Is anyone viewing Live TV locally on WHS?

[sparkyjones]

Good day everyone... After reading through 100+ posts related to WHS, I cannot find the answer to this.

I have set up WHS and the latest Sage install (trial version) with a HVR-1600 card. I have no issue recording or watching live TV from a trial client license on a separate PC. However, I cannot view Live TV (OTA or analog cable) at the WHS console. I get an error:

"PlaybackException ERROR: (-4,0x80040217) There was a problem rendering the video portion of the content for playback."

From all of the posts I've read, most people who have this error end up not watching Live TV on WHS because they can't figure out what is wrong and many answers say something like "WHS is not meant to be a media player".

Another post mentioned d/l codecs, which I've already done (K-Lite Megapack). Is anyone watching LiveTV on their WHS? (at the console). Is XP my only option???? ...because I love the disk extender and other functions of WHS. It sits right next to the TV, so why couldn't I watch OTA on it or something?

ANY help from the collection wisdom here is greatly appreciated... I don't want to pull the trigger on a Sage purchase until I figure out which OS I'll use.

For those wondering, my hardware is:

AMD Phenom II X4 3.0Ghz 940
Biostar TA790GX MB
4GB DDR2 RAM
(2) 1TB SATA drives
Hauppauge HVR-1600 (with beta XP drivers)
WHS 2008 (trial version)
Sage 6.5 WHS version (trial)

Many thanks in advance...

[tahoetim]

I am running WHS as a server only. My server is located in my theater room and I chased for the same answer you pose. My take is that WHS is best used as a server only. You should just buy an HD200 for viewing. Trust me, I have spent more money and time trying to get satisfactory video from ANY local HTPC feeding a tv. I own 3 HD200's and my system is rock solid. They just work, the remotes work, and they are silent. With a pc, server or not, you have to deal with toys to change channels, noise, and video cards and codecs.

[stanger89]

Don't use a server OS if you want to use Sage (or any media app) locally. It's as simple as that. Server OS's have lots, if not all of the media playback support disabled or not included at all.

[sparkyjones]

Originally Posted by tahoetim

I am running WHS as a server only. My server is located in my theater room and I chased for the same answer you pose. My take is that WHS is best used as a server only. You should just buy an HD200 for viewing. Trust me, I have spent more money and time trying to get satisfactory video from ANY local HTPC feeding a tv. I own 3 HD200's and my system is rock solid. They just work, the remotes work, and they are silent. With a pc, server or not, you have to deal with toys to change channels, noise, and video cards and codecs.

Hmmm... OK. Thanks for the advice.

$200 is not pocket change to me, so would you recommend just one HD200 or getting 2 MVPs for the same price. It seems like I read somewhere in all these postings that MVP only plays MPG and that's it... whereas the HD200 plays numerous video files. Does that sound correct?

[PGPfan]

Originally Posted by sparkyjones

Hmmm... OK. Thanks for the advice.

$200 is not pocket change to me, so would you recommend just one HD200 or getting 2 MVPs for the same price. It seems like I read somewhere in all these postings that MVP only plays MPG and that's it... whereas the HD200 plays numerous video files. Does that sound correct?

True about the MVP, however the SageTV server 'transcodes' almost all formats into Mpeg on the fly in order to send to the MVP, which will allow it show most file types. The big difference is that the MVP is SD only, whereas the HD200 is HD natively. The HD200 also doesn't need trascoding so if your server is somewhat underpowered, the HD200 would likely work better.

-PGPfan

[tahoetim]

I have a couple of mvp's in a box if that tells you anything. I thought $200 was alot at first but by the time you buy a couple of video cards and codecs to try to make it work you will be close to $200 anyway. I bought one HD200 to test it. I ended up buying two more thinking that I would spend $600 for ONE quiet and powerful client.

My WAF is really high. We are discovering the little benefits of Sage that are really cool like:

*Starting a recording in one room, pausing or stopping, going to another room hours later and picking up where the movie left off.

*Starting the same ripped DVD on multiple tv's with different start times. I never thought this would be possible but it's very cool.


The only bummer with the HD200's is the remote. If it could be programmed to power up the tv, it would be perfect for the family. We have to fumble with the tv remote just for the power button.

[sparkyjones]

Originally Posted by tahoetim

I have a couple of mvp's in a box if that tells you anything. I thought $200 was alot at first but by the time you buy a couple of video cards and codecs to try to make it work you will be close to $200 anyway. I bought one HD200 to test it. I ended up buying two more thinking that I would spend $600 for ONE quiet and powerful client.

My WAF is really high. We are discovering the little benefits of Sage that are really cool like:

*Starting a recording in one room, pausing or stopping, going to another room hours later and picking up where the movie left off.

*Starting the same ripped DVD on multiple tv's with different start times. I never thought this would be possible but it's very cool.


The only bummer with the HD200's is the remote. If it could be programmed to power up the tv, it would be perfect for the family. We have to fumble with the tv remote just for the power button.

Thank you so much for the info everyone. Point well taken TahoeTim. Hmmm... I've been goofing with this more tonight. I was able to get Sage running on XP Pro (with the Hauppauge remote) through DVI to the TV (with RCA L/R audio). I don't have any HDMI --or extra component-- inputs on the TV (older plasma) so I am wondering if I can skate by with the actual box serving up the video to this TV through DVI and an HD200 in the bedroom... which has extra HDMIs/components.

I already have a copy of XP, so that would save me $300 (one HD200 and one WHS 2008 license). This setup should also get me going in HD in two rooms and I can always add another HD200 and the WHS 2008 later, I suppose.

[SWKerr]

I watch HD from the WHS on occasion. What I found was that the driver for the ATI 3200\780G board did not have a suitable driver to run HD. I put in a Nvidia 8500 I had and it worked fine. I use this setup for to push TV to my old analog set via a converter box so it is only set at 1024x768 but it play flawlessly. I looks fine on the HD monitor I have hooked to it as well.

[wayner]

I always get an error when trying to watch any video in Sage for WHS - I did install drivers for my video card, which is an ATI 9250 (which uses a regular PCI slot) but no luck. I figured that either (1) the 9250 is too low powered or (2) You can't get video playback on WHS.

[keepersg]

Well, Although Sage doesn't support TV or video playback on a WHS console, it is possible. I've got it working on my system quite well but I wouldn't recommend spending the time I put into it unless you have very good reasons for it. In my case, I did it partly for convenience and partly as an exercise (you know--let's see if we can do this 5.14 climb on this face instead of walking up the back side of the hill).

[dealsdyker]

I am, my experiences are here. It was a pain but I got it working and documented it there. Well, if you count the Sage client just disappearing 25% of the time when I maximize the screen.

If I were using Sage as a fulltime DVR for all my content I'd not be satisfied with my monkey business. I would probably have gone the HD200 route. But for me I have DirecTV HRXX for my HD DVRing and can't justify spending $ on a HD200. Sage just runs off my server so I can get local OTA HD TV content in a format I can store, copy, and watch at leisure.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by sparkyjones

WHS 2008 (trial version)

Let's just reiterate here. WHS is not meant to be used in the manor you're describing here, ie running apps directly on it. Like Windows Server 2003, many of the media features are disabled by default.

Seeing that you don't have a "permanent" WHS license, you really should consider using XP, Vista or Win 7 if you want an "all in one" machine, ie backend plus playback.

[sparkyjones]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Let's just reiterate here. WHS is not meant to be used in the manor you're describing here, ie running apps directly on it. Like Windows Server 2003, many of the media features are disabled by default.

Seeing that you don't have a "permanent" WHS license, you really should consider using XP, Vista or Win 7 if you want an "all in one" machine, ie backend plus playback.

Cool.... Thanks again for the input everyone. I had one more question before I order; and stanger89, since you mentioned OSes, maybe this is down your alley. If I purchase a license for 6.5 Media Center, do you know if the key for that will work with an XP or a WHS install? (e.g. If I install WinXP and later decide to buy another HD200 and install WHS instead of XP, can I use the same key for the WHS install or would I have to shell out another $80 for a particular 'WHS key'?

Again, thank you everyone... I appreciate the input.

[stanger89]

Yeah, AFAIK, a Windows license works on any Windows OS.

[sparkyjones]

Yeah, I just found this too when you replied.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...94&postcount=2

Thank you. Headed to the online store now. )

[Chriscic]

Maybe this is a decent thread to ask this in... even though I don't want to watch video on my WHS server, I'm wondering if I can (or I guess whether I need to bother) installing my vid card drivers on there. Right now, my ATI 3450 is just using the generic MS VGA drivers. I tried installing the ATI XP drivers for the card on there but that did not do well... it installed but kept saying the drivers didn't support catalyst, even though they were both installed from the same packaged download. I had to just uninstall it.

[heatvent]

Originally Posted by Chriscic

Maybe this is a decent thread to ask this in... even though I don't want to watch video on my WHS server, I'm wondering if I can (or I guess whether I need to bother) installing my vid card drivers on there. Right now, my ATI 3450 is just using the generic MS VGA drivers. I tried installing the ATI XP drivers for the card on there but that did not do well... it installed but kept saying the drivers didn't support catalyst, even though they were both installed from the same packaged download. I had to just uninstall it.

I have the 3450 card as well. I tried it on WHS and I think it did install catalyst but if I remember right, it had limited options.

If I have one piece of advice DO NOT USE WHS AS YOUR SAGE PLAYBACK MACHINE. You will definitely not get DXVA working and you will waste a lot of time.