Newbie Help

[allen88]

I am planning to build a home pvr. These are the components I currently have:

P4 2.66
512 P2700 ram
160 gb Maxtor 7200 rpm
Mad Dog MX-440 Video Card


I am planning on buying the following:

DVD writer
wintv pvr 250 or 350
wireless ethernet card

I am deciding between a micro atx board and case, or a shuttle barebone case.

My questions are the following:

1. The PVR 250 can go up to 125 cable channels. I have over 300 on my digital cable box. How do I get all the channels to work on Sage TV?

2. I have an ordinary WinTv PCI Tv Tuner card. Can I use this as a 2nd Tuner card for Sage TV?

3. If I buy Sage TV Client, do I need a second Tuner card to watch a differnt channel on a networked computer.

4. Which is better: usb 2.0 pvr card or pci pvr card?

[fidget]

Originally posted by allen88
I am planning to build a home pvr. These are the components I currently have:

P4 2.66
512 P2700 ram
160 gb Maxtor 7200 rpm
Mad Dog MX-440 Video Card


I am planning on buying the following:

DVD writer
wintv pvr 250 or 350
wireless ethernet card

I am deciding between a micro atx board and case, or a shuttle barebone case.

My questions are the following:

1. The PVR 250 can go up to 125 cable channels. I have over 300 on my digital cable box. How do I get all the channels to work on Sage TV?

2. I have an ordinary WinTv PCI Tv Tuner card. Can I use this as a 2nd Tuner card for Sage TV?

3. If I buy Sage TV Client, do I need a second Tuner card to watch a differnt channel on a networked computer.

4. Which is better: usb 2.0 pvr card or pci pvr card?

I can answer some of these questions.

1) You can use either a serial connection (if your cable box supports one) or an IR transmitter to control the cable box. Just run the S-Video/audio out from the cable box into the PVR and let SageTV control the changing of channels. I'm not sure how it works if you must use an RF output from the box.

2) If the WinTV PCI tuner card supports hardware encoding then probably. I only have experience with Hauppauge PCR-250s and 350s.

3) You will need one tuner for each live channel you want to watch or from which you want to record. If you want to watch pre-recorded programming then you won't need another tuner.

4) All my PVR cards are PCI based, but there are known problems with mixing versions of the chipsets (-15 vs. -16). I got lucky and all my PVR-250s use the -16 version and my PVR-350, which only has the -15 version, is in a different PC. I don't know if the PVR-250s are being reliably shipped with -16 chipsets, but if you want multiple tuners and don't want to risk an incompatibility then you may want to go the USB2 route.

[salsbst]

1. The PVR 250 can go up to 125 channels via its RF tuner. With a digital cable box you would feed the 250 via either its s-video (preferred) or composite jack.

2. No.

3. With one 250, the maximum is you can either watch one channel of live TV or record one channel in the background. Sage client does not in and of itself release you from this restriction. If you want to watch two different live shows or record one and watch one live or record two simultaneously, then you need a second tuner (in your SageTV "server"). Thus, I think the answer to your question is yes.

4. The PCI version gets hidden in the case. That is its advantage. The USB version doesn't have as many installation nightmares in its history. Quality is purported to be identical. I haven't seen a USB version so this is 2nd hand information.

[Opus4]

Originally posted by allen88
1. The PVR 250 can go up to 125 cable channels. I have over 300 on my digital cable box. How do I get all the channels to work on Sage TV?

You would still have to use your cable box to receive/decode all those channels -- the output from the cable box would go into the 250's input, just like you would connect it to a TV or VCR.

2. I have an ordinary WinTv PCI Tv Tuner card. Can I use this as a 2nd Tuner card for Sage TV?

I'm sure others know the details of that card, but you have to have a hardware encoder card. The SageTV system requirements page lists several supported tuners.

3. If I buy Sage TV Client, do I need a second Tuner card to watch a differnt channel on a networked computer.

Do you want to watch a previously recorded show, or 2 separate live TV channels on both the server and client? If you want to watch 2 live TV channels, you would need 2 tuners. (Think of your cable box -- you can't watch 2 encrypted channels at the same time w/o 2 boxes.)

4. Which is better: usb 2.0 pvr card or pci pvr card?

In terms of picture quality, I don't believe you will see any difference. I have a 250 & a USB2... I can't tell which device shows were recorded on. If you have no other pci slots available, the USB2 sure has an advantage. Some people report probalems getting multiple 250s or a 250 w/350 mix working together, but I haven't heard of 1 card plus a USB2 not working. The USB2 also has an FM tuner, but note that you can't record TV and listen to the radio at the same time.

Edit: One other comment for the USB2... as alluded to above, the USB2 is _easy_ to install, since you don't have to open the case or even reboot the computer. (Unless you are also installing a PCI card to support USB 2 devices...

- Andy

Edit: I guess I type slowly, since 2 replies already got posted before me... and cover some of the same comments.

[TimO]

Ok guys, another newbie here. This post, so far, has answered some of my questions. My biggest question is follow up to the reading of digital channels out of the cable box. I understand you use the S-video out from the cable to the PVR but does that mean you're limited to watching what you're recording? What I would be interested in doing is recording a digital channel (say channel 551) and watching another digital channel (say channel 552). How is this accomplished since the cable box can only be tuned to one channel?

If this isn't possible because the cable box can only be tuned to one channel then is it realistic to be able to record a digital channel and watch an analog channel (channels 125 and below)?

Thanks a bunch!
-Tim

[Opus4]

Originally posted by TimO
What I would be interested in doing is recording a digital channel (say channel 551) and watching another digital channel (say channel 552). How is this accomplished since the cable box can only be tuned to one channel?

If this isn't possible because the cable box can only be tuned to one channel then is it realistic to be able to record a digital channel and watch an analog channel (channels 125 and below)?

Basically, you will need 1 encoder/turner for each channel you want to record simultaneously, and you will also need 1 box for each of those tuners you want to have record the digital channels. So...

With one box and one encoder on the computer, you can watch or record 1 channel & watch previously recorded shows at the same time.

With 1 box and 2 encoders, you could watch/record 1 digital channel and watch/record 1 analog channel.

With 2 boxes and 2 encoders, you could watch or record 2 digital channels.

- Andy