Using Mac - Parallels and Sagetv!

[mohanman]

Hey guys,
I figured out a new way to use my sagetv and it works pretty good. Parallels is not too bad of a shabby program. I have a Mac pro which I wanted to use as my server since this thing is pretty damn fast and can handle a lot of processing power.

Not only that, but it can handle windows and os/x at the sametime. My setup in my den includes the Mac Pro attached to one 24" dell monitor and one 19" NEC monitor.

On the Dell monitor is Os/X and on the 19" is windows XP. You can simply take the mouse and go back and fourth. Pretty cool eh? Not only is parallels pretty stable and fast now, but I have been able to use HDHOMERUn with an xp version of Sagetv server on my mac.

The only thing is PCI cards will not be supported in the XP environment. However, I am sure I could get USB-UIRT and a USB tv tuner to work. This may be new sage server. I can't wait for the HD extenders!

Mo!

[mohanman]

Okay.. I did a little bit more experimenting. The picture is actually kind of choppy. I guess it would be good solution for a server only, and not watch on.

Mo

[mayamaniac]

Technically, you can run the SageTV Client or Placeshifter under OSX and connect to the server in Parallels, and the picture quality should be smooth and normal. But then again, there's a SageTV for OSX, although you need a new license for it. Windows, OSX, and Linux licenses are not transferable to each other. The extender licenses might be transferable, but I not 100% sure.

[mohanman]

The main reason I did this is because the current version of sage media center for os/x does not support hdhomerun or usb-uirt

Mo

[flavius]

Just installed the placeshifter in parallels. Never thought of that, but it doesn't run much slower than the 'native' Mac version.

[mohanman]

Yeah I had to scratch the whole parallels thing. I hope Sage updates the mac software soon, but waiting for some new stuff, like hdhomerun and IR blaster support!

Mo

[Conejo]

I'm surprised that the Os/X version of SageTV doesn't support the HDHR as a network encoder.

[Diginerd]

the problem you hit is that Parallel's 3D acceleration support is ikky. Try loading your Parallels VM into the free VMWare Player. That should help a lot with playback.

With place shifter you should be OK, as the great part of the work is done by ther server side of things.

The neatest thing I found to do with any Wndows VM is to use it for commercial skipping, and iPodifier with a shared iTunes library, very slick..

The Mac Pros have full support for Intel's virtualization technology. Net result, the VMs run as fast as it would run natively on your machine. What a change from the old Soft PC days on a powerPC 7100/66!

[Diginerd]

Me too, but you never know.. There was a thread on here about them working on it, but it being held up by the Silicon dust guys..

At least we have native Firewire recording with multiple STBs!

[mohanman]

Alright guys, I had enough. Can someone please walk me thru getting my comcast box to work via firewire with my mac pro? Thats all I want. I actually have two boxes, and if you can help me, it would be greatly, greatly appreciated. I tried following the directions listed on the other forum, but I just couldn't get it to work with sage.
Thanks
Mo

[mohanman]

Nevermind, I tried other mac programs including irecord. I can only record from few channels with firewire. I seem to get more stuff with hdhomerun!
Mo!

[Conejo]

Originally Posted by mohanman

Nevermind, I tried other mac programs including irecord. I can only record from few channels with firewire. I seem to get more stuff with hdhomerun!
Mo!

I'd assume you'd be able to tune all the SD channels sent simulcast in Digital format (as QAM SD, should be better clarity that their Analog brethren) if not the HD channels on an HD-STB. Unless, of course, they're setting a flag preventing output on the 1394 port.

[mohanman]

I made a mistake. I tried firewire again using irecord. I get everything! Now, I am stuck trying to get it to work with sage, and can use some help..

[Diginerd]

I'll work on updating the instructions to make them clearer..

[iconic]

Originally Posted by Conejo

I'm surprised that the Os/X version of SageTV doesn't support the HDHR as a network encoder.

It does now Try the 6.3.1 beta...

[flavius]

I just ditched Parallels 3.0 for VMWare Fusion 1.1. Running 10.5.1, I simply had to, since Parallels wouldn't even shut down cleanly anymore, let alone function properly.

VMWare is lot faster than Parallels ever was, and they have a version that work under 10.5

[mohanman]

is vmware really that better? Should I make the switch too? More stable is it?
Feelin' real comfortable are you?
(that's my clockwork orange talk)

[flavius]

No question that Parallels has fallen behind.

[mohanman]

Cool.. will give a try. thanks

[mohanman]

Wow, you were right. Fusion is much better. It's faster, it doesn't crash or give me error messages. It installed easily, and I like the way the interface looks. Bravo!