Diagram of DirectTV/Dish/CableHD Please

[cjquijano]

Okay, I may be a little dense here, but can use some help.

I have SageTV7 running on Windows XP with an ATI 650 Combo tuner, Ati 600 tuner and an HVR 1600 dual tuner and I have expanded cable.

My overall cable quality is pretty poor (but within spec) so I am now looking at adding Direct TV, Dish Network, or Cableone HD, to get more channels as well as the all the HD channels.

My question is how do you set these up to work within the sage interface? I have heard of the usb-irt, and the HD PVR, but what I can use is a diagram to show how all this stuff connects together. Can anyone share a diagram showing where the video signals (especially the HD signal) and the control signals go? And also what the different options are. Or is HD-PVR the only option?

Thanks,
Christopher

[Fuzzy]

Dont' ahve a diagram off hand, but here's an little explanation.

The SetTopBox Component Video outputs, as well as optical or analog audio, are run to the HD-PVR. The HD-PVR encodes whatever audio/video is on those lines, and sends it to the SageTV Server via USB. This is how the shows get recorded.
The other piece of the puzzle, is sage has to be able to control the set top box, to change the channel to what it wants to record. This can be done a number of ways. the 'simplest' is probably via InfraRed. The HD-PVR includes an IR emitter than can be controlled by sage to change the channels on the STB (it acts like a remote control). The limitation is that only one Hauppague IR emitter will work on a given SageTV Server. Another option for IR control, is the USB-UIRT. It is cable of sending out to 3 distinct zones, allowing control of multiple STB's. There are other control options, depending on your sat boxes. Some can be controlled via Firewire (mostly Cable boxes). Some can be controlled via Serial, or USB via a proper adatper (limited to DirecTV).