What's the most foolproof way to run SageTV?

[m1k3g]

Since last October we've been running Sage on a home built PC. For the most part it works fine, but it seems like every other day there's a problem with the channel changing on the FIOS QIP2500. The LM Remote software is a somewhat reliable way to change the channel using the MCE Blaster, but the underlying problem appears to be Vista (Extreme). When the PC comes out of sleep mode, the USB devices seem to have lost their connection and take a while to reconnect, so the blaster doesn't change the channel, and Sage records whatever channel the QIP box happened to be left on... frustrating. After playing around for months with the configuration I've come to the conclusion that it just ain't gonna work. My wife & daughter are sick and tired of their shows not recording, and the amount of fiddling around required just to watch TV has exceeded the cost/benefit ratio... But I still want my HTPC!

So I'm looking for suggestions. What is the most foolproof, family-friendly setup that I can implement using Sage? Should I buy an HD-200, or a Huppauge HD-PVR?? I'm not concerned about the costs, I just want something that works.

Thanks

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by m1k3g

Since last October we've been running Sage on a home built PC. For the most part it works fine, but it seems like every other day there's a problem with the channel changing on the FIOS QIP2500. The LM Remote software is a somewhat reliable way to change the channel using the MCE Blaster, but the underlying problem appears to be Vista (Extreme). When the PC comes out of sleep mode, the USB devices seem to have lost their connection and take a while to reconnect, so the blaster doesn't change the channel, and Sage records whatever channel the QIP box happened to be left on... frustrating. After playing around for months with the configuration I've come to the conclusion that it just ain't gonna work. My wife & daughter are sick and tired of their shows not recording, and the amount of fiddling around required just to watch TV has exceeded the cost/benefit ratio... But I still want my HTPC!

So I'm looking for suggestions. What is the most foolproof, family-friendly setup that I can implement using Sage? Should I buy an HD-200, or a Huppauge HD-PVR?? I'm not concerned about the costs, I just want something that works.

Thanks

Sooo if the issue is that the USB devices aren't working out of hibernation, why not just turn off hibernation? I do not let my server go into hibernation. I do have power saving features such as Cool n' Quiet turned on and I use low power equipment where possible.

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by m1k3g

but the underlying problem appears to be Vista (Extreme). When the PC comes out of sleep mode, the USB devices seem to have lost their connection and take a while to reconnect, so the blaster doesn't change the channel, and Sage records whatever channel the QIP box happened to be left on... frustrating.

What's the most foolproof way to run SageTV?

Maybe don't put the PC to sleep? You can put power saving mode ON and the monitor will go to standby and the hard drive spins down when idling. There also might be a property setting to tell SageTV to wake up a certain amount of minutes sooner so that it allows enough time for USB devices to get detected.

[matt91]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

There also might be a property setting to tell SageTV to wake up a certain amount of minutes sooner so that it allows enough time for USB devices to get detected.

There is. I've asked before: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31897