Does sage work very well on a primary pc?

[jedispork]

Will sage tv work ok on the primary pc in the house?

I have a core 2 duo with 2 gigs of ram. Most of the other applications I use on my computer I set to idle mode so they are not resource hogs.

It seems most people have a dedicated pc for sage but I just don't want the hassle of maintaining 2 computers.

I was going to be using it with the hd extender and a hdhr.

Since it will mostly be for recording local stations I am really undecided if i should just buy a tivo box. 10 dollars a month might be worth it so i don't have to worry about my computer getting hogged with programs or if I have to shut it down.

thanks for the help

[bcjenkins]

Separate machines are a choice. If it is just one TV, and you are going to be watching via an extender, it should be just fine. The reason people will run a dedicated machine is because they are doing a bit of recording or feeding multiple TVs etc.

Personally, I have 6 TVs running with 7 tuners and an occasional place shifter.

B

[autoboy]

If you are using an HD extender and not a SD extender, then you won't need to do any transcoding of shows which takes CPU time.

If you are the only one using the system and your wife, your kids, or whatever are not playing games on it while you might want to transcode a show, then you are fine with it on your main machine. Most of us have it on separate machines because we have been doing it for so long. Also, lots of us tend to use extra components left over from other builds, or we like to play with multiple computers. It does work better on a standalone box cause there is less to go wrong and interrupt the new recording of Lost, but it will work.

With a HD extender, just about any old computer can run as a server. I would recommend 1ghz as the minimum though.

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by jedispork

It seems most people have a dedicated pc for sage but I just don't want the hassle of maintaining 2 computers.

The hassle is only in the initial setup, once you have it running smoothly, it is actually less hassle because it runs better when no one is touching the server.

Most people started out running it on their main PC. But as they want to expand their setup, such as adding more hard drives or tuners, they need to build separate dedicated PC server to hold all the components.

I disagree with using old parts, while it brings the cost down, it might also bring the experience factor down. Old hardware are more prone to problems then new parts.

I recommend you run it on your main PC for now. Ad when you find it limiting as time goes by, then build a server PC. But if you just want basic DVR to record your shows for watching on one TV, and don't care much for the extras features of SageTV, then a Tivo is the way to go.

[jedispork]

I should stop kidding myself because I do really want all the extra features and have no tivo monthly fee. I really don't know how I ever considered tivo in the first place. Adding up the initial cost of the unit and a year sub its about the same to get started with sage tv.

Being able to record local stations or basic cable helps the waf in my idea of getting rid of a expensive tv package. We were paying 50-60 dollars a month and my girlfriend would mostly just record stuff from local tv stations.

If I need to shut off the dvr software on occasion I guess its no big deal as long as lost or heroes isn't on.

I think I've found a new hobby.

[autoboy]

You are right that old parts can create more problems than new ones, but when you figure in the problems that can arise from having your main machine be your sage server (reboots upon upgrades, reboots for installing software, and the occasional crash) I feel like the tradeoff is fine, especially if you are using an older machine that you know is stable.

I've successfully used as my server a PII 350mhz, a Athlon XP @1ghz, a Athlon64 3500+, and now an Athlon X2 4800+ (only because I got a good deal on it and I was looking to do a build. The 3500+ worked great as did the Athlon XP). The 350mhz box was fast enough for SD video serving but wasn't up to dealing with the increased load from the HDHR management program. With the new HD extender you won't need to do transcoding to a SD extender which is why I ended up replacing the Athlon XP with the 3500+. Only the latest server cost me money beyond a few harddrives.

[mikejaner]

Sounds like you have a GAF, not a WAF to worry about, unless your life is alot more interesting than any of ours!!
I ran SageTV on on a 1.8Ghz P4 with 768Megs of ram and two HDHR's recording Local stations over the air and internal tuners controlling cable boxes, for a few years, with no issues whatsoever. This is with client PC's in the loop, which have now been replaced by HD extenders. I wholeheartedly recommend going with the setup you are looking at.

Since you will be using the Extender, and HDHR, the only thing your pc will need processor for is to write the streams coming over the network to the hard drive, then sending them back out. My old 1.8Ghz box did that at about 4-6% CPU, which translates to basically idle.
Like mayamaniac said, the initial setup is the hardest part. It's not very hard if you don't mind answering about 20 questions, then after it downloads the guide, your CPU won't see much of a hit at all.

[jedispork]

I finally pieced everything together and it was a lot more work than I expected.
I was having some stuttering problems. I was worried a external usb drive might not work for it.

I cleared the drive and reformatted to 64kb clusters. Also noticed my pc/internet connection was acting weird so I did more research and realized that it doesn't take much to overload a router. I put a extra network card on my computer and connected the hdhr directly to that. Then the router was stable and all seemed well until I get to a certain station.

The picture on occasion would pause and get pixelated. After more research I found that I was getting poor symbol quality from this station which would cause it to loose frames. I do not see this problem while using the built in tuner of my tv.

I took a day off work and have been up all night messing with it. I'm maxed out with the amount of frustration I want to have on this project. I don't really want to install a big antenna and basic cable here has less digital channels than the ota I can receive. Its just really frustrating because this station transmits right in town.

So I'm not sure yet if I want to just send back the hdhr. I plan to keep the extender for streaming videos/music from my computer. I might just end up buying a tr-50(no monthly fee ota dvr) when they are released and see if it has a better tuner.

[dgeezer]

I feel your frustration with the OTA signal. I have fought with this for quite some time. At least you see this as your problem. I used to think it was codec problems, software etc. I know you don't want to add a big antenna but you may want to consider something in between. I have this antenna mounted in my attic and recieve all my local broadcast stations clearly except for PBS which is operating at low power.

I have also read that all our local stations will increase their transmitter power once the switchover to digital is complete. We can only hope that this is the case.

[jedispork]

75% of my frustration was because of the hdhr. I picked up a different tuner card and everything works fine now.

The hdhr seems to drop the signal randomly. At first it seemed like it was a problem with the signal but I'm quite sure its because of the hdhr. I tried contacting support and they tell me the debug logs are not showing up properly. They said I should use the latest software and vlc which I already am. It took me 3 days just to get this far with them since they take so long to respond.

I don't think their support is bad but this device is just not working for me and I'm not getting the help I need so its going to be sent back.

I haven't had any problems with the hauppauge 1600 so far. I do agree the analog tuner in it is worthless but I only care about digital. Would using 2 of these cards be a good setup?

I was hoping the hdhr would of worked for me but I'm to frustrated with it to try another one.

[kevine]

Originally Posted by jedispork

Would using 2 of these cards be a good setup?

I am only using 1 but plenty of people have said they are using more than 1.

[autoboy]

Did you end up building it in your spare PC or your primary box?

[jedispork]

I'm using my primary pc. It does seem to slow things down just a little bit but its not that bad. I would like to build a separate server but I just don't have the right parts to build one right now. I feel guilty about all the money I have been spending lately.

Tuners+extender+gigabit router have already cost me 500 dollars more than I thought I would be spending. I'm using the recording drive on a 250 gig USB external. If that ever goes out I don't ever see myself buying a usb drive again.

Should all drives be 64kb clusters or just the recording one?

I'm still undecided if I want to use sage as a dvr or just a media server. If its just a media server then I could do just fine without a separate box. Using it as a dvr I can really see a different box being necessary now.

I'm still very interested in a tr-50. I also wonder what the difference in electricity would be compared to running a extra pc to a stand alone dvr box.

[kevine]

Originally Posted by jedispork

Should all drives be 64kb clusters or just the recording one?

Just the recording drive

[stanger89]

Might as well do the media drives as well. Really the only place you don't want 64k clusters is on drives that will have lots of files that are <64kb, like the OS drive.

[Sage_Convert]

I have used my primary PC as a DVR for nearly 2 years. Only problems were a recent intermittant lockup and reboot which I tracked down to a failed power supply fan. Fan replaced and problems solved. If you plan on using the PC while recording be sure to get a capture card with hardware encoding. This frees up the processor for surfing, word processing etc.

My setup is an ASUS K8N with an AMD 2400 / 512Mb / XP Pro SP2 / Sage 6 / Visiontek ATI 550Pro, on an 80Gb primary and two 300Gb drives for storage. Recording DirecTV 522 using USB-UIRT for tuning channels. Problems setting tuning cured by a post found here - excellent source of info.

The ATI Theatre 550 and newer chipsets provide excellent results with very little CPU used. Never had a problem with video drops or audio lags.

[jedispork]

I'm done messing with the hdhomerun. It doesn't receive stations properly 10 miles away. I've had 0 issues receiving my local stations with the built in tv tuner or any other tuner I have ever tried in my location.

Ive been talking with tech support and let them know I was not happy. They made no offer to at least swap the unit. I bought it from AntOnline and they will not take it back for a return either.

I would feel guilty for putting this piece of junk on ebay so I think I'm just going to toss it in the trash. I caution anyone thinking of buying a hdhr make sure you purchase it from a place with a good return policy.

Are there any steps I could take for getting a refund? Maybe if I send another nice letter to antonline telling them how I feel might help.

I'm still undecided if I want to keep my extender. It seems to be working well but I can use my ps3 for most files anyway. The whole thing has been a nightmare and I just want to forget about it.

[mayamaniac]

I bought from one of the eRetailers on the silicondust site, CyberEStore.com. Bought from them twice and no issues. It's $30 cheaper at AntOnline.com so I guess I see why you want to buy from them. Couldn't hurt to RMA it since it seems defective.

[jedispork]

AntOnline doesn't care if its defective. They direct all responsibility to silicondust.

I'm not sure if my specific unit is defective. I think they are just really weak ota tuners.

[stanger89]

Somewhat OT, but what are the two tuners you have that are working well?