Need advice on planning a SageTV rollout

[gossman]

Hi,

I am looking at upgrading my current HTPC offering at home. I currently have the following in place:

HTPC: Dell 3.2 GHZ Pent 4 hyperthreaded with 2 GB RAM, 160 & 80 GB HDDs, ATI 7280 Video connected directly to Sony HDTV via PC input, Hauppauge 1600 HDTV ATSC capture card (DirecTV controlled via serial cable and ATSC HDTV inputs), SB 7.1 Live. Currently running WinXP Home, Snapstream BeyondTV 4.6, BeyondMedia 1.2 (and some various kid games), iTunes 'client'.

Office PC: Home built 2.2 GHZ AMD X2 with 2 GB RAM, 800 GB RAID 1 (1.6 TB total), nVidia 6800, dual monitors..., primarily my office machine and server. Win XP Pro, 7.1 Realtek onboard audio. Stores all my music (80 GB) and I am in the process of backing up my DVD's to have an online video server (my daughter has toasted 2 Winnie the Pooh DVD's)

Rec Room: Home built 1.3 GHZ Athlon with 1 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD, nVidea MX400 video card, Hauppauge PVR-150 (with standard Antennae input), SB5.1 sound, Linux... running Freevo... just bringing it online.

Spare machine: Compaq 600 MZ Celeron... 256 MB RAM, 40 GB HDD. nVidia MX 400 graphics card.

Master Bedroom: Hauppauge MediaMVP running BeyondTV skin, Standard TV, DirecTV Tivo (dual tuner).

These are the things I am really happy about:
HTPC works great. Wife acceptance factor is a 10.0. She never turns the TV over to satellite input. Always uses the PC and BeyondTV.
I can access the TV content from the office PC (although via direct file access)
I can listen to all music and watch my Slideshow (as a screen saver) in the living room... wonderful!!!!
I am enjoying my HDTV with actual HDTV content!!!
I can watch my movies/saved TV shows off the Video server
BeyondTV compresses shows to DivX everynight. I then move the ones I want to save to my video server (mainly kid shows)

So, here are the problems I face right now:
Any recordings in the Master Bedroom can't be viewed accept in the master bedroom (not that big of a deal).
Media MVP Beyond TV skin works... somewhat. Crashes now and again -- this is painful, especially when I try to watch something recorded from the HTPC or the video server via the HTPC.
I have been happy with BeyondTV, however, I am not happy with BeyondMedia. It hangs the PC. (I have been waiting for a newer version for quite some time now).
I want to get to my Rec Room PC working as another 'TV' so I can enjoy the same functionality as in the Living room (where the HTPC resides). I tried Freevo because it attempts to be a Media Server with TV recording. However, I have been running into setup/configuration issues. I can play recorded TV shows off the HTPC and watch the slideshows, but the music playlists is a bit cumbersome due to iTunes (see next item). I also have not been able to get the TV interface to work.
I use iTunes in a client/server mode because I only want to maintain playlists once. This is a problem because iTunes doesn't have a 10ft UI.

Here is the 'ultimate' setup:
Watch any recorded show (either from the rec room or living room) from either the Rec Room, the Living room, or the master bedroom (via mediaMVP).
Watch any item from the video library from either the Rec Room, Living Room, or Master Bedroom
Listen to music library and see the slide shows from either the Rec Room, Living Room, or Master Bedroom.
Spend as little money as possible (i.e. not invest in Windows XP or Vista just to run another Media client or server).

I have noticed that SageTV has the music/photo management built it (as opposed the BeyondTV and BeyondMedia where they are separate or are promising to integrate, i.e. vaporware). In addition, it also has linux and mediaMVP support (where the BeyondTV mediaMVP support is somewhat of a hack).

In addition, I also have a VPN from my work laptop where I can listen to my iTunes playlists on my server.... It would also be nice to have this same functionality where I could tap into Sage* from the road when I travel for work or am vacation with the family. (I currently can do this with BeyondTV just for the recordings, and then I use iTunes as a seperate function).

So, here is where I would like to open it up for discussion... what would be a 'good' all Sage* setup? Number of SageRecorders, SageClients, etc....


Thanks for all the feedback in advance.

John

[Lucas]

You need to install SageTV Server on your HTPC.
You should also, if you can, move your rec room pvr150 to the HTPC.
You should also move any large disks to your HTPC for storage there.

Then depending on what(HDTV?, SDTV, DVDs, DivX?) and in what quality, you need either 2 SageTV clients on the rec room and office PCs or 2 extender for placeshifter licences.

+ 1 extender licence for the mediamvp.

This way you have the same interface on all clients.

[GKusnick]

I would not recommend running SageTVClient over a VPN. It will work, more or less, but you won't be happy with the performance, since Client is designed for LAN bandwidth. For remote connections at Internet bandwidths, use Placeshifter.

Also, SageTV Recorder is pretty much obsolete. The best option is to move all your capture devices into a single SageTV server, but if you can't do that, use two instances of SageTV Media Center (the full-priced "server" software) and configure one of them to run as a network encoder as outlined in the SageTV manual.

[gossman]

OK. So the SageTV Media Center Version 6.1 goes on the HTPC (and I move the PVR 150 to it (and split my antennae to go into both)). This includes the server and a client all in one package. If I get the Media Center with MVP Client License Comba, that I also get the MediaMVP client for the bedroom - $99.95.

Now, I get a little confused on the difference between the placeshifter vs the regular client... I read about the both of them, and they seem the same. Same price too. One thing I did notice is that the placeshifter explicitly states that it will work on Linux, while the client does not. Remember, my RecRoom PC is actually running Linux (as I don't want to buy a Win Vista or XP license).

Once I figure out which one is more appropriate, I will probably get 3 - one for the RecRoom, one for the Office, and one for my laptop (IBM Thinkpad X31 - forgot about this, running XP Pro, 1.8 GHZ Pentium M, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB HDD)... Wait, I might scrap the RecRoom linux box, and just use the Laptop as a client and/or placeshifter (not sure the right one). That way, I could always take it to the kitchen, back porch, etc... hmmm I might be onto something here.

The last major question is whether or not all of this can be done in 'trial' mode and once I prove to the wife that it works better then the current setup, then purchase the setup? I see that I could do that with the Media Center, but not sure about the placeshifter, client, and/or the MVP. Any clue?

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by gossman

Now, I get a little confused on the difference between the placeshifter vs the regular client... I read about the both of them, and they seem the same. Same price too. One thing I did notice is that the placeshifter explicitly states that it will work on Linux, while the client does not. Remember, my RecRoom PC is actually running Linux (as I don't want to buy a Win Vista or XP license).

From the FAQ,

Q: What is the difference between SageTV Client and Placeshifter?

A: Some of the differences are as follows:

SageTV Client:
Can only be used on a local network.
Can play DVDs, using DVD-capable video decoder.
Can customize which decoders and renderers are used.
License is registered on the PC where the Client is installed. Each license can be used on a single system.
Runs on the PC where it is installed and being used. A plugin would run as part of the client's process on the client PC.

SageTV Placeshifter:
Can be used on a local network or a remote location, connecting to the SageTV server via the internet.
Can transcode media for playback at a remote location.
Can not play DVDs.
Uses its built-in settings for decoder and renderer.
License is registered on the server. Placeshifter connections can be initiated from multiple locations. The number of Placeshifter/Extender licenses registered on the server determines the number of simultaneous Placeshifter and Media Extender connections allowed.
The UI runs on the remote PC, but the actual SageTV process is part of the server application on the server PC. A plugin would run as part of the server's process on the server PC.

There is no Linux SageTV client, only the Linux Placeshifter client.

Once I figure out which one is more appropriate, I will probably get 3 - one for the RecRoom, one for the Office, and one for my laptop (IBM Thinkpad X31 - forgot about this, running XP Pro, 1.8 GHZ Pentium M, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB HDD)... Wait, I might scrap the RecRoom linux box, and just use the Laptop as a client and/or placeshifter (not sure the right one). That way, I could always take it to the kitchen, back porch, etc... hmmm I might be onto something here.

Each SageTV Client uses a separate license, but the MVP and placeshifter clients use a 'floating' licesnse and are only counted when in actual use. Depending on concurrent usage, you may be able to use 1 or 2 MVP extender/placeshifter license over your entire setup. Just turn off the MVP or placeshifter when not using it. The MVP and Placeshifter use the same license, so if you bought the $99.99 combo you mentioned, that MVP license would also be usable as a placeshifter license when not activily being used for the MVP.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by gossman

Now, I get a little confused on the difference between the placeshifter vs the regular client... I read about the both of them, and they seem the same. Same price too. One thing I did notice is that the placeshifter explicitly states that it will work on Linux, while the client does not. Remember, my RecRoom PC is actually running Linux (as I don't want to buy a Win Vista or XP license).

There is a FAQ entry for the difference between SageTV Client and Placeshifter. Also, Placeshifter is the client that you would use on a Linux system; there is no separate Linux client.

The last major question is whether or not all of this can be done in 'trial' mode and once I prove to the wife that it works better then the current setup, then purchase the setup? I see that I could do that with the Media Center, but not sure about the placeshifter, client, and/or the MVP. Any clue?

Everything has a 15 day trial, except a full Linux install of SageTV, but since I don't think you plan to use Linux on your server, that shouldn't be an issue. Also, the Placeshifter/Media Extender trial starts as soon as either one of those types of clients connects to your server, since their licenses are registered on the server.

- Andy

[gossman]

I see the download for the place shifter sw (for the PC)... where do I get the MVP media extender SW?

John

[chrisc16]

Originally Posted by gossman

I see the download for the place shifter sw (for the PC)... where do I get the MVP media extender SW?

John

The MVP extender SW is built into the server software; once you install SageTV on your HTPC, you just have to enable the extender in the Detailed Setup, no other install is necessary.

-Chris

[stevech]

for media extender, you need to purchase the unit from Sage or Newegg or x. Then purchase a software license from Sage ($25 as I recall). Or the pair as a bundle from Sage.

[gossman]

OK... so I shutdown my BeyondTV service and closed the program... went thru the install of the SageTV media center.

Also installed the linux placeshifter on my linux box and windows placeshifter on 2 of my other machines.

Like it so far... better then BeyondTV and BeyondMedia combo.

So, I have my mediaMVP that is in the bedroom... booted it up, and it still boots up the BeyondTV skin that I have installed on the HTPC (were SageTV is now installed)....

How do I activate/get working the media extender? I enabled everything in SageTV... I am sure it has todo with the fact that it is not a clean install (because I have the Hauppauge MediaMVP service running).... I forgot to uninstall all of the MVP stuff (well, not really, I don't want to uninstall in case I have issues with SageTV).

[Opus4]

See the MVP section of Appendix M in the SageTV PDF manual in your SageTV install directory -- you have to make sure no other MVP software is running.

- Andy

[gossman]

OK.. I feel like a newbie....

I have shut down the 2 MediaMVP Services and rebooted the MVP... just loops saying trying to connect to bootserver.

[PGPfan]

Make sure by 'reboot' you mean unplugged for a few minutes and then re-plugged it in. That is the only way to truly 'reboot' an MVP.

-PGPfan

[gossman]

Yep.. I know. I have had the MVP for almost 2 years now.

John

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by gossman

I have shut down the 2 MediaMVP Services and rebooted the MVP... just loops saying trying to connect to bootserver.

All I can do is refer you back to Appendix M -- double check that you've enabled the media extender server in SageTV on your server & follow the link on p. 258 to see the firewall info (or see the forum's FAQs thread for firewall ports).

- Andy