R5000 mod with a Mac?

[transco]

NextCom has finished the Mod's on my HDD-200 and I'm trying to get things set up here. I thought it was possible to stream directly to SageTV Media Center via USB and have STV tune the 922. As far as I know NextCom's software is Windows only, so that isn't of any use. If anyone is using the R5000 mod with OSX, please tell me how you are doing it or give me links to the information.

[viperdiablo]

I think your only option for the mac is to use bootcamp with windows installed or run a VM inside OSX with windows.

[Fuzzy]

R5000 only works in 32-bit windows. No drivers/software for anything else. Not sure if it'd work in VM either. Would depend on how VM exposed the USB device to the V-OS.

[transco]

Originally Posted by viperdiablo

I think your only option for the mac is to use bootcamp with windows installed or run a VM inside OSX with windows.

This would be most unfortunate. My little Mac Mini is low on resources as is. I've already invested in the Mac version of STV. Bootcamp is out since I still must run simultanious OSX programming. Even if the hardware would support it, the cost of adding Win XP, plus a VM like Parallels, is beyond what I can afford. Bottom line, if there isn't some way to do this directly under OSX I'm pretty much out of luck (not my first choice of words, but this is a G-rated website).

[Fuzzy]

Well, they DO list the requirements on nextcom's page.

PC Requirements

Windows XP/2000/Vista*
One USB 2.0 port or one PCI slot and a PCI USB 2.0 adapter
512MB RAM
Pentium III 1.0 GHz (Dish Network), Pentium 4 1.8 GHz (DirecTV)
9GB / hr Free disk space
HDTV playback software or hardware
Optional IEEE1394 Firewire port for recording to D-VHS Tape
DirectX 9.0 required for D-VHS and Media Player

*32-bit versions

That said, you may not be totally out of luck.. The R5000's do not HAVE to be connected to the same system as the sage server. Sage talks to the R5000 software via TCP/IP, so you can have it on a different machine on the network (one running windows), and still run Sage on your mini.

[transco]

I see now I misread info that NextCom gave me in the very beginning. He said it would work with a Mac, assuming I dedicated a PC to running their DVR software in server mode. Somehow I missed the 'PC' reference. Well to date I'm out $600 for the mod, STV software bundle and a HD200, I'm I'm going to end up still not being able to record my 4DTV programming. This is not one of my better days.

[transco]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Well, they DO list the requirements on nextcom's page. That said, you may not be totally out of luck.. The R5000's do not HAVE to be connected to the same system as the sage server. Sage talks to the R5000 software via TCP/IP, so you can have it on a different machine on the network (one running windows), and still run Sage on your mini.

As mentioned previously, I screwed up royally, but what's done is done...

I would hate to use LAN bandwidth to stream from a PC to a Mac. Already I'm pushing it running two HDHomeRun's while streaming STV output. So, if I want to recover most of my losses, it looks like what I need is a PC with enough HP to run the R5000 software and STV while serving media to the LAN. The 4DTV equipment is currently in my living room and can't easily be moved because of the cabling requirements. This means the PC also must be in that room; i.e. it has to run fanless or with a very quiet fan. I haven't used a Windows based PC for many years and, at this late stage of life, have no desire to build my own PC, or spend much time under the hood. I need as close to a turnkey installation as possible. Finally, there isn't much money left in the equipment budget, so need something relatively cheap. Having said all this, I'd appreciate suggestions as far as which PC to buy,

[Fuzzy]

Well, you can always run Windows on the Mac Mini... would be cheaper than a whole new pc, especially if you insist on going pre-built.

[transco]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Well, you can always run Windows on the Mac Mini... would be cheaper than a whole new pc, especially if you insist on going pre-built.

Thanks, I wasn't sure that was going to work. Sure is the cheapest way to go. I've placed an order for the Parallels VM and Windows XP Pro.

[Fuzzy]

well, no guarantee that parallels will work.. I'm not sure on how it handles the USB ports (if the windows driver can talk directly to the device or not). I was actually referring to booting into windows.