Where, oh where....

[BerrantRyke]

...are the media extenders?

The family is chomping at the bit for SageTV on every TV in the house, so I'll be ordering 3 of them...

But, I guess I will just have to wait and bide my time... i wonder what I can to while I wait?

Oh, I know.... I can start a thread about how I cant wait for them to come out...

[JasonJoel]

Considering the first Media Extender is simply going to be the Hauppauge MediaMVP - you could order those now and use Matt's MediaMVP client.

Using one Sage Client license you get full support for Sage interfaces. Only thing it doesn't do is play non-MPEG video. But there is no guarantee that the Sage MVP client will either...

Just food for thought... Same hardware either way...

Jason

[Crashless]

There's no reason NOT to go with the MVP if all you're doing is watching TV. If you have a large divx library, or ripped DVDs, then yeah, there are some big minuses.

Otherwise, I'd check out some mini-atx boards and setups. I bet you could make a pretty capable client for less than $500, and it'll do everything you want.

A7N8X-VM/400 $72
AthlonXP 2500/333 $74
512mb 2700 ram $48
120gb EIDE hd $57
antec minuet case $65
XP Home OEM $90
Any random dvd burner $80
---------------------------------------------------
$486


edit: it won't take my spacing, sorry it's so ugly. It's doable.

[BerrantRyke]

Originally Posted by Crashless

There's no reason NOT to go with the MVP if all you're doing is watching TV. If you have a large divx library, or ripped DVDs, then yeah, there are some big minuses.

I do have an extensive Divx/Xvid library... Main reason for wanting the MVP from sage is ease of use. Two clients are for the kids rooms... I am sick of Blues Clues! I dont want a full PC in thier rooms, and would like the ease of a out-the-box setup. With a little STV tweaking, I can remove everything from their UI that I dont want them to have. As for the 3rd clirent, I'd like to replace the full PC in my room with somthing that will play my divx films. *sigh*

I have resigned to waiting... But thought I would talk about waiting to make the waiting easier on me... *laugh*

[Scriber]

Originally Posted by JasonJoel

Just food for thought... Same hardware either way...

Jason

I was waiting for the media extender MVP as well. I'd like 2. For some reason I was thinking that there might be an updated MVP on the way so I was holding off too....

Btw, anyone know if I can use a pvr150 remote with the MVP?

[kminder]

I'm right there with BerrantRyke. All of my SageTV expansion is on hold until I see what the media extenders turn out to be. I would just buy a few MediaMVP but I have two concerns.
1. I would like Frey to get the OEM money and they don't sell them in their store.
2. It is unclear at this point if the MVP will have stock Hauppauge firmware or custom and we don't know if we will be able to "upgrade" an exsting MVP to be a "supported" client.
I'll buy my extra client licenses right now if these issues could be resolved.
Kevin.

[heffe2001]

I seem to recall Dan saying something about using existing client licenses on MVP's with their new extender client, but that could have just been a dream I had :P.

[Crashless]

BerrantRyke - You can always run the stock MVP client software. It supports DIVX files. You obviously loose the ability to have Sage when you do this though.

Matt recently mentioned that he's looking into incorperating transcoding, but he can't find a reliable library to implement it with. Maybe we could help him on this front.

Anyways, there's a sourceforge project that has gotten A LOT to work on the MVP.

http://mvpmc.sourceforge.net/idx.php?pg=main

It supports DVD VOBs, and AC3 audio. Promising at the very least.

[BerrantRyke]

Well, glad to hear that I am not alose in the "wait for Frey" on this one.

I have the feeling that we will be pleasently surprised with future developments in this area, but the waiting is horrible....

[JasonJoel]

Although long term you are probably right, I wouldn't hold your breath for 2005...

I will bet $0.05 that we won't see ANY other Sage Extender besides the MEdia MVP solution this year.

And that stinks, since we ALREADY HAVE a Media MVP solution that works great.

Only thing they could add that would be nice is divx transcoding.

Jason

Originally Posted by BerrantRyke

Well, glad to hear that I am not alose in the "wait for Frey" on this one.

I have the feeling that we will be pleasently surprised with future developments in this area, but the waiting is horrible....

[wbarber69]

that would be nice

[kminder]

I just asked Frey and they indicated that if you go out and by a MVP now...

A. You will obviosuly still have to by client licenses (No word on free upgrade) and the number of MVPs connecting to the server is controlled by these licenses.

B. They will provide necessary software and any upgrades when the time comes.

C. The hardware that exists today will pretty much be the same. The updates
will be done through the firmware and Frey's software.

From my point of view I'm going to go out and buy (or at least order $83 http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...116-617&depa=0) a single MVP just to play around with. Hopefully the official product will be out before I feel the need to by the other two.

[Juncti]

Do you think that one of these would help with playback issues? I've got my PQ tweaked to where I'm very happy with it, but I haven't been able to get the tears to stop. I've been thinking/hoping that the media extender would be optimized for playback. So do you think this MVP would give me better playback?

My main reason for wanting one now though, is because I use an Infocus X1 projector for my tv, and I'm planning on mounting it on the ceiling. Would be a lot easier to place an MVP next to it and run an ethernet cable up there as opposed to either suspending the computer on a shelf in reach or getting a really long VGA cable to make it up there.

Just curious as this is the first I've heard of the MVP as an alternative to the extender. I'd obviously buy the extender if it was available.

[JasonJoel]

Umm... The MVP *is* the Sage Extender. All that isn't out now is the custom software Sage is using on top of the MVP.

The troubling part is that there is ALREADY A PERFECTLY GOOD WAY to use the MVP in Sage TODAY... Unless they add some key features (like Divx transcoding that WORKS [unlike Hauppauges], or some fixes to known MVP problems), I don't see why I would pay more money for something I already have, and use, TODAY. Also, the Media MVP itself only supports half-duplex on the NIC (at least in its current incarnation). This causes a reduction in throughput to the device and tons of collisions on the network. Not normally an issue, but is another minus for the device.

To answer your second question though, I've NEVER seen tearing on the MVP. NEVER. I've seen other things though... Like if the recording file gets split up into multiple files (for any of the many reasons this can happen), it makes the resulting files non-compliant enough that there are MAJOR out of sync issues with the playback. On 'normal' recording files though, playback has been flawless. I personally think that problem will ecist with Frey's Extender as well... Doubt they will fix that kind of core issue in the MVP. Also, there are times that the playback can get stretched. It is a known issue regarding displaying 'square' pixels or not. Again, no idea if this will get fixed in Frey's 'special' MVP software.

Jason Bottjen

Originally Posted by Juncti

Do you think that one of these would help with playback issues? I've got my PQ tweaked to where I'm very happy with it, but I haven't been able to get the tears to stop. I've been thinking/hoping that the media extender would be optimized for playback. So do you think this MVP would give me better playback?

My main reason for wanting one now though, is because I use an Infocus X1 projector for my tv, and I'm planning on mounting it on the ceiling. Would be a lot easier to place an MVP next to it and run an ethernet cable up there as opposed to either suspending the computer on a shelf in reach or getting a really long VGA cable to make it up there.

Just curious as this is the first I've heard of the MVP as an alternative to the extender. I'd obviously buy the extender if it was available.

[amg]

Originally Posted by Scriber

I was waiting for the media extender MVP as well. I'd like 2. For some reason I was thinking that there might be an updated MVP on the way so I was holding off too....

Btw, anyone know if I can use a pvr150 remote with the MVP?

Yes you can the pvr150 remote with an MVP. I do.

[Juncti]

Thanks for the heads up. I wasn't aware that the extender and MVP were the same piece of hardware just running different software packages. Think I'm going to have to seriously consider on of these. I'm reading through the MVP thread now trying to learn more before I go for it. Just be happy to get rid of those tears and make tv look like it does when hooked directly to the projector.