Opinions on a new build?

[gerberdude]

I recently determined that my AGP 4x video card could not support my new 50 inch 780p hdtv, by messing with various non-standard resolutions, I think I probably cooked it. Oops!

Therefore, I've decided to use this as an excuse to upgrade my whole Sage setup.

I upgraded to version 6_6_2, and now I'd like to just rebuild the whole rig.

These are the parts that I have picked out and I'm looking for opinions or suggestions:

WinTV-HVR-1850 MC Board Only
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116044

Asus M3N78-VM Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131318

Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103772

I had an existing PVR-150 but would like to get OTA HD broadcasts, that is why I picked out the 1850. I would still like to get the analog cable that comes in from the wall.

I would have two gigs of ddr2 800 ram, I already have these sticks.

I would be using Windows XPSP2 32 bit.

I would be using my 250 GB IDE HDD, I am trying to hold off on buying a big SATA drive, but I will if the IDE drive won't handle the action.

I am not planning on buying a discrete video card, but rather using the onboard HDMI out to put the signal out to my TV.

I have an existing 450W Antec power supply.

Here are my questions:

I have a Logitech 550 remote and the IR cable/blaster/receiver/dongle thingy that came with the PVR-150, would I be able to use it with this card and that remote?

Should I upgrade the HDD for speed, or is the speed of the IDE okay?

Should I add the discrete video card, or will the onboard video do the trick for my HDTV needs? If I need to add, what should I get?

Any opinions or unforeseen bottlenecks?

I would like to keep the budget under $300, for all of the new parts.

Will this work the best or should I go in another direction?

TIA for any help.

[wrems]

Not sure if you mean that you think you cooked the graphics card or your entire current system... Sounds like you think you smoked just the card.

What about turning your current rig into a headless server and use an HD200 for playback? It would be much cheaper than an entire system upgrade and less hassle in the long run. I am sure that your system is more than capable of being a pretty good server as it is, since all the playback is rendered at the HD200. Also, for not much more than your current budget of 300 you could technically get 2 HD200’s and have greater access in more rooms to boot. Or, get the one HD200 and get a 1+TB hard drive... Not trying to deter you from building a new system but I would definitely consider some other possibilities...

[gerberdude]

Hey wrems, thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was the graphics card that was cooked. It's okay though, it served me well for many years. I hope I didn't cook the MOBO, I guess I should mess with it to make sure.

Let me make sure I have this right:

So all I would really upgrade would be the capture card in my "server", then I could output all of that to the HD200 via my lan. The capture card would handle all of the capturing and encoding, and other stuff.

Also I guess I wouldn't need a really great video card, just some other AGP card, since all of the video output is handled across the network cables, sent to the HD200.

How is the HD200 different from this?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116030

Any big differences that might sway me one way or another?

[wrems]

Does your current MOBO have integrated graphics?? You could just use that since graphics processing power is not necessary or running the HD200. The HD PVR is essentially just a tuner for lack of a better term. It technically isn’t a tuner but... It’s a recording device that you would hook up to a STB and record encrypted stations, it can only do 1 recording at a time. The HD200 is your front end. It is a media player/streaming device. The benefits of repurposing your current rig is you can likely stick in the basement or somewhere discreet so then you won’t have to listen to fans and such whirling away.

What capture card(s) are you using currently? You mentioned the PVR150, what are your requirements? Sounds like you have an ATSC antenna? What are you other sources? Any STB’s?

Essentially you would be consolidating your server/tuners in one location and using the HD200’s at each of your TV’s in your house to have ubiquitous access to Sage. Once you have the server setup you can add storage and additional HD200’s with ease.

[gerberdude]

Yeah, no onboard video so I would have to stick something in there just for the setup, then obviously I could take it out before I stow it in the closet somewhere.

No STB's yet, just currently using the coax cable that comes in from the wall to get analog cable. (I know I'm a dinosaur) My HDTV has a built in HD antenna, I think, otherwise I can't figure out how I am getting OTA digital HD stations, you know ABC, NBC, just a few others. Those are the ones that I would like to record at this time. Would I have to get a separate ATSC antenna?

These are the components that are currently in the box:

A Asus K8N board with 1.5 gigs of DDR 400 Ram and a 2GHz single core processor.

Here are the components:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819104231

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131512

So I guess if I'm going to use that setup, I will have to get a capture card that goes in a PCI slot, no big deal, but this board doesn't have PCI-e slots.

Also, since most of the tuners out there do the HD encoding using a software encoder, should I worry about that? I put this rig together back in 2006 and it was not exactly top of the line then, and it continues to get a little dated as time goes by. If it can't handle encoding the HD content, and I get stuck with studdering video I'm going to be pretty hacked off. This is a big concern of mine.

This is the tuner card I have now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116625

I was going to move that to my PC in my office to do some converting of old VHS tapes.

[wrems]

The lack of PCIe is potentially a problem. I would get an HDHR network based dual tuner. That will get you your over the air stuff with basically zero overhead on your CPU. Depending on your location you may be able to pull in a descent amount of clearqam too. Check Silicon Dust’s site and drop in your zip code. Make sure to change the drop down on the top between OTA and QAM to see what you should be able to tune. The HDHR’s are wonderful units and do not require you to have any PCIe slots. They work anywhere on your network. Plug and play. Coupled with the HD200 you would be in pretty good shape. They seem costly but remember they are dual tuners.

[gerberdude]

Apparently the HDHR only does digital. This brings to mind several questions:

Does it do HD hardware encoding on it's own, or will that still be handled by my CPU?

So If I wanted to still capture all of the analog signals that came in over my cable connection, I would still need to use the PVR-150 in the server for that.

I guess I could configure that as a tuner for the analog then configure the HD Homerun as a digital tuner in Sage, running on the server.

So the server would still be running the main SageTV program, and the HD200 would just be like a client or something?

Would I need to purchase separate software, or could I use my existing update of Sage that I just downloaded?

Then I would use the HD200 to play them all back to the TV through the network.

Does this mean that my CPU will handle the overhead of playing the video back on the TV, or will that be the HD200, and my server will just send the video files up the network?

Basically I'm looking for any bottlenecks that might arise.

[valnar]

Originally Posted by gerberdude

WinTV-HVR-1850 MC Board Only
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116044

Asus M3N78-VM Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131318

Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103772

Wow. I pretty much disagree with every one of your choices.

If you want it reliable, quiet and cool, get a Intel rig with a Core2Duo. An AMD 125W TDP CPU? Is this going to be near the TV?

Get a HDHR for your digital, not the HVR-1850. Keep the PVR-150.

[wrems]

The HD200 will not put strain on your cpu. All processing happens in the HD200. Similarly, the HDHR will not strain your cpu. Your current rig coupled with an HD200 and HDHR will deftly handle HD signals with basically zero overhead on your cpu.

[gerberdude]

Originally Posted by valnar

Wow. I pretty much disagree with every one of your choices.

If you want it reliable, quiet and cool, get a Intel rig with a Core2Duo. An AMD 125W TDP CPU? Is this going to be near the TV?

Get a HDHR for your digital, not the HVR-1850. Keep the PVR-150.

Well I guess that's why I'm asking, then.

Yeah, I didn't think about it running hot. I've just always had good luck with that processor in other simple little builds that I've done in the past.

Good thing I have like five fans in this case, although now that it will be in the closet, I don't really need to worry about the temp. Maybe I can put it under the bed and it can pre-heat my covers or something.
At this point, if I redo the box, I guess I would do it only for storage reasons as long as this current rig can handle the load.

Which reminds me, will the two IDE HDD's handle the load in this case for the digital video, potentially recording one analog and two digital sources?

[valnar]

I try to use cool and low powered CPU's for things I leave on all day long, including my Sage Server (even in a closet or basement). It all adds up. YMMV.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by gerberdude

Apparently the HDHR only does digital. This brings to mind several questions:

Does it do HD hardware encoding on it's own, or will that still be handled by my CPU?

So If I wanted to still capture all of the analog signals that came in over my cable connection, I would still need to use the PVR-150 in the server for that.

I guess I could configure that as a tuner for the analog then configure the HD Homerun as a digital tuner in Sage, running on the server.

So the server would still be running the main SageTV program, and the HD200 would just be like a client or something?

Would I need to purchase separate software, or could I use my existing update of Sage that I just downloaded?

Then I would use the HD200 to play them all back to the TV through the network.

Does this mean that my CPU will handle the overhead of playing the video back on the TV, or will that be the HD200, and my server will just send the video files up the network?

Basically I'm looking for any bottlenecks that might arise.

The HDHR doesn't do any encoding. The signal is already encoded (MPEG-2) in the ATSC or QAM broadcast. All the HDHR does is tune it, and send the MPEG-2 data to the computer over the network. This is actually a very small amount of data to deal with (max of 19.5Mbps), which any CPU built in the alst 8 years can handle without a fuss. All the sage server will be doing for you in this situation is coordinating the recordings, writing them to the harddrive, and reading them back to send out to the HD-200.

If there are channels you are receiving in analog with your 150 that are not available via QAM with the HDHR, you can still use the 150 to get those. Sage will integrate them all together in the same channel list nicely.

[gerberdude]

Okay, so let me get this straight:

The server would be running the SageTV software, and would house the storage and the PVR-150.

The HDHR would be connected to the server via my home network.

Sage would run on the server and would facilitate and manage the recordings and send them out to the HD200 as it calls for them.

The HD200 would have some sort of Sage "lite" interface that coordinates with the server and keeps everything transparent to the user.

The HD200 would perform all of the processing tasks for playing the video and would not put any additional load on the server.

The only load on the server would be the PVR-150 running, which it has just fine for some time.

No need to log onto the server locally to manage recordings or use the PVR-150, etc. All of that is done from the HD200.

Is this all correct?

[wrems]

Essentially yes.

Additional clarification on some of your points. The HD200 has two modes of operation. Standalone and extender mode. I guess you could call the standalone mode a Sage “Lite” interface... but not really. The interface in standalone mode is Sage but not as you currently know it. When you use the HD200 in extender mode like you will the UI is managed at the server and sent to the HD200... Everything will behave and look exactly like it would on a full-blown computer client. The interface that the HD200 renders can be whatever you want. SageMC for example, additionally each HD200 in your house can have completely different UI’s if you so choose. Think of the HD200 as a quasi computer client that can only perform Sage related operations. In other words you won’t be surfing the internet, but you will have a wonderful SageTV experience. To boot they run on less than 10 watts and are completely silent and can playback resolutions up to 1080p with no problems.

The PVR150 has hardware based encoding and will not tax your system, just like the HD200 and HDHR. All of these components can perform excellently on systems much weaker than yours. The only time you are going to need some server muscle is if you plan on using PlaceShifter or the older MediaMVP’s (don’t bother with these). These operations are CPU intensive and require a more powerful server. Using an HD200 greatly reduces the amount of horsepower needed to playback perfect HD.

[gerberdude]

Will I need to by a copy of the extender software or another license, or does it come with that?

Also, as an extender, will it have all of the features that the newest version of Sage has?

I was beginning to like some of the new features before I cooked the video card. e.g. convert video to ipod, and some of the online features.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by gerberdude

Will I need to by a copy of the extender software or another license, or does it come with that?

The purchase of the HD-200 includes the licensing you need to connect and use it with a licensed SageTV application.

Originally Posted by gerberdude

Also, as an extender, will it have all of the features that the newest version of Sage has?

Yes. For all intents and purposes, the Extender IS running the latest version of sage (well, technically, whatever version you are running on your server).

Originally Posted by gerberdude

I was beginning to like some of the new features before I cooked the video card. e.g. convert video to ipod, and some of the online features.

Basically, everything you've been doing on your SageTV PC, you can do on the extender, and the interface will be the same.

[wrems]

Any features/imports that currently work with your system will work with the HD200. Very well I might add. Like I said before you won’t be surfing the net but nearly everything SageTV related will be fantastic. The HD200 is their baby; they will ensure that it will work as flawlessly as possible with their features now and into the future. In addition, most of the third party developers are making sure their imports work with the HD200’s.

[gerberdude]

OK I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the HD200 and the HDHR. Any recommendations on where to get the best price on these items?