How to integrate hundreds of channels with SageTV?

[brandypuff]

I currrently have Charter basic cable (channels 2-27) and all is fine. I have 3
analog tuner cards supporting 125 channels and one ATSC card i grab antenna channels off of.

I've been thinking about upgrading to Expanded basic service which adds several more channel (including digital channels) - some in the 200-700 range.

How do i use Sage with these new channels? Somehow i need to add a digital cable box i assume to the mix but if i do, how will Sage change channels on the tuner? How can my Tuner cards support these additional channels?
Will I have to get new cards? Are there cards that support hundred of channels?

Not to mention that I don't have a Digital TV but watch mostly Sage-recorded shows anyway.

My SageTV server is in the basement and watch SageTV in other rooms of the house so can't use
any remote if i need to change the Charter digital cable box channels if it is hooked up directly to my Sage server.

I haven't been keeping up with the latest advances sice SageTV has been humming along for me the last couple of years just fine but then Charter recently moved some of my basic cable channels ito the Expanded basic service and i can no longer get them so i'm looking at upgrading my service.

[Fuzzy]

Your assumptions are mostly correct. You will need a way for sage to control your set top boxes. For cable, there are two ways this can be done. If your boxes have firewire ports, you can probaly use that to control the channel changing. If not, you can use an IR Blaster (I'd recommend the USB-UIRT, with 2 external emitters - this will give you three zones, for your 3 set top boxes). You existing SD tuner cards can most likely continue to be used, by connecting them with s-Video to the Set Top boxes.

What will happen is, when sage wants to record something on, say, channel 123, it will use the IR blaster (or firewire), to tune one of the STB's to 123. It will then start recording from the S-Video imput of the capture card. The card itself doesn't have to 'support hundreds of channels', as it will only ever be recording from s-video.

[eugeneh]

You may need a HD-PVR to get the picture and sound from the cable box into SageTV.

[darcilicious]

Originally Posted by eugeneh

You may need a HD-PVR to get the picture and sound from the cable box into SageTV.

That's only the case if you want to record in HD. If you're only recording SD channels or don't care about recording in HD resolution then using existing analog out connections from the set-top box can (continue to) work.

[brandypuff]

Thanks...But this sounds kinda messy and prone to issues especially when using the IR blaster stuff. Will Sage automatically switch the Cable box to the correct channel when ready to record? Or is this funtion only available manually using the Cable box remote?

What do other folks do who have all these Cable packages that give you hundreds of channels? How do you setup your server to record? I know if i
get Expanded Basic service my wife will expect to be able to record all available channels but it may not be feasible from what I'm hearing here.


Maybe i'l just keep my basic cable.

[Fuzzy]

It is all handled by sage. The interaction from the user is no different than what you are currently doing. Choose something to watch and/or record, and sage takes care of the back-end functionality.

[brandypuff]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Your assumptions are mostly correct. You will need a way for sage to control your set top boxes. For cable, there are two ways this can be done. If your boxes have firewire ports, you can probaly use that to control the channel changing. If not, you can use an IR Blaster (I'd recommend the USB-UIRT, with 2 external emitters - this will give you three zones, for your 3 set top boxes). You existing SD tuner cards can most likely continue to be used, by connecting them with s-Video to the Set Top boxes.

But doesn't using an IR blaster require line of sight to the receiver? My server is in the basement.

[Fuzzy]

Yes, it requires line of sight between the blaster, and the set top box(es) it is controlling. You should locate your stbs with the server in the basement.

[matt91]

Originally Posted by eugeneh

You may need a HD-PVR to get the picture and sound from the cable box into SageTV.

Yes, if you want it in HD, this is pretty much the only way to get it.

However, if you're OK with SD, grabbing the S-video into an existing capture card is a better solution.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

Thanks...But this sounds kinda messy and prone to issues especially when using the IR blaster stuff. Will Sage automatically switch the Cable box to the correct channel when ready to record? Or is this funtion only available manually using the Cable box remote?

What do other folks do who have all these Cable packages that give you hundreds of channels? How do you setup your server to record? I know if i
get Expanded Basic service my wife will expect to be able to record all available channels but it may not be feasible from what I'm hearing here.

I have used TiVos, Win XP MCE, Beyond TV and SageTV for about 7 years and I have ALWAYS used them with digital cable boxes and external IR blasters or firewire. My current setup has three cable boxes attached to Sage - two being controlled by firewire and one by a USB-UIRT. Tuning errors are very rare to occur. I get a few hundred channels although a lot of them are actually duplicates -SD and HD versions from several cities in Canada and the US.

As Fuzzy mentioned, you will have to place your STB(s) in the basement adjacent to your PC as it will need to connect to the tuner card of your PC via s-video and analog audio cables. The USB-UIRT, if you use one, will connect to a USB port on your PC and then you can either let it face your STB or you can plus in a small LED emitter to a plug on the USB-UIRT and then tape this to your STB. If you use multiple STBs then you will need to use the emitters.

Here is a photo of my STBs and tuners - note that the STB in the lower left corner has a LED emitter taped to the front of the box where the IR receiver resides.



It takes a little bit more work to set this up initially but once that is done you can pretty well forget about it. The main reason for missing shows after the initial setup is if you box happens to shut itself off - this happens very rarely with my system, usually after the cable co does a software upgrade on the box, or if there is a breif power blip (and the box is not connected to a UPS). Some of the boxes turn themselves back on automatically when you change the channel.

[brandypuff]

Thanks for all the help. That clears things up a bit. I was not aware that you could feed the STB via USB or Firewire into the PC and Sage will control it. Nice. I was also not aware that you need to use the A/V inputs into a PC card from the STB rather than feeding it into the cable input of the card.

Charter offered to supply me with a free Digital box as compensation for changing the channel lineup on basic cable but when the cable guy showed up with it, i declined since i wasn't sure how i would integrate it into my setup. Maybe i should have kept it. Doubt it would be of much use, though, until i upgraded to Expanded Basic service.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

Thanks for all the help. That clears things up a bit. I was not aware that you could feed the STB via USB or Firewire into the PC and Sage will control it. Nice. I was also not aware that you need to use the A/V inputs into a PC card from the STB rather than feeding it into the cable input of the card.

Charter offered to supply me with a free Digital box as compensation for changing the channel lineup on basic cable but when the cable guy showed up with it, i declined since i wasn't sure how i would integrate it into my setup. Maybe i should have kept it. Doubt it would be of much use, though, until i upgraded to Expanded Basic service.

You might notice a higher quality signal from your digital box then what you get from analog.

Although many STBs have USB ports they aren't generally useful for much other than charging your iPod. The firewire port can theoretically send video and audio but it is not alway reliable and can be foiled by the DRM settings of your cable co. But using firewire for changing channels is very reliable once you get it set up and it less fraught with problems than using IR.