Newb: DishNetwork, Dishplayer and Dual Tuners

[Rhindle]

Hi all,

Just discovered SageTV and it all sounds so cool... if it will work with my setup although I am willing to make some changes in service to make it work. I have DishNetwork and a Dishplayer 7200 and would like to know first off if SageTV will even work with this setup. I'm a newb to all this so I have a few basic questions now after doing a ton of reading...

We want dual tuners for sure so how does that work from a satellite? Do I have to have 2 dishes? Can't find a solid answer on how that would actually work. I have read that cable can be split but satellite cannot. I'm just not sure if an entire separate dish is needed or what has to be done.

I did read somewhere that the Dishplayers would probably not work with SageTV as far as changing the channels. Can anyone confirm whether a 7200 would work? I know it's old and crappy and may get a different STB if necessary to work with SageTV.

I really want to avoid paying any DVR serivce fee as currently I do not pay one with the 7200. E* doesn't even have a dual tuner DVR offer for existing customers right now, only the 510 unless I wanted to go buy one outright, but I'd still have to pay the DVR fee. Would it be worth switching to D* and if so should I just get the basic STB (no DVR) and build SageTV around that with dual PVR-250's? If so I'm wondering what model STB from D* (or S* for that matter) is known to work well. That goes back to my main question and that is how to use dual tuners with satellite...

My wife (and myself) has grown very accustom to certain features that I need to make sure are available in SageTV. We tried cable for a week and took the DVR back today and cancelled the service (never cancelled E* just in case, good thing..). Those analog channels are so crappy looking and the DVR blew... anyway, the features that I want to make sure SageTV supports that the ole Dishplayer has:

1. First and foremost, skip forward 30 sec/skip back 10 (I think I saw this in the manual and these values are adjustable )
2. Able to play back a recorded show from the beginning that is still recording instead of having to wait until it is finsihed recording (wife does this every morning with Sesame Street for the boy since he wakes up while its recording usually and starts it from the beginning while it finishes recording)
3. Guide only shows you what channels you subscribe to. I'm thinking this is prolly not possible with SageTV since it just grabs the guide, but as long as I can set it up manually.
4. See plenty of information about the show in the guide without hitting the Info button (I think that shouldn't be a problem looking at the screenies)

Those are the main things that we would have to have since we already have them in our fossil 7200.

My last question for now would be about the ATI eHome... I don't think I've seen anyone with just 2 of these cards, but always a PVR-250 and an eHome. Would getting 2 of these be just as good as 2 PVR-250's? If not, why?

Sorry for such a long novel, but I thank you for your time!

Rhindle

[stanger89]

I'll leave most of the Sat specific questions to those with first hand experience, but...

Originally Posted by Rhindle

Hi all,

Just discovered SageTV and it all sounds so cool... if it will work with my setup although I am willing to make some changes in service to make it work. I have DishNetwork and a Dishplayer 7200 and would like to know first off if SageTV will even work with this setup. I'm a newb to all this so I have a few basic questions now after doing a ton of reading...

We want dual tuners for sure so how does that work from a satellite? Do I have to have 2 dishes? Can't find a solid answer on how that would actually work. I have read that cable can be split but satellite cannot. I'm just not sure if an entire separate dish is needed or what has to be done.

You need two STBs, but shouldn't need two dishes, it would be just as if you had two TVs hooked to the dish.

I did read somewhere that the Dishplayers would probably not work with SageTV as far as changing the channels. Can anyone confirm whether a 7200 would work? I know it's old and crappy and may get a different STB if necessary to work with SageTV.

I really want to avoid paying any DVR serivce fee as currently I do not pay one with the 7200. E* doesn't even have a dual tuner DVR offer for existing customers right now, only the 510 unless I wanted to go buy one outright, but I'd still have to pay the DVR fee. Would it be worth switching to D* and if so should I just get the basic STB (no DVR) and build SageTV around that with dual PVR-250's? If so I'm wondering what model STB from D* (or S* for that matter) is known to work well. That goes back to my main question and that is how to use dual tuners with satellite...

My wife (and myself) has grown very accustom to certain features that I need to make sure are available in SageTV. We tried cable for a week and took the DVR back today and cancelled the service (never cancelled E* just in case, good thing..). Those analog channels are so crappy looking and the DVR blew... anyway, the features that I want to make sure SageTV supports that the ole Dishplayer has:

1. First and foremost, skip forward 30 sec/skip back 10 (I think I saw this in the manual and these values are adjustable )

Yup, default Sage comes with 30 sec FFW/RW, and 2:30 FFW2/RW2, plus time scroll which is 2:30 at a time, but sort of deferred untill you tell it to jump. Plus there are several STVs (customizations/skins) that include commercial skipping.

2. Able to play back a recorded show from the beginning that is still recording instead of having to wait until it is finsihed recording (wife does this every morning with Sesame Street for the boy since he wakes up while its recording usually and starts it from the beginning while it finishes recording)

Of course

3. Guide only shows you what channels you subscribe to. I'm thinking this is prolly not possible with SageTV since it just grabs the guide, but as long as I can set it up manually.

Nope, you can select which channels you want to view, Frey provides (to the best of my knowledge) data for all channels available on dish (except PPV I think), and you can enable or disable any you wish.

4. See plenty of information about the show in the guide without hitting the Info button (I think that shouldn't be a problem looking at the screenies)

Depends on your definition of plenty, the default STV shows, well you've already looked at the screenshots it sounds like, and downloaded the manual

Those are the main things that we would have to have since we already have them in our fossil 7200.

My last question for now would be about the ATI eHome... I don't think I've seen anyone with just 2 of these cards, but always a PVR-250 and an eHome. Would getting 2 of these be just as good as 2 PVR-250's? If not, why?

Personally, if you're looking for inexpensive, I'd go with a couple of PVR 150s. The Ehomes have minimal support (don't know if there ever was a driver update for them) while the 150's are Hauppauges new PVR card, and should be well supported for a while to come.

[Rhindle]

Excellent info stanger89, I appreciate it. Since I need two STB's I wonder how I'll be able to pull that of with E*. I've been with them for 3 1/2 years now, but I'm wondering what it would cost me to get that done. I suppose I would have to get them involved? Something has to be done with the dish itself to send in 2 cables obviously, but wondering if E* has to do it... unless someone knows what I need to do.. maybe just buy a splitter thingy for the dish? I noticed that both LBN's come into a connector that then only has one coax out... maybe this can be changed to one that has 2? Any help appreciated there. That would be sweet if I could do that myself and not get E* involved.

As far as the PVR-150MCE, it looks like it is pretty much the same as the regular PVR-150 and is only $65 w/free shipping at buy.com. Since Hauppauge says it runs under XP as well as MCE I guess it would be the best choice? Thanks for pointing me in that direction stanger89. Looks like the PVR-150 is the way to go.

As fun as this is researching and everything, I'm starting to doubt my ability to do this in a very cost effective manner and continue to avoid having to pay for any equip leasing or DVR service fee. For me to get the procurement dept to approve this (da wife that is) I need to demonstrate to her that this will save us money somehow or at least break even. I have most of the HTPC parts minus the tuners and good vid card out, but I'm not worried too much about the acutal HTPC components.

I'm more concerned about how to get this to work with E*. I'd have to get E* to run another cable into the house and get another STB. Or maybe I'd have to get 2 if the 7200 Dishplayer isn't going to play well. Do both STB's need to be identical? Again, if anyone knows whether this is something I can do myself let me know what I need to do. I guess my other option would be to switch to D* and get a good deal on the initial install and order it with 2 rooms to get two STB's. I guess I'll still have to pay the leasing fee for 2 boxes then? I'm not sure how I'm going to get around those fees. It just annoys me so much to have to pay more than what I'm paying now if I want dual tuners. It almost seems better to go with D* and get a dual tuner Tivo they have going right now and just pay for the leasing and DVR service. But I don't want to do that! stanger89, I did enjoy reading your rather colorful debate in the AVS forums with a guy named Greg I think about Tivo vs. SageTV. Hehe, I think you made your point pretty clear.

Anyway, sorry for rambling on, but just trying to figure out what I need for dual tuners from sat first which means dual STB's it seems. Now to figure out the best way to do that is the next step towards a SageTV system. The initial reason behind building my own PVR was to avoid the DVR and leasing fee that I do not pay currently with my Mesozoic-era Dishplayer 7200, but it looks like if I want to avoid that I'll have to either buy 2 STB's outright (if so, which ones?) and somehow get E* to work with both of them (hopefully something I can do myself but I dunno) or go to D* and get 2 rooms with the standard STB.. but then I'm paying leasing fees to D*. Doesn't seem like a good idea to switch unless you're going to be getting something good out of it as a new customer.

Thanks for your input stanger89 and hopefully others with E* may have some advice.

Rhindle

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Rhindle

Excellent info stanger89, I appreciate it. Since I need two STB's I wonder how I'll be able to pull that of with E*. I've been with them for 3 1/2 years now, but I'm wondering what it would cost me to get that done. I suppose I would have to get them involved? Something has to be done with the dish itself to send in 2 cables obviously, but wondering if E* has to do it... unless someone knows what I need to do.. maybe just buy a splitter thingy for the dish? I noticed that both LBN's come into a connector that then only has one coax out... maybe this can be changed to one that has 2? Any help appreciated there. That would be sweet if I could do that myself and not get E* involved.

I don't think you'll have to get E* involved, you'll just have to get a new "connector". They make them for connecting several boxes.

As for using your 7200, does it work like a normal STB? I mean can you just punch in 123 and will it change to channel 123? If so you can probably use it, but the question will be does the box work if you aren't paying the DVR fee.

[SHS]

You could just get pair reg DP301/311 and do alway with Dish 7200 receivers.
But key things you going need to build Dual Tuner with SageTV or maybe want a Server with some kind of Client.
1: You need a pair PVR card.
2: (1) USB-UIRT.
3: (2) IR Emitter and 1/8 Y mono or (1) Dual IR Emitter.
4: (2) High quality set A/V 3' or 6' cable (S/Video) depeend on where you put them.
This after Dish Tech guy install them in two diffrent room you need re-route the cable.
The nice thing about about Dish receivers you can assign remote address making things a lot eazy then a lot of other receivers.
What ever you do be sure get independent receivers like DP301/311 not one of thoses the Dual Tuner Dish 322 becuase there only one S/Video output but there is "2" Composite output but want get the best PQ so you want to use S/Video and sure how well thoses box work with USB-UIRT.
Tip if going be watch any PPV, Sports, etc channel besure conn the dish receivers to the TVset for REALtime mode so can use Dish Remote in realtime mode and may want setup one or both receiver with coax cable with one on channel 3 the other on channel 4 on back of the receiver to order thoses channel or have call in to order it and besure you don't have any recording going off see below.
Problem with dual tuner idea and with SageTV is with PPV, Sports channel you have no idea which tuner is going to start recording some time it 1st tuner or 2nd tuner there no way tell sage to use 1st pvr card to record form 1st dish receivers or other way around etc, etc but being I don't use thoses channel I never really look in to it.

[Rhindle]

Thank you both for all the great info. I think I may have all the details I need to get going at this point. At least I know what I need now. Just a matter of making it happen and giving it a try.

Thanks again!

Rhindle