Need info. HDPVR. Swithing from MythTV

[markhsa]

Hello,
To avoid more frustration, I am thinking of trying out SageTV with my HDPVR device.
I would like some opinions/information though please from those who are in the know....
I have read the docs on Sage and all looks good.

Hardware:
- Hauppauge HD-PVR
- Core2Duo 3ghz
- 2Gigs RAM
- Nvidia 8600 Vid card
- Sony 42" LCD

Questions please:

-What is the most stable/easiest OS to use? XPpro/home or Vista? ( I would try the Linux version, but I dont have time for beta currently )

-Is the Hauppauge HD-PVR working perfectly in SageTV? Live TV, HD recordings etc...? Any gotchas on that? This is the main reason for the move to SageTV. Any spacial software or drivers required for HD? PureVideo etc..?

-I have 3 1TB drives to use. How is the best way to manage growing storage? I will start with 1 drive, 50 Gig for OS, and the rest for storage. How to add more space later though? Can another drive just be added then filled up with the others get full?

Any other items I should be thinking of with the HDPVR?

[wayner]

Are you going client/server or will your server also be used for playback? Many, including myself, now believe that the best OS for a server only implementation is Windows Home Server - that will also easily deal with your storage.

With Sage you can easily add additional paths to recorded TV so adding hard drive space isn't an issue, with WHS this can all be on the same network share.

There are debates back and forth regarding XP/Vista. Both will work but with Vista you will want to disable UAC. Vista playback has gotten better with Sage 6.5 has it supports EVR.

There are no gotchas with the HD-PVR as long as your HD-PVR hardware is good. I use two of them on my system and I rarely have any issues. But there seems to have been a high failure rate on HD-PVRs in the past.

The best mechanism for playback is one of the Sage extenders as that way you don't have to futz around with codecs. If you are playing back on a PC then you should be ok using the Arcsoft codecs that come with the HD-PVR.

[markhsa]

I plan to initially use the server for the frontend playback as well. After time, I will use an extender likely.
What OS would be the best choice then if the server is also the frontend to Sage?
Would home server ( WHS ) work if I wanted it to be the frontend too?

Perhaps I could try the WHS 120 day eval. I wonder if it can just be purchased at that time or is a re-install is needed?

Thanks for the assistance BTW.

[S_M_E]

If you're using as a front end I'd say XP-Pro would be easiest but I use Vista as my client and WHS as my server.

WHS was designed to run headless, it doesn't even come with DX9 or WMP11. There are some people that do use it that way but I wouldn't recommend it.

After the 120 day evaluation you will have to perform a re-install, you can't just register it. You can do "new install" or a "server reinstall" which will preserve the data in the shares but not much else.

[markhsa]

Is 32 or 64 bit Windows better?
Looks like WinXP Pro is the way to go.

[S_M_E]

32-bit for now...

I would say that WHS is the way to go but you would want to use an extender or another PC as a client. You can always start with XP and upgrade to WHS later. It's up to you though...