Getting into Sage from Scratch - Need advice

[wahooker]

I'm looking to build a DVR, and have decided that I want to go with Sage.

Right now I don't have an HD TV, but may be upgrading down the road. (Currently using RCA Audio and Video into the TV.)



I want to go with the Bundle offered by sage that includes the software, dual tuner card and a remote. (Can I split basic cable and record cable on both tuners w/ this setup?

In terms of the PC I put that into, what do I need to look for? I'd like to stay as low budget as possible. $319 for a very low end Dell System, that is capable of having an add-on Video Card. (THe Cheapest Inspiron out there + $30 so I can get The Vista Media Center... Just in case)

$149 for the Sage SW / Tuner Card

$??? for a Video Card

What kind of basic Video card do I need to ahve to get video/audio out to the tv via RCA Jacks? ( an upgrade would be needed when we go up to HDTV.)

Is there anything I'm missing here? If I can come up w/ a cheap cheap system, I can probably get my wife to say OK, and then upgrade HD space, tuner, video card down the road as needed. But If I start out with a $1000 system from the beginning, Probably not going to ahve any luck at all.

Thanks for any advice:

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by wahooker

I want to go with the Bundle offered by sage that includes the software, dual tuner card and a remote. (Can I split basic cable and record cable on both tuners w/ this setup?

The dual tuner that Sage sells is an HVR1600. It has one analog tuner and one digital tuner. So, only the analog tuner is going to be able to record the expanded basic channels. The digital tuner will record over-the-air HD, and unencrypted digital cable TV channels, which is usually just your local networks. In other words, only the analog tuner will be able to record the channels you get on your current standard-definition TV.

Is there anything I'm missing here?

I think you'd greatly improve your wife-acceptance-factor, ease of use, and video quality by going with an extender (i.e., the SageTV HD Theater). That would also provide a good way to move to HD. You could even use the digital tuner on the HVR-1600 to pick up your local network channels in HD, and display them on your standard definition TV. Despite not having an HDTV, the HD channels will probably look much better on your TV than analog standard-definition channels.

So, I'd say skip the upgraded video card. Instead, buy the SageTV HD Theater bundle for $250, and buy an HVR-1600 on Newegg or Amazon. That would run you about $330 dollars, which I now is probably stretching your budget. You might be able to find a used Hauppauge MediaMVP on eBay for quite a bit less than the SageTV HD Theater. The MediaMVPs are much cheaper, but they don't play back high-definition video, and they don't play back mpeg4 video (they will play back standard-definition mpeg2, which is what the analog tuner on the HVR-1600 records to).

I think it's probably worth the extra money for the HD Theater media extender, but that's something you're going to have to decide for yourself.

[freedml]

Don't buy the MVP. Your server has to work to translate the video for it. And you have to buy a separate license for it. The HD200 wins hands down.

[wahooker]

Originally Posted by reggie14

The dual tuner that Sage sells is an HVR1600. It has one analog tuner and one digital tuner. So, only the analog tuner is going to be able to record the expanded basic channels. The digital tuner will record over-the-air HD, and unencrypted digital cable TV channels, which is usually just your local networks. In other words, only the analog tuner will be able to record the channels you get on your current standard-definition TV.

So, if I used that partiular card, I'd need one to use cable for one input, and get an antenna to get broadcast for the other input?

The only cable channels we plan to get if we do this are the basic (i.e. Broadcast) ones. We plan to supplement that via use of downloaded video, hulu, etc. I'm pitching this as a money saving plan, so we could cut out our dish network bill, and have the only monthly charge be the $7/mo cable.

I think you'd greatly improve your wife-acceptance-factor, ease of use, and video quality by going with an extender (i.e., the SageTV HD Theater).

If it were just about ease of use, that may be a good idea, but it would blow out my budget, and that wouldn't be as versatile as having the PC itself by the TV. (Couldn't use it for anything other than Sage playback, right?)

[Steve]

I agree about the MVP. Especially when you step up to HD. If you have a lower to mid end pc you may get alot of choppiness, etc in your playback.

Is there anything I'm missing here? If I can come up w/ a cheap cheap system, I can probably get my wife to say OK, and then upgrade HD space, tuner, video card down the road as needed. But If I start out with a $1000 system from the beginning, Probably not going to ahve any luck at all.

Just be careful with that, it can be a double edged sword Sure, certain thing like drive space is an easy thing you can add later without affecting the quality of the system, but if you try to cut costs up front especially on major quality affecting components and you start with a system that has issues like stuttering, etc, your wife may turn to you and say 'just get a damn tivo already'. But if you go with the good stuff from the beginning and show how well it can work then you are more likely to win over and convince her to expand. I'm sure there is a happy medium somewhere...

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by wahooker

So, if I used that partiular card, I'd need one to use cable for one input, and get an antenna to get broadcast for the other input?

Well, not quite. That would work, but that's not the only thing you could do. The digital tuner on the card could also be plugged into your cable.

The cable company sends out some analog channels, and some digital channels. Most digital channels are encrypted, which means a cable box has to decrypt them. But, some/most cable companies send out a small number of unencrypted channels, almost always just the local broadcast networks. So, it doesn't matter if you hook up the digital tuner on the card to cable or an antenna- you'll probably get locals either way.

We plan to supplement that via use of downloaded video, hulu, etc. I'm pitching this as a money saving plan, so we could cut out our dish network bill, and have the only monthly charge be the $7/mo cable.

Ahhhh, OK. This changes things. First of all, if you ever decide to get an extender, be sure to get an HD Theater/HD200, since the MVP doesn't play back most downloaded video.

The HD200 will play back pretty much all downloaded video that wasn't purchased from an online store like iTunes. But, there aren't any good ways to access online video sites like Hulu on an extender. So, if Hulu/Netflix/etc. are important to you, then you'll want to use a PC instead of an extender.

One warning is that flash/silverlight video is incredibly CPU intensive if you output to an HDTV. Online video usually has a resolution of no higher than 480p, but the algorithms that Flash (Hulu) and Silverlight (Netflix) use to upscale the 480p video to a 1920x1080 monitor/TV are very, very processor intensive. I have a Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz in my laptop, and Hulu in full screen gets close to pegging that.

In your case you just have a standard definition TV, so you don't have a problem outputting Hulu to your TV. But, I doubt the cheapest Dell desktop will be able to handle Hulu output to an HDTV.