mini computer options as sagetv server/clients

[Galaxysurfer]

Looking for suggestions that others have tried & got working with sagetv software. Ideally id like to go with linux os but thanx to google/adobe/chrome monopoly i need to use win 10 for browser to access media product. There are no apps for affected service available for roku & i wont consider android products so back to win 10 ( at least for media serving) eg intec nuc , intel compute stick, asus vivo etc. What are needed ram & hhd space minimums for sagetv on client?

[SageWizdom]

Will you only use it for Sage, or will you use it for other services (which I think is yes). Is this something that you need to make "spouse compatible" aka easy? How much work are you willing to accept to switch between types of services (netflix / hulu / other?). If android is not an option, is anything else an option?

I have a NUC but gave up on using it for a placeshifter because by the time I had all the pieces together (system, drive, ram, wifi, ir receiver, etc.) I realized I had spent more money than just getting an AppleTV (my pref for most services) and a basic placeshifter (android, used hd300/etc). Does your setup allow you to consider a two device solution (for now)? Is this something you could consider or are there additional things driving your need?

[Skirge01]

I'm running an Intel NUC (Haswell) as a client and it works quite nicely. I use it for both Sage and Kodi, including 3D playback & HD audio. Admittedly, these NUCs are a bit on the expensive side when you put all the parts together, but the performance you get in such a small package is impressive. Once you add in the cost of a case, you're probably looking at a similar price for a full PC which isn't a NUC.

If you don't watch full quality Blu-ray rips or 3D content, you could probably get away with something less powerful than a NUC.

As far as RAM goes, you're probably fine with 4GB. Practically any current HDD or SSD will be sufficiently large enough to install Sage and even store fanart locally. My entire OS backs up to an ~120GB file.

[wayner]

120GB is oodles of SSD space for a client - my server has a 120GB SSD and has 30GB free and lots of extra stuff.

For the server you may want to think about what else you want the server to do. Do you plan on using it for comskipping or transcoding? How many clients will you have? Will you want to run other stuff on the server - like Plex Server, AirVideo, etc to facilitate serving up your media to other clients (like iOS devices) or devices not on your LAN. Will you use stuff like Playon? Not all of these service may be available on Linux.

For a SageTV client IMHO the best bet is still an HD300 or HD200 extender. But they can't do all of the other things that a PC can.

[Galaxysurfer]

Ended up getting an Asus Vivo. It has 8 gb ram & 500 gb hdd. basically glorified laptop cpu without input or screen. It came with win 8 so am upgrading it to win 10. now i need to figure out how to wall off setup so windows can't data mine anything not directly related to media server. server is running on win 7 currently with sage 7. tower has linux booting on another partition. So thinking of switching server to linux partition to chat with win 10 client. I hope that is enough separation of data. I want the client to use win10 so can access other media sites that dont have apps etc through browser since linux is being shut out from media streaming. Using shomi (cdn netflix copycat) which is built on antiquated java. I have a router with guest account feature to separate networks if needed. Any suggestions ? Ideally would get a separate dedicated server, but not in the cards right now. i possibly could isolate via VMs but wasnt sure on the data transferring in that scenario.

[SageWizdom]

Originally Posted by Galaxysurfer

Now i need to figure out how to wall off setup so windows can't data mine anything not directly related to media server.

I did a quick search on "how to block windows 10 spying" and got several promising looking links.

Alternatively, depending on the kind of home network router do you have, you may be able to set up a rule to block any outbound connections from your media server IP to Microsoft IPs on the internet. I'm not sure which MS is using but I'm sure someone has and that Google can find it. You could also block everything from it, and then work backwards to allow whatever other media services you want to use. I'm assuming you have some level of familiarity with or might be willing to learn a little bit of wireshark (network monitoring tool) where you would start wireshark, connect to the service you want, see what IPs your computer talks to and then whitelist those in the router.... and repeat for all services.

[Skirge01]

Regarding the spying, this is the info I went with (make sure you read the whole page). Additionally, I installed GWX Control Panel to ensure that nothing related to W10 was present or could be installed.

[Galaxysurfer]

Great minds think alike! already had the GWX installed. I just didn't know what 2 different window computers share with each other & then to outside. I guess it is time to put on detective cap with the Wireshark program.

[Fuzzy]

Shame really, because a FireTV would have been so much cheaper... :-D

[Galaxysurfer]

planning on using the small computer for other uses too. so if sagetv client isnt best use of this hardware will repurpose it and get cheaper options. I know it was a bit of over kill for this use. looking to set up non media server as well.

[Galaxysurfer]

Amazon fire is android based and not available in canada.

I already have roku devices and want more functionality or supplement to said. With recent demise of shomi service hopefully amazon video will come to canada. Only legal streaming gig in town now for cordcutters is netflix and cravetv which is bad bell Canada offering i refuse to support.

[ranger]

I have tried and use 3 different mini PCs with good results. These are all running Windows 10, SageTV9, and LAV filters.
Shuttle NC01U - i5 - Very good performance
Gigabyte GB-BSi3H-6100 - i3 - Very good performance
Liva Mini PC Kit - BayTrail-M - Acceptable performance. Occasional slow downs but very usable.

I'm not running Linux as I haven't been able to get bullet proof video playback across all file types in Linux.