SageTV and two tuners using composite/s-video, channel lineup and more

[hagur]

Hi,

Hope someone can shed some light on the following for me.

I've got a SageTV server with a Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150, only using composite via my set top box. I have another set top box and I'm thinking about adding another Hauppauge card to hook that one up as well. I want to go with a hybrid DVB-T/analogue card so I can use it for freeview DVB-T AND hook it up to the second set top box via composite/s-video.

If I do this, how will SageTV handle the channel lineup? Could I, for example, make channel #1 be the composite input on the PVR-150, channel #2 be the composite input on the second Hauppauge, and then use channel #3 and upwards for the DVB-T channels?

If not, how does SageTV handle multiple tuners in regard of channel lineups ?

Thanks in advance,
Hagur

[stanger89]

You don't assign channels to tuners, Sage handles that for you. You just do the normal channel setup and enable whatever channels the specific tuner/input can view.

In your case every channel from the STBs would be enabled on both tuners, and the DVB-T ones only on the DVB-T tuner. Just realize you won't be able to use both the DVB-T and S-Video side simultaneously. You can configure them both, but that tuner can still only record one thing at a time.

[hagur]

Thanks for the reply, yeah I realize that I could never use DVB-T and S-Video at the same time. Was just curious to know how I would "channel surf" in SageTV when I've got two tuner cards.

[stanger89]

Just like you normally would, the UI doesn't change when you add tuners.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by hagur

If I do this, how will SageTV handle the channel lineup? Could I, for example, make channel #1 be the composite input on the PVR-150, channel #2 be the composite input on the second Hauppauge, and then use channel #3 and upwards for the DVB-T channels?

If not, how does SageTV handle multiple tuners in regard of channel lineups ?

You said that you currently have the PVR-150 connected to a STB via composite. I assume that you have configured a channel lineup for your provider so that you can see guide data for all the channels available on the STB and you are using an IR blaster to change channels on the STB. Is this correct?

If you add another capture device, you will configure a channel lineup for it as well. If it is different from your existing lineup, the two lineups will be merged. So, when you go to the EPG screen you will see all the listings for both capture devices mixed together. There won't be any indicator to tell you which channels are available from which capture device. Some channels may come from the 1st tuner, some may come from the 2nd tuner, and others may come from both.

Sage has a physical channel number and a logical channel number for every channel in each lineup. The physical channel number is the number on the STB, or in the case of digital broadcasts it could be some major-minor format. You probably don't want to change the physical channels, but Sage will let you re-map the logical channels. The logical channel just determines the order that the channels appear in the EPG screen. The logical channel is also what you would type on your remote to change channels when watching "live" TV in Sage.

[hagur]

Originally Posted by Tiki

You said that you currently have the PVR-150 connected to a STB via composite. I assume that you have configured a channel lineup for your provider so that you can see guide data for all the channels available on the STB and you are using an IR blaster to change channels on the STB. Is this correct?

Yeah, you are basically correct, except I don't have any EPG data available and I don't let SageTV handle the IR blasting (Had some problems with it so I came up with another way to control the STB).

So when I change channels, SageTV knows which tuner that channel belongs to and automatically uses the appropriate tuner each time. That makes sense.

But what if I don't configure any channels at all. What if I just enable the composite input on each of the tuners. How would changing channels then work? Could #1 just refer to the composite input on tuner #1 and #2 just refer to the composite input on tuner #2 ?

Sorry for all those seemingly stupid questions

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by hagur

Yeah, you are basically correct, except I don't have any EPG data available and I don't let SageTV handle the IR blasting (Had some problems with it so I came up with another way to control the STB).

So when I change channels, SageTV knows which tuner that channel belongs to and automatically uses the appropriate tuner each time. That makes sense.

But what if I don't configure any channels at all. What if I just enable the composite input on each of the tuners. How would changing channels then work? Could #1 just refer to the composite input on tuner #1 and #2 just refer to the composite input on tuner #2 ?

Sorry for all those seemingly stupid questions

If you are not using the EPG lineups, then your first guess was correct. You can just assign a single unused channel to that tuner. This is how you would do it if (for example) you wanted to connect an old camcorder to your capture card and use Sage to transfer an old tape recording.

It's really a shame to do it that way for something like a cable or satellite box though. The real power of a DVR like Sage is being able to tell it what shows you like and having it find them and record them automatically without user intervention.

[Fuzzy]

I couldn't even fathom running sage without the EPG data. Is it any different than a VCR at that point?

[stanger89]

I think it's probably worse.

[hagur]

Thanks guys :-)

Yeah I know, not having EPG kinda sucks.

I use SageTV mainly to stream video from the STBs to SageTV clients I have on my LAN, such as my workstation PC (No TV close to that one). I rarely use the PVR functions

[Fuzzy]

Right, but even that would be simpler with the EPG data. It's not just about the PVR functions, it's about being able to control from anywhere. It'll be even more important to start using it 'right' when you add a second tuner.