdmint]

Have you checked the supported tuners? It appears you have only one that SageTV supports, the Plextor.

What do you mean by watch live tv on PC1? Everything you watch TV wise via Sage is recorded first and hence requires a supported tuner. Live tv is of course time shifted, recorded then immediately played back allowing pausing etc. You could put SageTV on PC2 and SageTV Client on PC1. PC1 would have full use of PC2 Sage for previously recorded or live. Of course, with only one supported tuner you could only record one show at any given time be it scheduled or live. You could watch a previously recorded show while recording something else but that would be you limit record wise until you get more supported tuners.

[Lucas]

I would make either PC1(preferable) or PC2 as the SageTV Server with a full SageTV licence.

Add to the server more disk by either bying an extra 200Gb or moving one of the existing 120Gb to it and replacing it with a 40 or 80Gb.
Also move all your capture devices (plextor) to the server. I don't think that the e-home wonder works. In reality you need to have two capture devices to have a pretty seemless PVR.

The PC that remains can run the SageTV client and access everything from there.

Your memory and processors are fine.

[heffe2001]

I think the E-home he's using is the one that Sage does support. I would also use the Plextor on the #1 machine, to keep it more simple (you can see my config in my sig, and I'm seriously thinking of buying a couple PVR500's and replacing all my current tuners into the main server, less hardware, and less headaches).

[xred]

Originally Posted by mdmint

Have you checked the supported tuners? It appears you have only one that SageTV supports, the Plextor.

Hi. Yes I am sure the e-home wonder is supported. I have tested it with Sage and it appears on the list of supported cards, so I'm not worried about this.

Originally Posted by mdmint

What do you mean by watch live tv on PC1?

Sorry I should have been clearer about this. What I want is full watch / record functionality. In this case I would like to primarily watch on PC1 (in the living room) and record on PC2 (in the PC Closet)

One of the goals I am after is to have PC1 (in the living room) do as little as possible.. principally for the reduced heat / noise. A 2 tuner solution on the backend would solve this.. but as I mentioned PC#2 can only use external tuners and I only have 1 Plextor 402U unit. So a distibuted tuner setup (one in each PC) seemed to make more sense to me.

Thanks for the comments.

[xred]

Originally Posted by Lucas

I would make either PC1(preferable) or PC2 as the SageTV Server with a full SageTV licence.

Hi. I would LOVE to do this, but I have some technical (and some asthetic!) restrictions on this. PC#2 is a SFF Dell machine with no free internal slots or hard drive bays. It MUST be the server.

PC#1 is inside a very nice Ahanix DVine4 case and hence MUST be in the living room. It has free slots and bays, but I don't want to use them as the increased heat = more noise.

If you're wondering why I am going through all these acrobatics, there is an X factor I have not mentioned. Yes that's right, the girlfriend factor. No loud noisy PC's allowed in the living room, hence the mayhem.

Originally Posted by Lucas

Add to the server more disk by either bying an extra 200Gb or moving one of the existing 120Gb to it and replacing it with a 40 or 80Gb.
Also move all your capture devices (plextor) to the server. I don't think that the e-home wonder works. In reality you need to have two capture devices to have a pretty seemless PVR.

The E-Home Wonder works. This is confirmed. Additional storage is also not a problem, I can add external Firewire HD's.

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by xred

Hi. I would LOVE to do this, but I have some technical (and some asthetic!) restrictions on this. PC#2 is a SFF Dell machine with no free internal slots or hard drive bays. It MUST be the server.

You may find in the long run using a low end zero expandable PC as your Sage Server may be more costly than using a more flexible design since all tuners and HDs added will need to be external and hence more costly. How many actual slots does the Dell have and what are they being used for? If not needed for SageTV Server duty and could free a slot a PVR500 would give you two additional tuners.

PC#1 is inside a very nice Ahanix DVine4 case and hence MUST be in the living room. It has free slots and bays, but I don't want to use them as the increased heat = more noise.

I have a tuner in my HTPC but primarily as a just in case I want to watch Live and all 5 Server tuners are recording.

If you're wondering why I am going through all these acrobatics, there is an X factor I have not mentioned. Yes that's right, the girlfriend factor. No loud noisy PC's allowed in the living room, hence the mayhem.

The E-Home Wonder works. This is confirmed. Additional storage is also not a problem, I can add external Firewire HD's.

My mistake earlier. I noticed the two AIW but not the E-Home Wonder. The disadvantage of using the E-Home Wonder in Networked mode for other than live tv timeshifting is the PC would have to be left on for any scheduled recordings.

[Lucas]

That's clearer now xred. I didn't read the config carefully enough.