Dedicated PC for SageClient

[lovingHDTV]

Has anyone built a dedicated PC and ran SageClient on it to act as a STB?

I was thinking of a pc with small harddrive, dvd drive, embedded network and an agp video card. Nothing else.

I was thinking this would be a great "connected DVD player" solution. Better than the GoVideo and Gateway solutions becaues you could stream higher than the 3mbs you get with those solutions.

thanks,

[Narflex]

I use a VIA Mini-ITX M9000 to do this. A lot of our customers use the Mini-ITX boards for STB-like client solutions.

[fidget]

I use a mini-ITX for my STB as well. I chose a case that allowed me to use the PCI card so that I could add a PVR-350 to drive my TV. I use SageRecorder to incorporate that card as a network encoder, and use the hardware deocoder to drive one of my TV's inputs. I feed the S-Video out on the computer to drive the TV's other input. This gives me one high-quality picture, and one good quality picture that I can also use to browse the net from (as I am doing now).

[lovingHDTV]

Have either of you tried to display the HDTV files on you mini-ITX systems? I read that it has a hardware mpegII decoder and was wondering if that is used when viewing HDTV recordings as I would like to be able to stream HDTV shows to this box also. That is when they are finally support by Sage

thanks,

[mrseidler]

I also want to go the STB route. If I change my set up to take the PVR-250 out of my M10000 and use just the on-board graphics card and SageClient, how much hard drive space will I really need? Can I get by with 1gb (left over after loading XP)? Can it stream over a wireless network? Any hiccups to speak of? I'm using the M10000 with the PVR-250 and a 120 gb hd right now but heat is an issue in my case (converted webtv box). I think getting the 250 out and moving it to my mid-size case (and adding a second card to handle the 'B' channels) the set top box would be quiet enough and cool enough for the entertainment center. Will SageTV 2.0 be able to search the server for media and build the library automatically? Man, this PVR stuff is cool!

[lovingHDTV]

mrseidler,
have you tried to view any of the HDTV streams on your M10000?

thanks,

[fidget]

Originally posted by mrseidler
I also want to go the STB route. If I change my set up to take the PVR-250 out of my M10000 and use just the on-board graphics card and SageClient, how much hard drive space will I really need? Can I get by with 1gb (left over after loading XP)?

You will only need enough to run Windows. I only see my STB's hard drive light when I am booting or launching another program. Other than that, everything seems to be staying resident in my 256 MB of RAM. You will need more only if you want to use it for network storage.

Can it stream over a wireless network? Any hiccups to speak of?

I would expect to see problems on a wireless LAN, especially if it is a 11 Mb/s (the effective rate is only 2 Mb/s). On a 54 Mb/s LAN, you should be able to watch a high-quality recording (8 Mb/s), but you may have problems if you have two clients on the wireless (I believe the effective bandwidth is 11-18 Mb/s, but I'm not sure).

[mrseidler]

Thanks Fidget, That bursts my bubble but I guess i'll have to wait a bit until I can upgrade to 54mb/s wireless. I live in an apartment and can't string too many cables. It might be worth it to string cables though, 'cause then I could run two clients (bedroom and living room) with the server always on in the office. Thanks for the info on the HD too.