Dedicated tuner for LiveTV - suggestions?

[wado1971]

Last night I was unable to watch LiveTV on my client because all the tuners were being used on the server. Since I have no direct cable hookup to the client, I was forced to cancel a current recording to see the live baseball game. Easy solution - right? Not really.....in the past every time the wife has come across this situation she 1) does not understand the concept involved and 2) ends up blaming me for creating the situation. And forget about explaining it to company. "OK - I use SageTV, it's great!! but you might not be able to actually WATCH LiveTV at this moment in time on that specific TV..." What??

So I'm looking for suggestions on the best approach to insure a tuner is always available for each client. Just purchasing more tuners and making them available to SageTV is not an option. I want the guarantee each client will have a dedicated tuner ALWAYS available for LiveTV.

thanks,
w

[GKusnick]

Do you already have more tuners than clients? If not, then you're not going to be able to get what you want without buying more tuners.

If you do have more tuners than clients, then the simplest solution is probably to set each client to play video in the menu background all the time, and never shut down or suspend any client. But this obviously means those tuners won't be available for scheduled recordings, which means more recording conflicts, which probably means buying more tuners.

[wado1971]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

But this obviously means those tuners won't be available for scheduled recordings, which means more recording conflicts, which probably means buying more tuners.

Ya - it's kind of a big cycle which you eventually get out of once you have more tuners than required at any one time - which is tough to justify (also out of pci slots) I'm happy with limiting my recordings to 3 at any time and any conflicts simply won't get recorded but I'm not happy with not being able to watch live tv (through Sage) at any given time. Currently my server and cable box is in the main viewing area and I simply change video input on the tv to view live feeds (or cancel a recording when on the client) but there should be a better way which is transparent to any user. A dedicated way to have a single extra tuner which can not be reserved for scheduled recordings. I realize that initiating LiveTV is actually scheduling a recording which contradicts my above statement.

I was thinking about remapping the channels of a single tuner to numbers 2000-2??? and then simply not including these channels in my favorites. Can this be done? Or maybe I read that a new beta will allow favorites filtered by tuner? Although, this still doesn't help when a user simply schedules a non-favorite recording because the "extra" tuner would simply pick up the request if needed. Still thinking

BTW: I currently have 3 tuners and will buy a fourth if I could dedicate it to livetv... Who am i kidding, I'll buy the fourth anyway

[wado1971]

Ok - I realize having a tuner that's only used for a client LiveTV is not so interesting but ..... well I want it and I think it must be possible so I'll bump this thread with another thought. If anyone could give any insight it would be appreciated. thanks.

The previous two ideas (constantly running the tuner on client & channel mapping) might work sometimes but still relies too much on user input or knowledge. Looking for something a bit more transparent to the user.

So.. How about using encoder_merit? Since the properties file (on server) issues tuner priority, is it possible to set the encoder_merit value to 'null' (or some variable) and then initiate the LiveTV request from the client to first change that tuner merit to the highest value?

After considering the "encoder_merit" I took a look into studio and was surprised to see an "EncoderPriority" section. It's listed under the Detailed Setup menu -> CustomizeItems. Looks interesting and maybe even useful but my studio knowledge isn't so hot. Anyone know what this does?

[Slipshod]

Actually, you're not alone. I'd love to be able to have better control over which tuner is used for LiveTV. Right now it doesn't matter (two R5000HD's), but I'll probably add the HD-PVR eventually since I have a third Dish receiver which is leased. (Amusingly enough it's cheaper for me to keep it than to return it to dish. They'll charge me an extra $5 a month or so if I return it because I'll lose the DVR advantage package).

The problem I *think* I will have is this....:
I don't want Sage to record off of the HD-PVR unless there is a 3-way conflict, and I don't want Sage to constantly bounce a live-TV user around constantly. I'm pretty sure I can force it to use the R5000s via quality settings on the tuners and favorites, but I don't know if I'd be able to use the HD-PVR for 3-way conflicts. And if live TV doesn't prefer the HD-PVR I'll end up with live getting bumped whenever there is a 2-way conflict.

Ideally, what I'd like to see is a "LiveTV_merit" in addition to the "encoder_merit", or a live-tv quality preference. That way I could pick which ones had priority for which type, as well as mark the quality settings. I could have the highest live-TV preference on the HD-PVR, and vice-versa on the encoder merit.

[bialio]

This isn't the first time this has come up on the forums here. Usually it's listed in a "feature requests" type thread - usually by me

I think the answer to your problem is really more tuners. You will reach a point where you no longer have conflicts, and then you are home free. Minus the cost of the tuners

I have never had a conflict in Sage - and I have a fairly extensive list of favorites that are being recorded. But I have 6 tuners. YMMV.

-

What I think would be best, and I've suggested this before, regarding the topic at hand, would be a way to exclude a tuner from scheduled recordings. The tuner would be available for manual recordings (which is what LiveTV falls under).

btl.

[bialio]

Originally Posted by Slipshod

The problem I *think* I will have is this....:
I don't want Sage to record off of the HD-PVR unless there is a 3-way conflict, and I don't want Sage to constantly bounce a live-TV user around constantly. I'm pretty sure I can force it to use the R5000s via quality settings on the tuners and favorites, but I don't know if I'd be able to use the HD-PVR for 3-way conflicts. And if live TV doesn't prefer the HD-PVR I'll end up with live getting bumped whenever there is a 2-way conflict.

I don't think you're going to have trouble. You just need to set the encoder merit's for the R5000 boxes both at 10, and the HD-PVR at 5. The numbers don't matter, as long as the R5000 are higher. Then the HD-PVR will only get used if the other two are busy. Encoder merit is set in the Sage.properties file.

btl.