So how many cables, dishes, splitters, and set top boxes do you have?

[korben_dallas]

This is kinda directed to those SageTV users with 3 or more tuners. I would like to know how many analog coax cable runs, satellite dishes, splitters, set top boxes, and network cable runs you have. Also, the location of your SageTV server(s) and tuners if they are external.

I'm about to get into having 3-4 tuners, but I haven't fully decided what combination of analog & digital cable tuning, OTA HD, and QAM tuners I'll have, how they are split, and how to handle channel changing.

[olyar15]

I have one coax cable in the den going to a dual splitter. One then goes to my Nvidia Dualtv card, the other goes to my cable box for recording HD via firewire. These are recorded via my Sage server in the den (so 3 tuners total).

I also have an HD cable box in the living room hooked directly to my TV. I hardly use this except maybe for HD sports shows.

[ybrew]

For now....

5 analog cable, 1 digital cable (1 set top box), 2 OTA HD.

Total of 4 devices. 3 Hauppauge PVR 500s (dual tuner). Using 5 of these for analog and 1 for digital cable. Digital cable controlled with usb uirt.

The 2 OTA HD are using a single HD Homerun.

My server is in my master bedroom closet, along with a 24 port switch distributed throughout the house.

I'm considering adding an additional digital cable box, but haven't done so yet.

As far as splitters...

Antenna to the HD Homerun is has a splitter for both coax connections.
Cable coming in from attic is connected to a channel master 1 in/4 out powered amp. 3 outs are connected to the three hauppauge 500s and the 4th is connected to the cable box.

[teknubic]

I have a very simple setup:
Basic cable -> pvr-500 (dual SD)
Aerial -> split -> two vbox151 (one HD each)
4 tuners total.
The aerial used to pick up both OTA HD and SD but now only seems to get HD (another issue but I'm not too concerned about it).
I lucked out with the location of the office in relation to where all the cables come together. The longest run is maybe 10 meters.
This setup seems to fill all my TV desires until the HD lineup for my cable providor gets longer. Plus it's stupid simple -- not much to go wrong.

[jbarr]

I have:

Analog cable --> PVR-150
Motorola DCT-2000 STB --> PVR-150

OK, so that's it for now, but I do have an HDHomeRun soon to be delivered (come on UPS, drive faster!) so I'll fit in this category very soon!

[BobPhoenix]

4 STB's 3 analog on 2 Servers.

1 STB=Moto6412 to 1 Server in living room
3 STB=Moto2244 to 1 Server in basement - 3 analog to this server also.

[korben_dallas]

Originally Posted by ybrew

Cable coming in from attic is connected to a channel master 1 in/4 out powered amp. 3 outs are connected to the three hauppauge 500s and the 4th is connected to the cable box.

Got a link for that amp? Does it do any filtering/cleanup, or just boosting?

[ybrew]

I think just boosting.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...044&lpage=none

[Kos.]

I have two media center PCs in a network of Windows PCs and a Linux server.
My "lower" media center just has one Avermedia HD tuner. The "upper" one
has a dual tuner nVidia and a VBOX HD tuner. The dual takes cable TV as its input. Both HD tuners take OTA broadcast signals. (The VBOX had v. bad reception until I recently downloaded a new driver for it.) My OTA is in the attic and is an old VHS antenna and a new DB8 UHF antenna with an amplifier on it. Coax runs thru the house and two the two media centers. 100 MB CAT5 connects the media centers also. Wireless is around, but CAT5 is works better for me.

[bcjenkins]

Server in the basement

2 PVR-500 with 4 DirecTV D11-100 STBs using 4 PatersonTech USB channel changers

2 OTA HD Fusion 5 Lite and Fusion 5 Gold RT using a connection from a roof mount antenna.

B

[ToxMox]

I am currently only running some of this equipment but when I move into my house I will be using the following setup more or less:

Coax from cable company goes into office into a two way splitter.
1st split goes directly into the cable modem.
2nd split goes into a Channel Vision CVT-38BID 38dB Bi-directional Amplifier.
From the Amp it goes into a Channel Vision HS-16 16-way splitter/combiner, 1GHz, DC pass all port.
From the 16 way splitter it will connect to runs that go all through the house to each room.
Splits from the 16 way will also go into the following tuners/devices:
4 splits into two HDHomeRun via QAM
2 splits into two WinTV PVR500s
1 split into a nVidia DualTV MCE
1 split into an HD cable box to hopefully record off of via firewire.
Total 11 tuners.
All tuners will be connected to master Sage server which will be hooked up via 24 port gigabit switch connected to all rooms in the house.
Will have client in the living room hooked up HD
another client in the bedroom hooked up HD
client in office hooked up HD
client on porch hooked up SD

Lots of fun

[MTuckman]

Just rewired our entire house due to signal issues.

Single cable coming in from Comcast cable, one grounding connector to a Channel Plus DA-8200BID Bidirectional RF Distribution Amplifier. Off of this:

• HDHomeRun - Coax 1
• HDHomeRun - Coax 2
• PVR500 - Coax 1/2
• HDTV - Direct Connection
• Comcast Digital Voice / Internet Modem
• Comcast HD-PVR
• Comcast Digital Box

The last two are for my daughter's rooms upstairs.

I was having a lot of problems before I did the rewiring. By the time the signal reached my living room, it had been split a couple of times and was pretty bad.

Using the new 8200BID it seems that most of the signal problems have been resolved. My daughter doesn't complain anymore about her shows, but I am still having issues with some recordings from the HDHR. I suspect that it may still be a signal issue and am trying to work with Comcast to diagnose.

[jominor]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

This is kinda directed to those SageTV users with 3 or more tuners. I would like to know how many analog coax cable runs, satellite dishes, splitters, set top boxes, and network cable runs you have. Also, the location of your SageTV server(s) and tuners if they are external.

I'm about to get into having 3-4 tuners, but I haven't fully decided what combination of analog & digital cable tuning, OTA HD, and QAM tuners I'll have, how they are split, and how to handle channel changing.

I have 3 tuners (2 PCI, 1 USB2) and two splitters, but I use a coax signal amplifier on the second splitter. My Sage server is located in my basement on a large table hidden from view.

[farscapesg1]

Currently here is my setup....

Living Room
One Coax coming off a cable amplifier to the wall, then split 4 ways...
1 ---> PVR 150
1 ---> PVR 150
1 ---> PVR 500
1 ---> DCT-2224 STB

Office
One coax (non-amplified) split 3 ways
1 ---> Cable Modem
2 ---> HDHomeRun

My biggest issue is with my network cables. Right now I have a D-Link router (with 4 10/100 ports), a US Robotics Wireless router (with 4 10/100) ports, an a 5 port D-Link Gb switch. Right now I have two lines run to the living room (HTPC and laptop by the couch), 1 run to the bedroom (client), 1 to the formal dining (laptop on the table), then the office that has a network printer, my gaming system, my current file server, plus any other systems I might be working on. I really need to consolidate my switches with one large GB switch, if I could just find a good/cheap option.

As soon as I get my SageTV server built, I'll be moving the STB and tuner cards from the living room to the office, so I will be moving the coax amplifier and will most likely buy a larger splitter, just to cut down on the signal degredation. I would love to get a STB for each analog tuner, but I'm not about to pay rent on each box when I can get most of the channels I need off of a SD tuner.

When we buy a new house, I've already warned the wife that we will be spending extra on cabling to run network and coax into each room and I'm hoping I can find a closet to turn into a server/media distribution room.

[that_kid]

2 RG6 cables coming in from DriectV Dish into a multiswitch which then goes to 4 direct tv STB's connected to 4 PVR 150's. I have 1 cable line coming into a 4 way splitter, 2 coax cables goto the HD Homerun the other to the cablemodem. All cables lead to the server room where the other 12 servers keep my sage server company. I plan on adding 2 more HD Homeruns which means 4 more cable connections and I also have 2 HVR1600's but I Haven't put up my antenna yet