Server Options - VMWare

[Underfunded]

I am thinking about moving from a single SageTV client with all local storage to a server and extender setup. This thought is after evaluating my actual usage of the setup versus what I though I wanted originally.

My idea is to run a Sage server in a Virtual Machine powered by VMWare off my desktop which is a well powered q9550 with 8GB of ram.
1. Which OS would you recommend for the backend server, I have most available.
2. The TV/Video storage would officially be on the desktop itself and accessed by the server and extenders through shared drives (moved over from my existing HTPC).
3. How do you feel about the music playing capabilities of the extender. I have an extensive ITunes library (all DRM free) and like the capabilities of ITunes such as the Genius playlists, does Sage come close in features?

Originally when I setup my HTPC I had the idea that I would do tons of web surfing which turned out to not be the case. Now I think it would be better to just run an extender.

[jquinlan]

On the OS, I would stick with XP.
With the VM image, what kind of capture cards do you have? If you don't have USB or Network only capture devices, this will not work. VMWare cannot talk to hardware cards plugged into a PCI slot. USB could also be pushing it based on the number of channels at the same time you wish to record.
I don't know mush about the advancement of extenders, I am still using MVP's.

[joematt]

You will need a x64 system to use all of your 8GB of RAM.

[mayamaniac]

Not a good idea to run SageTV in a VMWare OS. I think some users have tried and it is just too limiting to pull it off.

SageTV's focus is TV recordings, and so it has a very weak music interface. You can make playlists, thats about it. There's no "intelligent suggestions/genius playlist" feature for music.

[Fuzzy]

What are you attempting to gain by putting sage into a VM? It seems a waste, as it runs as a service, it is pretty much locked up and VERY stable as it is. You would have far less impact of system resources just running it as a service on that system, than as a service within a VM...

[Underfunded]

OK.

I was thinking of installing SageTV into a VM because it allows me easier reloading of my 'host' computer which happens a few times a year without needing to reconfigure my SageTV server.

I use the HDHR for my tuners.

I would not allow the VM to take 8GB of RAM. I would likely limit it to 2GB (unless someone says the sage server needs more).

Any thoughts regarding listening to music through the HD200? It sounds like this is my most likely holdup right now. What things have others done regarding this?

The goal is to remove another PC from my house. I'm trying to lower my electricity usage and lessen the strain on my cooling system since I live in a 3rd floor condo that I have to open the windows in the middle of winter (in NH) to get it below 75 degrees.

[sic0048]

I'd like to run my Sage server on a Windows Server 2008 machine. I have a HD-PVR and a HDHR. I'm not sure which would be harder: getting those tuner cards to be setup on Server 2008, or using some sort of VM and running XP or Vista on the virtual machine and running Sage on it.

Any suggestions?

[JeffK95Z]

not that it helps alot, but i run sage under a VM, but I don't do any recording. i use it for playback only on an extender (media mvp).

like you, i wanted to get rid of the pc I had been using next to the tv as it just wasn't being used for much more then video playback. Really cleaned up the area!

My setup looks like:

host machine: q6600 w/ 8 gigs of ram
host os: server 2008 64 bit
sage vm: vista 64 bit w/ 1 gig of ram

I have a friend that has the same setup, but he uses the sage HD box instead of the mediaMVP.

works great!

my only concern with your setup would be getting the vm to see the capture cards. if it does, then go for it. I'd say it'll work just fine.

[Fuzzy]

I have no doubts sage itself would run fine in VM.. the capture cards would be hit or miss (HDHomeRun would most certainly work, USB might, depending on the device.) I'm curious, why would you even bother running save without recordings? it really is it's best feature.

[Underfunded]

I am pretty comfortable with the idea that Sage in a VM will see the HDHR since it is a network appliance. I would be using the Sage running in the VM to do the TV recording. The hard drives it will be recording to are plugged into the host machine. This will have the sage VM recording to them through a NAT share.

I think I'll set it up and test it out with the current HTPC accessing the Sage VM as a soft client to see if there will be any throughput or bandwidth issues. If it does work well I might see if my wife will let me order a HD200.

[Underfunded]

OK, The one major question that I have come up with now is, can anybody tell me why I would want a different tuner instead of using the HDHR since that would likely be my big limitation to running SageTV in a VM, and what tuner they recommend MORE than an HDHR?

[aflat]

You want the HDHR. Your only other option would be a USB tuner, all PCI/PCIe options aren't available, the VM can't detect it.

Also, make sure your recordings are done on either a mapped drive to your local system. That is going to be your biggest performance hit is writing to the drive. Continuous reads/writes to a VM drive tend to give VM's problems.

I'm not sure how well a HDPVR would perform in a VM, but the HDHR should be just fine.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Underfunded

I was thinking of installing SageTV into a VM because it allows me easier reloading of my 'host' computer which happens a few times a year without needing to reconfigure my SageTV server.

Just install Sage do a separate drive from your OS drive. All Sage's important settings (at least with UAC off) are stored in it's program directory, so you can blow away the OS that way and only have to run the installer again and point it at the right install path.

[Underfunded]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Just install Sage do a separate drive from your OS drive. All Sage's important settings (at least with UAC off) are stored in it's program directory, so you can blow away the OS that way and only have to run the installer again and point it at the right install path.

VERY good point and a nice option! This would also help remove the performance hit from running ANOTHER VM (already run 1 VM for my webserver). I'll have to think about that!