Newbie questions

[bw23198]

I have a few newbie type questions about Sage. I have a small form factor Shuttle box that I would like to use as a Sage server. The problem is that it only has one PCI slot which is already taken up by a card that I cannot live without. So it seems that an alternative would be to purchase the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2 (model 941) and plug it into one of the Shuttle's USB 2.0 ports. According to Hauppauge's website the WinTV-PVR-USB2 has the same encoder as their main line of capture cards. My question is Is there any type of limitation with the Sage software when using this solution vs. an internal PCI Hauppauge card?
Also I would like to install the Sage server software on the Shuttle box and keep it in a closet (no TVs connected directly to it), then use multiple Media Extenders throughout the house to access content off of the server. Using the USB box mentioned above, does this mean that every Media Extender would be viewing the exact same thing at the same time? Or, could multiple Media Extenders view discrete (TV) streams from the server?
Finally I'm confused about the Media Extender's support for DVD movies. Reading other posts it looks like the Sage software isn't quite as polished on this matter as it is on TV functionality. Ideally I'd like to copy my entire DVD collection to my Shuttle box and use the Media Extenders to call up any movie (perhaps even separate movies to separate boxes) at will. Is this doable; and if so, does it work well? Keep in mind there's a premise behind all these questions that there needs to be a strong WAF for me to take the plunge into this! Thanks everyone for your help.
-Brian

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by bw23198

Using the USB box mentioned above, does this mean that every Media Extender would be viewing the exact same thing at the same time? Or, could multiple Media Extenders view discrete (TV) streams from the server?

Each extender gets its own playback stream. So each one can be viewing a different recorded program, and pausing/rewinding independently. Even if they're all viewing the same program, they won't be in sync because they're separate streams.

If you want each extender to view a different channel of live TV, or if you want to record more than one program simultaneously, then you'll need more than one USB tuner. In Sage, live TV is just a recording that you play back before it's done recording. So figure out how many of your favorite programs are on at the same time, and that's how many tuners you'll need.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by bw23198

So it seems that an alternative would be to purchase the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2 (model 941) and plug it into one of the Shuttle's USB 2.0 ports. ... My question is Is there any type of limitation with the Sage software when using this solution vs. an internal PCI Hauppauge card?

The PVR-USB2 works fine; I have 2 connected to one of my systems + a 250 PCI tuner.

Finally I'm confused about the Media Extender's support for DVD movies. Reading other posts it looks like the Sage software isn't quite as polished on this matter as it is on TV functionality. Ideally I'd like to copy my entire DVD collection to my Shuttle box and use the Media Extenders to call up any movie (perhaps even separate movies to separate boxes) at will. Is this doable; and if so, does it work well?

If you want full DVD playback, you should use a PC client. A DVD need a decoder capable of playing all of its content, including navigating its menus. The MVP's built-in hardware decoder will only play MPG2 files & cannot play DVDs at all. For formats that the MVP can't play natively, SageTV will transcode the video if it can & send the transcoded stream to the MVP. There is a way to transcode & stream VOB files from a DVD w/the menu structure, but someone else will hav to comment on that, because I don't do it.

- Andy

[bw23198]

Thanks for the fast replies. I have a few further questions now though. According to Hauppauge's website, the MVP can decode MPEG-2 video and audio. I thought a DVD was encoded with MPEG-2 files.? So shouldn't Sage be able to just send the bits over to the MVP "as is" straight from the DVDs for the MVP to decode? Or, do DVD encryption techniques prevent this from happening? Also, what if I just "ripped" the DVDs back to plain MPEG-2 audio/video files and stored those on the Sage server. Then could I avoid any transcoding on the Sage server by streaming the MPEG files to the MVPs? One potential downside I can see to this scenario is that I would loose the menu structure and the ability to jump between scenes using the DVD next/previous buttons.
Next, if my Sage server had only one encoder, but I had two MVPs, what would happen if the second MVP tried to watch live tv while the first MVP was currently watching live tv? Would the second MVP force the first one to lose its stream while the second enjoys tv? Or, would it join the stream of the first MVP?
-Brian

[gplasky]

For the MVP it is the audio from the DVDs it can't handle. DVD audio is AC3 and the MVP can't decode it.

Another stream would start whether is is a MVP, a PC client or Placeshifter.

Gerry

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by bw23198

Next, if my Sage server had only one encoder, but I had two MVPs, what would happen if the second MVP tried to watch live tv while the first MVP was currently watching live tv? Would the second MVP force the first one to lose its stream while the second enjoys tv? Or, would it join the stream of the first MVP?

If you try to watch the same channel as the first MVP, you'll get a new playback stream on the existing recording of that channel. So you'll be able to pause, rewind, etc. independently of the first MVP, without needing another tuner.

If you try to watch a different channel, you'll get a "no tuner available" error on the second MVP. The same thing will happen if you try to watch live TV on either MVP while a scheduled recording is in progress.

Under the hood, live TV works the same way as recorded TV. You need one tuner for each simultaneous recording (or live TV channel), regardless of how many clients are playing it back. On the playback side, each client gets an independent playback stream, even if they're all playing back the same recording (or live TV channel).