New to this, any help appreciated.

[akimity]

I hope this hasn't been answered a thousand times and I'm another idiot.

Just to note I'm pretty savvy with computers and electronics at least I think I am. I'm a network engineer so that should help a little.

Right now I have 2 main televisions and 2 part timers for guests and office. After doing a little searching I guess I want a Sage HD Theater for my main tv, but I'm unsure what to do for the 3 others (one in my bedroom that gets watched every night).

I have a computer in the office that has all my media files on it.

Right now the only thing I'm sure of is that I need to update my network to a "N" network.

Please let me know the best way to set this up. If it works out well all my friends are ready for me to hook them up.

Thanks
Shane

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by akimity

Right now I have 2 main televisions and 2 part timers for guests and office. After doing a little searching I guess I want a Sage HD Theater for my main tv, but I'm unsure what to do for the 3 others (one in my bedroom that gets watched every night).

I have a computer in the office that has all my media files on it.

Right now the only thing I'm sure of is that I need to update my network to a "N" network.

Unfortunately, an N network may not guarantee delivery if your house is large. I have a set of N extenders that work well for a short distance for SD TV, but I doubt their success for HD.

However if you can find a set of NIM-100 ethernet-over-coax devices (I found a pair on eBay), you can easily extend your network to your bedroom (and other rooms as well). You could then go HD Theaters for all of your TV's (though, you may want to do it a room at a time).

HTH,
Stu

[matt91]

I would guess that one of the "standard deployments" of sage would be a low/moderate power server sitting in the basement feeding extenders (e.g., Sage HD200) at each TV. This would be the easiest setup. You build a server with some tuners (depending on your needs: HD vs SD, Sat vs cable, etc), install Sage, plug the extenders and server into your home network, and you're done.

Your office computer can share all its media with the server seamlessly, or you could use that computer for the new server, if the horsepower and other usage of the computer allows.

Your only option for an extender at this point is the HD200. There are some of the older HD100 or SD-only MVPs out there, but unless you came by one real cheap, I'd get the newer 200.

You could also have a full HTPC at your main TV (which would allow features above and beyond what the extender provides. Read through Brent's writeup of one versus the other here: http://www.geektonic.com/2009/02/hom...ters-over.html)

hope this helps.
Matt

PS There are lots of threads (e.g., http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39447) about what to build for a new server. Look around and you'll get lots of input.

[davephan]

You could check your house for a Eithernet cable wire path to get Eithernet cable into those rooms. I found a path in my home that goes through closets to get from the basement to the attic above the second floor. If you can get to the attic and if the basement isn't finished, it might be possible to put in cable without opening up too many holes in the walls.

Dave

[akimity]

Thanks for the replies.

So should I make a server out of a PC in my house or buy the sagetv HD theatre. If that question makes no sense I'm sorry. I'm just lost on what is what with sagetv, just trying to wrap my head around it.

[GKusnick]

What are you hoping to use it for? If you just want to play back your existing media files from your file server, the HD200 (aka HD Theater) can do that in standalone mode (but you'll need one for each playback location).

However the HD200 is strictly a playback device. It cannot record. So if you also want to be able to record TV shows and play them back on any TV in the house, then you will also need (in addition to the HD200 playback devices):

* A copy of the SageTV Media Center software to run on your server.

* One or more TV tuner devices connected to your server.

[akimity]

I guess my ideal setup is to have it close to the way my cable setup is now, but I want to get rid of my cable service. Right now I have 4 tv's 2 are used a lot with DVR's (not sure if a recorder is important since I'll get most my stuff I downloaded off the internet or straight from the networks website). I'd like the other two to work as well.

What I first assumed what I would have to is have a pc where I keep my media and buy the HD 200 for my living room and bedroom tv. For the other TV I have no clue what's available. Should I get a HD Tuner to get digital feeds and a PVR. I may actually need to get that now that I think about football and some other live programming I like to watch.

A link where typical setups are diagrammed would be a great help.

Thanks for all your help

Shane