Sniff. Collapsing Economy = F.I.L. wants me to build them a SageTV system

[IVB]

Oy, the in-laws were over last night. My father in law retired 6 months ago involuntarily as he got laid off. He wasn't too stressed, and then this whole economy collapse thing happened. They're currently paying >$100/month to Comcast for two STBs (one of which is a DVR) plus the HiDef package.

Well, he saw this this abcnews story about a couple who's using MCE and the internet to watch TV. I steered him the hell away from using a PC hooked up to the TV, with internet explorer, as the mother-in-law is just getting used to using email. The only non-broadcast channel he really watches is CNN, the M.I.L. gets into some SciFi (she loves Stargate :-) ), other than that it's all soap operas.

I shoulda seen the next question coming. They said "well, how much do *you* pay per month?" Ooof. A helluva lot less, esp if all I'd need is CNN/SciFi. I use an antenna for HD-OTA as we live 12 miles from the tower (and they only live perhaps 5 miles away). They'd really rather not disconnect cable, but if I can help them get it down to $30/month they can keep it.

I happened to be building her a PC anyhow from all the spare parts I have laying around, she's currently using a 10 year old Pentium2 Dell. I got a C2D Celeron 1.6GHz to drive the box.

So I'm now roped in. I now need to go mount an antenna on their roof, and run a few network cables around their house/crawlspace, and setup a SageTV server with two extenders. I need to figure out what PCI HD & SD cards to populate, man I haven't done that search in 3 years...

On the upside, I might give them my two STX-100 boxes, and get two of the new STX-200 boxes.

[mayamaniac]

You really need a dedicated server if you want stability, such as WHS. If you are using the family computer as a server, there will be problems. Of course, set up vnc so you can at least troubleshoot it over the net when problems do happen. If you get good receptions from the antenna, I suggest a HDHR, that will get them two tuners with all the digital channels available, including the local clear QAM HD ones.

Definitely give them your HD100s and upgrade yours.

[CollinR]

Agreed on headless server for stability, this is how my dad's is setup and it's been pretty much no big deal. I too use VNC to manage it remotely but really it's only updates and whatnot.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by IVB

They'd really rather not disconnect cable, but if I can help them get it down to $30/month they can keep it.

Can they really get anything for $30 a month where they live? I think I'd have to pay $15-20 just to get the broadcast channels (and the public access channels). Getting the expanded basic lineup drives the cost up to at least $45/month. Are you thinking you can still get them CNN and SciFi, or are you just trying to get them broadcast channels?

Though, it usually doesn't end up costing much of anything to keep the broadcast channels coming in when you have Internet through the cable company. You get hit with extra fees if you don't package cable TV and Internet together.

[IVB]

i can get broadcast via the OTA, so I really just need a way to get CNN & SciFi. no idea on pricing, but it's gotta be much less than $100/month, even $45/month would be a help.

[mayamaniac]

CNN should be in most basic analog cable lineups. As for Sci-Fi, ymmv, most likely you need to ugrade to digital basic package. In my Time Warner area, they don't even offer basic analog anymore. So you will need to deal with an STB just for Sci-Fi if its not in the basic analog package.

[IVB]

Originally Posted by CollinR

Agreed on headless server for stability, this is how my dad's is setup and it's been pretty much no big deal. I too use VNC to manage it remotely but really it's only updates and whatnot.

When you setup the VNC at your dads house, did you set him up with DynDNS so you don't have to putz with dynamic IP addrs? Also, what port # do you punch through on the router? I presume you don't leave VNC-Server running 24x7, rather only have him start it if it needs to be viewed?

[bastafidli]

I am in a similar situation when I am maintaining system across the ocean. Instead of messing with DynDNS I have 2 remote systems setup:
1. Skype with Mikogo plugin. This allows to do remote connection over dynamic ip address without them needing to do anything. We just connect on skype and then share screen.
2. Sometimes I prefer to connect via Remote Desktop. Then I just asking them to go to http://www.ipchicken.com/ (easy to remember) and tell me the numbers they see whenever (once in a while) I need to do adjustments.

[mayamaniac]

I recommend Hamachi basic, its a free VPN client that works quite well and extremely easy to set up, no need to mess with dynamic IP updates or port forwarding in your router. Couple it with your favorite VNC server like UltraVNC, and you are all set.

[BFisher]

get them a netflix subscription and have them watch stargate via dvd if that's really the only cable show they watch... who knows, might even be available in their streaming stuff.

[btrcp2000]

If they don't care about HD I would look into a replaytv box. I still have one as a sage backup (we missed one too many episodes of biggest loser while I was "enhancing" sage, and WAF went through the floor). Bought a lifetime activated unit for about $150 on ebay, and it skips commercials. I actually had two replays for years before we found sage, no problems at all. According to the avs forum, the guide data should be solid for a while, as it is now part of some larger company (directv, maybe? don't quote me on that)

Of course, now that I have a solid backup option, sage hasn't missed anything since october or so!

[btrcp2000]

Just thought of something else...

Seems like this would work, although they have to give up cable. Sign them up for Dish network TurboHD Bronze, which has both of their channels and then some for $29 plus tax ($10 first six mos.). The box is also outputs regular SD, so you could use the same setup you would with their cable box. I know because I have an r5000, which would not output a picture if sage tried to tune an unsubscribed channel, and it would freeze the tuner. I ran a composite cable to my pvr 150 and set up a manual channel in sage so I could easily see what the dish box was outputting.

Plus if they ever buy an HDTV, they already have the programming, and son-in-law can buy them an HDPVR as a gift.

I have been very happy with my dish HD. We had an ice storm last week, and it never lost the signal. Come to think of it, I have yet to see it lose the signal.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/turbohd/p...g/default.aspx

EDIT: just re-read, obviously they already have hi-def, so I think this make even more sense. If I understand correctly, they SHOUL get the local RSN in hi def too. I do not, because I have the old absolute pkg.

[IVB]

thanks for the replies. They've got 2 plasma EDTVs, and have gotten addicted to HiDef, so that's a must. They're also irritated about only having 100ish hours of space on their DVR, and not having the ability to time-shift in their MBR (receiver-only in that room currently), so there's some fxnlty things they're bumping up against. Life was supposed to be easier, but the economy & market have hurt them pretty badly.

I saw the Dish deal, i'm either going to go that way or the SageTV way. The upside of SageTV is that:
1) I sell them my STX-100's and upgrade
2) When they come here, they'll know all about how to use Sage
3) If I make it headless, it really should be stable.

I've already built them two PC's and am known as the IT guy for her family, which is funny as I don't work remotely in IT, so I guess supporting a 3rd PC won't kill me (too much).

[btrcp2000]

Just read somewhere (dbstal or satelliteguys, i forget) that apparently you do not get the RSN unless you sub to TurboHD Silver or above, not Bronze. No idea whether that is accurate, and I will say that I made three separate calls myself before signing up to confirm that the RSN HD was included in the absolute package. I was told yes by three different people only to have that not be the case, so buyer beware. In laws may not even care, but I didn't want to lead them the wrong way.

And since you are willing to be their IT guy, I don't see why you don't do both dish AND sage?

[mistergq]

What you may want to consider is doing OTA with HDHOmerun and Dish TurboHD with 1 or 2 HD PVR. TurboHD is 30 bucks a month for the basic package and t getsthem the CNN and Sci-Fi. They will also have the network channels as well and capable of record 3 or 4 channels at once.

Just a thought.

[IVB]

ok boys, i'm going in. Just built them a box with 2 Vbox cats eye for HD-OTA, and a PVR-500 for SD (but i'll see if comcast still broadcasts analog cable in the SF Bay Area and has CNN & SciFi in which case they can drop down to the cheapest comcast package, and I don't gotta deal with IR blasting).

If you don't hear from me soon, send lawyers, guns, & money.

[IVB]

D'oh! I had it all working great, gave them my 2 HD100's, life was going awesome. Then we had our first lightning storm in SF in a long time, and got a call that the system wasn't working. I, eh, uh, realized when I went over there, that, uh, eh, I plugged everything BUT the server into a proper surge protector. The server, yeah, that went into a basic multi-outlet strip with no protection.

On the upside, it seems that the mobo & 1TB data disk is fine, but the boot disk is gone baby gone.

Stupid rookie mistake...

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by IVB

D'oh! I had it all working great, gave them my 2 HD100's, life was going awesome. Then we had our first lightning storm in SF in a long time, and got a call that the system wasn't working. I, eh, uh, realized when I went over there, that, uh, eh, I plugged everything BUT the server into a proper surge protector. The server, yeah, that went into a basic multi-outlet strip with no protection.

On the upside, it seems that the mobo & 1TB data disk is fine, but the boot disk is gone baby gone.

Stupid rookie mistake...

As Donald Trump would say.....YOU'RE FIRED!



Gerry

[IVB]

Note to self: When setting up a SageTV system for the inlaws, in addition to teaching them how to add new favorites, tell them about 'adjust favorite options'.

They enlisted me to replace a bunch of light fixtures in their house, so i went over with the kids. The kids were whining that a lot of their favorites had very few selections.

Turns out there were 160 Judge Judy shows recorded. In 3 months. Either they don't use unique IDs, or she's the most efficient judge in recorded history.

I dropped that back down to 15, i think she'll be able to live with that, especially considering she now has 35 favorite shows and the father-in-law is pissed because at 10pm nightly, she & her favorites hog up all 4 tuners.

[david1234]

Originally Posted by IVB

When you setup the VNC at your dads house, did you set him up with DynDNS so you don't have to putz with dynamic IP addrs? Also, what port # do you punch through on the router? I presume you don't leave VNC-Server running 24x7, rather only have him start it if it needs to be viewed?

I wouldn't punch VNC through the firewall at all- I'd find a way to run SSH on their server and punch an encrypted ssh tunnel through the firewall.

create the tunnel

ssh -L 747:172.101.20.20:5907 root@172.101.20.20

run vnc

vncviewer localhost:747

http://www.walkernews.net/2007/07/21...-in-3-minutes/

Of course, I'm more paranoid about my network than most people!