How do you access SageTV? Why?

[tchapin]

I'm wondering about how people access SageTV and the reasons why they have it configured that way.

For example, I have a headless server that I access via hardware extenders and placeshifter. One of the reasons I went with Sage was b/c I wanted to minimize the number of full computers in my house and try to simplify things.

From what I've read on the forums, having a full SageTV Client has a lot of headaches, but it must still be worth it. I imagine that having access to BlueRay discs and Hulu / Netflix w/o a plugin may be factors.

If you run a headless SageTV server, do you use the service mode, or just load up the GUI?

Thanks for indulging my curiosity.

[ChaOConnor]

For me it's WHS as a headless server w/ an HD-200 and the Placeshifter on my main PC for config purposes.

I wanted a server that would be a secure place for my vids, music & pictures... WHS takes care of that for me. I wanted the HD-200 to get ride of my cable box and be able to access all the stuff on the server.

I love it. My only grib is I need to beef up my dual-core AMD to something beefier.

[Yalbik]

For me, it's both...

Headed XP server, hooked directly to A/V receiver in theater room. MVP extenders / placeshifters for other access.

Sage runs in service mode. I've had the sage client crash too many times to not use service mode.

I use the server as a client as well since I also use that PC for playing older PC games and some browsing, so it's connected to the receiver anyways. If I could GET Hulu and/or Netflix in Canada (grumble grumble ), I'd use those as well.

I've considered getting hd-200 though to resolve some slight stuttering issues with HD playback, but I'm likely upgrading the server soon anyways, so I'm waiting to see if that resolves the issues (they are fairly slight).

For people I've converted to sage, I strongly recommend extenders. It's a "do as I say, not as I do" sort of thing.

[paulbeers]

For me, it is a headless server with extenders and I guess I do run placeshifter on my laptop, but otherwise that is it. No full clients.

The main reasons I have seen for people running a full client is basically that they would need to run a full PC next to their television anyway, so why not just use it for Sage as well. Reasons for full PC: Web Browsing, Gaming, and Full Blu-Ray support.

For me, I keep my laptop on my coffee table so none of those matter to me (Blu-Ray would be nice, but then again I could just buy a cheap Blu-Ray player).

Diff'rent strokes for different folks I guess!

[GKusnick]

There was a poll about this a couple of months ago.

I use pretty much every available access mode. My server is in a rack in the closet, but cabled through a matrix switch to my living room screen. I have an HD200 for the exercise room (for simplicity), SageTV Client in my home office (because why not if there's a PC there anyway), Placeshifter on my laptop, and the mobile web client on my phone.

Service mode goes without saying. Non-service mode, in my opinion, is just training wheels for newbies until they figure out how to enable the service.

[kamikaze2112]

i have a dedicated server in my office that I connect to my TV with component video (component over cat5 actually) with digital coax audio to my receiver. run the server as a service and then the gui. use a sony remote commander to control it.

[Skirge01]

For our house, the client PC is also the primary computer used by both my wife and I. This is mainly because the other computers are upstairs. Besides that, we find it extremely helpful to look up information on episodes or actors when we question something while watching TV. Most of the integrated information in SageTV doesn't pull up quite enough information or allow you to go deep enough. Oh, and I run the WHS version, so it's in service mode.

[Naylia]

HTPC in family room running Sage Service and the SageTV GUI. Also provides access to Hulu, and Blu-ray without hassle (both are controlled via remote control using Sage similar command setup)

HD200 in bedroom

Placeshifter on the road (not real often)

I'm hoping snazzy features in SageTV 7 will help inform my upgrade path...

[sdsean]

I'm currently doing both. . .

I have an HD-200 in the bedroom, and the HTPC is in the living room and acts as a server to the bedroom and then just use the PC in the living room.

I did this b/c I wanted to be able to PC games and surf the web on the pc in the living room as well.

However I must say that I grow immensely tired of dealing with codec and evr/overlay/vmr9 issues on the windows client, have considered using another HD-200 that is just jacked in directly to my 2nd ethernet port on the HTPC. Management would be much easier this way b/c I could remote into the box without fear. . .(other than if someone was playing a game, but that would just be me), but then again I can't launch games doing it this way. . . like i can now using SageMC so. . .i'm just not sure. . .

[SWKerr]

I use a WHS for the SageTV Service. (Automatically Service Mode.)
I have SageTV Clients on 2 HTPCs, one Win7-64 and one Vista 64. I have not had any really playback problems since getting rid of XP and adding the ATI 4550 Video cards. I run Sage occasionally on Three other Win7 PCs in the Kitchen, Desk and Kids with ATI 785G\780G,4650 graphics, again with out issues.

I also run the GUI on the WHS and run the VGA out to a box that converts it to analog that gets sent to old CRTs in the Bathroom and Shop. I will probably replace this at some point with extenders.

I use the HTPC mainly for Online content. I use Netflix and Hulu on occasion and the PC is just better suited for getting any online content. I use Boxee launched from the Sage Menu right now for all online content.

I had a BluRay in the large HTPC for awhile but eventually just moved it to my main desktop since I found I just ripped everything first anyway. It is just easier to rip the main movie than mess with the DVD playback software.

[APillowOfClouds]

I have a dedicated server, 2 full PC client machines and a MediaMVP. I'm going to be switching shortly to using all eee/Atom machines for the clients, to balance between cutting down power usage and maintenance and still being able to hook up a DVD player.

My biggest complaint other than random blue screens that don't seem to be Sage's fault is that there's no way to reserve one or more tuners as non-recording to make sure that there's always one available to watch TV without having to be prompted about "is it ok to change the channel", which can be a pain if you have a 60 year old BIL babysitting for you.

Overall I love Sage though, compared to BeyondTV it is extremely stable and reliable.

[Clift]

I have a non-headless server that I only really access through VNC from the laptop or from my Motorola DROID. The server runs SageTV in service mode and it runs the client. I have the output of that going through HDMI over CAT6 and it's piped to the play room. I run an HD200 in the family room, and an HD100 in the Master Bedroom. I used to have a client in the Master but it was kind of a pain in the neck and we barely used it. Also, it was too noisy anyway. I have repurposed the "client" to the office, where I work out. By repurposing, I mean I have recycled to license to use in there instead.

[Savage1701]

I have a headless server in my basement rack, and gigabit ethernet throughout our house. My headless server runs 32-bit XP and has about 7 TB of storage handled via a 3Ware 9590SE controller, along with a bunch of OTA ATSC tuners, a couple analog cable tuners, and an HD-PVR. I use teamed LAN's and a "prosumer" GbE switch and router.

I have 2 clients - one on a work PC, and one on my son's PC. My work PC runs Win 7 64, my son's PC runs Vista 32-bit. Both have ATI 4670 cards and more than adequate CPU's, memory, etc. for HD H.264 playback.

It is an eternal, ongoing fight with Win OS's, EVR, Overlay, decoders, aspect ratios, SD vs. HD H.264, sound issues, you name it, to keep them working well. I have bought decoder packs, utilities, etc. to try and keep them working efficiently. I have modified the property files to achieve certain things or work around problems. It can be a real headache.

We also have an HD-200 connected to our main living room TV.

Hands down the HD-200 wins for chimp-simple operation and lack of problems.

The HD-200 can decode about any freak-show, oddball format I throw at it, including CBR and VBR stuff from my PVR-USB2, HD-PVR H.264, and my other analog tuners, as well as DVD playback and playback of SD MPEG files. It could not care less about aspect ratios the shows were recorded in vs. 1080i playback on our slightly older HDTV. It simply does NOT have sound decoding issues compared to the clients, although I admit I have not pushed it to do surround. We only have stereo. Whatever conversions or up-sampling it does, if any, makes modern DVD's look awesome. Another big draw - pardon the awful pun - is how little power it draws. Put a Kill-A-Watt meter on your "idle" PC client sometime and you will about puke. If you can get it to sleep or hibernate reliably, I suppose that's fine. I gave up that fight a long time ago, and got tired of cold booting the PC every time I wanted to watch Sage, although a SSD will make cold booting more than acceptable.

I agree with the above posters - a stand-alone client does allow for some nice options like gaming or using a dedicated Blu-Ray drive and player software. For sure, PowerDVD or Corel DVD 2010 have some nicer features on them, but if your point is to sit down and watch a movie, the HD-200 does the job really well. Also, I have not experienced the network "glitchiness" others have with their HD-200's, so apparently I am fortunate in that regard.

Just my thoughts.