Switching from BeyondTV

[gardj]

Hello,

I am considering switching from BeyondTv and I am considering switching to SageTV. I will only be using one computer, no link clients, etc. with a total of 8 HDHR tuners. Will I have any problems recording 8 streams at one time, and is it better to run Sage as a service?

[paulbeers]

Recording 8 streams at a time isn't an issue. The only thing I would be concerned about would be the hard drive throughput, but if it is working in BeyondTV then it should be fine in Sage. There are no tuner limits in Sage (only hardware limitations).

[davephan]

Originally Posted by gardj

Hello,

I am considering switching from BeyondTv and I am considering switching to SageTV. I will only be using one computer, no link clients, etc. with a total of 8 HDHR tuners. Will I have any problems recording 8 streams at one time, and is it better to run Sage as a service?

I can record 5 streams at once, 3 are HD, 2 are SD, without problems. I assume you have four dual tuner HDHomeruns. Have you ever had any trouble with Eithernet traffic. I think my one dual tuner HDHomerun was consuming about 24% of the bandwidth. How much bandwidth do 4 dual HDHomeruns consume? Do you split the HDHomerun network from your home network to separate the network traffic?

Dave

[CollinR]

I doubt it'll work, 16 MPEG2 streams would need serious storage.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by CollinR

I doubt it'll work, 16 MPEG2 streams would need serious storage.

I'm guessing what was meant that Gardj has 4 dual HDHomeruns with a total of 8 tuners, so 8 streams at once. I don't have any trouble with 5 streams from my different tuners. I had 6 tuners setup before and did not have any disk problems. I don't know the limit for concurrent recordings with regard to the limitations of disk or anything else that would limit the number of tuners. I assume there is a tuner limit, but I don't the limit.

I wonder if the network can handle 4 HDHomeruns, without spliting the network traffic with several network adapters in the SageTV computer.

Dave

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by davephan

I wonder if the network can handle 4 HDHomeruns, without spliting the network traffic with several network adapters in the SageTV computer.

Dave

If using a Gigabit switch, 8 HD streams would still only take about 20% of the overall network bandwidth (20mpbs streams for 1080i x 8 = 160mbps)

As I stated earlier, the only limitation to something like this would be the hard drives. The best way to do this in Sage would be to have something like 4 hard drives and assign 2 tuners to each hard drive. Then the hard drive speeds wouldn't even be an issue.

[CollinR]

In either case it's safe to say whatever BTV can do Sage can do.














Better...

[davephan]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

If using a Gigabit switch, 8 HD streams would still only take about 20% of the overall network bandwidth (20mpbs streams for 1080i x 8 = 160mbps)

As I stated earlier, the only limitation to something like this would be the hard drives. The best way to do this in Sage would be to have something like 4 hard drives and assign 2 tuners to each hard drive. Then the hard drive speeds wouldn't even be an issue.

As I understand it, the HDHomerun (and HD-200) are both limited to 100 megs. If the HDHomerun is limited to 100 megs, then 8 HD streams might have contention problems on a 100 meg network connection.

Dave

[src666]

Originally Posted by davephan

As I understand it, the HDHomerun (and HD-200) are both limited to 100 megs. If the HDHomerun is limited to 100 megs, then 8 HD streams might have contention problems on a 100 meg network connection.

Dave

Even if the individual HDHomerun unit was limited to 100Mb, if it's connected to a gigabit switch, and the server is connected via GigE, then everything will be OK. The switch will communicate to each device at it's individual capacity, so the computer sees a gigabit connection, while each HDHomerun uses whatever it can use.

[cat6man]

as a recent btv to sage convert, i can think of one issue to watch for:

in btv, you could designate a specific hard drive for each recording, and split the load seen by an individual drive.

in sagetv, drives are pooled but i don't believe you can split shows among drives

not sure if that matters to you or not, or if you used to split the recording directories in your btv system..........just a thought to consider

good luck

[toricred]

If you have multiple drives you can split recordings in a way, just not by show. You can set each tuner to a specific prefix for a recording directory.

[Savage1701]

I came over from the BTV camp after years there as a loyal customer.

SageTV takes a little getting used to, but on the whole you can do an awful lot with it and I think it is way more stable than BTV, especially with HD-PVR (I can't speak to HD Homerun).

I've got 7 OTA ATSC tuners, 2 analog cable, and an HD-PVR. About the only issue I have run into is swamping the onboard USB ports. I have been switching from USB-based OTA and analog tuners to PCI express and PCI. I have probably 7 different make/model of tuners in my system, some 3 years old, some brand new, some PCI, some PCI Express, and some USB 2.0. They coexist 99% of the time. I can't swamp my system even full-bore, and an E7650 XP 32-bit OS 4GB RAM system ain't much to write home about these days.

My few concessions: Minimize USB based tuners. Use a USB-UIRT controller for anything involving IR blasting with my HD-PVR. I got a PCI-express x1 USB card; that helped more. Every time I migrated to more PCI/PCI Express tuners my problems lessened. A good PS to handle the load if you have a lot of hard drives. My one other concession: x4 3Ware 9590SE RAID controller, but I just run the disks off it in single disk mode so I don't have as much chance to swamp the MB controllers. A good GbE switch and wiring as well.

Sounds like you've got it covered. I think you will like Sage better once you make the sort of mental shift of how BTV works vs. Sage.

I would never go back to Sage, and it's practically an open secret they are going to abandon us consumers anyway.

I don't think you will be sorry.

[toricred]

I assume you mean you'll never go back to BeyondTV, not Sage.

[mistergq]

I would join with others that would recommend 3 or 4 hard drives to record to. I am not sure how often you are actually recording 8 shows, but if it does happen, its better to have multiple drives to prevent the hard drive bandwidth.

As a former BTV user, welcome to STV. Its not the same, but once you get used to it, you realize that its better.

[Khristopher]

It's quite interesting to see all of the BTV users migrating over.......especially after the heckling I got from these same people after I migrated and shared my experiences on the BTV forums.

Snapstream turned their back on everyone but enterprise customers, and ultimately that's what drove myself and many others away. I'm sure they're still scratching their heads wondering what went wrong.

Welcome to the dark side! Enjoy your stay!

[tmiranda]

Khristopher,

I learned long ago that when you are in a negotiation and the other side finally makes a concession, do not chastise them with "what the heck took you so long to see it may way". If making a concession is a painful experience, they will not do it again.

Let's just welcome them with open arms and offer to help them during the (often confusing) transition.

I too migrated from BeyondTV and it was, for some odd reason, very emotional. It's only software but somehow I initially felt like a traitor. I was also frustrated that doing simple things seemed so hard.

Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox.

Tom

[davephan]

Originally Posted by gardj

Hello,

I am considering switching from BeyondTv and I am considering switching to SageTV. I will only be using one computer, no link clients, etc. with a total of 8 HDHR tuners. Will I have any problems recording 8 streams at one time, and is it better to run Sage as a service?

Gardj,

Could you open up "Task Manager" and click on the "Networking" tab when you are recording 8 programs at once, and let us know networking percentage load? I'm curious to know how high it is with 8 tuners. With one dual HDHomerun tuner, it is about 26%.

Dave

[cat6man]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Khristopher,

I learned long ago that when you are in a negotiation and the other side finally makes a concession, do not chastise them with "what the heck took you so long to see it may way". If making a concession is a painful experience, they will not do it again.

Let's just welcome them with open arms and offer to help them during the (often confusing) transition.

I too migrated from BeyondTV and it was, for some odd reason, very emotional. It's only software but somehow I initially felt like a traitor. I was also frustrated that doing simple things seemed so hard.

Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox.

Tom

well said Tom

[bits]

Just chiming in regarding making the switch from BTV to Sage. I have run BTV for 5+ years and did the Sage Trials several times before making the swtich a few weeks ago.

To my surprise it was not nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be. Maybe that was because I also purchased the HD200 and the overall package has been a real pleasure. I still have more to discover and learn but what I have learned is that I really like SageTV and have no regrets.

[mistergq]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I too migrated from BeyondTV and it was, for some odd reason, very emotional. It's only software but somehow I initially felt like a traitor. I was also frustrated that doing simple things seemed so hard.

I think many of us felt like traitors because the community was great over there, the software initially achieved everything we wanted, and we were loyal to SS. Then the promise for integration, and after awhile, it became clear that integration would not be a priority and it was questionable what else would.

You also have the loyal users who tell us that PVR is all that you need, there is nothing else. Well, in some ways I have to concede they are right, we probably don't need integration. I do listen to my music on my tv less than I expected. But I love seeing my pixs as my screensaver, I love the HD200, and I love the Playon plugin by EP. So that makes it worth while the switch.

As to Kris, he got beat up pretty hard on SS board. Some of that was him antagonizing them, but a lot of it was SS posters antagonizing and attacking him for have the audacity to tell them that something was better.

At the end of day, its ashame. The users were very loyal, and had Ss opened the program to allow plugins, I think it would be thriving.