Media server hardware?

[Grasshopper]

Another newbie question, searched this discussion board to no avail. (Sorry).

I'm thinking of building an HTPC running Sage with a DVD recorder for my family room. I'm aware of the various concerns regarding case appearance, noise and cooling. That's why I'm considering building a separate box that I could stash in another room to function as a media server -- the Sage box would write to the server's hard drive when recording and read from it during playback. That way, the Sage box wouldn't have to access its own hard drive during normal use. I have Fast Ethernet throughout my house.

My first question: Is this necessary/ sensible? It would be simpler to have the same box functioning in both roles (DVD/PVR and media server), but I'd worry about noise and heat.

My second question: Will I lose PQ if my Sage box is writing to a remote HD over Ethernet during recording and accessing the same way during playback?

My third question (assuming the answers to the first two are "yes" and "no"): What hardware do I need in the media server box? Will a faster CPU help at all? How about memory -- how much is enough?

[mlbdude]

Keep in mind that you don't need to have the SageTV server on the small quite box. You can run that on your media server and use SageClient to access it remotely. This may cause problems getting cable access to your server though

I built a very quiet and low heat HTPC with a case that uses the same measurements as my receiver. If you choose your components wisely, you could probably avoid having to use two computers.

[Grasshopper]

I was thinking of running Sage on the box next to the TV mostly because I didn't want to worry about getting cable access served over the network. So I think it makes sense to have my cable access into a box running Sage and right out (no network) to the TV. No muss, no fuss. I wasn't even planning to run Sage on the media server -- just use it as a big fat HD.

"If I choose my components wisely.." -- any suggestions? It certainly would be easier to do it all in one box, but will noise and heat be a concern?

[mlbdude]

I had the same concerns. I went for an older Intel setup (P3 1000) and a Seagate HD (160 GB). Get a Zalman power supply, and a video card without a fan as well. I use a Radeon 9000. Then, the only noise problem will be CPU fan. This is where the slower the better comes in. Do some research on this one depending on your CPU.

[JasonJoel]

But if you are watching 'Live' TV THROUGH SageTV it is going over the network anyway (in the way you describe your setup anyway).

In SageTV all LiveTV is 'buffered'/recorded - there is no true 'live tv' that comes directly from the PVR card.

You are watching the playback - even on when you select Live TV. This is what allows the time shifting at any time (aka it is always time shifting).

So you might as well put the recorders, etc in the media server and make the machine in your TV room a small quiet box...

Jason

Originally posted by Grasshopper
I was thinking of running Sage on the box next to the TV mostly because I didn't want to worry about getting cable access served over the network. So I think it makes sense to have my cable access into a box running Sage and right out (no network) to the TV. No muss, no fuss. I wasn't even planning to run Sage on the media server -- just use it as a big fat HD.

"If I choose my components wisely.." -- any suggestions? It certainly would be easier to do it all in one box, but will noise and heat be a concern?

[Grasshopper]

Originally posted by JasonJoel
But if you are watching 'Live' TV THROUGH SageTV it is going over the network anyway (in the way you describe your setup anyway).

In SageTV all LiveTV is 'buffered'/recorded - there is no true 'live tv' that comes directly from the PVR card.

You are watching the playback - even on when you select Live TV. This is what allows the time shifting at any time (aka it is always time shifting).

So you might as well put the recorders, etc in the media server and make the machine in your TV room a small quiet box...

Jason

So I could put the digital cable box and all the other appropriate hardware in the media server, and just have a small machine with video out and running Sage Client in the TV room? This, of course, leads me to more questions:

With this configuration, could I use the client machine to schedule recording of TV shows on the server?

Could I use a DVD drive on the client machine to play DVD's through Sage?

Most importantly, what wireless remote control options do I have for the client machine?

[JasonJoel]

Yes, you would then have a 'smaller'/quieter machine in the TV room running Sage Client

With Sage client you definitely can schedule shows to be recorded on the server side (I do it all the time). In fact, configuration-wise you can do almost 100% of what you can do from the server, on the Client side. Very nice.

I've never tried local DVD on the clients though, so I'll have to let someone more informed answer that. Seems to me that you could not, but maybe I am wrong (or maybe that changes in version 2.0?).

Remote control-wise the are a lot of options. Most of them require using the Girder program as the interface, so you might want to start reading up on that. There is a lot of info on these forums as well as the girder website www.girder.nl I believe.

I've used the ATI Remote Wonder (which I like because it is RF, not IR), Streamzap, and the WinXP MCE Remote (can get them at newegg.com). All work fine.

Hope that helps some!

Jason

Originally posted by Grasshopper
So I could put the digital cable box and all the other appropriate hardware in the media server, and just have a small machine with video out and running Sage Client in the TV room? This, of course, leads me to more questions:

With this configuration, could I use the client machine to schedule recording of TV shows on the server?

Could I use a DVD drive on the client machine to play DVD's through Sage?

Most importantly, what wireless remote control options do I have for the client machine?