Ready to take the plunge

[Turing Complete]

I've had a TiVo since 2000, which I have loved, but now find that it's time to make the move to HD. That means either a HD TiVo or building my own solution. After some consideration, I've decided to build my own. So, since you all seem to be a friendly and knowledgeable bunch, I'd like some advice on how to proceed.

What I definitely want to be able to do:
Record programs in HD from the Comcast HD cable box
Record at least two HD programs at the same time (I'm okay if one of them has to be from an unencrypted channel.)
Play back recordings on home theater system
Play back recordings on office PC
Play Blu-ray DVD's on home theater system
Keep my TiVo features --channel guide, skip commercials, pause, TiVo suggestions, etc

Things that would be nice:
Play back on multiple TV's throughout the house
Play Blu-ray DVD's on office PC
Burn programs to DVD
Watch Netflix downloads
Automate Comcast "On Demand" recordings

What I have:
A complete home theater with all components in a media closet
An office PC: Intel Core2 Duo 6400, 2GB RAM, Radeon X1900, soundblaster X-fi
Comcast Cable with HD cable box
Comcast broadband internet
Wireless network
Various and sundry older computer hardware

So. . . how should I proceed?
If I'm buying new computer components, I'd rather upgrade my office PC and use the current components for the HTPC. It looks as though my only solution for recording encrypted HD is HD-PVR, which is fine, but I want to try to keep the budget down for the rest, if possible.

Thanks in advance!

[popechild]

Originally Posted by Turing Complete

I've had a TiVo since 2000, which I have loved, but now find that it's time to make the move to HD. That means either a HD TiVo or building my own solution. After some consideration, I've decided to build my own. So, since you all seem to be a friendly and knowledgeable bunch, I'd like some advice on how to proceed.

What I definitely want to be able to do:
Record programs in HD from the Comcast HD cable box

You'll want the new Hauppauge HD-PVR tuner to do this. Depending on where you live it may be the only solution (search R5000 for the other, more expensive solution that might work depending on Comcast in your area).

Record at least two HD programs at the same time (I'm okay if one of them has to be from an unencrypted channel.)

You'll either need two HD-PVRs (and two cable boxes) to record two encrypted HD channels from Comcast, or if the 2nd channel's unencrypted you can stick with one HD-PVR and use a QAM or OTA tuner for the 2nd capture card. Plenty of good ones to choose from here.

Play back recordings on home theater system

Easiest way is either hook your Sage server up directly to your home theater system. Or get a Sage HD-100 media server to do the playback for you.

Play back recordings on office PC

Is this office at home? If so, and you can wire it or have a really good wireless connection, you can use Sage's Client software for playback identical to what you get with Sage playing on the server. If you're talking over-the-internet, you'll need Sage Placeshifter, which will transcode the files as you're playing them back to let them stream easier. Plan on a very beefy processor in your server if you're doing this with HD.

Play Blu-ray DVD's on home theater system

Easiest - hook your Sage server up directly to your system and install a BD drive in the system. You'll have to playback using other software though. Sage doesn't know how to read the structure of BD disks. Otherwise, you'll have to rip the BDs to .mkv files to play within Sage (or the Sage HD extender). Lots of work, but people have done it. I'm not one of them.

Keep my TiVo features --channel guide, skip commercials, pause, TiVo suggestions, etc

All standard in Sage. If you want commercials to be skipped automatically, you can do that too, but it's a little more work.

Things that would be nice:
Play back on multiple TV's throughout the house

Can either have each TV hooked up to a client PC, or easiest is just get an HD-100 extender for each tv.

Play Blu-ray DVD's on office PC

If you're on a wired network, and you rip your BDs and transcode them to .mkv files, that's about the only hope you've got.

Burn programs to DVD

Check the customizations sub-forum. There are a few options floating around that users have put together that help to automate the process. SageMC (a user-created GUI) may have this built-in now, but I'm not sure as I never do this. SageMC is worth checking out anyway just because of all the features/flexibility.

Watch Netflix downloads

I know people have been working on this, and may be doing it now, but I don't have Netflix so I haven't been paying attention. Maybe someone else can help out here.

Automate Comcast "On Demand" recordings

Not sure what you mean by this. Sorry.

What I have:
A complete home theater with all components in a media closet
An office PC: Intel Core2 Duo 6400, 2GB RAM, Radeon X1900, soundblaster X-fi
Comcast Cable with HD cable box
Comcast broadband internet
Wireless network
Various and sundry older computer hardware

So. . . how should I proceed?
If I'm buying new computer components, I'd rather upgrade my office PC and use the current components for the HTPC. It looks as though my only solution for recording encrypted HD is HD-PVR, which is fine, but I want to try to keep the budget down for the rest, if possible.

Thanks in advance!

[Turing Complete]

Thanks for the good info. It looks like this project is doable

You guys have probably done this a hundred times before, but what's the current hardware recommendation? CPU, motherboard, graphics card, tuner card, case, etc.

Links to good threads, maybe?

Thanks!