Tuners listed in the Sage.Properties file?

[Stuntman]

I'm very confused by the way Sage manages it's tuners.. here is what I have installed.

1x Hauppauge 2250
1x HDHR
1x Hauppauge 1600

So, in theory, I should have 5 QAM tuners and 3 analog tuners available (I understand that some of these are an either or situation as far as use.. I'm talking about simply configured devices).

I've added all 8 devices in my sources setup in Sage and they all seem to be working okay... but when I look in my Sage.Properties file I seem to be missing a few of the tuners..

I want to set encoder merit so the 2250's get used first, then the 1600, then the HDHR last (trying to reduce network use)... but can't seem to find reference to the digital part of the 2250's in the properties file.

Can anybody explain what qualifies a tuner to be listed in the Sage.Properties file? Should every tuner be listed, even if it isn't configured for use in Sage? If I configure the QAM tuners of the 2250 and NOT the analog sides of that card, does that cause a problem?

I just assumed if I had 8 tuners configured, I'd see reference to 8 tuners in the properties file and I could set merit accordingly.

[GKusnick]

SageTV counts capture devices in terms of the number of simultaneous independent streams that can be captured. In your case that's five, not eight. (The 2250 counts as two independent devices and so does the HDHR.) So you should have five distinct mmc/encoders/xxxxxxxx sections in your properties file.

Some of your capture devices have multiple inputs (only one of which can be used at a time). Those will show up as subsections labeled /1, /3, /3, etc.

You can't set the merit separately for different inputs of the same device; you set it for the whole device.

[Stuntman]

Thanks Greg, that makes sense. I wonder though..

If I watch Live TV.. does Sage still give out the best tuner available for the show you are selecting to watch? What happens if that tuner is then needed for a scheduled show? Will Sage dynamically swith your LiveTV to an Analog tuner if that Digital tuner is now needed for a scheduled show.. or would it reassign the scheduled show to the available Analog tuner? I'm trying to make sure the digital tuners get used for everything possible and only use the analog for channels I don't get in QAM or for when all the digital tuners are scheduled or in use.

Does that makes sense? Basically I don't want to start watching a live TV stream and then have a scheduled show have to use an analog tuner because I'm watchin Live TV on the digital tuner.. I'd prefer Sage to move my liveTV to one of the other available tuners in event a scheduled event time starts..

[GKusnick]

Digital channels and analog channels are treated as separate channels by Sage. Once a recording has started on a particular tuner (where live TV counts as a recording), Sage will not change channels/tuners in mid-recording to free up a preferred tuner for other purposes.

It will, however, warn you with a popup if there are no free tuners available and your live TV watching is about to cause a conflict with a scheduled recording.

If you don't want your Favorites to record on an analog channel, exclude that channel from the Favorite parameters. If you don't want to use a particular analog channel at all for recording or for live TV, disable that channel in the channel lineup. If you never want to use any analog channels for any reason, don't configure the analog inputs of your capture devices.