Noob with problems

[eman31]

Hey everyone. First, please forgive me if this is going in the wrong forum. I have looked around for answers but haven't had any luck finding anything.

I have just recently bought a Hauppauge 1800 internal card to get one of my computers set up to watch some sports while I am working or playing on the other computer. The computer I have it set up on is a Intel Core Duo E6400 with 2 Gigs of ram and I am running Vista Ultimate 32 bit with service pack 1.

I decided on the Hauppauge because it had QAM listed as being supported. I quickly found out that the WIN TV application left a lot to be desired and started checking out other programs such as Beyond and Sage. So far Sage looks like it has everything I want but I have been running into a few hiccups along the way with my recordings. I have Comcast for my cable provider and cable is coming direct from the coax into the card. Through a little trial and error I have been able to get both my standard and QAM stations tuned in and remapped. So far, so good.

I made two HD recordings through the QAM tuner and they look great on the computer but I tried watching them on my TV using the media extender feature through VISTA Ultimate and my XBOX360 and that's where I am running into problems.

The first recording I made looks great on the set but I have no sound at all and the second one gives me an error that it is an unsupported media application. I used the same recording settings for both which were the defaults in the setup. All the other videos I have on my computer play just fine through the media center.

Is there a compatibility issue with Sage recordings and Microsoft Media Center? Should I be using one of the different recording settings other than the default? I see there are a bunch of different ones there but I am not really sure what the differences are.

Any help would be appreciated!

Eric

[Polypro]

So you have Sage set up on one computer, recording SD & HD via an 1800... and when you use Sage Client on that computer, the recordings play fine?

(Here is where I'm confused): Are you trying to use Vista Media Center and the 360 as an extender, to watch the Sage recordings? Is the Sage recording directory mapped as some sort of import directory for VMC? You may need a former VMC user to help you out.

P

[eman31]

Originally Posted by Polypro

So you have Sage set up on one computer, recording SD & HD via an 1800... and when you use Sage Client on that computer, the recordings play fine?

(Here is where I'm confused): Are you trying to use Vista Media Center and the 360 as an extender, to watch the Sage recordings? Is the Sage recording directory mapped as some sort of import directory for VMC? You may need a former VMC user to help you out.

P

You are correct. When I set up my X-Box as the media extender it mapped the folder where Sage is storing it's files. When I try to play those files on my regular TV is where I am running into the problems. Playing them directly from the computer they are stored on, they look and sound fine.

Is there something built into Sage where it will let you use the software as an extender instead of media center, and if there is can you use the 360 as the extender or do you need another piece of hardware?

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by eman31

You are correct. When I set up my X-Box as the media extender it mapped the folder where Sage is storing it's files. When I try to play those files on my regular TV is where I am running into the problems. Playing them directly from the computer they are stored on, they look and sound fine.

Is there something built into Sage where it will let you use the software as an extender instead of media center, and if there is can you use the 360 as the extender or do you need another piece of hardware?

Sage will allow you to use two different Media Extenders: Hauppauge MediaMVP (its an SD only device) or the Sage STX-HD100 (does tons of formats). Unfortunately the latter is out of stock at the moment. The nice thing about using a Sage supported extender, is that you also get the Sage GUI on the extender so that you can schedule shows and watch live tv from the extender where as using your Xbox, you are only going to be able to play back recorded shows.

[Polypro]

Well, if your recording the SD at DVD Standard Play, the XBox should play it like a standard DVD mpeg file??? The HD I don't know about...can it play MPEG Program Streams??? Sorry to say that this is a VMC/XBox problem, it sounds like...don't know how much help we'll be here.

P

[eman31]

Thanks for the replies, I do appreciate the input.

Since I just want to watch a little TV on the computer I think I will work with the WINTV app that came with the card and media center to do a little recording. It's not perfect but I don't want to spend more money on different boxes and software if I don't have to.

Thanks again for the help!

[jaminben]

Just a guess but I would say that the recording being made by Sage isnt a supported format that the xbox360 can use.

I understand that you dont want to buy another product to play these recordings on your main TV but you may want to look into a Sage HD100 extender rather than using your xbox as an extender. The xbox is ok for this but a HD100 will offer you alot more functionality than the M$ box ever will.

[Rogue9]

What format are your recorded files in? MPG, TS, or something else?

I was able to record shows in SageTV (MPG files, Standard Definition), and play them back through Media Center on my Xbox360. I had no problems with the sound or the picture. And I used both MCE 2005 and VMC. So SD content should not be a problem.

Is this problem only with HD content or SD, as well?

If you can't get them to playback through the VMC/extender route, you could try to just share the files in WMP 11, and view them through the dashboard on the 360. I have gotten this to work with a few different file types, but I admit that I have not tried MPG's this way. But it's definately worth a try.

[eman31]

Originally Posted by Rogue9

What format are your recorded files in? MPG, TS, or something else?

I was able to record shows in SageTV (MPG files, Standard Definition), and play them back through Media Center on my Xbox360. I had no problems with the sound or the picture. And I used both MCE 2005 and VMC. So SD content should not be a problem.

Is this problem only with HD content or SD, as well?

If you can't get them to playback through the VMC/extender route, you could try to just share the files in WMP 11, and view them through the dashboard on the 360. I have gotten this to work with a few different file types, but I admit that I have not tried MPG's this way. But it's definately worth a try.

It's only the HD recordings that are coming through with no sound. The SD recordings do have sound but I wouldn't be using this for recording SD feeds as I still have a ReplayTV that I use with a cable box on my main unit and the feeds coming direct in from the cable to the tuner card look pretty bad.

I tried a couple of the conversion options but they just made the sound become unsynced on the computer and still have no sounds through the Xbox.

I tried Sage because is was recommended by Hauppauge for the QAM feature and I do like the program but after playing around with it for a week or so I've come to the conclusion that it is a lot more than what I need.

Again, I appreciate the replies.