Newbie Needs information

[twa8000]

I want to get Sage TV and need to know what all i need and if i can achieve what i want to do

I currently have TWC and i have a scientific Atlanta Box with the fire wire port, i think its a 8300HD...

I also have a dedicated media computer that is distributed across my house in HD, it does not have cablecard slots, but i do have a Hauppage PVR.

How can i hook this all up i can record on sagetv in HD and still watch HD Broadcast at the same time.. i know the scientific atlanta box has a dual tuner because i can current record one show and watch another channel...

Also could i upgrade in the future? if i got 2 of these cable boxes could i then record 2 channels at once in sagetv and watch 2 different channels at once all in hd? Or record 3 channels and watch 1, or record 1 and watch 3 channels?

Sorry im new to all this, i tried going through the forum but alot of the post are more then 100 pages and i just can't figure this all out, any help would be appreciated or at least where to start. Thanks!

-Tom-

[davephan]

Welcome to the SageTV forum.

You will need video/audio capture devices for each program you want to record or watch live. To record one program and watch another program at the same time requires two capture devices. The more capture devices you have the more programs you can watch live while recording and the less recording conflicts you will have when you want to record multiple programs at the same time.

If the set top box has two output connections, one for each tuner, then you can connect each to a separate capture device. If the set top box is setup so that only one tuner has outputs, then you would have to watch live TV with that set top box directly.

Do you plan to replace your media computer with SageTV or just add SageTV to your media computer?

I have set top cable boxes connected to TVs independently of SageTV, plus a HD cable box for my HD-PVR. If someone wants to watch independently of SageTV they can. Capture devices can be setup for the cable box or over the air. I have four capture devices setup for over the air HD since most of my recording is from over the air. The recording quality is higher from the over the air tuners than from the HD cable box.

Channel switching for the set top boxes can sometimes be a problem. It sounds like your SageTV computer can switch channels with firewire. Many people use a USB-UIRT to blast IR signals to the set top boxes.

If you need more help, just ask again. Maybe you could clarify what you are trying to do the the other media computer.

Dave

[wayner]

Although your SA8300HD has two tuners only one of them is available externally through the component outputs. Therefore it is kind of a waste to use this box with Sage, you may as well use a non-PVR box. I would highly recommend that you get Sage its own dedicated cable box(es) as otherwise there will be contention between Sage and live TV viewing.

When you say you have a Hauppauge PVR, do you mean a Hauppauge HD-PVR device?

You will need a separate tuning device for every channel that you want to record (or stream via Sage) simultaneously. If these are all premium cable channels that means one cable box and one HD-PVR for each channel. However if you do lots of your recording on network stations then you may be able to use OTA tuners (and an antenna) which are MUCH cheaper per tuner - but that assumes that you are close to a city with OTA channels and/or you can put up an antenna - I can pull in digital channels from 90 miles away.

If some of the channels are not available in HD, or if you don't care if your record them in SD or HD (think kids shows) then you could also tune analog cable, assuming that your provider still sends analog channels.

My setup is that I have two HD-PVRs connected to two HD cable boxes (SA3250HD and SA4250HD). I have a couple of OTA tuners to get the major networks. I also have an SD cable box (SA3200) connected to an analog tuner via s-video for SD cable channels. I pretty much never have any conflicts with this setup although I still have cable boxes at most TVs in the house for live TV, which I never watch but my wife does. Note that I live in Canada where you can buy cable boxes from your cable company and I have bought my cable boxes over many years, usually for $100 each or less.

[Bikeman]

Tom,

Just to throw another option at you, search the board for "Ceton".

It is a device that relatively new that uses one CableCard to record 4 streams of HD video using Win7 Media Center and Sage sits on top of it to display the video throughout the house.

Early users says its working well.

Jeff

[twa8000]

Thanks For all that.

My plan was to have to have 2 cable boxes, both have dual tuners.

2 Tuners distributed across my house, and 2 tuners go directly into sagetv for DVR recording. So i would need 2 of the PVR i guess. My media center computer that i will run sagetv on has a IR out port so i could just use that for controller of the receivers?.

Yes i do have a HD-PVR...

But i will look at the Ceton... i see my 8300hd cable box has a cable card in the back of it.. can i just take that out of there?

I have a HP Digital Entertainment Center z560 - Pentium D 925, Would this support the Centon card?

-Tom-

[wayner]

Actually your best bet would be to use firewire as most of the SA cable boxes have firewire and it is the most reliable method for changing channels. It is a bit more work to set up initially bet it is the best way to go. You may have to buy a firewire card for your PC unless your mobo has firewire or you have a firewire card in another PC.

You also may be able to use firewire to extract video from your box - but this is more complicated and is often fraught with DRM issues. But if it works it saves you from having to buy an HD-PVR but you still will need a separate cable box for each channel that you want to tune simultaneously.

Check out this thread: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...light=firewire