Use main work/email/web computer as SageTV server?

[misterj]

Hi all, I'm still in the process of researching/gathering the stuff I need to run Sage...

I'd like to use the main computer I use daily for email, web, etc. as my SageTV server. This would be ideal for me because this computer is on 24/7 anyway, and I might be able to avoid buying/building a separate machine for SageTV.

My plan is to use an Media Extender for the main room, and we could watch using that. I wouldn't watch programs here on the computer, but might use it to set recordings.

However, I'm thinking there may be times where a program crashes or "gets stuck" (whether Sage or something else unrelated) and ends up causing interruptions for whoever's watching, or breaks/blank spaces in recordings.

If anybody's doing the same sort of thing, please let me know how well it's working for you! Things to watch out for, etc? Or are most of you just using dedicated machines specifically for Sage? Thanks in advance!

[ke6guj]

I've set up 2 systems, and both of them have dedicated boxes only for Sage. Both systems are set to run Sage as a service, and run the "pseudo" client as the local UI.

You called it when there are times that your main computer can have problems and mess up Sage. With dedicated boxes, I only restart the boxes when there are windows updates or a new Sage build released. Other than that, they are 100% stable, and that is more important to me than trying to to mulit-task an existing computer.

[Alfiegerner]

If you have a live in partner I would consider your health and steer well clear of this.

Disruptions will happen as resources spike on other applications, causing blips in viewings and recordings and possibly serious injuries.

I tried to do this for a while and it nearly ended in divorce

If you're sharing your TV with someone else, definitely go for a dedicated box.

[misterj]

Jack, thanks (again) for your advice. I thought I had everything together for setting this up, but I got one of the older "type B" PVR500's with the tuner issues... just RMA'd it today. I actually do have some parts I could use in a new box, was just hoping to avoid the extra expense, electric bill, etc.

I searched and couldn't quite figure out what the "pseudo-client" is... I have played with SageTV a little bit, and figured out that it can be run as a service for MVP's etc, and at the same time run on the local machine. Is that what you're talking about?

Alfiegerner, that's hilarious. My wife is the reason I started thinking about needing a separate computer for Sage. Although I am wondering if upgrading the work computer to a Core 2 duo would make it better able to handle "multiple application" situations...

Ever ask a question that deep down, you already know the answer to, but you just don't want to hear it? Hahaha

[matt91]

I use a headless server, and agree that it's the most stable option. That being said, I ran a test system with sage as a service while doing lots of other things on the computer, and never noticed the MVP blink.

I think that if your "email, web, etc" is just running IE/firefox, you're probably safer than if the "etc" includes running other apps too. The less strain that the computer is under, the better it'll run sage. Also, installing other programs could always end up conflicting with a driver somehow.

If you are just getting started, you could try it out this way, and if you really love sage, migrate to a more stable platform. (N.B., sage ran well (for me, at least) as a headless server on a Pentium 3, ~500Mhz. You can't transcode anything, but sage --> MVP works great.)

Matt

[misterj]

Originally Posted by matt91

I use a headless server, and agree that it's the most stable option. That being said, I ran a test system with sage as a service while doing lots of other things on the computer, and never noticed the MVP blink.

I think that if your "email, web, etc" is just running IE/firefox, you're probably safer than if the "etc" includes running other apps too. The less strain that the computer is under, the better it'll run sage. Also, installing other programs could always end up conflicting with a driver somehow.

If you are just getting started, you could try it out this way, and if you really love sage, migrate to a more stable platform. (N.B., sage ran well (for me, at least) as a headless server on a Pentium 3, ~500Mhz. You can't transcode anything, but sage --> MVP works great.)

Matt

Thanks for your reply Matt

My email computer mainly runs Firefox and Outlook, with the standard antivirus type stuff and the occasional other app. Some file transfers for work. Not too intense. It's a P4 3.0 right now. I was planning to put in an e4300 and overclock some.

What's a "headless" server? Is that just a computer attached to the network, without monitor/keyboard/mouse?

I actually have a P3 700 sitting doing nothing at the moment... but you're saying with that I couldn't play back .avi's and other format stuff, correct?

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by misterj

What's a "headless" server? Is that just a computer attached to the network, without monitor/keyboard/mouse?

Yup, that is the main definition of a headless server. YOu'd RDP or VNC into it if you needed to work on it. However, some people actually have a monitor/keyboard/mouse attached and still consider it headless if they rarely ever touch hands to it. It's tucked away somewhere running in a closet or server room. As long as you aren't running the SageUI on it and outputting to a monitor or TV, you could think of it as headless.

I actually have a P3 700 sitting doing nothing at the moment... but you're saying with that I couldn't play back .avi's and other format stuff, correct?

Many people have used older stuff like a P3 to run as the Sage Server. As long as you weren't trying to transcode any video, it would probably run fine just serving MPEG video to the MVP. But you probably wouldn't have enough HP to transcode the .avi's for the MVP.

[RobJ]

I can attest to SageTV running fine on an older general-use PC. My Sage server is a Dell 866Mhz Pentium III with 512MB running Win XP Pro, fully loaded with apps and security stuff like SpySweeper, antivirus, etc. I watch everything on my 24" Dell monitor. Sage controls 3 tuners (1 local, 2 through network-encoding), and serves up over 3 terabytes scattered over 3 networked machines. Of course, I don't even try anything HD.

You have to remember that almost all of the recording work is done on your hardware-based tuners. Recording 3 streams at the same time only shows about 3 to 5% CPU usage for SageTV. It is playback that is very CPU intensive. Playback is vulnerable to background processing; and prior to the current SageTV 6.2 betas, Sage itself created periodic stutter in the playback. I strongly recommend v6.2.4 or higher on older equipment.

I don't have an MVP, but Jack's comments above sound exactly right to me.

As to general stability, I've had very very few problems, used it several years now. I monitor the Task Manager a lot (very tight memory), and reboot my server about once a week.