About to Make SageTV Leap

[kevine]

Well, I have used version 4 in the past.

I am proposing a new system and make the jump to SageTV. I have been an avid TiVo user and was very upset when DTV went away from TiVo to their substandard DVR. Decided when moving to new house to go to cable and most likely SageTV. However, when I make a move like this I do not do things half way. Given that, I am proposing a new system that will be mostly a media server. No PC use planned unless I want to look up something on the web. Here is the specs.

Asus P5B Deluxe
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
PNY GeForce 8600GT 256MB PCI Express x16
Onboard Audio
2 GB RAM
500 GB HD (x2 ? )
HDHomeRun for HD (2 tuners)
Unsure of the other 2 tuners (looking for advice here too; SDTV or should I just use 2 HDHomeRuns?)
4 media extenders (wired) + 1 HDTV connected directly to HTPC

Expand later to Blue-Ray when prices come down.

Questions:
Should I go with a seperate small drive for OS?
Vista Home Basic OK? Is it legal to use XP from an old system where I have upgraded to Vista?
How do I find out if my cable provider has the channels I am looking for unencrypted digital? Is Premium usually the only ones encrypted (HBO, Cinemax, etc)? Or will I still need set top boxes? Has anyone heard of buying the ones the cable company provides to avoid the monthly fees?
Would the media extenders be able to watch a recorded program in HD on a non-HD TV? 1 of my main reason for doing this is my family loves to watch the same shows. Right now we all record the same things in seperate rooms. Very bad for disk space.
I thought with the above setup I was going to get MPEG4 (H.264) and reduce the file size but it seems everyone recording HD is MPEG2. Am I missing something?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks for any help you can provide.

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by kevine

Well, I have used version 4 in the past.

I am proposing a new system and make the jump to SageTV. I have been an avid TiVo user and was very upset when DTV went away from TiVo to their substandard DVR. Decided when moving to new house to go to cable and most likely SageTV. However, when I make a move like this I do not do things half way. Given that, I am proposing a new system that will be mostly a media server. No PC use planned unless I want to look up something on the web. Here is the specs.

Asus P5B Deluxe
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
PNY GeForce 8600GT 256MB PCI Express x16
Onboard Audio
2 GB RAM
500 GB HD (x2 ? )
HDHomeRun for HD (2 tuners)
Unsure of the other 2 tuners (looking for advice here too; SDTV or should I just use 2 HDHomeRuns?)
4 media extenders (wired) + 1 HDTV connected directly to HTPC

Expand later to Blue-Ray when prices come down.

Questions:
Should I go with a seperate small drive for OS?
Vista Home Basic OK? Is it legal to use XP from an old system where I have upgraded to Vista?
How do I find out if my cable provider has the channels I am looking for unencrypted digital? Is Premium usually the only ones encrypted (HBO, Cinemax, etc)? Or will I still need set top boxes? Has anyone heard of buying the ones the cable company provides to avoid the monthly fees?
Would the media extenders be able to watch a recorded program in HD on a non-HD TV? 1 of my main reason for doing this is my family loves to watch the same shows. Right now we all record the same things in seperate rooms. Very bad for disk space.
I thought with the above setup I was going to get MPEG4 (H.264) and reduce the file size but it seems everyone recording HD is MPEG2. Am I missing something?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Sage on Vista is still a little dicey. I would stick with XP for now.

Thx
Mike

[fyodor]

Originally Posted by kevine

Well, I have used version 4 in the past.

I am proposing a new system and make the jump to SageTV. I have been an avid TiVo user and was very upset when DTV went away from TiVo to their substandard DVR. Decided when moving to new house to go to cable and most likely SageTV. However, when I make a move like this I do not do things half way. Given that, I am proposing a new system that will be mostly a media server. No PC use planned unless I want to look up something on the web. Here is the specs.

Asus P5B Deluxe
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
PNY GeForce 8600GT 256MB PCI Express x16
Onboard Audio
2 GB RAM
500 GB HD (x2 ? )
HDHomeRun for HD (2 tuners)
Unsure of the other 2 tuners (looking for advice here too; SDTV or should I just use 2 HDHomeRuns?)


It is pretty unlikely that you will be able to get most of your SD channels via QAM. I'd get another tuner.
4 media extenders (wired) + 1 HDTV connected directly to HTPC

Questions:
Should I go with a seperate small drive for OS?
Vista Home Basic OK? Is it legal to use XP from an old system where I have upgraded to Vista?
How do I find out if my cable provider has the channels I am looking for unencrypted digital?

Stick the cable into your HDTV (if it has a tuner) and do a scan.



Is Premium usually the only ones encrypted (HBO, Cinemax, etc)? Or will I still need set top boxes?

Usually very few channels are available via QAM. I get my locals, A&E, TNTHD, and ESPNHD. It is often possible to get additional channels by using the firewire output on a set top box

Has anyone heard of buying the ones the cable company provides to avoid the monthly fees?
Would the media extenders be able to watch a recorded program in HD on a non-HD TV?

This should be possible, though it will require a fast processor to transcode to SD for transmission

1 of my main reason for doing this is my family loves to watch the same shows. Right now we all record the same things in seperate rooms. Very bad for disk space.
I thought with the above setup I was going to get MPEG4 (H.264) and reduce the file size but it seems everyone recording HD is MPEG2. Am I missing something?

HD content isn't tuned the same way as analog content. It's sent in a digital stream which is recorded directly to the hard drive. Cable and over the air broadcasts of HD content are in Mpeg2 format. It is possible to transcode it after it is recorded.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Fyodor

[carlgar]

Do not even consider VISTA if planning to use media extenders. VISTA has a TCP bug where it sometimes takes 30 seconds or longer to retransmit a lost packet. This bug stands out like a sore thumb when using media extenders.

[othy]

Originally Posted by kevine

How do I find out if my cable provider has the channels I am looking for unencrypted digital?

In many (most?) major markets, the avs forums can be a great resource. They have a forum dedicated to local HDTV information and reception at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45

I know that for my market, users have compiled a list of QAM channels.

Tim

[kevine]

Originally Posted by fyodor

HD content isn't tuned the same way as analog content. It's sent in a digital stream which is recorded directly to the hard drive. Cable and over the air broadcasts of HD content are in Mpeg2 format. It is possible to transcode it after it is recorded.

I now understand that but what size processor (both AMD and Intel) would I need to transcode HD recordings to SD Media extenders (possibly 4 at the same time).

I do not have Blue Ray or HD DVD right now but plan to get it in the future. Since the server will be connected to the only HDTV in my house, the video card offloading the work will take care of that.

Thanks for your help.

[bcjenkins]

No direct experience here, but I have read people are prefering the new ATI cards over nvidia. Also, if you want to do it really right I would suggest a separate SageTV server. Most issues will likely arise from the client side of the server setup and that will affect not one but all 5 of your sets. (I learned this the hard way.)

B

[kevine]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

No direct experience here, but I have read people are prefering the new ATI cards over nvidia. Also, if you want to do it really right I would suggest a separate SageTV server. Most issues will likely arise from the client side of the server setup and that will affect not one but all 5 of your sets. (I learned this the hard way.)

B

ATI card is a thought of mine as well now that I have been reading around.

Yes, I realize that and wish I could do it that way (seperate server) and eventually will. If I had an idea of HD media extender ETA, I would. But I need the HDTV connected to the server to watch recording in HD. No?Unfortunately, I have to spend the extra for the video card to do this.

[kevine]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

No direct experience here, but I have read people are prefering the new ATI cards over nvidia. Also, if you want to do it really right I would suggest a separate SageTV server. Most issues will likely arise from the client side of the server setup and that will affect not one but all 5 of your sets. (I learned this the hard way.)

B

B, am I correct in my last post? Thanks.

[kevine]

Originally Posted by kevine

I now understand that but what size processor (both AMD and Intel) would I need to transcode HD recordings to SD Media extenders (possibly 4 at the same time)?

I do not have Blue Ray or HD DVD right now but plan to get it in the future. Since the server will be connected to the only HDTV in my house, the video card offloading the work will take care of that.

Thanks for your help.

Can anyone answer this question for me? Thanks.

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by kevine

B, am I correct in my last post? Thanks.

you can watch HD from a client. Make sure you use network paths and that the connection is wired for best performance.

B

[Apap]

Originally Posted by kevine

Can anyone answer this question for me? Thanks.

My server has an Athlon 64x2 4200+ and it can transcode 2 HD streams to 2 MVPs simultaneously with a processor load of about 60%. An E6600 should do just fine.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by kevine

I now understand that but what size processor (both AMD and Intel) would I need to transcode HD recordings to SD Media extenders (possibly 4 at the same time).

As much as you can possibly buy. I'd probably be looking at the Q6600 if I was planning on doing a lot of transcoding to multiple extenders. (that's a best guess, not experience, FYI)