Sage + DirecTV HD DVR question

[subhadipsas]

Hi Everybody,

I am a long time SageTV user. I currently have a server running SageTV v 6.2 and a Sage Client running in a PC in another room. So far I have been successfully using Sage as a PVR for a DirecTV Satndard Definition receiver (thru S-Video out to Hauppauge PVR150) and OTA HD channels (thru Hauppauge HVR 1600). Recently I have moved to a new area where OTA HD reception is poor. As a result, for the new DirecTV installation, I have opted for the HD options including Locals in HD. As the HD component capture device from Hauppauge is not available yet, I will be getting the DirecTV Plus HD DVR to record the HD channels in HD.

But I want to keep recording the SD channels and the HD channels in Standard Def through SageTV mainly for the multi room capability. So my question is, can I control the DirectTV HD DVR the same way I used to control the DirecTV SD receiver? I used an IR Blaster (that was included with the Hauppauge card) to control the DirecTV receiver. Will the same setup still work?

One particular concern I have is, when Sage will have a scheduled recording, it normally sends the Channel change command to the receiver through the IR blaster and then starts recording the S-Video output. But as the external set top box will be a DVR instead of a receiver, will the DirecTV DVR have a menu page (something like the Sage main menu page) and Sage will record the menu page instead of live TV as the chaneel change commands will not work on the DVR until somebody scrolls to something like "Watch TV" on the DVR and presses enter?

If somebody can provide me some help regarding this - that will be great!

[GKusnick]

My advice would be to pay the extra five bucks a month for an additional non-DVR SD receiver for use exclusively by Sage. That way there's no possibility of recording conflicts between Sage and the HD DVR.

[subhadipsas]

Thanks for your quick reply. That is definitely an option, but it would be helpful if I can get by with recording directly from the DVR. On top of the additional 5 bucks, there will be another device, more wires, additional wall fishing needed to get the second jack in (as all of the equipment stays together in the wall unit).

[mike1961]

I guess I'm a little confused as to why you have a DVR at all. You should have either one or several SD or HD STB's without the DVR. Most cable / satellite service companies charge less if you don't get their DVR and just get the STB. Then you should be able to change the channel through serial. I currently have Verizon FIOS with three QIP 2500 STB's (no DVR through Verizon) and I was using an exe file (DCT.EXE) to change the channels with the ExeMultiTunerPlugin which worked great but the dct was not reliable so I switched to the MultiDCTTuner. So far it's been great. I had DirecTV a not too long back and was using serial again to control channel changing with the D-100 boxes and the sage DirecTVSerial and it also worked great. I would do anything to avoid IR since I have a Sage Server with three STB's stacked right on top of each other and would prefer not to have to shield them. The other thing I like about Verizon Fios is the cables can be split with a splitter so I only have one cable running to the closet (rather than three or four with DTV).

Mike

[subhadipsas]

Hi Mike,

I am getting the HD-DVR from DirecTV because that's the only practical way to record the DirecTV HD shows in High Def right now until the component capture device comes in the market. But I want to keep the SD shows in Sage due to the multi room capability (Its not easy to achieve multi room with DirecTV DVR).

And FIOS is not an option for me as it does not offer the international channels I am looking for.

So back to my original question, how to make a combination of DirecTV HD DVR and Sage TV work together to get the best of both worlds?

[gplasky]

With the one device which is essentially a single tuner you're complicating what you can record. You can only record 1 channel, whether HD or SD at any one time. So you'll have to choose between the two. The second box for SD recording makes the most sense and can be dedicated to Sage. And you can continue your OTA HD without issue on Sage.

Gerry

[subhadipsas]

ok, so it looks like the additional Standard Def receiver is the only way to go. I would still give it a shot myself this weekend. I am hopeful, if a SlingBox can successfully control a HD DVR, probably SageTV would be also able to do it. I will post if I am successful.

BTW, can somebody let me know if you can have Sage pass additional commands via IR blaster (in addition to channel change) before starting a recording?

[subhadipsas]

I found it in the manual, its "Channel Change Prefix Code".

[GKusnick]

I'm sure there's a way to send commands to the DVR. But will it listen to them? If it's busy recording something else on its own, it might not want to change channels just then. It makes channel-changing from Sage conditional on what the DVR is doing or will be doing five minutes from now. It just doesn't seem like a very reliable solution compared to having a separate receiver dedicated to Sage.

[subhadipsas]

Probably you are right. What I was thinking is the DVR has two tuners. If I can somehow dedicate one tuner to Sage by sending some code before recording and let the DVR use the other tuner. But I agree all of this sounds a little complex and will probably make my life difficult

[CollinR]

You can plug sage into the tuner 1 ports and use the secondary ports with your display and put the IR remote away.

Unfortunately I think Direct hosed you on this as IIRC the secondary ports are SD and not HD.

[MichaelLAX]

FWIW: I got DirecTV to give me a HR20-100 HD receiver for no charge. Yes, I pay an additional $4.99/month, but I have dedicated this receiver to my HD-PVR.

The problem with my other HD20-x00 DVRs is that they have two tuners and there is no way to "automatically" control which tuner goes to the component video output. Also on screen messages will come up when it is changing channels when both tuners are active, and I don't want the HD-PVR to record these messages.

So now I have my HD-DVRs from DirecTV for watching in individual rooms and now networked output from the HD-PVR for watching on my networked AppleTVs.