Help Designing Setup

[blustrk]

Ok Folks, need some input please.

I just moved into a new house and need some help figuring-out what to do with all my tv's and MCE's.

So, I'm going to have 4 pc's with some version of SageTV in different rooms of the house, one in my bedroom, one in my livingroom, one in kitchen, and the last in my rec room.

The question is since I have Directv, what should I do?

Should I have a main server with multiple DTV receivers hooked to it? and if so, how should it be done or should I have a receiver with every client and just have a server to store the large video files?



Thanks in Advance,
Tony

[salsbst]

One server with all the STBs/receivers is ideal from a networking and management standpoint.

Someone who uses DirecTV may be able to help you get set up to manage multiple receivers' channel changes. I know that controlling multiple STBs is possible with a USB-UIRT, but have not dealt with it myself.

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by salsbst

One server with all the STBs/receivers is ideal from a networking and management standpoint.

Also ideal from installed tuners, storage standpoint.

[blustrk]

So how would I control multiple STB's with one computer if the STB's use two sat. inputs per STB like my Directivo's? Would my sagetv know which tuner to use, and which are in use?

Also, How would sagetv know which S-video(either on my MCE-500 or my GPU) goes with each STB and then, which tuner of the STB?

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by blustrk

So how would I control multiple STB's with one computer if the STB's use two sat. inputs per STB like my Directivo's? Would my sagetv know which tuner to use, and which are in use?

I can't give you the specifics on configing multiple STBs cuz I'm still running 5 tuners analog cable and a 6th was digital cable for six months but back to analog. I do know with high degree of certainty others are doing it though. But yes Sage knows when a it's using a tuner.

Also, How would sagetv know which S-video(either on my MCE-500 or my GPU) goes with each STB and then, which tuner of the STB?

During tuner setup you define each tuners type of input and EPG source.

[blustrk]

Can you tell the scheduling software to record certain shows with a certain STB so I could have one HD STB, and the other standard?

Also, Can it control both inputs at the same time if I used my Directivo?


Thanks a million guys!

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by blustrk

Also, Can it control both inputs at the same time if I used my Directivo?


Thanks a million guys!

A directivo is gonna be a pain to deal with. YOu would be only able to output one video stream at a time, not two. I think it would be possible to have Sage always watching "live tv" out of the directivo, but if the directivo decides to do any PVR'ing, you'd be screwed. I think you'd be better of with just using some plain old directv boxes.

[blustrk]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

A directivo is gonna be a pain to deal with. YOu would be only able to output one video stream at a time, not two. I think it would be possible to have Sage always watching "live tv" out of the directivo, but if the directivo decides to do any PVR'ing, you'd be screwed. I think you'd be better of with just using some plain old directv boxes.

Cool, does sage v2 or v3 support HD from a directv HD receiver?

[dbfresh23]

Originally Posted by blustrk

Cool, does sage v2 or v3 support HD from a directv HD receiver?

Maybe. But you'd need a modified receiver. Check out www.r5000-hd.com and www.169time.com. I read somewhere in this forum that someone was successfully using a 169time modified receiver, but doing some in depth searching the r5000-hd seems more reliable.

Also, someone over at greenbutton created what would seem to be a directshow driver for the r5000-hd to run under MCE, so it may even be possible to get that to work with SageTV - though I don't think anyone has tried it yet.

Either way, it's not a cheap venture.

[blustrk]

Originally Posted by dbfresh23

Maybe. But you'd need a modified receiver. Check out www.r5000-hd.com and www.169time.com. I read somewhere in this forum that someone was successfully using a 169time modified receiver, but doing some in depth searching the r5000-hd seems more reliable.

Also, someone over at greenbutton created what would seem to be a directshow driver for the r5000-hd to run under MCE, so it may even be possible to get that to work with SageTV - though I don't think anyone has tried it yet.

Either way, it's not a cheap venture.

Can I use serial or uirt with my new new Directv HD receivers, or do I need to send them off to be coverted at 169time?

[dbfresh23]

Well to control it w/ the 169time mod you would need to use uirt since none of their supported models have a serial port. With the R500-HD, the guys over at greenbutton are controlling it via the usb2 connection.

Neither company is doing the new MPEG4 DTV receivers yet though.

Also this would be the only reasonable option right now as there are no consumer grade component / dvi input methods.

[blustrk]

Originally Posted by dbfresh23

Well to control it w/ the 169time mod you would need to use uirt since none of their supported models have a serial port. With the R500-HD, the guys over at greenbutton are controlling it via the usb2 connection.

Neither company is doing the new MPEG4 DTV receivers yet though.

Also this would be the only reasonable option right now as there are no consumer grade component / dvi input methods.

Could I control the standard hd receiver from DTV with just a serial, or would I have to use a UIRT?

[dbfresh23]

If you have an SD model w/ a serial port you should be able to control it. I am using 2 of them with PVR150s and it works fine. You just need to either buy or make the custom cable.

Sorry - misread that...

I don't think I've seen any HD models with a serial port, so I'm pretty sure that you would need to use uirt. Basically, if you can find an HD receiver w/ serial, it would *probably* work.

http://www.dtvcontrol.com/page.aspx?content=compat

[blustrk]

Originally Posted by dbfresh23

If you have an SD model w/ a serial port you should be able to control it. I am using 2 of them with PVR150s and it works fine. You just need to either buy or make the custom cable.

Sorry - misread that...

I don't think I've seen any HD models with a serial port, so I'm pretty sure that you would need to use uirt.

This one right? http://www.cables4computer.com/Image...e/ADP-6050.jpg

Thanks!

[dbfresh23]

Yep, that looks like it'd do it - just gotta make sure that you get the correct gender. The 2 that I have both needed female cable ends.

I stupidly didn't pay attention to that and got the wrong one, so i would up paying for it - at radio shack that is... $8 per gender changer!

[dbfresh23]

Actually it looks like they have 3 HD receivers listed and the only one that they list as working is the Sony SAT-HD100.

[blustrk]

Originally Posted by dbfresh23

Actually it looks like they have 3 HD receivers listed and the only one that they list as working is the Sony SAT-HD100.

Sweet, now the next question...how to get HD from the STB to the pc, how bout one of these...

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/v...a_adapter.html

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Support/cn_myhd9.asp

[dbfresh23]

no and no

first thing is just to convert a video signal to vga

second thing is for OTA reception.

Speaking of which, if you are mostly looking for the locals then you may find that currently your best bet could be going OTA for HD.

[blustrk]

Originally Posted by dbfresh23

no and no

first thing is just to convert a video signal to vga

second thing is for OTA reception.

Speaking of which, if you are mostly looking for the locals then you may find that currently your best bet could be going OTA for HD.

So how can you get the HD programming from the HD STB to your computer, and to your HDTV?

[dbfresh23]

If you are looking for HDTV from DTV through SageTV - then currently those two mods are the only possibilities. If you consider OTA then you can get an antenna and an internal PCI card to capture the HD OTA signal - so long as they are available in your area.

The 169time mod uses Firewire to get the signal onto the pc and the R5000-HD mod uses USB2. From there you would just need an decent video card that can do HD and has the outputs that you need to connect it to the tv.