Is my Sage server up to snuff for HD?

[wvpolekat]

Since I now have HD available to me, I am debating adding it to my Sage setup.

My current setup is a dual core P4, 3GHZ with 2 GB of RAM.

1- 120 GB SATA drive for OS and music/pictures
1- 320 GB SATA drive for Sage recording.
2- 500 GB IDE drives for Sage recording.

The server operates headless in a closet with 2 MVPs.

I plan on adding a 1TB SATA drive for HD recording, a HD-PVR and an HD Extender. Possibly a 2nd HD Extender in the future.

Am I setting myself up to be disappointed or should it do OK?

[wayner]

That seems like more than enough - streaming files, even HD files, to extenders takes very little CPU. Where you may need CPU is in transcoding HD-PVR files, which doesn't seem to totally work yet, or compressing or transcoding these files. I have 4 extenders plus a PC client and I don't stress my server but I never use them all at once.

[matt91]

Should be fine for steaming to one of the HD extenders. However, you will likely be disappointed in going from HD-PVR to an MVP. That requires lots of horsepower.

[S_M_E]

PATA drives don't perform well either. I'd use all SATAII drives, especially for HD.

[wvpolekat]

Originally Posted by matt91

Should be fine for steaming to one of the HD extenders. However, you will likely be disappointed in going from HD-PVR to an MVP. That requires lots of horsepower.

Can you clarify? Do you mean if it was captured in HD and is played back on the MVP?

[wvpolekat]

Originally Posted by S_M_E

PATA drives don't perform well either. I'd use all SATAII drives, especially for HD.

I will be using SATA for the HD tuner, and not using the PATA ones for it at all. It will actually be USB2 since I am out of space inside the box.

[matt91]

Originally Posted by wvpolekat

Can you clarify? Do you mean if it was captured in HD and is played back on the MVP?

Yes, sorry. HD captured via the HD-PVR and then transcoded to SD requires lots of CPU time. Not having a HD-PVR, I can't comment with great certainty on this, but if you search around here you'll see some discussion of it.
Matt

[wvpolekat]

Originally Posted by matt91

Yes, sorry. HD captured via the HD-PVR and then transcoded to SD requires lots of CPU time. Not having a HD-PVR, I can't comment with great certainty on this, but if you search around here you'll see some discussion of it.
Matt

That would make sense. When I try to play an HD file now in MKV or similar format, it gitches badly. I guess there are 2 choices, deal with it or just get 2 HD extenders. 99% of the TV watching is on the set that will have the HD extender, so it's not a huge concern. Thanks for bringing it up though.

[pat_smith1969]

I've got an HD extender and a HD-Homerun to record HD content, plus two SD tuners. I have 1 HD extender and 3 MVP SD extenders.

I can say from experience that you basically cannot watch HD content on a MVP. When I try to watch any HD content (either from the HDPVR or the HDHR) it will play fine for a bit then get REAL choppy, it is unwatchable. My server processing spikes on one of the cores (my server is a bit faster than yours but not by a lot).

Also, I cannot watch SD content when it was recorded on the HDPVR. Even though it is not HD, the server still needs to convert it to a format that is compatible with the MVP, and that conversion is what kills the performance.

My solution...
Set the HDPVR to only record HD channels.
Never watch HD content on anything other than a HDExtender (though a PC based client worked well when I used one).
If I thought I might want to watch a show on either the HD extender or the MVP I would record both channels.

or get rid of all your MVPs and use all HD Extneders and upgrade all your TVs to HD TVs.

[bialio]

If your server is beefy enough HDHR sourced HD transcoded to MVP works OK. The server listed in my Signature handled it quite easily.

I don't think the server exists that will handle the HD-PVR files to MPV.

My solution...
Set the HDPVR to only record HD channels.
Never watch HD content on anything other than a HDExtender (though a PC based client worked well when I used one).
If I thought I might want to watch a show on either the HD extender or the MVP I would record both channels.

I think there's actually a plugin out there that lets you 'limit' the channels on each client - so in theory you could remove HD channels from the MVP so you don't accidentally try to watch one.

btl.

[WellThen]

Originally Posted by bialio

I think there's actually a plugin out there that lets you 'limit' the channels on each client - so in theory you could remove HD channels from the MVP so you don't accidentally try to watch one.

I'm using that plugin (I think it's called Favorite Channel Lists), and it works very well. Only the channels you define in a list show up in the guide on a client where you're using that list. The only caveat is that if you are watching live TV and you do Channel Up or Channel Down, Sage does not pay attention to the Favorite Channel list, and so will go to an HD channel if it's the next channel up or down in the overall channel list.

[wvpolekat]

Lots of good info from everyone. Thank you for your replies.

For the time being, I will go with the 1 HD extender and just try to not watch HD programming on the MVP. Should not be much of a problem.

Before camping season starts, I will be updating the SD set to HD and moving the SD set to the camper, so I won't have to do this for long. Will just have to figure an HD extender into the new TV budget.