Media Extenders.... Suggestions?

[VATekMan]

I am sure that this has been asked before, but I can not find the discussion, and it is probably out of date anyways... I am running a SageTV server with two tunners and many re-coded DivX files with a client running on an old Laptop. The problem is that I want to extend this to a lot of other TV's in the house and I do not have enough computers laying around...

So, as many people, I want to get media extenders for my other TV's. Ideally there are a few things that I would like:
-Be able to play DivX (without a load on the server, transcoding on the server etc.)
-Be able to schedule SageTV recordings
-Be able to watch live TV through sage (not as important)
-Cheap!

Any suggestions? Any experience? I have heard about the Media MVP from Hauppauge, but the problem that I have heard is that it does not support DivX, and since I transcode all my programs to save space, that is not really a good solution for me. My server is not powerful enough to do that on the fly while also being able to record stuff....

Thanks for your input...
-Matt
My thoughts and comments on DVR's

[stanger89]

There currently isn't anything that does all that, you'll have to give up DivX or Scheduling, or you'll have to roll your own extender, ie, build "full PC" extenders.

[VATekMan]

Ok.... so if I can not do both, what the ones that people are using and most satistifed with... (And if someone does happen to have one that does both, please let me and everyone else know...)

Speaking of which, in the annoucement (where they talked about what is coming in version 3.0) with SageTV 3.0 back in January, they also said that they are going to design some low cost Media Extenders to work with Sage TV, has anyone heard any more on this?

-Matt

[stanger89]

The only option now to get full SageTV UI on an extender is the Hauppauge Media MVP. Also the 3.0 extender will just be a MediaMVP that uses the Sage UI as the interface by default.

[ben_95sl1]

you could build a number of low end systems on the cheap....I'm building a basically free p3 600 into a client for the bedroom, and hopefully it should get the job done. Problem is you need a remote for each one. My solution is DIY $5 lirc receiver which will be used with girder to control sagetv....all that tends to add up though, then you've got to find places for them, and make them quiet, etc.

these media extenders seem to be developing too slowly, or they are just too expensive. I wasn't happy with everything the mvp can do also, so I've gone the PC route (but the media mvp is great value). Wait a little, and something cheap will come on the market. Or, upgrade your main computer to something that can transcode on the fly; don't know how many divx streams you'll watch at once?

[VATekMan]

Thanks for the thoughts... yeah, I am leaning towards just building my own systems. That is what I have done up until now, I am looking at getting a Shuttle PC, nice small form factor and usually they have TV out...

Yeah, I keep hoping that a nice little thin client will be developed for systems like SageTV and BeyondTV... I know that I read somewhere that the Windows Media Center extenders are basically terminal server clients... I am not sure that is right, but I do not think that is the best way... I will just keep hoping that something better will come along, and I am hoping that what I read in the press release in January from SageTV is accurate and that SageTV is looking at making a thin client, something seperate from the Hauppauge MVP... (Here is a link to that release)

[JasonJoel]

Yeah, well.. They also said v3.0 would be out this Spring. So you have to take what is announced with a grain of salt.


I'm sure their intention is to have other extenders besides the MVP. Now, whether we'll ever actually see it in a released product remains to be seen.

Jason

Originally Posted by VATekMan

Thanks for the thoughts... yeah, I am leaning towards just building my own systems. That is what I have done up until now, I am looking at getting a Shuttle PC, nice small form factor and usually they have TV out...

Yeah, I keep hoping that a nice little thin client will be developed for systems like SageTV and BeyondTV... I know that I read somewhere that the Windows Media Center extenders are basically terminal server clients... I am not sure that is right, but I do not think that is the best way... I will just keep hoping that something better will come along, and I am hoping that what I read in the press release in January from SageTV is accurate and that SageTV is looking at making a thin client, something seperate from the Hauppauge MVP... (Here is a link to that release)

[VATekMan]

True... True... but we can all hope... I just do not understand why all the media extenders out there are so expensive why a company has not said, wow if we create a thin client for $50~$100 we could sell a lot of them if they worked right... That is what XBox is going after with the Xbox 360, with it's media extender capability. At that point, all these boxes for $250+ will not sell because people will just but an XBox 360 so they can play games as well... I know that if I do not find something I like by January I will probably buy a XBox 360 (and hopefully there will even be a nice way to integrate it with Sage....)

Ok, I am done day dreaming about what would be nice... now back to the real world of products that just do not do what they should and are over priced for what they do... Shuttle PC, here I come...

[nielm]

Theoretically I believe the Pinnacle ShowCenter device (and clones) can do all that you want (apart from liveTV) -- it reads media files via SMB (windows file sharing) and the server can provide a GUI via HTML web pages.

The only problem is that you would have to write your own webserver that interfaces with Sage to give the Sage UI (and access to the guide, sheduling etc) on the ShowCenter (for more information see http://openshowcenter.sf.net/ : nothing do do with sage, but it shows what might be possible)

[VATekMan]

I will admit, I have never seen the Pinnacle ShowCenter, have you used this device?

-It says that it supports DivX, is that through transcoding like the Media MVP or does it really support it on the box?

Also, I just saw the price, $299, I can get a shuttle PC for that price. But I am still interested in finding out more information about thoughts and experience with this peice of hardware...

[nielm]

nope, don't have one.

I believe Mpeg4/Xvid/Divx are supported directly -- see the Toms Hardware Guide on it, which probably explains the high price!

(you should be able to get it cheaper than 299, but yes, it is expensive for something that is not officially supported)

[ben_95sl1]

would it be possible to stop using divx and buy more harddrive space and use mvp? more harddrive space is always good. I haven't been terribly pleased with divx up to now and its just more straightforward for me to stick with good old mpeg2 because of its wide compatibility and obviously native support with hauppauge cards.

What I dislike about most media extenders is they don't double as dvd players (no local drive) and even living without that, you can't usually stream dvd from another computer/harddrive etc likely, and may never be able to legally....though I assume some can do this, but the mvp apparently can't. So apparently, the only thing that does everything I want and interfaces with sagetv is another pc.

[GbrNole]

The only problem is that you would have to write your own webserver that interfaces with Sage to give the Sage UI (and access to the guide, sheduling etc) on the ShowCenter

there is some guy here in these forums who managled to wrangle so such web interface - you familiar with him, niel?

[VATekMan]

Personally, I have over 600GB of space on my two main computers, and I am always cramp for space. I have over 80 GB worth of DIVX encoded content, that if I had that as MPEG 2, it would take probalby almost 500GB by itself... So as you can see, the space that I ahve with DivX is great...

For me, the local DVD player on the extender is not as much of an issue because I already have enough set top DVD players that I can put one where ever I need, so that is a minor issue to me.

Yeah the idea solution might be to have everything as MPEG, but for the cost of adding al lthe hard drive space that I would need, I could just but a Shuttle PC or some more expensive equipment that will do the job...

As I said before, this may just be a issue of me hoping for something that is not out there yet, so I will just keep crossing my fingers. I just wanted to know if anyone out there had found some device that I have yet to find that would help me in this endevour.

Thanks for the comments...

[ben_95sl1]

I guess my issue with dvd players is I have to have another input on the TV then and have to switch them, another remote maybe, another power button, maybe another input switch for sound, etc....all in one box is very appealing to me, especially when my significant other is concerned. For me, nothing seems as simple as a menu system front end on the TV for doing everything, even guests have no trouble using it....and you don't have to have fancy remotes with screens.

[VATekMan]

I agree with you fully, that is the ideal solution. Since I already run everything through a Receiver, and I have a remote with macro functions, it is not too hard for me to make things easy... But it does not matter, because we currently have to change the input of the receiver and such, so this would be nothing new :-)

Besides, I do not want to give up control of the TV anyways, if they can not work it, they should not be in control of the remote and picking what I get to watch... hahahaha... I can say that because my fiancee will never look on these forums :-)

[Tej]

Having just gone through a similar process, the only answer I found to all the above was another PC.

The MediaMVP is a nice solution for the price, but won't play 5.1 surround sound, meaning any DVD's ripped to the hard drive can't be played back without re-encoding them to 2-channel sound.

One trick I've been meaning to try is to use an old laptop to run SageTV Client. Many laptops come with a TV-out port for presentations. You could (at least in theory) plug it into the wall, set the power settings to never turn off, attach a USB-UIRT for the remote (or something similar), attach the TV-out, feed the headphone jack into a home theater amplifier, and just close the lid and let it run.

Unfortunately, my old laptop runs too hot for me to feel comfortable letting it run all day and night to test this.

Another option would be a Shuttle ST62K, which has an integrated ATI 9100 (DirectX8 though, not DirectX9) and TV-out and is very quiet.

ST62K ~$208 at Newegg.com
2.0 GHz Northwood core Celeron ~$71
512 MB stick of memory ~$35
Hard drive (WD 80 GB model) ~$55
DVD burner ~$50
Firefly remote ~50
SageTV Client ~$30
Windows XP Home ~$90

[VATekMan]

Yeah, I am looking at the Shuttle combination... I was just hoping for something a little cleaner and cheaper...

As for the laptop Idea, that is what one of my clients is right now. I have an old Think Pad where the backlight on the monitor went bad, so I just connected it to the TV, and now I have a nice SageTV client. But at 700MHz, it is a little on the slow side sometimes when it comes to watching DivX movies.

[jominor]

Originally Posted by Tej

One trick I've been meaning to try is to use an old laptop to run SageTV Client. Many laptops come with a TV-out port for presentations. You could (at least in theory) plug it into the wall, set the power settings to never turn off, attach a USB-UIRT for the remote (or something similar), attach the TV-out, feed the headphone jack into a home theater amplifier, and just close the lid and let it run.

Unfortunately, my old laptop runs too hot for me to feel comfortable letting it run all day and night to test this.

I have an older P3 500 setup in my daughters playroom. I uses a linksys 802.11g adapter and runs the Sage Client. I've got it hooked up to a new 19" monitor that I picked up on Amazon for $105(including shipping).

It runs XP Prof and goes into hibernate after 6hrs of non-use. I have all my movies Divx-ed and use Windows Media Player for those and Sage for all MPEG-based TV shows running on my server in the family room.

I plan to pick up a Streamzap or Remote Wonder(like the one I use on my main server) to drive the whole thing, but for now, the mouse is fine.

Works great!

[fieldeffect]

Is the MVP solution any better than it used to be with Live TV?

I've not kept up to date, but I rejected it previously because it apparently crashed or had problems if you tried to view real live TV?

The solution before was "it's Ok, just make sure you're always a little bit behind Live", which isn't very good.

I'm just thinking that if the MVP is going to be the "official" extender solution for V3, then they must have found a way around this.

Nick.