Media Center or Server?

[wayne186]

I am trying out the Sage software and need to find out what the difference is between Media Center and Media Server?

Download SageTV Media Center (V6.4 for Windows)
http://www.sage.tv/postDL.php?tmpFil...8Setup-WHS.msi


Download SageTV Media Server (V6.4 for Windows Home Server)http://www.sage.tv/postDL.php?tmpFil...6_4_8Setup.exe

There is not much literature on Media Server and nothing in the FAQ's. Basically all I want is to be able to run the software on a dedicated PC that will send the recordings after processing to a file share which is on my data storage server.

I don''t know if Sage does this but I also want to have the ability to open a web browser from any computer in the house to control the Sage system much like Beyond TV where it runs a http server in the background. I may buy extenders in the future - but for now all my media from each TV in the house is accessed using XBMC.. now I just want to add TV recordings to the mix.. but http access to configure recordings etc is a must for me.

Can somebody please enlighten me as to the diferences?

thanks

Wayne

[wayne186]

I think I have found the answer to the http portion, it would appear that you need to purchase both Sage TV and the placeshifter component to get the http server functionality. However I am still not sure what the diference is between Media Server and Media Center?

[doc]

They are essentially the same product, but the 'server' runs on the Windows Home Server operating system, and the other runs on standard windows - as in 2000, XP home/pro or vista.

You could also buy a version of the media centre for the mac.

You can buy combination licenses that allow you to run placeshifter or client (depending on which combination you buy) , or you can just buy the media centre license, and then later on buy a placeshifter or client license if you need one.

[stanger89]

Well I think you've got you're links mixed up but,

It's basically just where you want to install it. SageTV Media Center is the "standard" Windows version. Being that it runs on normal Windows, it includes the full 10ft UI built in, that you can run on the PC.

WHS is somewhat of a different beast, it (the OS) doesn't use a monitor, doesn't have playback abilities, and is meant to be managed from the management console. SageTV Media Server for WHS is really the same thing as SageTV Media Center, but since there's no way to access the 10ft UI directly, it includes a Placeshifter license so you can access the 10ft UI from another maching.

As for "http access" there is nothing built in, but neilm has a great webserver plugin that gives you the ability to schedule/manage recordings.

Oh, and regarding XBMC, there's an XBMC "script" for SageTV that you'll probably want to check out.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by stanger89

WHS is somewhat of a different beast, it (the OS) doesn't use a monitor,

That's a bit harsh - I have been running WHS since the beta program and I have always used a monitor on my WHS box. It is designed to be able to run without a monitor but it uses a monitor perfectly fine.

[stanger89]

That's really what I was getting at. You don't buy WHS if you want a "desktop" PC, you buy it for a box that sits in a closet with no monitor or local interface.