General Technical questions about sagetv4.1

[intrex]

Hello,

I am thinking of buying the SageTV HD Media Center In-a-BoxTM, but I have a few technical questions.

Is SageTV capable of recording True HD feeds and playing them back in 720p or 1080p? If not, is this in the works for a planned future version?

Are DTS/Dolby Digital audio feeds recorded so that they will be played in there native format on play back? If not, is this in the works for a planned future version?

Can I record my media real-time to another server that is acting as a file server? Can I view pictures off of this remote fileserver?

Is there a web interface to control scheduled recordings? If not does the remote utility have to be on the same subnet as the SageTV server?

Is the supplied Haupauge card with this package going to be all I need (I am planning on getting HD from my cable provider)?

Thanks for your time,

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by intrex

Hello,

I am thinking of buying the SageTV HD Media Center In-a-BoxTM, but I have a few technical questions.

Is SageTV capable of recording True HD feeds and playing them back in 720p or 1080p? If not, is this in the works for a planned future version?

Are DTS/Dolby Digital audio feeds recorded so that they will be played in there native format on play back? If not, is this in the works for a planned future version?

It records them in whatever format the transport stream is broadcast in, including DD audio (if present).

Can I record my media real-time to another server that is acting as a file server? Can I view pictures off of this remote fileserver?

Don't see why not.

Is there a web interface to control scheduled recordings? If not does the remote utility have to be on the same subnet as the SageTV server?

Neilm has created an excellent web interface:
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=8426

Is the supplied Haupauge card with this package going to be all I need (I am planning on getting HD from my cable provider)?

If you're talking this:
http://store.sagetv.com/Merchant2/me...tegory_Code=SB

No it won't record cable, only OTA HD. You'll need a separate card (like the PVR 150 or 500) to record SD cable. And asside from a limited subset (usually locals) you can't record HD from cable with anything but the cable company's DVR.

[intrex]

Thanks for the info,

So from what you are saying above I am going to have to have two tuner cards in my server. How does this affect the guide? Is there a seperated guide for over the air and cable provider media? Is there some type of protection flag on cable HD? I don't see why I wouldn't be able to record it unless you have to send the signal through a cable box first (I didn't think this was the case if you have an hd tuner card).

That web interface looks pretty cool. Does anyone know if it is pretty solid?

[blade]

You need QAM support in order to capture HD cable. QAM only works in the card manufacturer's software. So other PVR software such as Sage can't capture HD cable. Even if you do have QAM support in the software it'll only allow you to capture unecrypted channels which are usually only going to be your local stations. For the other ones you must go through an STB. There are plenty of threads on the forum explaining all of this in more detail.

With two tuners you'll have one guide with all the channels listed. Sage is smart enough to know which tuner can use which channels.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by intrex

Thanks for the info,

So from what you are saying above I am going to have to have two tuner cards in my server. How does this affect the guide? Is there a seperated guide for over the air and cable provider media?

One guide, Sage integrates all sources.

Is there some type of protection flag on cable HD?

Most HD cable is encrypted, and the only way to decrypt it is a cable box. Some channels aren't (usually only locals, sometimes more) and those can be recorded, but not with 3rd party software (like Sage) the tuning interfaces for QAM (digital cable) are proprietary still.