Which OS to install SageTV server on?

[crarbo1]

I was wondering what was the pros and cons of installing SageTV server on the following 3 OS's
XP Home
XP Pro
XP MCE 2005
Vista Home Premium

I'm going to do a fresh install and could put any one of these on it but I wanted to make sure that I have full functionality and that the OS wouldn't limit it in any way.

Thanks,
Chuck

[Menehune]

I'm not running XP as my server OS (still using 2000), but XP-home has less networking "frills" than XP-pro. Home does not remember share passwords and you need to reenter them after reboots. Home does not include remote desktop, IIRC. I think you need to download it from microsoft and install it yourself.

I believe the MCE versions will attempt to use your capture cards by default. You will need to disable that so Sage can see the tuner cards.

Vista used to have driver problems with capture cards. Don't know how well the problems have been fixed in SP1.

I would go with XP-Pro.

[crarbo1]

Thanks for the info.

Any more opinions?

Thanks,
Chuck

Originally Posted by Menehune

I'm not running XP as my server OS (still using 2000), but XP-home has less networking "frills" than XP-pro. Home does not remember share passwords and you need to reenter them after reboots. Home does not include remote desktop, IIRC. I think you need to download it from microsoft and install it yourself.

I believe the MCE versions will attempt to use your capture cards by default. You will need to disable that so Sage can see the tuner cards.

Vista used to have driver problems with capture cards. Don't know how well the problems have been fixed in SP1.

I would go with XP-Pro.

[Djc208]

There have been other threads on this you may want to search for. In any event the question is what you are using this for? Will it be doing recording and playback, recording only, will you be using it for other stuff?

Without knowing the specifics I'd vote XP-Pro out of the list you provided. Lower hardware requirements, very stable, and drivers for everything. The other XP-home issue I think you may have is shared drives, pro has more options for sharing drives than home does. XP MCE is basically pro with the media features, which you won't need if you using Sage so there's no real benefit there.

Vista seems to handle video better than XP and the 64-bit version is actually worth useing, but there are still driver issues especially with non-mainstream hardware, and older Software can have problems, plus the system requirements are higher. However if you're using it as your main system it has some nice usability features and you will eventually need to upgrade anyway.

If you're going to buy and OS and this is a server only (recording, no playback, kept in a closet somewhere), then I'd probably vote for Windows Home Server, now that the corruption bug has been fixed. I like the extra features it provides and pricing is similar to the other options you listed. Setup is a little different than normal but not bad. I'm thinking I may install it next time I upgrade my server.

[crarbo1]

This would be for the server only. I'd though XP Pro would be best but it is cheaper to buy XP Home. I do have WHS already and have played with it being my SageTV server. I do like that idea but I have some concerns with using my WHS as the SageTV server.

Here are my concerns:
1. Not sure if my Haupagge PVR-500's will work on WHS. Any ideas?

2. Don't like to have the recording drive outside the pool. Reason being is that it takes up a drive bay. Unless a USB 2.0 hard drive would be fast enough for HD recordings?

3. The inability to back up the system partition on the WHS. I don't want to have to reinstall SageTV, drivers for the PVR-500's when I have to restore the server for some reason. If PP1 had done this, then it would have been a no brainer. Is there any other good alternatives without having to buy imaging software? I don't want to, that is why I like the WHS in the first place. If so, what is the best software for the money?

4. At first, at least until extenders are back in stock, I would need to use my SageTV Server computer as a PC to watch TV. Unless I want to buy Cleint license for the PC that I'm think of using as the server. That would add unecessary cost since I would be going to extenders when they come in stock.

As a side question based on the reason #4 above. Would XP Home be a good choice if I was only going to use it as a Client?

Thanks,
Chuck

Originally Posted by Djc208

There have been other threads on this you may want to search for. In any event the question is what you are using this for? Will it be doing recording and playback, recording only, will you be using it for other stuff?

Without knowing the specifics I'd vote XP-Pro out of the list you provided. Lower hardware requirements, very stable, and drivers for everything. The other XP-home issue I think you may have is shared drives, pro has more options for sharing drives than home does. XP MCE is basically pro with the media features, which you won't need if you using Sage so there's no real benefit there.

Vista seems to handle video better than XP and the 64-bit version is actually worth useing, but there are still driver issues especially with non-mainstream hardware, and older Software can have problems, plus the system requirements are higher. However if you're using it as your main system it has some nice usability features and you will eventually need to upgrade anyway.

If you're going to buy and OS and this is a server only (recording, no playback, kept in a closet somewhere), then I'd probably vote for Windows Home Server, now that the corruption bug has been fixed. I like the extra features it provides and pricing is similar to the other options you listed. Setup is a little different than normal but not bad. I'm thinking I may install it next time I upgrade my server.

[sic0048]

I would recommend that you avoid XP Home. I've seen too many people get caught by the missing features of XP Home. It is money well spent to get XP Pro IMHO.

Other than not getting XP Home, I think any of the other options will work fine. Unless you are using some really old hardware, I think the Vista option will work just fine, and it will certainly be supported for a much longer time frame. I would not be afraid to use Vista in this setting (but make sure there are drivers available for your hardware if it is older).

[crarbo1]

Thanks for the feedback. So it looks like XP Home is out of the running. Thanks for all of the help.

Originally Posted by sic0048

I would recommend that you avoid XP Home. I've seen too many people get caught by the missing features of XP Home. It is money well spent to get XP Pro IMHO.

Other than not getting XP Home, I think any of the other options will work fine. Unless you are using some really old hardware, I think the Vista option will work just fine, and it will certainly be supported for a much longer time frame. I would not be afraid to use Vista in this setting (but make sure there are drivers available for your hardware if it is older).

[Djc208]

Originally Posted by crarbo1

Here are my concerns:
1. Not sure if my Haupagge PVR-500's will work on WHS. Any ideas?

It's based off Windows Server, so it should, I think quite a few are using it with Hauppage cards.

2. Don't like to have the recording drive outside the pool. Reason being is that it takes up a drive bay. Unless a USB 2.0 hard drive would be fast enough for HD recordings?

A USB 2.0 drive works fine as a recording drive, I have a 500 GB drive I use for that now.

4. At first, at least until extenders are back in stock, I would need to use my SageTV Server computer as a PC to watch TV. Unless I want to buy Cleint license for the PC that I'm think of using as the server. That would add unecessary cost since I would be going to extenders when they come in stock.

I think the WHS version of Sage comes with a client or extender license.

As a side question based on the reason #4 above. Would XP Home be a good choice if I was only going to use it as a Client?

Thanks,
Chuck

I'd think XP home would be fine for that, other than maybe the password thing but it shouldn't be that bad.

[crarbo1]

Thanks for answering my questions. I'm still not sure which way I will go but I have some good info to ponder.

Thanks,
Chuck

Originally Posted by Djc208

It's based off Windows Server, so it should, I think quite a few are using it with Hauppage cards.



A USB 2.0 drive works fine as a recording drive, I have a 500 GB drive I use for that now.



I think the WHS version of Sage comes with a client or extender license.



I'd think XP home would be fine for that, other than maybe the password thing but it shouldn't be that bad.

[othy]

Just one more opinion to throw in here.

I'm thrilled with my WHS server. I had a Hauppauge 500 installed and it worked fine, but I pulled it because it was simply taking up space (we just don't record much SDTV, so my ATI covers our need and has slightly better picture quality).

I wouldn't run out and buy WHS just for the sake of having an OS , but if you already have it and/or like the WHS features, it's been a great OS for SageTV in my house. The WHS computer backup feature has already bailed me out twice, and having remote access to my documents is great.

Tim

[davephan]

I would also recommend using XP Pro over XP Home. If you ever want to defrag the 64K block size video storage, XP Home won't do it, XP Pro will.

One way to automatically login on reboot is with Tweakui. It works on XP Pro, I don't know if it works on XP Home.

Another way to automatically log on is with a registry tweak shown in the following link (the link says it applies to XP Pro and XP Home):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231

You should consider periodically imaging your boot drive which also contains SageTV, and store the image on a normally detached USB hard drive. I use Ghost, but there are some other programs which might be better. Versions of Ghost before version 7.0 sometimes fail to restore.

There's a free disk imaging software package that is called PING, Partimage Is Not Ghost. I haven't tried using it, but one of the guys at work tested it with Window XP, and it worked to image and recover a PC. Here's a link to the free imaging software:

http://ping.windowsdream.com/

If you have a lot of extra money to spend on RAID, it would be worth it to help protect the video files. Sometimes RAID fails (rare, although I've seen it happen at work), and if you don't have a backup on stored on another computer system or tape, you still could lose it all.

Dave

[Polypro]

DriveImageXML is free...haven't used it.

I'd recommend Vista32 (Business if you can...no VMC stuff) Mines been up since July '07 with the only reboots being after Patch Tuesdays. No need for FSE with Aero, and the video quality (VMR9) looks bettter than XP to my eyes.

If you're just doing a server, WHS...the backup features are nice to have.

P

[crarbo1]

Tim,
Thanks for the info. I'm glad to hear the Hauppauge 500 works fine on WHS. I already have WHS on a home built PC. I like it alot. However there is no built in feature, at least yet, that allows to back up the system partition. That kept me from putting it on my WHS to start with. I hate to have to manually back up my system partition. I would like to set it and forget it just like my WHS does with my other PC's.

Originally Posted by othy

Just one more opinion to throw in here.

I'm thrilled with my WHS server. I had a Hauppauge 500 installed and it worked fine, but I pulled it because it was simply taking up space (we just don't record much SDTV, so my ATI covers our need and has slightly better picture quality).

I wouldn't run out and buy WHS just for the sake of having an OS , but if you already have it and/or like the WHS features, it's been a great OS for SageTV in my house. The WHS computer backup feature has already bailed me out twice, and having remote access to my documents is great.

Tim

Thanks for the info davephan. I wasn't aware of that limitation with XP home. The automatic login feature sounds nice. I have a WHS that backs it up now. If I leave it as my server this is how I would back it up. If I decide to move it to my WHS, then I will have to decide how to back up the system partition. I hate to have to do it with different software but right now, WHS does not have that feature. Thanks for the recomendations.

Originally Posted by davephan

I would also recommend using XP Pro over XP Home. If you ever want to defrag the 64K block size video storage, XP Home won't do it, XP Pro will.

One way to automatically login on reboot is with Tweakui. It works on XP Pro, I don't know if it works on XP Home.

Another way to automatically log on is with a registry tweak shown in the following link (the link says it applies to XP Pro and XP Home):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231

You should consider periodically imaging your boot drive which also contains SageTV, and store the image on a normally detached USB hard drive. I use Ghost, but there are some other programs which might be better. Versions of Ghost before version 7.0 sometimes fail to restore.

There's a free disk imaging software package that is called PING, Partimage Is Not Ghost. I haven't tried using it, but one of the guys at work tested it with Window XP, and it worked to image and recover a PC. Here's a link to the free imaging software:

http://ping.windowsdream.com/

If you have a lot of extra money to spend on RAID, it would be worth it to help protect the video files. Sometimes RAID fails (rare, although I've seen it happen at work), and if you don't have a backup on stored on another computer system or tape, you still could lose it all.

Dave

I do have a copy of Vista Business. I could use it as my server. I hadn't really thought about using it. It would be a reliable option.

Originally Posted by Polypro

DriveImageXML is free...haven't used it.

I'd recommend Vista32 (Business if you can...no VMC stuff) Mines been up since July '07 with the only reboots being after Patch Tuesdays. No need for FSE with Aero, and the video quality (VMR9) looks bettter than XP to my eyes.

If you're just doing a server, WHS...the backup features are nice to have.

P

[Zippster]

XP Pro, better networking and features overall.