Cogeco DCT-6416 with HD PVR Hauppauge

[Eric the Red]

I've got my server built and I'm stuck on the next steps. I don't want to go any further until I can at least get some of the following questions answered. So, any guidance would be appreciated.

- Once I purchase my Sage License. Do I get further SageTv upgrades for free?

- What problems may I run into along the way using this, "Cogeco DCT-6416 Motorola Box"? In other words, are there any known problem with the DCT-6416?

- Does Sagetv support the HD PVR with windows server 2003 if so can it do x64 or only the x86(32bit) version? Because I'd really like to avoid running a server with just Windows XP on it.

- Will a e5300 CPU be fast enough to support this setup? Any other bottlenecks I should take into consideration? I'm on 100mbit LAN, server will have 2gb Ram.

[Slugger]

Originally Posted by Eric the Red

I've got my server built and I'm stuck on the next steps. I don't want to go any further until I can at least get some of the following questions answered. So, any guidance would be appreciated.

- Once I purchase my Sage License. Do I get further SageTv upgrades for free?

Yes, until further notice. A license for Sage 6.x will entitle you to all the upgrades in the 6.x release. Whether that license will entitle us to a free upgrade to 7.0 remains to be seen.

- What problems may I run into along the way using this, "Cogeco DCT-6416 Motorola Box"? In other words, are there any known problem with the DCT-6416?

Not sure about that specific model. In general, you shouldn't have any problems with specific STB models, since you have to run the output from that STB into some kind of capture device. Assuming the STB outputs your run of the mill signal (S-Video, component, composite, RF, etc.) then there should be no problems with the STB itself. The only issues might be controlling it with an IR blaster, but I wouldn't expect that to be an issue with Motorola equipment. However, again, I have no experience with the specific STB you mention.

- Does Sagetv support the HD PVR with windows server 2003 if so can it do x64 or only the x86(32bit) version? Because I'd really like to avoid running a server with just Windows XP on it.

Check the docs - not sure. I can say I've had no problems running my HD-PVR on WinXP Home SP3.

- Will a e5300 CPU be fast enough to support this setup? Any other bottlenecks I should take into consideration? I'm on 100mbit LAN, server will have 2gb Ram.

If you're only using this system for recording and not for playback then it should be fine. If you intend to playback HD recordings on this system then it may or may not be a bit of a struggle. Personally I only use HD100s for playback and I recommend this approach to anyone. Others in this forum have more experience/expertise on HD playback through PCs than I so I'll leave this one to them.

[wayner]

Many folks use WHS for Sage and it is based on Win Server 2003 so that shouldn't be a problem. I don't know about the 64bit OS - there may be more issues with that as there were, at least at one time, issues with some Hauppauge drivers with 64bit OSs with 4GB of RAM. You should be fine with that Moto box - if it has a firewire port you may want to use that for channel change or you could use the IR blaster that comes with the HD-PVR or the USB-UIRT.

The processor should be fine unless you want to transcode HD-PVR recordings for Placeshifter.

[Eric the Red]

Thanks a lot guys!

I actually haven't got the STB yet, but that's what Cogeco will probably send me. I'm just slightly worried that the, Hauppauge HD PVR will die soon... I've heard so many stories of it dying after a few days of use