What's Next? Where should I go and where have you gone?

[wolverines]

Like everyone else, I've been searching for how to complete the vision started when I set up my Sage server. It seems like so many have gone in different directions that what I was hoping for was to a) hear what you are running now and b) what steps you might take in my shoes.

Ideally I'd have a whole home DVR with the ability to watch all of my movies, all in one application. Some sort of small extender or device at each tv with the server hidden in the basement (house is all wired). I'm looking at fully implementing Plex, or perhaps Windows Media Center with extenders.

Here's what I have:
Tivo S3 w/ lifetime (kept it as I transitioned to Sage, glad I did).
Sage w/ HD 200 and HD 300 serving 2 TVs.
HP Mediasmart server with all of the movies on it (sonos handles the music).
PC in the basement running Sage and Plex. It's a bit underpowered with AMD dual core 4450e 2.3ghz, 2GB RAM running win8, with 128GB SSD, a couple of HDDs for recordings, bluray drive.
Tuners: HVR 2250, HD PVR and HD Homerun Prime.

Now if Cablevision didn't flag so many channels as copy once Sage would be great. But I can't get half the channels with the Prime because of it, including the movie channels.

I need to get whatever I do out to at least 1 more TV, possibly 2 (so 4 in total, all are HD). Plex might work. I could buy a roku or a samsung bluray player for the other tv and implement that. Or I could hope ceton figures out the echo and go down that path. Either way I think it's time to upgrade the PC that's running it all to a faster processor/mobo and some more memory (rest of parts should be good). Too bad the tivo mini can't handle apps like plex as I could go with an xl4 for the dvr and then use the plex app for the movies...

Sorry for the long winded post but I've been racking my brain and reading or weeks now. Thanks!

[PiX64]

for an immediate inexpensive, really good solution in my opinion i would check out roku 3 for 99 bucks and run plex on it for all sage related/movie related needs.

its not the be all end all, but it does an excellent job.

It does have its limitations though: for example if you have a lot of bluray or hddvd stored on disc containered in MKV, you may have some hiccups with streaming it to the roku. the roku device is notorious for NOT playing nice with MKV when streamed to the device...

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by wolverines

Now if Cablevision didn't flag so many channels as copy once Sage would be great. But I can't get half the channels with the Prime because of it, including the movie channels.

If that's the case you're pretty much stuck with Windows Media Center and it's extenders. Nothing else supports Copy Once content.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by stanger89

If that's the case you're pretty much stuck with Windows Media Center and it's extenders. Nothing else supports Copy Once content.

HD-PVR / Collossus, a single cable box, and a used HD200 for an infrequently used television... Still use cablecard for the bulk of the channels, and the HD-PVR for the ones that are flagged.

[bialio]

Yeah, I think Fuzzy's got it right. SageTV is still the best fit for what you want. Extenders aren't impossible to get - plus add an HD-PVR and cable box and you are set.
btl.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

HD-PVR / Collossus, a single cable box, and a used HD200 for an infrequently used television... Still use cablecard for the bulk of the channels, and the HD-PVR for the ones that are flagged.

I'm lucky enough in that all of my channels are Copy Freely, actually all the HD is clear (save movie channels). But the analog capture practicality depends a lot on what you watch. If they flag on the channels you watch, one STB may not work well.

I had 2 STB when I had Dish, and I'd say that was barely enough, with just me. Probably the only reason it was enough was because I used OTA for locals (even though I rarely watch network TV).

[WellThen]

Like stanger89, I'm using OTA for the local stuff. I'm finding that with a single HD-PVR and cable box paired up, I can catch most of the cable stuff. Mostly, this is because the content on cable tends to be run multiple times, giving the HD-PVR (and Sage) a chance to catch anything I want, even if there are conflicts at some point. Sometimes, I have to wait a few days for a show to get recorded, but I can deal with that.

[bialio]

That's my situation too - by far the bulk of my recordings are on network TV.

Logistically it starts to get complicated if you want more than one cablebox / PVR. No impossible, but bulky.

[Fuzzy]

I am down to a single sat ox right now, and 2 OTA tuners, and it keeps up pretty good. There are a number of reported conflicts, but they are on kids shows reruns, which are all set to low priorities, and are not necessary to catch every one. All cable programs repeat enough to avoid conflicts. Sure, you can't always watch that key show on the exact night it records, but I'm usually working a week behind live at the closest (sometimes a full season).

I will get my second Sat box up and running again shortly, but it's not killing us not having it.

[Fuzzy]

I just reread the OP, and it looks like you've already GOT the prime, and HD-PVR, and an HVR-2250 - so really, you should be set on your sources and not be running many conflicts... if all you are looking for is to expand to extra spaces, in my opinion, it is far worth an extra $100 or so to get a real sage extender over something like the roku.

[wolverines]

Thanks everyone. I think I am set on the sources in general. 2 OTA and 3 from the Prime more than covers all the major networks. The prime gets a bunch of cable channels and the HD PVR covers the rest, although that thing has been very flaky lately in terms of just not registering with Sage (or my server). I'm occasionally running into issues where the server hangs up with Sage (extenders kind of freeze up or become very slow - I think it's memory related as the fix is usually a server reboot as Sage takes up >50% of the memory). So listening to everyone it sounds like my best bet is to upgrade the server a little bit (processor and RAM as the rest is good). That should help get rid of most of the lockups and then open the option to get another extender or either a roku or samsung bd player if I want to go the plex route. Or perhaps by then their will be a decent functioning WMC extender as I'm not opposed to that route in the future. Which route I chose is still tbd. the tv that needs something is in the kids playroom and they will be watching mostly recorded stuff (so while nice, they don't need a full functioning Sage extender, as long as they can access our content)

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by WellThen

Like stanger89, I'm using OTA for the local stuff. I'm finding that with a single HD-PVR and cable box paired up, I can catch most of the cable stuff. Mostly, this is because the content on cable tends to be run multiple times, giving the HD-PVR (and Sage) a chance to catch anything I want, even if there are conflicts at some point. Sometimes, I have to wait a few days for a show to get recorded, but I can deal with that.

Actually now I've got an HDHR and an HDHR Prime running off my FTTH service

[hemicuda]

I'd be tickled to have a FTTH service that's directly compatible with a capture device. The installer that switched dad over a few weeks ago said the local fiber service is "10 yrs ahead" of anyone else in the country. Even though they use similar Cisco hardware to FiOS (or was it AT&T).

I'll break down and try an HDPVR flavor one of these days. I just need to have a reliable, read: less flaky than the pvr, way to put it in a room different from the server. USB to ethernet adapters were not a really good option last time I checked on them.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by wolverines

... Or perhaps by then their will be a decent functioning WMC extender as I'm not opposed to that route in the future. ...

I am running 7MC almost exclusively, sort of. I am using 7MC for all viewing with 2 HDHR Prime's. I also have Sage running to record HBO etc. channels and watch them via 7MC.

I have the HTPC in my HT and 360's as clients else where. it's not the perfect solution, but it does provide me with what Sage can't for now (full HD via CC). You don't have to keep Sage running, but I just can't sem to let go just yet.

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

I am running 7MC almost exclusively, sort of. I am using 7MC for all viewing with 2 HDHR Prime's. I also have Sage running to record HBO etc. channels and watch them via 7MC.

I have the HTPC in my HT and 360's as clients else where. it's not the perfect solution, but it does provide me with what Sage can't for now (full HD via CC). You don't have to keep Sage running, but I just can't sem to let go just yet.

I use Xbox360s for Netflix, HBOGo and Amazon Prime but just can't see myself using Media Center.

I might be able to live with it on a HTPC but the controls on the Xbox360 bother me. I can not map the buttons on the remote to navigate it the way I would like. Also seems to lock up a lot if I skip around much. Comskip also does not work the way I would like.

MC interface: I also don't really like the interface very much either but some of the plugins make it better but it is still not as functional as SageTV.
Lastly they have not really updated Media Center in ages. They are adding TV functions to the Xbox with cable partners now so I would not expect it to get any better.

Sage works well still so I'm holding out hope for SageTV\GoogleTV at this point.

If not then with XBMC TV support looking better a NextPVR and XBMC combo is probably something I could live with. There are all kinds of cheap extenders for it. (Plex supporting something like NextPVR would be better)

[darcilicious]

Lastly they have not really updated Media Center in ages.

Isn't Media Center (on Windows) basically a dead product?

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

... MC interface: I also don't really like the interface very much either but some of the plugins make it better but it is still not as functional as SageTV.

Like I said, it's not perfect. OP was just looking for options.

Sage is differant things to many people. If I were amung those who have gotten Sage to work well with HD with SS recordings I would not even think of switching. MC supports CC in full HD right out of the box. I have 6 tunners (w/Hack) and 5 extenders working real well for TV.

Lastly they have not really updated Media Center in ages. They are adding TV functions to the Xbox with cable partners now so I would not expect it to get any better.

Yep, Sage and WMC have had absolutly no development in years at this point (baring this comunity, which is awesome). The big difference here is you can still purchase WMC and it's extenders.

If not then with XBMC TV support looking better a NextPVR and XBMC combo is probably something I could live with. There are all kinds of cheap extenders for it. (Plex supporting something like NextPVR would be better)

If your only looking for very basic TV or are lucky enough to have CopyFreely Cable channels than this is an option, again not one for my area.

It would be awesome if Google released Sage 8 to the GP, but the way it's going, there may be many other options by that point.

I guess it comes down to what are you willing to put up with on your Big screen or HT. Personally I only want HD w/SS at a minimum on all content.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

If not then with XBMC TV support looking better a NextPVR and XBMC combo is probably something I could live with. There are all kinds of cheap extenders for it. (Plex supporting something like NextPVR would be better)

I know that there are a lot of things that look like they can be a good option as extenders but how well do these work compared to Sage when it comes to functionality like SkipFwd?

The bulk of my TV watching is sports and I would REALLY miss the ability to do stuff like skipping over commercials and breaks in action. With SageTV plugins like SRE, customizable skip times, hiding the timeline for SRE monitored recordings.