Looking for a Sage Solution - help would be much appreciated.

[Stomp949]

First off, I tried searching the forums and didn't find anything that exactly related to my ask - so I'm going to do a new post. My existing TV service is through AT&T Uverse. One TV in living room, one in family room, one in the gym. Presently two of the three are wired with Coax, but the main one (living room) is only ethernet (Uverse can use ethernet to deliver the signal to the STB). Since I have some Coax running on my outside walls (that I want to eventually take down) I'd like to eventually have an all-ethernet solution if it's not too hard.

The goal is I want to use all OTA or online content - I want to get rid of cable TV all together.

Computer Hardware.
* One Dell Dimension XPS (435MT?) w/ 6GB of Ram & lots of power running Win 7 (64 bit). I generally leave it turned on when using, but try not to leave on all day.

* One HP MediaSmart server EX485 running Windows Home Server. I presently have it set to be on from 6am to 11:30 pm, sleeping other times. Playon is installed (as is Tversity - but that must be a free ware or trial version since I only paid for Playon).

* One laptop running Win 7 (that I intend to keep out of the equation for now).

* Two Xbox Elites - one in living room and one in family room.

Networking/Cables.

Living Room: Two Cat 5 lines to the media area, one to the STB and one to the Xbox. I have lots of coax in the attic that I can splice into if need be and drop to the TV.

Family Room & Gym: Coax to both, but I have the Netgear XAV101 powerline networking products that have enough bandwidth to pump Uverse HD over the powerlines (I used this before they repaired some poor connections in the Coax.

TV's
1.) Living Room - 3 year old 42" Sceptre Komodo LCD TV w/ 2 HDMI slots & 2 Component inputs IIRC. Using a low-end Sony Soundbar/Receiver/Subwoofer solution (Sony HT CT100) for better audio. Xbox, BluRay and Uverse STB all connect through the Sony, and one HDMI runs from the Sony soundbar to the TV. One open HDMI slot and two open component slots on the TV.

2.) Family Room - an old 52"-55" (not sure) Mitsubishi HD TV. No HDMI, 3 components IIRC, but only one of the components is 1080 - others are all 480p. Have a cheap Kenwood receiver that came w/ my "Rocket Tyke" speakers.

3.) Gym - cheap 20" LCD that only has component or lower inputs. No HDMI available. One day I'll upgrade the living room TV and move the Sceptre to the gym.

The solution I envision:
1.) Antenna mounted on the chimney (replace the vintage 1978 one with a new "HD" antenna and required connections).
2.) Run the Coax from the antenna through the attic to my office (where the Dell XPS & Home Server are located) and connect the Coax to HDhomerun.
3.) Connect HDHomerun to the Windows Home Server. Presumably install whatever required software for HDHomerun on the WHS.
4.) Install whatever Sage software I need on the Windows Home Server to be able to record whatever shows I want to watch.
5.) Buy 3 HD Theather (HD200) boxes for each of the TV's. Upstairs TV connected by Cat 5 "hardwire". Family room and gym TV utilize the Netgear XAV101 powerline networking to run the signals.
6.) Between the HD Theather and the xboxes watch all of my TV and/or online content over ethernet through those two sources.

Here are my questions.
1.) Does the setup referenced above seem like a sound solution? Should it be a stable solution?
2.) Would I be able to watch live TV using the HD200, or does it only work for recorded content? This is (I think) a moot point if I split/run coax from the antenna in parallel, but that entails me doing work that I'd prefer not to.
3.) Can I stream two different live programs to two different TV's (I doubt), or do all need to watch the same. If recorded content, same question.
4.) If the Sage TV software records the show, is it in a format Media Center would be able to recognize? If so, perhaps I can use the Windows Media Center interface in the Dell (a more powerful computer) to stream certain content that it sees recorded on the network (technically housed on the WHS box). While this may not be the right thing to ask, could I somehow use the Xbox with Sage instead of buying the HD Theater boxes?

An alternative solution I can see would be to connect the HDHomerun to the Dell. Use the built in Media Center software, but then the Dell needs to be on all the time. Then use Media Center on the Xbox to watch content/TV. Clearly not preferable to run the loud, power-hungry, RROD susceptible Xbox all the time, but seems like an option.

A third solution would be if there was some sort of media center plugin for the WHS that works with the Xbox, but I'm not aware of that. I do know I can use Playon for certain content (which I do), but clearly it's nothing like Sage and/or MediaCenter.

So if anybody read this far I'd really appreciate your thoughts/comments. Sorry if I gave too much information, but I wanted to paint the most accurate picture I could. If I did omit certain important points. Please let me know.

[MitchSchaft]

Yeah, everything you want is possible and yes to all your questions (unless I misunderstood). You just need more than one tuner to be able to watch more than one show at a time. They're recorded in .mpg.

Well, no to the xbox question. That will only work with windows media center as an extender.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by Stomp949

The solution I envision:
1.) Antenna mounted on the chimney (replace the vintage 1978 one with a new "HD" antenna and required connections).
2.) Run the Coax from the antenna through the attic to my office (where the Dell XPS & Home Server are located) and connect the Coax to HDhomerun.
3.) Connect HDHomerun to the Windows Home Server. Presumably install whatever required software for HDHomerun on the WHS.
4.) Install whatever Sage software I need on the Windows Home Server to be able to record whatever shows I want to watch.
5.) Buy 3 HD Theather (HD200) boxes for each of the TV's. Upstairs TV connected by Cat 5 "hardwire". Family room and gym TV utilize the Netgear XAV101 powerline networking to run the signals.
6.) Between the HD Theather and the xboxes watch all of my TV and/or online content over ethernet through those two sources.

1. Don't forget that some HD channels are on the upper VHF band. Don't get a UHF only "HD" antenna.

2. Good.

3. Yes

4. Yes. Warning, make sure to download the correct program, as I think you need a different download for WHS.

5. That SHOULD work.

6. Yes.

Originally Posted by Stomp949

Here are my questions.
1.) Does the setup referenced above seem like a sound solution? Should it be a stable solution?
2.) Would I be able to watch live TV using the HD200, or does it only work for recorded content? This is (I think) a moot point if I split/run coax from the antenna in parallel, but that entails me doing work that I'd prefer not to.
3.) Can I stream two different live programs to two different TV's (I doubt), or do all need to watch the same. If recorded content, same question.
4.) If the Sage TV software records the show, is it in a format Media Center would be able to recognize? If so, perhaps I can use the Windows Media Center interface in the Dell (a more powerful computer) to stream certain content that it sees recorded on the network (technically housed on the WHS box). While this may not be the right thing to ask, could I somehow use the Xbox with Sage instead of buying the HD Theater boxes?

1. Yes, but see 2 below.

2. With SageTV, EVERYTHING is "recorded" first, then played back, but as you can watch the "recording" as it records, you only have .1-5 second delay depending on the "recorder". With the HDHomerun, maybe .5 seconds. Also, you can only watch 1 "live" show per tuner, and as you listed 3 TVs, and the HDHomerun only has 2 tuners, 1 TV can't watch live stuff. But adding one is a snap. During Premier week, having 4 (or more!) tuners is GREAT.

3. Yes, easy. also see 2 above.

4. Yes, but the show data (who's in it, when it was first aired, etc) is not. You can get it, but by default, it can get messy if you switch, and you want that part of the data. The video and audio are all in the clear.

Originally Posted by Stomp949

An alternative solution I can see would be to connect the HDHomerun to the Dell. Use the built in Media Center software, but then the Dell needs to be on all the time. Then use Media Center on the Xbox to watch content/TV. Clearly not preferable to run the loud, power-hungry, RROD susceptible Xbox all the time, but seems like an option.

Yes, that would work, and yes, you listed most of the issues.

Originally Posted by Stomp949

A third solution would be if there was some sort of media center plugin for the WHS that works with the Xbox, but I'm not aware of that. I do know I can use Playon for certain content (which I do), but clearly it's nothing like Sage and/or MediaCenter.

Not to talk about other options, but I think the PS3 media center software (the free one) now has xbox support, but I don't think you can record, just playback.

Originally Posted by Stomp949

So if anybody read this far I'd really appreciate your thoughts/comments. Sorry if I gave too much information, but I wanted to paint the most accurate picture I could. If I did omit certain important points. Please let me know.

Very well done. Listed all your hardware haves and wants.

[Stomp949]

Thanks to both of you - looks like I have a project for some of the time I'll be taking off over the next few weeks.

[freedml]

Just to be clear, the HDHR is physically connected to the home network, not physically to a PC. When you install the software on the PC it finds the HDHR wherever it is on your network.

Powerline and/or coax networking can cause problems, so some testing may be in order.

An 'old' antenna may be just fine if you have good reception (look at tvfool.com).

What you want to end up with is pretty much what I have at home. It took a lot of time and effort to get going and is still only about 95% reliable.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Also, you can only watch 1 "live" show per tuner, and as you listed 3 TVs, and the HDHomerun only has 2 tuners, 1 TV can't watch live stuff.

To clarify this somewhat, you can record only as many simultaneous programs as you have tuners (that much seems obvious), where "live" TV counts as a recording.

However you can have as many clients as you like simultaneously watching a given recording ("live" or pre-recorded). So if two or more clients are simultaneously watching the same program "live", that's still only one recording and ties up just one tuner.

Where you run into trouble is when you have more TVs than tuners, and all of them want to channel-surf at random independently. But you'll probably find (as most of us have) that your channel-surfing urge goes way down once you have the ability to record half a dozen or more programs every night and watch them whenever you please.

I do agree that three or four OTA tuners seems to be the sweet spot for prime-time network programming, regardless of how many clients you have.

[nick_l]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

To clarify this somewhat, you can record only as many simultaneous programs as you have tuners (that much seems obvious), where "live" TV counts as a recording.

However you can have as many clients as you like simultaneously watching a given recording ("live" or pre-recorded). So if two or more clients are simultaneously watching the same program "live", that's still only one recording and ties up just one tuner.

And just to clarify even a bit more, each client can be at a different point in the same recording ("live tv", previously recorded content, imported home videos or even ripped DVDs).

Nick