Noob help please

[MillerTime]

What I would really like to do is get all 3 of my TV's connected to Sage.

I currently have my Main TV connected via dvi to hdmi. For the other 2 TV's all I would need to do is buy 2 extenders and hook them up to the same network as my htpc w/sagetv?

I only have 1 tuner right now in my pc. But if I had multiple tuners... say 3 separate tuners all TV's could be watching a different show?

I want to do this up right so please someone help I have looked for previous topics on this but my eyes are getting tired. Any suggestions on how to do this the right way would be great.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by MillerTime

I only have 1 tuner right now in my pc. But if I had multiple tuners... say 3 separate tuners all TV's could be watching a different show?

The short answer is yes for wathcing livetv.

You will find however that with SageTV, your way of watching TV will change. You will most probably configure sagetv to record all the tv shows you want to watch and once they are recorded you will watch them later. This means you can get away with having just 2 tuners.

[MillerTime]

If I were to get a Hauppauge MediaMVP 1000, I could use SageTV on any TV the MVP is connected to? Would I be able to do everything just like the TV connected directly to my HTPC? Also, What about HD? The MVP 1000 does not have hdmi or component.... Im really not concerend if it is not HD quality as long as I can view OTA HD live and recorded shows.

Thanks in advance

[BFisher]

Using the MVP is like having a PC connected - but has some limitations. For example, it's not running windows so you can't browse the web, etc.

The MVP is only SD. If you want HD, you need a HD Extender (see Sage webpage to purchase). They are sold out now but more expected soon. I use both (4 MVPs, 1 HD) and they work very well for distributing video throughout the house.

[carlgar]

The MVP can do HD if you have enough CPU power. I believe you can also convert a HD show before watching a HD show so the MVP can handle. I have not done this because my system has the power to do it on the fly.
The feature that I miss in the MVP is the ability to change and modify the aspect ratio. If you record a digital show with black bars on the borders that is the way you will see them on the MVP. With the HD extender you can use the aspect ratio to eliminate them. If you do watch a HD show using the MVP you will have black bars at the top and bottom because the show is reduced to the width of a SD TV. I consider the HD extender to be the better value but it probably depends upon how long you will have SD TVs.

[sam99]

Just to word it a little differently, you do not need one tuner per show you are watching on each tv. You need one tuner per LIVE show. So if you record a show from Monday night, one from Tuesday night and one is on tonight(say Wednesday), then a single tuner could record each show one at a time. Then on Wednesday, two mvps would connect to the server and watch the prerecorded shows (no tuner required for this) and one mvp would use the tuner to watch the current live show, accomplishing all of that with only a single tuner. YOu also do not need a tuner to watch dvd/videos recorded on your harddrive, nor to listen to music. So:
# of tvs watching something or listening to music from the server = # of SD mvp or HD extenders you need
# of tv shows you want to watch/record that are airing at the same time on different channels = # of tuners you need...Adding one extra tuner does not hurt, but will typically not be required and is best determined by whether it is worth it in expense in your case.

My set up, which more than handles the recordings for my wife, myself and my young son is in my sig. I have two hauppage HVR-1600s, true dual tuners that each can accept one SD signal and one HD signal at the same time. So with two tuners, I can watch/record 4 channels at one time (two channel 1-99 SD and two OTA HD local channels from the $60 antenna in the attic). We rarely ever watch shows live anymore, but there are still those premiers or special episodes or football championship games, etc, where we do. So I watch/record 4 channels at once while only paying my local cable company $40 a month to do it.

And as someone else mentioned, the MVP can view HD recorded shows depending on the server power. Mine does it easily enough without stutter when we watch NCIS on the bedroom mvp.