New Server with Colosuss

[NoodleNT]

Hi all,

I have been using BeyondTV for almost 8 years. Since the company has changed their business model I am left to find a new solution that will support the new Colosuss card. I am looking to build a 64 bit Win7 server with 2-3 HD extenders and 2 Windows clients. I will use 3 Colosuss cards, along with my HDHomerun and maybe a few left over PVRs. However my main goal is to go all HD. Can SageTV handle this kind of load with the 3 Colosuss cards? Also my wife is a heavy "Flipper". I actually just forfeit control of the remote while she is in the room. It took her awhile to fall in love with BTV. However now she is hooked. I was even told the DVRs from the cable company's are not good enough anymore.

So.. My question is, can SageTV handle this kind of load? What sort of server config should I consider for this load out? What's the WAF?

[makutaku]

I can not answer your question completely, but I will say that my family uses Sage for 7 years and we love it. The feature set, stability, and high WAF with the customizations that are available make it a fantastic product.

The week point at the moment is the lack of Cable Card support. For 2 years I've been using Sage in a client-server configuration, with the dual Hauppauge 2250 working perfectly, and with direct firewire capture directly from Comcast STB working fine until a few weeks ago.

More recently, my firewire capture has become more and more unstable - it's stopping at least once a day , requiring a reboot. I am suspecting a firmware update from Comcast is the culprit.

Therefore I am giving up on firewire capture and installing a Colossus. I know that Colossus is not supported, and I may just waste my time. But I will try my luck and hopefully it will be better than the firewire approach.

[sleonard]

Colossus is supported in the 7.1.5 beta.

S

[SWKerr]

I moved from BeyondTV years ago and Sage is definitely better. You will not miss BeyondTV.

Sage can certainly handle that kind of setup on the right hardware people do it today with out issues. I have 2 HD-PVRs and one HDHR and a Adver OTA tuner as well. I currently run 5 Sage PC Clients on HTPCs and not extenders. I have tested recording 4 shows at once and watching on three differnt PC without a problems. (AMD Phenom II X3 server, 4GB RAM, Win7-64 with 4x1.5 TB RAID5 array for recordings, 4.5TB usable space. 2x1TB RAID1 boot drive 1TB usable.)

I am currently testing the Colosuss with HDMI on a DirecTV H20 box which seems to be working quite well. I switch it out with one of the HD-PVRs on days were I don't care if I might have a problem. Keep in mind the Colosuss is new and there is still just beta support at this time. Some people are reporting problems so there could be some growing pains to begin with. Mine seems stable at this point but it is something to consider for the WAF. I would still go with the Colosuss.

Also: Plugins. There are quite a few that improve the experience and UI. The new Diamond plugin is great and I would start with it for the WAF but it is not currently recommended for the 7.15 beta that is the most stable with the Colosuss. This is probably just a problem that will last for a few weeks but for now I am stuck on 7.12 beta now. Betas are always risky that way.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by NoodleNT

I am looking to build a 64 bit Win7 server with 2-3 HD extenders and 2 Windows clients.

Presumably, the majority of the time you will not be using all 3 HD extenders and 2 Windows clients simultaneously.

Originally Posted by NoodleNT

Can SageTV handle this kind of load with the 3 Colosuss cards?

With an adequate server, SageTV shouldn't have any problems handling the load from 3 Colossus cards. That said, the Colossus card has only been available for about 6 weeks, and many of us are still working through some start-up bugs. We are all hopeful that Hauppauge and/or Sage can get them fixed, with the result being a stable & reliable setup. You might want to monitor the forums for a while before plunking down $400-$500 on Colossus cards, or start with one and try it out yourself.

Originally Posted by NoodleNT

Also my wife is a heavy "Flipper".

This may work against you when it comes to WAF. Assuming you are channel changing via IR, each channel change takes 5 or more seconds. For some people, that is an eternity.

Originally Posted by NoodleNT

What sort of server confit should I consider for this load out?

You didn't mention if you were planning on using comskip or not. Assuming you are, a quad-core or an i3/i5/i7 with the hyperthreading technology would be good choices. If WAF is high on your list, don't cheap out on the server, especially when you will have invested over $1000 in capture equipment, extenders and software licenses. Many of us on this forum have a server dedicated to SageTV, in my case a headless server buried in a corner of my basement. I'd also go sata III, since it is available today for not much more cost than sata II. If you go with a headless server, then onboard video is fine. You also don't mention what you plan to use for channel changing, if you plan to use firewire, then you are restricted to 32 bit Windows. If you plan to use IR, then a USB-UIRT might be the best path for you. Plan to read up on how to use all three IR emitters built into the USB-UIRT. Depending on which content provider you are planning on using, there may also be an ethernet channel changing option available to you.

You didn't mention network at all. With the number of extenders/clients you a planning for, I would definately go with a gigabit network switch. Even though the extenders are only fast ethernet, you'll benefit from gigabit speeds between the server and the switch. Also, try to avoid wireless, especially on any of your "primary" viewing televisions.

One last thing, if WAF is high on your list, you might want to make sure you have some capability to "test" changes out in an environment other than your primary server. Having a spare workstation to load up a 21-day trial version of Sage, to try configuration changes, new plugins, beta versions, etc. prior to actually rolling it out on your primary server can keep the WAF higher. Read through the forum, see how many "help, I changed my server and screwed it up and now my wife can't watch her shows" postings there are. If a spare workstation is out of the question, then a faithful backup/restore strategy is another good alternative.

[dadof4]

Originally Posted by SomeWhatLost

how have you been using sage7 for years? it just came out relativity recently... were you on some sort pre-pre-pre-beta? now I am jealous...


how do I join the pre-pre-pre-beta?

SageTV has been available since 2002. That's not recent in the software world.

[SomeWhatLost]

Originally Posted by dadof4

SageTV has been available since 2002. That's not recent in the software world.

I read that as SageTV V7 not sageTV for 7 years... so this is either a case of I cant read, or I am infatuated with STV V7...

either case = oops, my bad...

[NoodleNT]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I have just built a new house and will be moving in next week. I ran Cat5e to all spots where we will have a TV. So bandwidth shouldn't be an issue. I am getting Verizon Fios and 4 HD boxes.
I plan to use comskip as it's the main feature of BTV that we can't live without. I currently use the USB-UIRT to change channels on 3 cable boxes and to recieve commands from my Harmony 890 remote. The 4th box is controlled by firewire with the timmmoore's plugin. The wife has gotten used to some of the slower channel changing on Beyond TV compared to a standard cable box but anything I can do in the new system will just be bonus.

I did install the trial of the beta just to see what it looks like. The wife walked by and said, "That looks pretty." We are on the right direction!

Is there a native SageTV support with the Harmony Remotes? I don't like "faking" a remote with another remote if I don't have to.

[jptheripper]

Disregard comment, i am an idiot.

[gambitpvr]

Is there a native SageTV support with the Harmony Remotes?

When I first switched to Sage, I didn't reprogram my Harmony One remote. I just continued to use the BeyondTV 'Firefly' profile that I had from my BTV days. (Yeah, I'm that lazy.) I was missing a few misc buttons, like 'options' but it worked for everything else and I had a wireless keyboard for the few buttons that I was missing.

However, when I switched to the HD300's I reprogrammed my remote using the native Sage codes that Logitech had for the HD300. Works like a charm with full functionality.

[NoodleNT]

Originally Posted by gambitpvr

However, when I switched to the HD300's I reprogrammed my remote using the native Sage codes that Logitech had for the HD300. Works like a charm with full functionality.

Just did that and it worked like a charm!

In another thread I asked if 3 Colossus can change channels on 3 different cable boxes. The answer was no, it's a problem with Hauppauge. Now I haven't recieved any cable boxes yet from Verizon, they install next weekend. Can I use something else besides the USB-UIRT? I have read some cable\sat boxes support ethernet tuning?

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by NoodleNT

Just did that and it worked like a charm!

In another thread I asked if 3 Colossus can change channels on 3 different cable boxes. The answer was no, it's a problem with Hauppauge. Now I haven't recieved any cable boxes yet from Verizon, they install next weekend. Can I use something else besides the USB-UIRT? I have read some cable\sat boxes support ethernet tuning?

Ethernet tuning seems to be a directv only feature. UIRT should work for you as it does for quite a few people. With the FIOS box you should be able to use firewire channel changing unless you run a 64bit os, the uirt would be your only choice.

[NoodleNT]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Ethernet tuning seems to be a directv only feature. UIRT should work for you as it does for quite a few people. With the FIOS box you should be able to use firewire channel changing unless you run a 64bit os, the uirt would be your only choice.

Thanks. Seems like when it comes to HTPC's you are still stuck with 32-Bit.

Does SageTV support two USB-UIRTs?

[davephan]

Originally Posted by NoodleNT

Thanks. Seems like when it comes to HTPC's you are still stuck with 32-Bit.

Does SageTV support two USB-UIRTs?

I think I've read that SageTV does support two USB-UIRT devices, someone else could confirm that.

How many set top boxes do you need to control? One USB-UIRT can control 3 set top boxes. Many more set top boxes can be controlled by one USB-UIRT if the set top boxes can be set to different IR codes. Another advantage to using the USB-UIRT is that it works with different set top boxes. With firewire, you might be stuck with one provider's set top boxes, and you would have to stay with that provider when they jack up their prices after the contract period is over.


Dave

[NoodleNT]

I am getting 4 HD boxes from Verzon Fios. Not sure of the exact model but they will not have the built in DVR.

[Tiki]

There is a sticky at the top of this forum Information Resources for Remotes, Receivers, and IR Blasters . Follow it and there are links to topics explaining configuration of the USBUIRT for multiple zones, making your own external emitters, and for more than one USBUIRT.