Running Win7 SageTV on WHS 2011...help

[Beefcake550]

Hi All,

Long story short, I'm looking for people to chime in if they have installed WHS 2011 and tried running SageTV on it. If so, which download did you use (WHS/Win7)? I installed the Win7 version and while it works when it's running, I've had several problems keeping it running it in service mode. The service keeps stopping randomly with no errors listed and I just start it up again and all is good. Anyone encounter anything like this?

I'm also having HD-PVR issues (which I haven't had before). I have a C2 which has been solid for 2 years and a newer F2 that has never had a problem. I use DirecTV if that matters, an H23 and H24.

On my test machine, I tried installing Sage for WHS, but the dashboard app to enter serial numbers and start/stop the service didn't show up (and I didn't expect them to), so I chalked that up as a fail and tried the Win7 on the "production" machine.

WAF and KAF is going downhill fast and I really don't want to resort back to WHS v1 if it's something easy and I can make this robust and "just work" like the whole thing used to when it was a WHS v1 machine. I was just hoping to play with the media streaming aspect of the new WHS 2011. Maybe also get a little better IO performance.

Thanks in advance....

[Beefcake550]

Bump...no one is running WHS 2011?

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Beefcake550

Bump...no one is running WHS 2011?

I am staying with V1 since WHS2011 is crippled due to no drive extender and since it is 64 bit you can't use firewire.

[lpitman]

I am waiting for the released version of WHS2011...But fully intend on using 2011 and SageTV v7...I expect SageTV to have a fully functional WHS2011 version...I am also going to also use the DrivePool plug-in to provide the missing DE in WHS2011...so I will be paying attention closely to this forum.

[Beefcake550]

Looks like I'm trailblazing only to fidn out that the Win7 version of SageTV doesn't really work with WHS2011. When I am on the server machine now and try to load up the GUI for SageTV, it says "can't create JVM, please reinstall JRE v1.4". I did this, rebooted and still the problem exists. I also get channel changes that don't work via HTTP (DirecTV), the service shutting down for no good reason, halts in records on both HDHR nad HD-PVR recordings. Groan.

My plan of attack to fix this is:
1) Try uninstalling SageTV and then reinstalling...maybe it will work (but not betting on it)
2) If #1 doesn't work out, then try out Win7 on the server machine
3) If #2 isn't rock solid, then go back to WHS v1 and call it a day.

All of these options involve waiting for SageTV to release a WHS2011 version and trying again.

oh, and I am running the released version of WHS2011 from MSDN.

[ElGato]

Originally Posted by Beefcake550

Looks like I'm trailblazing only to fidn out that the Win7 version of SageTV doesn't really work with WHS2011. When I am on the server machine now and try to load up the GUI for SageTV, it says "can't create JVM, please reinstall JRE v1.4". I did this, rebooted and still the problem exists. I also get channel changes that don't work via HTTP (DirecTV), the service shutting down for no good reason, halts in records on both HDHR nad HD-PVR recordings. Groan.

My plan of attack to fix this is:
1) Try uninstalling SageTV and then reinstalling...maybe it will work (but not betting on it)
2) If #1 doesn't work out, then try out Win7 on the server machine
3) If #2 isn't rock solid, then go back to WHS v1 and call it a day.

All of these options involve waiting for SageTV to release a WHS2011 version and trying again.

Have you installed both 32bit and 64bit Java? I am of course assuming SageTV is 32bit only at the moment.

[gplasky]

SO you're using WHS 2011 which is code based on WIndows 7 but still it is a server OS. You will probably either want to disable UNC or make sure on every executable or setup you run you right-click and choose "run as administrator". And it doesn't matter if you're logged in as an adminstrator you will need to do this. Forever. Once you do that make sure you install the needed BDA support files. (Look for other posts as to how other people got Windows 2008 R2 server to work.) I know you'll need that for any HDHomeruns you might have. I would also recommend having the Sage server log in as adminsitrator with a password until you get past your issues. I'm assuming you're installing the Windows 7 drivers for the HD-PVR. Again make sure you right click on the driver install and choose to run as administrator. (If you disable uNC you won't need to do this.) Also by default IE has a higher security level so make sure you can get to the websites you need to get to before trying accessing the Internet thru Sage such as for Playon or Online videos.

Gerry

[Beefcake550]

gplasky, thanks for the helpful comments. I appreciate it. Now the question is doI want to go through all these "hoops" or just try out Win7?

[Beefcake550]

Originally Posted by ElGato

Have you installed both 32bit and 64bit Java? I am of course assuming SageTV is 32bit only at the moment.

I will have to check what I did...it didn't dawn on me to think of this difference.

[panteragstk]

Isn't Vail based on server 2008 r2? That would tell me why the W7 version doesn't work properly.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Isn't Vail based on server 2008 r2? That would tell me why the W7 version doesn't work properly.

Not really-Windows server 2008 r2 is the Windows 7 code base.

Gerry

[ElGato]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Isn't Vail based on server 2008 r2? That would tell me why the W7 version doesn't work properly.

Which in itself is closely based on Win7

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Not really-Windows server 2008 r2 is the Windows 7 code base.

Gerry

Originally Posted by ElGato

Which in itself is closely based on Win7

Ah. There ya go. Thanks. So from what I've read in this thread we need to wait for an official version for vail from sage, and before that can happen vail needs to actually be released.

[gplasky]

You are going to have to wait until SageTV updates the add-in if you're looking for it to work from the new console app in Windows Home Server 2011. It should run in service mode with the Windows 7 install because I'm sure there are people out there that run it on Windows Server 2008 R2. There are threads in here. I would look to see what they did to get it to run properly as a service. And I would recommend only running the service and not try to get the UI client playing on there. I'm pretty sure it's missing the media components required for that.

Gerry

[Beefcake550]

thanks guys... yeah, I'm not going to try to use the UI client to play anything...more as I get to it ...likely late tonight or tomorrow night sometime

[icon123]

I wish we could find out when an official or beta version might be released. I know WHS 2011 is not officially released yet, but it is available on Technet/MSDN.

I'm going to go back from Windows 7 and don't really want to go back to WHS v1.

[stevech]

Isn't WHS 2011 still in beta/RC and you have to sign up to get a pre-release copy that comes with an expiring license?

[icon123]

No. It RTMed the begining of April. I don't know when it will be released for retail, but OEMs can get it along with MSDN and TechNet subs.

[Beefcake550]

I got it on TechNet.

So, made good progress tonight. I did these things differently this time around:
1) Installed BDA package I found from google search of "windows 2008 r2 bda"
2) Everytime I installed a driver or software, I right clicked and did "Run as Administrator" even though I was logged in as such
3) Changed SageTV service to run as Administrator.

So far so good.....one minor problem where sage created a system message that said it ran out of memory. Not sure how that was possible with 4GB RAM. I did have the JVM set to 1.5GB, so I downed it to 1GB. Since then, I have beenworkign well. The big test will be in the morning when I go to watch TV. I also plan to install SageTV plugins at that point.

[icon123]

Good luck and keep us posted. I would like to start running WHS 2011, but need to make sure Sage is 100% compatible.