Noob question...switching from Snapstream

[jrapps]

Noobie questions...I tried to search the group for answers to these, but I figured it would be better to just ask it all in one shot. I currently use Snapstream but it isn't living up to my expectations. Here is what I want to do:

I want to have a server machine in my home office with 3-5 tuners in it, 1-2 on analog cable, 1-2 on Comcast Digital Cable boxes, and one on an Antenna (perhaps eventually on an Over-the-Air HDTV tuner...does Sage support HDTV yet?)

I then have 3 other rooms (2 Bedrooms and a Living room) that I want to put Client machines to watch live and recorded shows on television sets using the tuners in the office. The main questions are:

1) Can I control what shows are recorded from each of the 3 rooms and if I set a record job on one client, will I see that show scheduled on another client?

2) Can the server stream live TV from any source to any client TV silmultaneously? For example, if I am in the living room and my wife is in the bedroom, can the server stream 2 live TV feeds from different tuners to 2 different client machines silmultaneously?

3) If the server begins recording a 1-hour show at 8pm, can I sit down in the living room and start watching it at 8:15 and my wife can start watching it in the bedroom at 8:30, so we are both watching the same delayed recording, but starting at different times?

4) How does the EPG show multiple tuners at the same time?

5) Can I set specific shows to use specific tuners?

6) How do I record the same show from 2 different tuners silmultaneously? The reason for this is that my cable goes out quite often, so I want to set a show to record off antenna and cable at the same time. The cable quality is better so I don't want to go antenna only, but I want to make sure I get the show.

I'm sure I have more but I guess this post is too long already. Also, if anyone thinks there is a better way to implement this other than having all the tuners in one central place, let me know. Thanks in advance to all who reply. I really appreciate it!

Jason

[stanger89]

Originally posted by jrapps
Noobie questions...I tried to search the group for answers to these, but I figured it would be better to just ask it all in one shot. I currently use Snapstream but it isn't living up to my expectations. Here is what I want to do:

I want to have a server machine in my home office with 3-5 tuners in it, 1-2 on analog cable, 1-2 on Comcast Digital Cable boxes, and one on an Antenna (perhaps eventually on an Over-the-Air HDTV tuner...does Sage support HDTV yet?)

I then have 3 other rooms (2 Bedrooms and a Living room) that I want to put Client machines to watch live and recorded shows on television sets using the tuners in the office. The main questions are:

1) Can I control what shows are recorded from each of the 3 rooms and if I set a record job on one client, will I see that show scheduled on another client?

SageClient is a true client that behave almost exactly like the main SageTV server. Everything but the Channel Setup, Setup Wizard and Parental Controls are available on the Clients.

2) Can the server stream live TV from any source to any client TV silmultaneously? For example, if I am in the living room and my wife is in the bedroom, can the server stream 2 live TV feeds from different tuners to 2 different client machines silmultaneously?

Yup, the clients behave just like you're actually using the server, same quality and everything. The one concern might be bandwidth. 100Mb ethernet would be best, 802.11a/g would probably work depending on the number of simutaneous streams, 802.11b basically doesn't have the bandwidth to handle even one stream.

3) If the server begins recording a 1-hour show at 8pm, can I sit down in the living room and start watching it at 8:15 and my wife can start watching it in the bedroom at 8:30, so we are both watching the same delayed recording, but starting at different times?

Should be able to, the Client is its own app, it's not just a remote control.

4) How does the EPG show multiple tuners at the same time?

Tuners are transparent to the user for the most part, there's only one guide with all channels available on all tuners. However in the Sage Guide there's a "Channel" for each tuner with what is scheduled for recording on each tuner. It's like this picture but they show up as Sage 1, Sage 2, etc.

5) Can I set specific shows to use specific tuners?

No but you can set specific channels to specific tuners.

6) How do I record the same show from 2 different tuners silmultaneously? The reason for this is that my cable goes out quite often, so I want to set a show to record off antenna and cable at the same time. The cable quality is better so I don't want to go antenna only, but I want to make sure I get the show.

Not sure, but I doubt it.

[/B][/QUOTE]I'm sure I have more but I guess this post is too long already. Also, if anyone thinks there is a better way to implement this other than having all the tuners in one central place, let me know. Thanks in advance to all who reply. I really appreciate it!

Jason [/B][/QUOTE]

You could place some of the tuners in the clients and run them as network encoders:
http://www.sage.tv/NetworkEncoderSetup.txt
I don't know that that would be any "Better" but it is another option.