Time to build something

[RonGee]

Well, after buying some equipment and putting it aside for awhile (well, ok, a long while), I've finally gotten back to this project. I use Dish Network (1 dual receiver and 2 singles) and have about 6 TVs around the house. What I'd like to build is a Sage TV server that can handle 4 feeds from the Dish as well as a couple of OTA feeds as well, and then feed this out to the TVs. I have 3 of the HD Theater HD200s right now, and would like to expand that to cover the other TVs. I'll probably run new Cat6 cable to the boxes, although I currently have Cat5 running to several of the rooms containing TVs and may start with that.

That's kind of the plan, but I'm not sure if that's enough information to ask for some recommendations on motherboards and video cards, etc., but I thought I'd give it a shot.

Also, I have a converter from Dish that will take the RF remote signal and convert it to IR.

Happy to answer any other questions as needed.

Thanks for any assistance.

Ron

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by RonGee

I have 3 of the HD Theater HD200s right now, and would like to expand that to cover the other TVs. I'll probably run new Cat6 cable to the boxes, although I currently have Cat5 running to several of the rooms containing TVs and may start with that.

Since the HD200/HD300 does not support a gigabit ethernet connection, unless you are planning to put a switch in the rooms and connect additional equipment, Cat5 would work fine. No need to replace it with anything faster. Now for the rooms that do not have cabling run yet, using Cat5e or Cat6 would be a good idea. Many of us are using Cat5e just fine for gigabit connections, it's up to you whether it is worth the extra $$$ for the Cat6 cabling (maybe sleep better at night knowing your cable is certified for gigabit speeds?)

[paulbeers]

Actually, Cat5 (not even Cat5e) can carry GB speeds. I know because my house was completely wired with drops in every room prior by a previous owner who used standard Cat5 and I can pull GB speeds at all but 2 locations (those are probably just poorly wired locations, but I don't use them anyway so I don't care).

Only reason I point this out is that there really is no reason to replace the CAT5 at the locations as you should still get gb speeds there.

As for recommendations, there are a ton of threads that recommend various motherboards and processors. The biggest question is are you planning on using comskip? Are you planning on running PlayOn? Are you planning on using Placeshifter to send videos over the 'net? These several of the major CPU "hogs". Running Sage and serving video to extenders really doesn't take much cpu. An Atom processor could pull that off. We need to know "what else" you want to do?

[wayner]

Using the new Sage Mobile Web browser to stream to an iPad, iPhone, etc will also require a bit CPU. But you can get pretty good i3 CPUs for around $100 that should be able to handle the job.

[RonGee]

Thanks much for that information.

Paul, I think in answer to your questions, I'd say the following.....

comskip is commercial skip, right? If yes, than I'd like to do that.

playon, if I read correctly, would allow me to send Netflix, Hulu, etc, from my Sage server to the TVs connected to sage. I'd like to do that as well.

As far as video cards go, am I right that different cards are needed for pulling in something like a Dish signal vs OTA signal? For OTA, I was just thinking of putting in a good crawl space antenna in my roof space and putting in a splitter with an amplifier to get a couple of OTA feeds. I'd then also have my 3 IR-remote based Dish receivers, and the RF-based receiver with the RF to IR converter in use.

Does the Sage software allow the user to select which feed they are using, ie, in my case, dish vs OTA? I haven't hooked any of this up yet, so I'm not familiar with the software interface. Perhaps it's described on the website somewhere, or, God forbid, I could actually look at the documentation.

Thanks again for the information. Much appreciated.

Ron

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by wayner

Using the new Sage Mobile Web browser to stream to an iPad, iPhone, etc will also require a bit CPU. But you can get pretty good i3 CPUs for around $100 that should be able to handle the job.

i3 processors are great for the $. However, if you are building a new system and plan on using any type of streaming or placeshifting you would be better off getting one of the new amd 6 core systems are dirt cheap for what they are. Just a thought...

[SomeWhatLost]

Originally Posted by RonGee

As far as video cards go, am I right that different cards are needed for pulling in something like a Dish signal vs OTA signal?

Video cards create video, you want something that captures video, for Dish you may want to look at something like the HDPVR and for OTA maybe the HDHR...

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by RonGee

For OTA, I was just thinking of putting in a good crawl space antenna in my roof space and putting in a splitter with an amplifier to get a couple of OTA feeds.

If you use a HDHomeRun tuner, you should consider putting it close to the antenna with a short RG6 cable run, and running cat5 (or better) to the SageTV server. That would allow you to skip the amplifier.

Originally Posted by RonGee

I'd then also have my 3 IR-remote based Dish receivers, and the RF-based receiver with the RF to IR converter in use.

The RF to IR converter (I think) only allows you to use a RF remote control with electronics that only support IR remote controls. I don't think it's a tuner, which is what your post makes it sound like.

Originally Posted by RonGee

Does the Sage software allow the user to select which feed they are using, ie, in my case, dish vs OTA? I haven't hooked any of this up yet, so I'm not familiar with the software interface. Perhaps it's described on the website somewhere, or, God forbid, I could actually look at the documentation.

If you want the same channel on one feed to take priority over the same channel on another feed, check out mmc/encoders/XXX/encoder_merit on page 255 of the SageTV V7.0 User's Guide, available here: http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_Manual.pdf

[RonGee]

Thanks again for the great information. Gives me something to look at tonight when I'm not working (I work from home), driving my kids to and from their school activities, picking a house project to work on, etc etc etc etc. :-)

Ron