Satellite setup

[theranman]

I am about to get Sage and build a PC to host it on - I have Satellite and wanted to know if anyone could point me to how this setup needs to work.

I have 2 cables coming in from the dish. In order to record and watch at the same time - do I need two cables coming out of the satellite set top box?

Any help on how to set up Sage with a Satellite would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[bcjenkins]

What service and boxes do you have?

I am using 4 D11 devices feeding two PVR-500 tuners via s-video and composite audio. They are channel changed by 4 Paterson Technology USB TVTranslator 3 devices with BAFO USB to Serial converters.

DirecTV for me.

B

[theranman]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

What service and boxes do you have?

I am using 4 D11 devices feeding two PVR-500 tuners via s-video and composite audio. They are channel changed by 4 Paterson Technology USB TVTranslator 3 devices with BAFO USB to Serial converters.

DirecTV for me.

B

Thanks for the reply. I have 2 DirecTV R10 boxes - they are both TIVO. I am totally new to this and could not find a place that talks about how to set up the connections between Satellite and Sage.

Do you know of any sites or topics in this forum that have that kind of info? I read through the Sage manual and it is lacking.

I also have a standard DirecTV box.

[stanger89]

Basically Sage sits between your satellite box and your TV. Your satellite box tunes and decodes/decrypts the signal, and Sage captures the output and records it, so you can later watch it on your TV.

You'll need one sat box for each channel you wish to record (simultaneously). So if you think you want to record two things at once, you need two sat boxes feeding two inputs on the PC/Sage.

Then for Sage to control the sat boxes (change channels) you need some sort of IR "blaster" (emitter, takes the place of the remote). Something like the USB-UIRT.

[theranman]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Basically Sage sits between your satellite box and your TV. Your satellite box tunes and decodes/decrypts the signal, and Sage captures the output and records it, so you can later watch it on your TV.

You'll need one sat box for each channel you wish to record (simultaneously). So if you think you want to record two things at once, you need two sat boxes feeding two inputs on the PC/Sage.

Then for Sage to control the sat boxes (change channels) you need some sort of IR "blaster" (emitter, takes the place of the remote). Something like the USB-UIRT.

Ok - I currently have 2 DirecTV R10 with TIVO. I have One Sat dish with a dual LMB that has two cables from it. I assume that I can take the one cable and connect it to the one R10 and the other cable to the other R10.

And then by Svideo connect each sat box to one of these Cards (Or would I need two?) http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/produ...pvr500mce.html
(This one says you can record 2 and watch third at the same time??)

And then use either serial (http://www.patersontech.com/) or IR blaster to change each sat box channel?

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by theranman

Ok - I currently have 2 DirecTV R10 with TIVO. I have One Sat dish with a dual LMB that has two cables from it. I assume that I can take the one cable and connect it to the one R10 and the other cable to the other R10.

Normally you would run 2 cabled to each R10 so that the R10 could record 2 shows simultainiously. However, since the R10 can only output one show at a time, then yes, 1 cable to each R10's Satellite 1 connector.

And then by Svideo connect each sat box to one of these Cards (Or would I need two?) http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/produ...pvr500mce.html
(This one says you can record 2 and watch third at the same time??)

YOu'd need 1 PVR-500 to record two incoming streams, one from each R10. The "watch third at the same time" is regarding watching pre-recorded content in Sage, not record 2 shows while watching a third show live.

And then use either serial (http://www.patersontech.com/) or IR blaster to change each sat box channel?

Yup, either a USB-UIRT to IR blast, or some sort of serial changer. I dunno if the R10 can be serial changed, it is an uncommon box to use in Sage since you don't need the Tivo funtionality, and the Tivo UI may actually get in the way if it wants to do something on its own. the D10 and D11 single tuner non-tivo DirecTV boxes are popular and work ok in Sage IIRC.

[AngelofDeth]

I really doubt a directivo unit would be able to be serially controlled... I would just pickup a couple of cheap stbs that are known to work by serial, but thats just me. Serial is faster, and more reliable, and another problem with using a tivo is they become useless if the hard drive crashes.

[theranman]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

YOu'd need 1 PVR-500 to record two incoming streams, one from each R10. The "watch third at the same time" is regarding watching pre-recorded content in Sage, not record 2 shows while watching a third show live.

Ok - Lets say I use 2 D10's instead of R10's. And as you said I would only need 1 PVR-500.

What I still dont understand is, if each D10 has an SVideo line coming out of it, going to the PVR-500. The PVR-500 has only 1 SVideo input.
http://www.hauppauge.com/images/pvr500_ep_bg.jpg

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/produ...pvr500mce.html

I would think that I would need 2 PVR-500's for each SVideo cable coming from each D10?

Thanks

[doc]

the pvr500 comes with an expansion bracket that has the other s-video/components connections on it. The expansion card plugs into the internal connector on the card.

You need spare slot on the case to fit the expansion bracket onto.

It's the same as this.

http://store.sagetv.com/Merchant2/me...tegory_Code=HD

[theranman]

Thanks - that was the missing piece for me to understanding this. I am new at all this pvr stuff. Doesnt Sage have a page on there site that has a couple of standard setup examples? I would think it would do Sage some good - so that it would be easier for people to understand.

[bcjenkins]

FYI - I just moved from 2 PVR-500s (today) to NVidia DualTV. Since NVidia has stopped making them, you should hurry if interested. My whole reason was because I wouldn't need that bracket any longer. I am amazed at the PQ though too.

http://www.excaliberpc.com/Nvidia_Du...id-569603.html

B

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

FYI - I just moved from 2 PVR-500s (today) to NVidia DualTV. Since NVidia has stopped making them, you should hurry if interested. My whole reason was because I wouldn't need that bracket any longer. I am amazed at the PQ though too.

http://www.excaliberpc.com/Nvidia_Du...id-569603.html

B

Me too just did the exact same thing.

[doc]

I can't find them anywhere in the UK. I'm using 2 pvr350's which means I use 4 slots to get my 2 stb's connected via composite. A pvr500 would halve this, but would cost me another £100 and then leave me with 2 spare 350's.

If only they all grew on trees

[theranman]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

FYI - I just moved from 2 PVR-500s (today) to NVidia DualTV. Since NVidia has stopped making them, you should hurry if interested. My whole reason was because I wouldn't need that bracket any longer. I am amazed at the PQ though too.

http://www.excaliberpc.com/Nvidia_Du...id-569603.html

B

Do you think the Picture Quality is better than the Happauge?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116628

What do you think about this one?
http://www.amazon.com/AVerMedia-AVer...4263453&sr=1-3

[theranman]

Good info on the NVidia DualTV
http://www.htpcnews.com/index.php?op...=174&Itemid=45

[bcjenkins]

I am happy, so far, with the cards. I didn't have any open slots for the pvr-500 brackets in my PC. Every thing is in use! So I rigged the setup by zip tying them to a crossbar inside the case and fed the cables from the receivers through an opening. I was getting bleed through on some channels which precipated the switch.

All stations look great now. If you haven't purchased yet, I would jump on the NVidias.

B