A few new user questions

[Crowa]

I am looking to build a MCE computer, and had a few questions. I have been reading the board looking for some of the answers, but I cant find a few things. I just want it to record basic tv, no high definition or Svideo. Just basic coax in and out, since I will just be using it on my tv, no monitor.

First, the board I am hoping to use is my Via ME6000. The tv out doesnt perform all that well. If i were to buy a tunercard like the Hauppauge 250mce or 500mce, can they output to the TV from the card, and would that be better than the onboard video of my board?

Second, whats a good MCE card to buy? I can spend around $150. But the cheaper the better.

Also, will the MCE 2005 microsoft remote work with sage tv?

This last question isnt as important as the rest. I was trying to get sage to run on my ME6000 just to test out some features and settings, but i dont have a good tuner card. I own the cheap Wintv-go, which says it wont work with sage tv. What exactly wont work about it? i have gotten the image to come through, it just doesnt seem to record or pause.

Thanks in advance to any answers, and I would appreciate any advice on other hardware or settings for this computer.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Crowa

I am looking to build a MCE computer, and had a few questions. I have been reading the board looking for some of the answers, but I cant find a few things. I just want it to record basic tv, no high definition or Svideo. Just basic coax in and out, since I will just be using it on my tv, no monitor.

First, the board I am hoping to use is my Via ME6000. The tv out doesnt perform all that well. If i were to buy a tunercard like the Hauppauge 250mce or 500mce, can they output to the TV from the card, and would that be better than the onboard video of my board?

The only board with it's own output is the PVR 350, and yes it's probably better than your onboard, but there are or can be some issues with it (a search for 350 will find you more than you wanted to know).

Second, whats a good MCE card to buy? I can spend around $150. But the cheaper the better.

Take a look at the PVR 150, they fall in the $75-$85 range, but have no video ouput.

Also, will the MCE 2005 microsoft remote work with sage tv?

I believe most of the buttons work.

This last question isnt as important as the rest. I was trying to get sage to run on my ME6000 just to test out some features and settings, but i dont have a good tuner card. I own the cheap Wintv-go, which says it wont work with sage tv. What exactly wont work about it? i have gotten the image to come through, it just doesnt seem to record or pause.

That card doesn't have a hardware encoder, and thus isn't supported for recording/pause/etc.

[Crowa]

Thanks for the advice. I have never had good experiance with TV out on video cards. My Ti4600 shows slight color distortion and flickering just at the top of my tv. And the ME6000 boards tv out isnt straight on the TV. It would be fine if my tv had some sort of trapezoid sizing like my monitor has. I just figured coaxial output on a tuner card would look correct.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Crowa

I just figured coaxial output on a tuner card would look correct.

If you get the 350 it should be fine, but just make sure you're aware of the limitations/quirks associated with it.

[krutaw]

Originally Posted by Crowa

Thanks for the advice. I have never had good experiance with TV out on video cards. My Ti4600 shows slight color distortion and flickering just at the top of my tv. And the ME6000 boards tv out isnt straight on the TV. It would be fine if my tv had some sort of trapezoid sizing like my monitor has. I just figured coaxial output on a tuner card would look correct.

While I have been a fan of the PVR-350 since support was originally added for it, I now favor the Media MVP. The thing to keep in mind with them is that you require both the server and client software. You also have to have an encoder in order to record the shows. The MediaMVP is only used for playing the videos to the tv, but the video output is excellent.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by krutaw

The thing to keep in mind with them is that you require both the server and client software.

Actually you don't, you only need both if you want to use Sage on the Desktop AND the MVP, if just the MVP is enough then you don't need a copy of SageClient.