Can an "Extender" be created at the same price?

[MonocularJack]

I've been a long time SageTV user and I've been really happy with my setup, with one of the seemingly few 350's that have never given me problems.

I'm at a juncture though were I need to decide which PVR tech to go with as I'm getting married and we all know about the WAF. I have a single SageTV setup next to the TV and now I want to split it into Client/Server. I've tested out the MCE2005/XBox Extender and while it works as advertised I miss a few things from Sage.

Can one make a competitvely priced client for Sage to compete with the MCE2005 Extender combo? If you can get your hands on a free MCE2005 (which I have via my MSDN) then it's only $230 for the X-Box and Extender Kit. For Sage I'm guessing I'd need a SFF case, mobo, mem, etc. plus I'd need to buy the SageTV client and server software (can anyone confirm that I must buy it even if I already own SageTV?).

Is it possible to build a decent (at least comparable to MCE quality), good looking client for ~$250 that is fully supported by Sage? I've heard rumors of the MVP working but it sounds sketchy (no disrespect for all the hard work that has gone into it, "sketchy" would be what my wife would say any time the MVP died/didn't work/had problems/etc).

Thanks

[mlbdude]

Why not read through the MVP thread. People using it are very happy. At around $80 for the hardware and $30 for the software I don't think any product has a cheaper extender.

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=8035

My MCE05 XBox extender is hardly 100% stable. It disconnects regularly.

You could also load up one of the other STV's for a different UI if you want something more new user friendly.

[MonocularJack]

I'm actually using your amazing SageMC STV right now. I'll go checkout the MVP thread and see how well it's working for people.

Are you running your X-Extender wired or wireless? I was having disconnects before I swapped my old router out with matching D-Link products. I was trying to mix a Netgear router with a Linksys game adapter which got really cranky. Off topic but how does the video quality look to you coming from the XBox vs. Sage? I've only ever seen output from SageTV via my 350's TV-OUT which looks amazing so I can't really compare stock MCE output vs. Sage using a TV-OUT card.

[ckron]

I have been using the MVP client for a while now and I have been quite satisfied. In my experience, you need to have a pretty decent server for it to run well. I was using a PIII-866 machine w/ 256MB RAM and I got frequent disconnects and it was a real hassle. Now I am running a Celeron 2.4GHz with 512 MB of RAM and It works really well. I am not sure if the CPU or the RAM made the big difference, but it was like night and day. It might be worth noting that I am using version 2.1 with the default STV. The whole thing has been so stable that I have been hesitant to go back to Cayars STV even though I love it. I especially miss the commercial skipping.

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by MonocularJack

I'm actually using your amazing SageMC STV right now. I'll go checkout the MVP thread and see how well it's working for people.

Are you running your X-Extender wired or wireless? I was having disconnects before I swapped my old router out with matching D-Link products. I was trying to mix a Netgear router with a Linksys game adapter which got really cranky. Off topic but how does the video quality look to you coming from the XBox vs. Sage? I've only ever seen output from SageTV via my 350's TV-OUT which looks amazing so I can't really compare stock MCE output vs. Sage using a TV-OUT card.

I am on a wired network with all D-Link stuff. I get a disconnect about once every couple of hours - no big deal since it lets me restart the show I was watching where I left off.

The output quality is pretty good. The UI is not good looking (but I amy be spoiled running it at 1080i in the living room) but video is nice. Video is just like what the MVP will give you.

[GbrNole]

mlb - if i remember correctly you have a pretty decent size collection of .avi's. how do you get those files to transmit to client rooms not using a pc since the mvp client wont currently play .avi's?

this is one of the issues i have right now in getting stored media to the kids tv without putting another pc in their game room.

the upcoming zensonic 500 looks really interesting.

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

mlb - if i remember correctly you have a pretty decent size collection of .avi's. how do you get those files to transmit to client rooms not using a pc since the mvp client wont currently play .avi's?

this is one of the issues i have right now in getting stored media to the kids tv without putting another pc in their game room.

the upcoming zensonic 500 looks really interesting.

I have lost the ability to watch Divx and XVid with the MCE stuff. The full featured Sage client was much better in this regard. However, I have gotten an HDTV also and now find myself watchin all I can on that anyway .

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

mlb - if i remember correctly you have a pretty decent size collection of .avi's. how do you get those files to transmit to client rooms not using a pc since the mvp client wont currently play .avi's?

this is one of the issues i have right now in getting stored media to the kids tv without putting another pc in their game room.

the upcoming zensonic 500 looks really interesting.

Check out the Pinnacle ShowCenter for mpg and DivX playback.

Picture perfect and all decodes are done in hardware.