Pissed at tivo, considering a switch but some HDTV questions first

[touser]

Hello everyone, i hate my tivo sense the version 7 software was forced upon me and now it is slow and buggy to say the least (static, hissing noises etc). Anyways, what i am looking for is to use sagetv as a replacement tivo, run it as a server as i hear it is capable of and have client computers for each tv stream from the sage server. My goal is to be able to stream HDTV to both hdtv's in the house. My whole house is wired with cat5e so the networking of it all is easy. First of all, is sagetv capable of recording hdtv, and if so is it capable of controling a digital cable/sat box via serial or an ir blaster such as a usb-uirt? Also if i went with a usb-uirt and programmed it for use with my tivo remote could it be used to control sagetv? Thank you anyone for the help in advance i appreciate it!

[stanger89]

The short version:

Can Sage record HDTV?
For now I'm going to say no* Sage does not officially support any form of HD capture. That said, it can stream HD to the clients.

Can Sage control a Cable/Sat box?
Yes, via either serial or IR, sage can control a cable or sat box.

Can I use my Tivo remote?
Yes you can use your Tivo remote with the UIRT, you can get most of the buttons to do the same thing, except the Thumbs up/down buttons would work a little different (the closest thing is Watched/Don't Like, which is similar but different )

*The long version:
It is possible to record HDTV with Sage, right now the only way is to use the Firewire output of a cable box, and use Anders' Universal Network Encoder to grab the stream of the Firewire port. The other option is to record HD in another app, and use Sage for playback. But it's not as great as you may think.

The current state of HDTV recording is not that great. To put it simply, don't expect to be able to record anything but your local channels with anything but a cable/sat provide DVR, or an expensive moded satellite box (R5000, 169Time). Basically, asside from your local channels, expect everything else to be encrypted (unrecordable). Further, you can't record the HD output of a cable or sat box for less than about $2000 in professional capture cards/adapters, and several thousand in PC and storage.

Of course for SD, Sage, and PCs in general work great.

[touser]

Thank you for the reply stanger89 i really appreciate it! You answered pretty much everything i wanted to know except now a new question arises. You said you could record off of the cable box via firewire? In the end my goal is to be able to record the discovery HD channel. So is it possible to have sage control the cable box and record what is being played on the cable box via the firewire output on the back of the cable box?

[stanger89]

It's possible to have Sage record some channels that are being played on the cable box. Which those some are, depends on your provider, but I personally wouldn't expect it to be more than your locals. I know my provider encrypts all the HD channels (and doesn't provide locals), including DiscoveryHD.

I'm not saying it's not possible, some providers have been known to leave everything "in the clear", but that's not something I'd expect.

I'd check out the STB Firewire support thread in this section of the forum for all the info on recording from FW.

[touser]

Sounds good, thanks for all the help again i appreciate it. Finally, do all of the client computers have the same nice sage interface as the server computer allowing me to use my tivo remote to control and fast forward pause etc?

[silkshadow]

If you use USB-UIRT on every Sage box in your home, then yes the interface for the client/server is exactly the same. The Sage client is basically a kind of thin client to the SageTV. So, for example, when you define directories in Sage client the directory structure is that of the SageTV box not your Sage clien's.

[PGPfan]

Originally Posted by touser

Sounds good, thanks for all the help again i appreciate it. Finally, do all of the client computers have the same nice sage interface as the server computer allowing me to use my tivo remote to control and fast forward pause etc?

One of the things you may really like when moving from TiVo to Sage is the the extenders. Basically, these are Hauppauge Media MPV's (very small set-top box with no moving parts) that are available for about $75 dollars each. These are placed in each room that you don't need HD in (they only provide SD) and take the place of a full client PC. They have their own remotes, and when running the awesome Sage plug-in that one of the forum members created they give the entire Sage UI experience in any room very quietly, cheaply, reliably, and are great for WAF.

-PGPfan

[mikesm]

I thought the Media MVP's running sage had a pretty slow GUI? Has this been fixed? Good WAF at my house means fast response to pushing buttons on the remote. And the ability to utilize commercial skip.

Thanks,
Mike

[Crashless]

My MVP response is comperable to my pvr 350's speed. Basically slightly slower than through the GFX card.

This is, of course, dependant on a relatively fast CPU (mine is a 2500+). EPIA servers are less than ideal.