HD-PVR Question Before I Buy

[kkeller20]

I am very tempted to buy the HD-PVR and hope to get a question cleared up about licenses with my setup.

My current setup:
Living Room - HTPC running Sage client, HD Cable Box
Computer Room - HTPC running Sage MediaCenter (server), PVR-500 and PVR-250, Standard Cable box coxial connections
Bedroom - STX-HD100 box

If I was to get the HD-PVR box, it would go in my Living Room where my HD Cable Box is and my HTPC running Sage Client application.

The HD-PVR would connect to my HTPC client via USB, not the server in the computer room with my setup.

My question mainly is, do I need to buy another server license in order to use the HD-PVR as an external recorder? What would I need to do to use this setup?

Thanks

[stanger89]

Yes you would, you'd install SageTV MC on the client in the living room, set it up as an encoding server, and you'd then configure it as a new tuner on the main server.

[bialio]

To connect the HD-PVR to a client, you'd have to have a second Server license. Then you run the server in your Living room in "client" mode, and set up a network encoder for the HDPVR that your main server will access.

Another option would be consolidating and having the server in the Living room - you've got the cable box there, along with coax from the cable feed.

If you go the ideal route (which means SageTV client or extender for everything) - you don't need the cable box in the LIving room and could move it to the computer room.

btl.

[kkeller20]

Thank ya'll for the quick response. I was afraid I'd need a new license, but better to get it now as a combo then later on for more.

Thanks again.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by kkeller20

My question mainly is, do I need to buy another server license in order to use the HD-PVR as an external recorder? What would I need to do to use this setup?

You've already got the answer than the living room client would instead need a full server license, allowing it to operate as a network encoder. Depending on the distance from your living room to your computer room and how easy it is to run wires, another possibility would be using USB extenders to leave the HD-PVR in the living room yet let the server think it is plugged into it. I have no experience with these; YMMV. Hmm, the IR Blaster/USBIRT/Firewire channel changing could still be an issue.

That said, I question why you'd want to do this. It sounds like you want the HD-PVR in the living room because you want to leave the cable box in the living room so you can control it directly. This sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Since Sage would not know you are doing that, it would blindly tune the STB and start recording even if people were watching something else. Perhaps worse, if Sage was recording something a user may usurp that and change the channel to something else.

You may or may not be able to train your family to leave the STB alone while the HD-PVR blue light is on. But someday I bet you'd mess up and lose a recording you wanted.

I think it is far better to just move the cable STB to the computer room and feed it into the existing server with your other tuners. You don't need a new license, and Sage remains in control and can warn the user if they are watching something else and a scheduled recording becomes due.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Sam

I think it is far better to just move the cable STB to the computer room and feed it into the existing server with your other tuners. You don't need a new license, and Sage remains in control and can warn the user if they are watching something else and a scheduled recording becomes due.

I agree completely. If you move the box to another room, then you treat Sage as if it were the cable box. Most of us (not all) have our STB's sitting in a closet or in a room without even a tv and they are solely dedicated to Sage. It would be too easy for your favorite show to be lost because someone wanted to watch something else and changed the channel on the STB.