About to buy, questions, needing answered!

[ccerj8]

Hey Guys,

As I said before in the subject, that I have been looking at sage for quite some time now, and think that I am about ready to purchase, but before I do, I need to get some of my questions answered, so here it goes.

I have a digital cable box.

I need to know what stuff I will need to get in order to have everything working? (remote control etc..)

Also will I be able to record multiple things at the same time as long as I have the tuners using just the one digital cable box? ( for ex. 2 show, using 2 turners with one digital cable box)

Also, the programs I record, will I be able to possible edit them, (for ex. take out commercials), and be able to burn to a dvd?

Thanks for all the help in advance.

-ccerj8

[newmedia42]

In answer to your cable setup, the answer is definitely yes - your proposed system is just like mine - one PVR350 is hooked up via SVIDEO to my digital cable box, and a second PVR350 is hooked up to just normal analog cable. Another thing to note is you can also set the priority of which card recording will default to when the channel is available on both - in my instance, I prefer analog cable because sometimes my cable box crashes and turns itself off. Just make sure you also get a USB-UIRT to control your cable box... Mine is a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3100, which wasn't explicitly supported in the build-in list, but I easily added and taught it to use it in about 30 seconds - just make sure to hold the remote control RIGHT NEXT to the USB-UIRT for training...

As far as editing the MPG2 streams, I know you can do it, but I haven't, but maybe someone else with some experience will chime in...

Good luck - I love my Sage!

[ccerj8]

Hey Newmedia,

Thanks for the promt reply.

So let me get this strait, I can use 2 pc turners to record two different things at the same time, using my one digital cable box, just to make sure...

Will I be able to record channels that I only get with the digital on both cards at the same time, if so, that would be great.?

And I need to get the USB-UIRT to work my cable boxes remote....Cool.

Just out of curiosity, what version of sage do u use newmedia?

Thanks, ccerj8

Keep the replys coming... :-)

[Opus4]

If you want to record 2 different channels that need to be decoded, you need 2 converter boxes (one for each tuner), unless your cable box can output 2 different converted signals... I have no idea if such a box exists.

- Andy

[stanger89]

Originally posted by ccerj8
Will I be able to record channels that I only get with the digital on both cards at the same time, if so, that would be great.?

You will need two cable boxes to do that (unless as Opus said you have a box with two independed ouputs).

You can however record on digital only channel and one channel on analog at the same time with 1 cable box and two tuner cards.

As for editing the MPEGs, either Womble MPEG-VCR or Video ReDo will hack out commercials without re-encoding, that means you don't loose any quality in the process and you can edit the commercials out of a two hour show in about 10 minutes.

[ccerj8]

Thanks for the help guys,

I have another question, if I can record one digital channel, and one analog channel at the same time, would I run them both through the cable box, or how would I work that?

&

would they both be recorded through the sage guide, how would that work?

Thanks, again! ccerj8

[stanger89]

You would split the cable before it goes to the box, and run one cable to the cable box (which would be connected to one TV card with s-video) and another cable to the RF-in on the other TV card. You would then set up two sources in Sage TV, one being "Your Provider Digital" and the other one being "Your Provider Basic." Sage then shows you all networks available in one guide. From there you don't really worry about which tuners have which lineups or how many tuners you even have, you just tell Sage what to record and it does it.

[ccerj8]

Ok, that sounds good.

sorry for so many questions, newbie stupidness.

Can you watch the shows on both the pc, and tv, also, can the guide be on the computer and the tv??

Another weird question - I have two digital cable boxes, but they are for different tvs, in different part of the house (upstair, downstairs) is there a way to have it hooked up, with the same sage for another person to use the pause rewind live tv??

Thanks guys!! or Gals!

ccerj8 :-)

[stanger89]

Originally posted by ccerj8
Ok, that sounds good.

sorry for so many questions, newbie stupidness.

Can you watch the shows on both the pc, and tv, also, can the guide be on the computer and the tv??

Yes.

Another weird question - I have two digital cable boxes, but they are for different tvs, in different part of the house (upstair, downstairs) is there a way to have it hooked up, with the same sage for another person to use the pause rewind live tv??

Thanks guys!! or Gals!

ccerj8 :-)

There are a couple ways to do that, but both will require some sort PC on each TV, one for the SageTV server, and one with SageClient. One way would be to move both boxes to the SageTV server pc and have two cards. The other way would be to leave one cable box by each PC and run SageRecorder on the client and have a tuner in there set up as a network encoder. You could build a small Mini-ITX system with a PVR 350 for the client system and have a somewhat "thin" client.

[ccerj8]

What about my other questions.

If I were to have just one dig cable box, have two turner cards in one pc, and do like stated above, would I be able to watch shows on both the pc, and the tv? Also what about recorded shows, could I watch them at either place?

& how is the quality of the shows recorded on sage?, I forgot to ask that? Im sure it depends on the quality you record at, but for the best quality, whats the gb/per hour?

And ... can you watch live tv, or a recorded show while viewing the guide?

Thanks again. The support on these forums is A+

ccerj8

[stanger89]

Originally posted by ccerj8
What about my other questions.

If I were to have just one dig cable box, have two turner cards in one pc, and do like stated above, would I be able to watch shows on both the pc, and the tv? Also what about recorded shows, could I watch them at either place?

Yes, there are a couple of ways, one would be a client running SageClient, you'd be able to do everything you can on the server less some of the configuration things.

You could also have a computer and just play the file using Windows file sharing, functional but not really acceptable for usage on a TV in a living room environment (IMO).

Or you could get a MediaMVP which would be a compromise, nice user interface, but not the Sage interface.

& how is the quality of the shows recorded on sage?, I forgot to ask that? Im sure it depends on the quality you record at, but for the best quality, whats the gb/per hour?

Max quality is 5.6GB/hr, but about 3GB/hr is about the highest you need to go practically. I run my recordings between 2 and 3GB/hr and on one RCA HDTV with a poor tuner quality is better than live, and on the 46" Mitsubishi it's indistiguishable from live (both are displaying at a 1080i based resolution).

And ... can you watch live tv, or a recorded show while viewing the guide?

You can watch it in a small window, in the background, or on a second monitor (only if you're video card is capable of some sort of video mirror).

Thanks again. The support on these forums is A+

ccerj8

Not a prob!

[ccerj8]

Thanks Once Again.

What turners do you recommend me get, I was thinking of getting the 350, but I don't know which I should get, if I want to add the 2nd turner.

Also do you recommend that I use a pc, just for the sage tv, or do you think a pc, that I have now that I currently use, would do the trick? The current pc, is in the same room as my tv where the sage would be hooked up?

Also, I thought I read that sage lets you play your mp3's through the sage interface, is that true, if I have a few GB's of mp3's on the pc would I be able to play them through the sage interface on the tv??...if so does it show album art, track tags, etc?

Thank Ya' Thank Ya' Guys!

-ccerj8

[stanger89]

Originally posted by ccerj8
Thanks Once Again.

What turners do you recommend me get, I was thinking of getting the 350, but I don't know which I should get, if I want to add the 2nd turner.

If you want two tuners, 250s are probably your best bet, combining a 250 and a 350 in the same machine could be problematic. However if you did get a 350, you could always get second 350 or a PVR-USB II, the I haven't heard of the USB2s conflicting with anything yet.

Also do you recommend that I use a pc, just for the sage tv, or do you think a pc, that I have now that I currently use, would do the trick? The current pc, is in the same room as my tv where the sage would be hooked up?

Ideally, you should give SageTV it's own PC, Windows and everything on it run better the less stuff you have installed. It isn't necessary, thought, to dedicate a machine to SageTV. If you have the option I'd say go for it, but it might also be worthwile to just try it on your current PC and get a feel for it. Regardless of whether you give Sage it's own machine, you really should give it it's own partition to play with (and formatted to 64k blocks just for completeness). For example I have a 180Gb partition dedicated to Sage recordings, that way Sage can manage the drive itself without interference from other programs/me/etc.

Also, I thought I read that sage lets you play your mp3's through the sage interface, is that true, if I have a few GB's of mp3's on the pc would I be able to play them through the sage interface on the tv??...if so does it show album art, track tags, etc?

Thank Ya' Thank Ya' Guys!

-ccerj8

On a video card's TV out I can tell you yes, on the 350 I'm not entirely sure, I remember reading about people trying it but I don't remember the result for sure. I think it came down to having to use a soundcard for mp3 output instead of the 350's audio out.

I should also mention that I currently use 2.0 and my answers are in that context. The biggest difference between 2.0 and 1.4 (aside from the interface) is that you can use the 350's TV out to see the Sage interface, that was/is not available with 1.4.

[ccerj8]

Hey Stranger, your the man, I wish there would be an easier way to talk to you such as msn messenger, or a chat room. You seem to know alot about what I am wanting to do. This is what I would like to get out of my pvr & sage.

I want to be able to use my digital cable box. (Record,Pause,RW,FF)

I want to be able to watch my recorded shows on both my computer, and tv.(I want to be able to edit shows also)

I also want to be able to view/lisiten to my mp3's and Pictures on my TV.(Which I see is going to be available on ver 2.)

I looked on my computer that I will be using for sage, and my graphics card is an 64 MB GeForce4 MX Graphics Card with TV-Out.

I don't know if that will help my situation but who knows?

I also want to know the difference betweent the Sage Ver. 1.4 & 2.0 ..... (about program guide etc)

I also want to know which turner card would be best for my situation, the 250 doesn't allow the user interface to show on the tv, using it's tv out, does that mean that you cannot see the guide on the tv??(If you could give me the main differences between the 250, and 350, that would be great)

Sorry for so many fricken questions, but everyone's help is really making a difference in my purchases.

Thanks, ccerj8

[stanger89]

Everything you list it definitely possible, and it's easier if you use the TV out on your TV card because then it's just like using your monitor (although the TV won't look as good as a monitor).

Guide
2.0


1.4


OSD
2.0

1.4


The biggest difference is in the interface, it is much prettier in 2.0. Most of the core functionality is roughly the same. There are a few refinements like the DVD and Music modules are more refined than in 1.4.

As for which tuner to get, the big difference between the 250 and 350 is that the 350 has a hardware decoder/TV out that the 250 doesn't. The 250 you have to use your video card to display video, while the 350 can do it itself. I would probably recommend you get a 250, it will be simpler to set up (marginally) and will be less likely to give you problems.

[ccerj8]

Ok Stranger,

Let me see if Im getting this right,

The difference in the 250 & 350 is that the 350 has its own hardware decoder/TV out that the 250 doesn't. So that being said, I will need to use my graphics card tv out ...right??

& even with the 250 I will still be able to do everything that I want to do, and still be able to use the sage 2.0 and have my mp3's, and guide all be on both tv, and pc monitor.???

Also, as I understand it, the Sage 2.0 software is still beta, is it stable, & when will the 2. 0 officially be released?

Thanks, ccerj8

[Opus4]

This may be very minor, but don't forget that those station icons are not automatically part of SageTV v2.... I believe it was possible to use them in v1.4, but for both versions, you still have to do some of the work yourself to get them added. Regardless, the v2 interface looks better.

Also, I'm not sure if the question was to watch shows on TV only via SageTV, or directly through the cable box to the TV too, so I wanted to reiterate that unless the box is capable of decoding 2 separate channels, you can only decode 1 channel at a time. If the signal out of the box goes through a splitter to the PC & to the TV, they will both get the same picture. i.e.: you can't change the channle for one w/o affecting the other.

Oh -- and don't forget to look around the forum or ask a question in order to determine how you will have SageTV change the channel on the cable box. That's another topic you will have to cover. (No, I don't do that yet... just wanted to be sure you checked that out.)

- Andy

[stanger89]

& even with the 250 I will still be able to do everything that I want to do, and still be able to use the sage 2.0 and have my mp3's, and guide all be on both tv, and pc monitor.???

This is possible, but will depend on your video card, the interface on both at the same time shouldn't be a problem, but some cards support video on two displays simultaneously better than others.

[ccerj8]

Hey Andy,

On the tv part, I just want to be able to watch the sage programming on both my pc, and tv at the same time, I do realize that it will be the same on both, which I am fine with.

Also, to get the sage to change my tv channel on the dig cable box, I was told that I need to get a USB-UIRT ...em I missing something there also???

Thanks, ccerj8

[ccerj8]

Also, as I understand it, the Sage 2.0 software is still beta, is it stable, & when will the 2. 0 officially be released?