Building a multi channel video server

[epicstruggle]

Hello,

Got an interesting project that I'm looking at putting together. Ive been doing a bit of research on it, and think that SageTV might be part of the solution. Hope you all can give me a hand on finding some information out. I hope this is an appropriate section of the forum to post it in.

Here is what Im looking at doing:

I have a cable system, that I augment with 2 dvd (400 disc) players and a sattelite feed. So any of the TVs hooked to it will not only get the cable channels, plus they would be able to see the additional 3 channels. The dvd players are run 24/7 on shuffle mode.

What I want to do:
Replace the 2 DVD players with 5 SageTV MVP (best option?) hooked to a PC with all the dvd's ripped to it and combined to the cable system through a 5 channel modulator. Im tired of the 400 disc dvd players, and while replacing them, I'd like to increase the number of channels I have.

So I have a couple of questions:
--Is this doable? Will the SageTV server be able to handle 5 different MVPs, playing 5 different ripped DVDs?
--Is there a shuffle mode, in the client (server?) software? I'd like to set the thing up, and forget about it (there wont be any interaction between viewers and the MVPs). Can each client play dvd's from a subsection of the library?
--What will be my bottleneck:the bandwitdh between the PC and the MVPs or the storage system (planning on going with a few HDD in a RAID 5 setup)?
--Is the MVP the best solution to the problem? Or is there some PCI card that outputs video/audio that I could put 5 of in a PC?

Anything other issues that you think I should investigate? I have more question, but these are the ones i think need to be addresed first.

Thanks for any and all information.

epic

[GKusnick]

It all sounds doable to me. It should be possible to set up five distinct video playlists in shuffle-repeat mode to get five different channels of random programming. The part that has me puzzled, though, is why? What motivates this rather odd system, and how many screens is it meant to feed? If the number of screens is small, wouldn't it be better to just put an MVP at each screen and let viewers choose their own content?

For RAID questions, see the Hardware section of the forum. There are any number of threads there debating the pros and cons of various RAID setups.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

It all sounds doable to me. It should be possible to set up five distinct video playlists in shuffle-repeat mode to get five different channels of random programming. The part that has me puzzled, though, is why? What motivates this rather odd system, and how many screens is it meant to feed? If the number of screens is small, wouldn't it be better to just put an MVP at each screen and let viewers choose their own content?

For RAID questions, see the Hardware section of the forum. There are any number of threads there debating the pros and cons of various RAID setups.

Why is exactly my question!?!?! It seems to me that putting the MVP's actually next to the display/telvision they are outputting to would give an "on demand" experience for those wanting to watch a dvd. Now I could see this if you are trying some kind of avertisement setup where a dvd represents a commercial and you want 5 different commercials running on say 5 different plasma screens, but even then there seems to be better alternatives then this.

[MeInMaui]

I could see this for a waiting room, showroom, or maybe window display. Basically any situation where you want constant unattended feeds with no user interaction. I am curious to hear what the actual application is. It sounds interesting.

[epicstruggle]

It's for a motel cable system. We currently have 3 adult channels ( the 2 dvd ones, and the satellite feed), but wanted to expand to 6 (8 if we keep the dvd's running after installing this new system). Going from 3 to 6/8, gives us the option of tailoring the each channel more specifically.

We have 70 rooms, so having an individual MVP in each room would be expensive. Eventually we plan on doing this to the other motels we own too, so keeping costs down is a must.

Sorry for not including a more through explanation of the application. Does that change any of the responses so far?

[Opus4]

I thought something like a motel might be where it was heading... you should probably contact SageTV for some possible implementation ideas and note that, as far as I know, the basic license only covers personal home use. (See the last item in this FAQ list.) They could answer that for certain.

- Andy

[epicstruggle]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I thought something like a motel might be where it was heading... you should probably contact SageTV for some possible implementation ideas and note that, as far as I know, the basic license only covers personal home use. (See the last item in this FAQ list.) They could answer that for certain.

- Andy

Thanks. You think it would be ok, just to point them to the thread? Not sure if this will come up in the future for someone else.

[Opus4]

You can reference the thread in your email, but since this isn't an official support forum, there may or may not be anything posted by support here. They would probably email a response.

- Andy

[Menehune]

When I requested a commercial license fees quote from Sage for my college back in ver 2 days, the commercial license fees were higher then the home use fees-about 25% higher, IIRC. Verify with Sage for accurate information.

You may be able to rip the DVDs onto the HD of the server, make a separate playlist for each MVP with the desired movies, then run the output of each MVP into a modulator for distribution thruout your facility. Each TV can then tune into each of the "closed circuit" channels for locally generated programming.

You probably want some sort of encryption/access control on each room's TV to charge the movies to each room & prevent unauthorized access to adult programming by minors. Unfortunately, rooms would not be able to access the movies on demand like modern pay-per-view movie systems in hotels without a lot of hacking.

This system would probably work best for a non-interactive kiosk type system-"activities in the neighborhood", "calendar of events", etc.

[epicstruggle]

Got the a-ok, from the sales team. Now I just need to put some hardware together and Ill get the project going.

@Menehune: The channels will be fixed, the customers will only be able to see what we play on those specific channels. No on demand, too much work for something like that. We just want to play 5 streams of movies to them, let them pick what channel they want to watch.