HD200 vs SageTV Client

[BrianDC]

So, I'm still trying to plan out how to get SageTV to be my primary TV Provider in the house, and keep my WAF high.

My question is this:
What are the pros / cons between a SageTV client running on a PC platform vs a HD200?

The easy answer that I see is cost.
$200 for an appliance that I can just plug in and be done with vs $??? building a HTPC that is powerful enough to play HD video

What is the OMG Must have feature that you get with a HTPC running SageClient?
Is there anything you can't do with the HD200 that you can easily do with a SageTV client?

The only thing that comes to mind is having a DVD / Blueray player in a HTPC since the HD200 doesn't have a dvd drive.

Also, anyone have a link to a suggested HTPC client build for playing HD content without being choppy? My "older" PC's just don't seem to cut it..

Thanks for any help!

[PLUCKYHD]

To me the hd200 offer easy playback of hd and dvd's as I don't have to worry about codecs and problems with video cards.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by BrianDC

The only thing that comes to mind is having a DVD / Blueray player in a HTPC since the HD200 doesn't have a dvd drive.

I have done a complete 180 on this one. I used to think that the HTPC route was the only way to go, but not anymore. And I thought this way because of BDs/DVDs.

Now that there is software to get movie content onto your hard drive, you don't need an optical drive at each TV to watch your movies.

When I get a new movie, I move it to my SageTV server for everyone to watch. The ones that are not keepers I delete from the hard drive and give the disc away or sell it. If it's a keeper, I put the disc away as a backup and leave the movie on my server to watch in the future.

If you do it this way, figure $280 for the HD-200 and third party software to move your movies to hard drive, versus the cost of a PC with the codec headaches. There's an annual fee for the third party movie copying software upgrades, but it's minor.

EDIT: I should mention that Sage doesn't yet support BD HiDef menus and chapters, but if you just watch the movie you're fine.

[lovingHDTV]

I just went through this thought process myself and bought all the parts for a replacement HTPC, cost was ~$640 including a very nice case, etc.

My family watches a lot of movies from Netflix. I don't want to have to rip a movie everyone just to watch it. Too much headache especially when your looking at Blu-Ray and I can't afford to tell my family, sorry no DVDs for the next two weeks dad is going out of town again.

Additionally, online material is typically available to a HTPC before the extender. I find I'm watching more online streaming now and while some of it can be done via the extender I find the HTPC better suited for it.

I only have one HTPC in the house, the next TV gets an extender because I don't need all these options for every TV, just the main one.

dave

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

I have done a complete 180 on this one. I used to think that the HTPC route was the only way to go, but not anymore. And I thought this way because of BDs/DVDs.

Now that there is software to get movie content onto your hard drive, you don't need an optical drive at each TV to watch your movies.

When I get a new movie, I move it to my SageTV server for everyone to watch. The ones that are not keepers I delete from the hard drive and give the disc away or sell it. If it's a keeper, I put the disc away as a backup and leave the movie on my server to watch in the future.

If you do it this way, figure $280 for the HD-200 and third party software to move your movies to hard drive, versus the cost of a PC with the codec headaches. There's an annual fee for the third party movie copying software upgrades, but it's minor.

EDIT: I should mention that Sage doesn't yet support BD HiDef menus and chapters, but if you just watch the movie you're fine.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by lovingHDTV

Additionally, online material is typically available to a HTPC before the extender. I find I'm watching more online streaming now and while some of it can be done via the extender I find the HTPC better suited for it. dave

Good point, especially with HULU in limbo and Netflix iffy for the HD-200.

[PLUCKYHD]

Yeah good point my only issue is netflix crappy 2.0 audio to me the audio is 100% as important as the picture and having 2.0 audio just doesn't cut it for me

[paulbeers]

Here's a quick run down of the Pros of each:

Extender:
1. Cost $200 (can't build a full client for that).
2. Power usage (only about 7watts of power to run)
3. Silent
4. No codecs to worry about
5. No driver upgrades (however you will have to do the occassional firmware upgrade)


HTPC:
1. Internet web browsing (including hulu*, netflix**, etc)
2. Native DVD/Blu-Ray playback (without ripping)
3. PC Gaming (if you are into that)

* Can be done in stand alone with the use of playon. Its just not as nice.
** There is a netflix "hack" to get it to playback on the extender

Edit: I may have missed a few so anyone feel free to chime in.

[BrianDC]

Yea, I think you guys are basically telling me what I already suspected.

I may look to build a single HTPC for one of my TV's in the future, but for now, I think I'm going to stick with the HD200 for ease of use / cost / and hopefully high WAF.

I have been trying to figure out the best way to Rip my Dvd's for playback on Sage, but may wait till I actually have an extender before I go too far with that. For now, I just have a DVD player on our main TV to watch DVD's the old fashion way

If anyone thinks of any other killer reason for a HTPC vs HD-200, let me know

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by BrianDC

Yea, I think you guys are basically telling me what I already suspected.

I may look to build a single HTPC for one of my TV's in the future, but for now, I think I'm going to stick with the HD200 for ease of use / cost / and hopefully high WAF.

I have been trying to figure out the best way to Rip my Dvd's for playback on Sage, but may wait till I actually have an extender before I go too far with that. For now, I just have a DVD player on our main TV to watch DVD's the old fashion way

If anyone thinks of any other killer reason for a HTPC vs HD-200, let me know

Most of the tv's I have Sage on, also have DVD players just in case (most are from before I got heavy into Sage anyway).

Best program for me for ripping DVD's is DVDFAB HD (which is free), but everyone has their favs.

[appelm]

Originally Posted by lovingHDTV

I don't want to have to rip a movie everyone just to watch it. Too much headache especially when your looking at Blu-Ray and I can't afford to tell my family, sorry no DVDs for the next two weeks dad is going out of town again.

I'm a big fan of the HD200 from a stability/ease of maintenance standpoint. Also, its a lot less noisy, uses less electricity and produces less heat.

As for the above concern regarding DVD ripping, you don't have to rip DVD's to watch them. Just put the DVD in any DVD drive on your network, share the drive on the network and add it as an import folder in Sage. You will need to be running AnyDVD software on that computer. Then you can watch the DVD over Sage on your extender without ripping. This does not work for Blueray as far as I know.

[HelenWeathers]

This does work for Blu-ray on the HD-200, as long as the movie is in one m2ts file. Otherise you have to play each component m2ts file seperately.

[Wakecrash]

A HTPC can do anything a HD200 can, but a HD200 can't do everything a HTPC can.

To me the advantage of an HTPC is one box can take the place of your extender, amp, DVD/BR player, and internet browser. I like watching the webisodes some shows have available from the networks web page. One of my wifes favorite shows is Seaquest which is available on-line.
I like the on-line content availability of radio shows and music.
I prefer watch to youtube via IE vs the sage/extender interface.
I believe a HTPC is more future proof.

[Slipshod]

I figured I'd start with an HD-100 (for the WAF factor), and then add an HTPC for the living room and move the HD-100 to the family room.

Nope. I'm WAY too happy with how maintenance free and cheap the HD-100 was, and haven't missed the HTPC enough to really even think about setting it up. If you're like me (a tinker) There's a lot of tweaking to do on the server-side until you get it just right. The client side has a whole dang lot more tweaking too, and I've gotten to the point where I just want to sit down and watch some TV. And feel satisfied about what I've built.

[BrianDC]

Originally Posted by Wakecrash

A HTPC can do anything a HD200 can, but a HD200 can't do everything a HTPC can.

To me the advantage of an HTPC is one box can take the place of your extender, amp, DVD/BR player, and internet browser. I like watching the webisodes some shows have available from the networks web page. One of my wifes favorite shows is Seaquest which is available on-line.
I like the on-line content availability of radio shows and music.
I prefer watch to youtube via IE vs the sage/extender interface.
I believe a HTPC is more future proof.

I totally agree that a HTPC is more future proof and allows for more tweaks, however I'm not sure most people moving from a TIVO like experience are browsing the web on their TV / etc. Also the points about power consumption, noise, and cost of building a HTPC that is going to be powerful enough to play HD content reliably may not be worth it in most cases.

I think that I "MAY" build one HTPC for the basement TV that I watch, however for the bedroom / livingroom, I have yet to see a good reason not to go with a HD-200 where the WAF is looking for a Tivo similar experience.

[dcardellini]

This is THE big question for me today. Today, I have three HTPC's (and one HD100). It seems like every HTPC is unstable these days for one reason or another (yes, I have had periods of HTPC nirvana.....happy times). My very recent rebuild is still not stable (780g integrated MB), and I have dumped hours/days into solving crashes, stutter, etc, and diminished WAF/KAF.

My situation is a bit different, and makes conversion to HD100/200's really difficult. I use the HTPC to directly drive power amps (no receiver/preamplifier). The quality of the analog outputs on my Creative X-Fi Elite Pro's are excellent. The HTPC is able to do everything that the good receiver is capable of doing....bass management, take 2-channel PCM and create 5.1, etc.

If I choose to go to HD200's, I will need to buy a preprocessor/preamplifier at two locations, adding hardware and taking space, not to mention the cost to maintain the quality level of my overall audio systems (likely $1000+ per location).

I feel that the pre/pro or receiver route is the biggest rip off in audio today. These units are outdated in just a few short years, losing their value, and needing upgrade (great for the electronics manufacturers).

In short, I still haven't given up on using the HTPC as a pre/pro. It just seems to be the RIGHT technology. However, when guys like JimWhite at AVSforums (he was a proponent/initiator of a major thread on this topic) throw the towel in, I wonder if I am just holding on to something that will never be.

I would even like to get rid of the special audio card in my HTPC. It seems that the HTPC can uncompress lossy/lossless streams, manipulate with bass managment/equalizer/volume, create special effects (2-channel to 7.1), and easily keep up with newer formats etc......

... all to an 8-channel uncompressed LPCM HDMI stream. Then all we need is a simple 8 channel HDMI D/A with NO intelligence (and high quality DAC's!) on the outside. (and nobody makes this today).

......just some whining from someone in libo on this topic......