Media Extender Replacements

[Reefkeeper]

Are there any devices out there which would offer similar functionality as an HD200\300?
Would a Hauppauge MediaMVP-HD be able to do anything more than just accessing whatever digital content was already saved on the SageTV server?
Could it potentially access the SAGETV program guide?

Thanks

[BobPhoenix]

Just bought one of these to replace my HD200. So far it is working well but I've only used it for a few hours. I could have assembled essentially the same box for $73 less.

CPU:$134.99
MB:$79.99
Memory:$17.99
HDD:$63.99 or SSD:$59.99
Case:$79.99
Total:$372.95 to $376.95

And have more expansion possibilities. For about what an eBay HD300 is selling at last time I looked. Just need SageTV Client.

[Reefkeeper]

Looks like an excellent solution. Thanks

Time to start shopping!

[davephan]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Just bought one of these to replace my HD200. So far it is working well but I've only used it for a few hours. I could have assembled essentially the same box for $73 less.

CPU:$134.99
MB:$79.99
Memory:$17.99
HDD:$63.99 or SSD:$59.99
Case:$79.99
Total:$372.95 to $376.95

And have more expansion possibilities. For about what an eBay HD300 is selling at last time I looked. Just need SageTV Client.

How does this HD200/HD300 replacement compare to the HD200/HD300 extender? Is the video and audio equal or better? Does it have faster response time? What are other performance differences or similarities of the client computer compared to the HD200/HD300 extender?

Dave

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Reefkeeper

Looks like an excellent solution. Thanks

Time to start shopping!

I think the i3 2120T I spec'd out above will have more power then the 2330mobile i3 in my Zotac but I could be wrong. I wouldn't have had to expand it with anything but I wanted it as silent and fast as I could make it. So I removed the HDD and put in a 60GB SataIII SSD and 4GB more memory. I already had the SSD so that upgrade didn't cost me anything. I didn't have to build it like I would have with what I spec'd out so it took less time and I didn't end up with cuts on my fingers trying to work in such a small case. I also already have 5 client licences so I didn't need to buy them.

Originally Posted by davephan

How does this HD200/HD300 replacement compare to the HD200/HD300 extender?

It is more expensive than the regular price of an HD200/HD300 by quite abit. It is the same cost as some of the more expensive HD300's on eBay. It is in a case that is the same width as an HD200 (excluding the stand) is tall and about half again longer in the other two dimensions. It has a fan that the HD200 doesn't so it isn't completely silent but I have to get within a foot or two to even make out it is even spining

Originally Posted by davephan

Is the video and audio equal or better?

The video quality is as good as the extenders on most of the media except VC1. That is not quite as good. I still occasionally get a slight judder/stutter on pans. I use the pilot episode of Chuck and the opening sceens to judge that and I think I've got it about as good as I can get it in SageTV. Am still setting up things like EventGhost so that I can run TMT5 and see if it is better there than what I'm getting in SageTV. I can't really comment on the audio at least not yet as this is in the bedroom and the sound only goes HDMI to the TV.

Originally Posted by davephan

Does it have faster response time?

Yes. I am very satisfied with the improvement in response time. That is the major reason I decided to try it out since I only have HD200s and there will be NO HD400s (at least not from the old SageTV anyway). I am not using Diamond, Phoenix or BMT so I don't have allot of cover art but with my HD200s I was still getting spinning circles browsing my video only libraries. I get fewer of them now.

Originally Posted by davephan

What are other performance differences or similarities of the client computer compared to the HD200/HD300 extender?

Dave

This gets the extender UI out of the SageTV Service mode JavaVM so should make them more stable. It should also reduce the resource usage on the server. Maybe the java OOM (out of memory) problems I was having on the server that I trans-code videos on are a thing of the past. I use the SageTV transcoder so that runs on the same PC as my server and was causing my JavaVM to produce OOM's every couple of weeks. I haven't had this long enough to tell for sure yet but it looks like the memory usage on the server is down.

[heffneil]

How do you control it? Does this have an IR receiver?

[davephan]

Originally Posted by heffneil

How do you control it? Does this have an IR receiver?

The Client SageTV computer would also need a USB-UIRT. The USB-UIRT receives the IR remote control signals and passes them to the SageTV server through the Eithernet cable connection. The USB-UIRT on the SageTV client computer would add another $55 to the cost.

http://www.usbuirt.com/

The SageTV server would also need a USB-UIRT to communicate with set top boxes, unless you are using firewire. If the SageTV server is just setup for over the air TV, then no USB-UIRT is needed at the SageTV server.

Dave

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by davephan

The Client SageTV computer would also need a USB-UIRT.

Unless you have an iPod/iPhone/iPad, Android phone/tablet or PlayBook 2, since there's an app for that...

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by heffneil

How do you control it? Does this have an IR receiver?

If you were asking me about the Zotac then yes it comes with a MediaCenter remote and usb receiver. I am not using it however as I prefer the HD200 remote paired with a USB-UIRT that I had available.

[heffneil]

Yeah I am considering building some pc's as clients at least in the most commonly used places so that I can try to minimize the footprint on the server. I was curious what is best to be used for receiving IR on a pc. Also is there an easy way to program the remote from the hd200 or do you have to teach it each command individually?

I am curious about other peoples input on the hardware. I would like to be able to have just as much functionality as my HD300 if not more (perhaps better menu speeds)

Thanks!

Neil

[davephan]

Originally Posted by heffneil

Yeah I am considering building some pc's as clients at least in the most commonly used places so that I can try to minimize the footprint on the server. I was curious what is best to be used for receiving IR on a pc. Also is there an easy way to program the remote from the hd200 or do you have to teach it each command individually?

I am curious about other peoples input on the hardware. I would like to be able to have just as much functionality as my HD300 if not more (perhaps better menu speeds)

Thanks!

Neil

You can program each command using the SageTV client software just like you can with the HD-200 and HD-300. Use the menu commands "Setup", "Detailed setup", "Commands". You can use the SageTV remote or other remote controls.

It's a good idea to have extra SageTV remotes. I bought a couple extra SageTV remotes from the SageTV store when it was still open. Later, after the SageTV store closed, I bought a couple more SageTV remotes from E-bay.

Dave

[BobPhoenix]

I setup EventGhost on my Zotac. I have several plugins installed in EventGhost: USB-UIRT, SageTV, OS Menu. With OS Menu I'm able to switch between multiple SageTV servers from a menu, Reboot, Shutdown and Sleep the Zotac all from my remote. I also have TMT5 programmed in EventGhost as well. I programmed each button on my HD200 remote in EventGhost to a SageTV command from the plugin but I found I had to modify the plugin to generate a "-" event. I programmed the USB-UIRT to wake up the Zotac when I pressed the power-on button of my TV remote. That way when I turn on the TV I also turn on the Zotac. When I pick the Sleep or Shutdown menu options in the OS Menu EG plugin I send the TV the "turn off" command and it shuts down the TV.

It took me a considerable amount of time to setup EventGhost but now that I have it works great. The only thing I want now is to be able to bring up a list of SageTV servers that are up and running like when you power on the Extender. Haven't had time to workout how to do that yet.

If there is interest I can upload my EG configuration and my modified SageTV plugin. I actually have two versions. One with just the "-" programmed and the other that doesn't need the configuration dialog asking whether it is a client or a server. I use that on one of my servers that is also my display device in my living room.

[heffneil]

I am interested.

I need to change one of my hd300's out really bad really quick. I just need some advice on what to spring for and see how it runs. But I have to be able to control it with the IR remote (I use a Harmony One) that has the HD300's commands programmed so I would like to keep that all the same. I just don't want to sit around and program things by hand. Is there a way to share the command file for the HD300 remote?

Thanks,

Neil

[BobPhoenix]

I've included my EventGhost config file and my changed SageTV plugin for EventGhost. Below is what I have replaced my HD200 with in my bedroom.

1. I got this Zotac (expensive because it's an I3 rather than a AMD Hudson M1) but I wanted to go with more CPU power incase the AMD couldn't handle the playback reliably. Also I wanted the one without memory and HDD since I had those already (60GB SSD and 4GB memory) but NewEgg was out so I spent close to $100 more than I needed too. Especially since I'm having to RMA the drive to WesternDigital anyway - was DOA when I tried to use it for something else.
2. Installed Win7 pro x64 since it didn't have an OS installed (had extra licence).
3. A USB-UIRT to handle the HD200 remote (had one since I use HTTP tuning on DirecTV and didn't need it on my server anymore).
4. EventGhost to receive the remote commands from the USB-UIRT and direct them to the correct application.
5. No remote programmed into SageTV so that EventGhost handles all remote commands.
6. Several hours to program EventGhost to work and several days of tweaking to get it just the way I wanted it. This involved changing where some of the default HD200 buttons go: (online button opens the sage schedule, music button opens the video library, abc123 button opens setup, previous channel opens time scroll, video out button toggles full screen and aspect button toggles the aspect ratio)

Since you have a Harmony universal remote you could probably just use the receiver that comes with whatever booksize CPU you buy (if it comes with one). Just change the Harmony to emulate a MCE remote. You could use my setup file in the zip file as a base but I would suggest that you start from scratch and just use it as an example. It will only take a couple of hours to be useful - maybe less. You just have to learn the remote buttons in EventGhost and drag the events to the appropriate SageTV commands.

[heffneil]

Has anyone considered this CPU:

AMD A6-3500 Llano 2.1GHz 65 watt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=19-103-951

Also check out this board:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157273

It seems to get great ratings especially for 1080p?

Thanks,

Neil

[heffneil]

I ended up buying this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Tpk=56-119-070

Looks very small so I couldn't resist

Neil

[SteveD]

Originally Posted by heffneil

Yeah I am considering building some pc's as clients at least in the most commonly used places so that I can try to minimize the footprint on the server. I was curious what is best to be used for receiving IR on a pc. Also is there an easy way to program the remote from the hd200 or do you have to teach it each command individually?

I am curious about other peoples input on the hardware. I would like to be able to have just as much functionality as my HD300 if not more (perhaps better menu speeds)

Thanks!

Neil

I use evenghost and usbuirt programmed with the mce-remote commands. I also programmed the television on/off commands into eventghost to control the television. Wake on lan for unraid is also controlled through the remote. You can automate a lot of functionality with evenghost and the usbuirt.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by heffneil

I ended up buying this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Tpk=56-119-070

Looks very small so I couldn't resist

Neil

Your link doesn't work but I believe this was what you were intending: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856119070. Be interested in your results as I was thinking about one like this.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Your link doesn't work but I believe this was what you were intending: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856119070. Be interested in your results as I was thinking about one like this.

That URL does not work.

Dave

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Your link doesn't work but I believe this was what you were intending: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856119070. Be interested in your results as I was thinking about one like this.

I ordered that same one yesterday. Along with 4GB RAM and a 90GB SSD. I'll let you know how it goes also.

Gerry