New SageTV Setup (will this work?)

[KorCar1]

Ok, I'm brand new to this whole Sage thing, but I've been looking for a solution, that I think Sage will provide, off and on for the last few years. Anyway, here's what I'm thinking...

Scenario: I'm building a new house now. I will have a theater room with a HDTV projector and a 110" screen, 50" plasma in the bedroom, and a 50" DLP in the living room. The provider will probably be DishNetwork, and I will have 2 HD boxes and 1 SD box. Those will all be in a wiring closet with my SageTV server. Each TV will have a PC running SageTV client so I can stream HD to each one.

Questions:
1. Will this set up allow me to stream HD recordings, live HD, and SD live/recordings to each TV?
2. The SageTV server will be close enough to serve as a client for my theater room. Can it do that? Or do I have to have another PC running SageClient?
3. I'm planning on having a wired GigE network. Will this be enough bandwidth if I had to stream 2 live HD feeds at the same time?
4. If the satellite box does the HD tuning, do I still need an HD tuner card in the SageTV server, or will a regular tuner do the same thing?
5. Is there a limit to the number of tuners Sage can support? (I'll need 4, but may need to expand later.)

Thanks for taking the time to read this rather winded post. Any help is appreciated.

[JUC]

Well, I'll comment on the HD aspect of your question--Sage cannot accept HD video from satellite without a very expensive mod that i'm sure someone will link for you (do a search for HD satellite). That being said-your plans may change due to this. If you can get HD OTA then you can input that into a HD tuner card and stream that to your clients just fine.
JUC

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by KorCar1

Questions:
1. Will this set up allow me to stream HD recordings, live HD, and SD live/recordings to each TV?

You'll need to get your sat boxen R5000-HD modded to record/stream HD in HD, otherwise you can only record the downconverted SD.

2. The SageTV server will be close enough to serve as a client for my theater room. Can it do that? Or do I have to have another PC running SageClient?

Yes, you can do that.

3. I'm planning on having a wired GigE network. Will this be enough bandwidth if I had to stream 2 live HD feeds at the same time?

More than plenty.

4. If the satellite box does the HD tuning, do I still need an HD tuner card in the SageTV server, or will a regular tuner do the same thing?

See 1, and HD tuner card won't do you a bit of good if your HD source is not OTA (Over-The-Air).

5. Is there a limit to the number of tuners Sage can support? (I'll need 4, but may need to expand later.)

Nope. There might be a practical limit based on system performance, but that's a lot more than 4.

[KorCar1]

Thanks for the response. In doing some more reading, I did find out about that USB mod required for DishNetwork HD recording. Is this the case for DirecTV too? Or can that be recorded without the mod?

[stanger89]

That's the case for anything HD (other than OTA) there's no (practical) way to record HD from a set top box, unless it's firewire or USB (ie the compressed bitstream).

Just to be clear, you can record SD off satellite quite easilly without any mods, but HD is a whole different animal.

[KorCar1]

Ok, I think I'm clear on everything now. Thanks for your help.