Minimum version of SageTV software for HD

[fventura]

I've been running a flavor of v4 for some time without issues. However each upgrade to get to a stable system was a little painfull.

I'ld like to look at integrating HD OTA into Sage now though.

I have aSageTV server with one PVR250 and a client with a SageRecorder with a PVR250. (Could never get both tuners to function without stutterring in my server). I also have a MVP Client and anoth SageTV client.

I'm thinking of a HD Homerun to encode to my server for OTA. Already got an antenna an older myHD for Hd standalone.

It's been awhile and I haven't kept up with the releases on SageTV so I have a few questions.

1) What's the minimum version of STABLE SageTV software to use for HD support.

2) My sageTV server does not need to playback anything...do I need heft video card and processor for HDencoding with a HD homerun or say a Dvico Fusion 5 lite ?

3) What about the hardware on the Sageclient to display HD? Will a XP2700 with Nvidia 6600 cut it ?

I am contemplating upgrading the server and trying to get dual tuners consolidated again...maybe just a PVR500 and Dvico Fusion card. THough I like the idea of the networked HD homerun though as I could put it in the basement and not have to patch the coax to the Server in the office.

[valnar]

My SageTV server has been next to my TV for years, but I'm contemplating the same scenario so I can go with a smaller (Micro-ATX) HTPC at my television. That way I can load up tuners and hard drives in a server, in the basement, and not worry about noise.

Does anyone else solely use SageTV clients or extenders without watching on the actual SageTV server? Just like the OP, I'm interested in building a server and if it doesn't need a sound card or great video card, I could probably get away with something minimal. But how minimal?

Since HDTV is already compressed, and analog MPEG-2 tuners need only a PIII 1.0Ghz or so, I imagine the hardest part will be streaming or recompressing to a placeshifter client. And what about the new upcoming Sage HD media extender? How much horsepower is needed for that to stream SD? What about HD?

Robert

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by fventura

I've been running a flavor of v4 for some time without issues. However each upgrade to get to a stable system was a little painfull.

I'ld like to look at integrating HD OTA into Sage now though.

I have aSageTV server with one PVR250 and a client with a SageRecorder with a PVR250. (Could never get both tuners to function without stutterring in my server). I also have a MVP Client and anoth SageTV client.

I'm thinking of a HD Homerun to encode to my server for OTA. Already got an antenna an older myHD for Hd standalone.

It's been awhile and I haven't kept up with the releases on SageTV so I have a few questions.

1) What's the minimum version of STABLE SageTV software to use for HD support.

It depends, they've had HD support for a long time, but they've been constantly improving it, making it more robust to better handle the "oddities" that come with some ATSC transmissions (and transmission problems).

If you've got a good source, it may not matter, if you've got a more troublesome source, you might need the newer versions.

2) My sageTV server does not need to playback anything...do I need heft video card and processor for HDencoding with a HD homerun or say a Dvico Fusion 5 lite ?

Not in the server, it just saves the bitstream to a file.

3) What about the hardware on the Sageclient to display HD? Will a XP2700 with Nvidia 6600 cut it ?

I'd guess, probably. The 6600 is a pretty good card, should handle what the 2700 can't.

[Wheemer]

Transcoding HD to an MVP needs a hefty proccessor though.

[valnar]

Originally Posted by Wheemer

Transcoding HD to an MVP needs a hefty proccessor though.

Define 'hefty'?

I'm going to build a home server/NAS which will also run SageTV Server. I might as well make sure it can handle the MVP's

Robert

[kltye]

Originally Posted by valnar

My SageTV server has been next to my TV for years, but I'm contemplating the same scenario so I can go with a smaller (Micro-ATX) HTPC at my television. That way I can load up tuners and hard drives in a server, in the basement, and not worry about noise.

Does anyone else solely use SageTV clients or extenders without watching on the actual SageTV server? Just like the OP, I'm interested in building a server and if it doesn't need a sound card or great video card, I could probably get away with something minimal. But how minimal?

Since HDTV is already compressed, and analog MPEG-2 tuners need only a PIII 1.0Ghz or so, I imagine the hardest part will be streaming or recompressing to a placeshifter client. And what about the new upcoming Sage HD media extender? How much horsepower is needed for that to stream SD? What about HD?

Robert

My old server was a P III 1GHz with 512MB RAM. I have a PVR 350, ATi 650, and an Avermedia A180 for capture cards. This machine was only powerful enough to serve multiple clients, but couldn't even transcode for one Placeshifter client. However, with a minor upgrade to an Athlon XP running at 1.8GHz, I can now transcode to one Placeshifting client and several "normal" clients. The CPU doesn't really take much hit when streaming live TV to a thick client.

Just FYI, I have 5 hard drives in that box, 1GB RAM, all those capture cards, gigabit PCI card and simple GeForce2 MX and I just need a passively cooled 300W power supply for it. Probably one of the most efficient boxes I've built in a while

[garyellis]

I was amazed and pleased with the new release of sage v6.1...I always had HD transcoding problems to the MVP before. The sound was 10 to 15 seconds out of sync to the video. Now, since I installed version 6.1, the audio and video are in sync on both of my MVP's..

I also noticed that the recording of HD is now in MPG instead of TS like in the past. My old TS files don't play in Sage v6.1. My processor is an AMD 3200+ ..

Gary Ellis