SageDCT--A Big Thank You to babgvant

[FriscoJohn]

Comcast San Francisco scrambled all my QAM channels.

I got my HDHRPrime and picked up a cable card. I downloaded SageDCT. An hour later I was watching cable again on SageTV.

I just wanted to publically express my appreciation and respect for babgvant, the author of SageDCT, for his fine work and support of the Sage community.

Just a couple of things I have learned that might be of interest to others:

I initially installed the HDHRPrime to work with Windows Media Center (Win7). It took me a while to figure out that to make it work I had to run the "Digital Cable Advisor" from the Extras Library in WMC. Otherwise, WMC gives you a message that your HTPC is "Not Compatible with HDCP Digital Sources", or something to that effect. Unfortunately, my copy of WMC didn't have that in it's Extras Library. After some searching I found that I could download and install the "Digital Cable Advisor" in WMC by clicking on the following link: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=195560 (note this is for a 64 bit Win7 install)--it downloads a file ending in .msi then you double click on that file to install it). After you have installed the Digital Cable Advisor in WMC and clicked on it, it does some magic to your computer and makes it HDCP compliant (assuming you have a fairly recent video card that supports HDCP).

I then went to www.comcast.com/activate and put in my account info and it gave me a screen allowing me to self-activate my cable card--very slick.
After satisfying myself that the HDHRPrime worked with WMC, I tackled Sage.

Installing SageDCT was quick and uneventful. It caused the three HDHR cablecard tuners to show up in the Sage Source Setup menu. Configuring these was straightforward.

It works great for EVERYTHING but HBO and Encore (and presumably the other extra-pay movie channels which I don't subscribe to). This means I have a lot more cable channels than when I was getting QAM as the only QAM channels that Comcast SF left unscrambled were the locals and 5 or 6 others.

I can switch back and forth between WMC and SageTV and see the cable channels (minus HBO and Encore for SageTV) on either.

Big advantage for SageTV: WMC disables the skip ahead feature on commercials in its recordings (no doubt because Comcast put in some flag to do so) whereas SageTV allows me to skip freely!!!

Plus, the UI on SageTV is still way better than WMC, especially when it comes to scheduling favorites, searching for shows, organizing recordings, etc.

Big advantage for WMC: I can record from HBO and Encore.

So I plan to watch most everything on Sage and resort to WMC only for recording prime channels (e.g., HBO).

With support like babgvant's, Sage will live forever!!!

Please everybody checkout his site babgvant.com for a lot of neat extras and chip in a $5 donation to show your appreciation.

Again, major props to babgvant.

[BobPhoenix]

To get the premiums you might get a HD-PVR and STB to record them in SageTV. I use the original 1212 versions but since I'm on satellite I don't have a cable card option so I had to use a HD-PVR to get HD.

[reggie14]

I'll echo those thanks.

SageDCT has been great. The vast majority of what I what comes through copy-freely channels. I was previously using two HD-PVRs with an HDHR for locals. Now I have an HDHR for locals, an HDHR Prime for locals+expanded-basic-cable and one HD-PVR connected to an STB for premium channels.

My HD-PVR works reasonably well, but channel changing is so much more reliable and fast with the Prime tuner. Every once in a while my STB reboots and I don't know about it until I try to watch a blank recording.

That was less of a problem before. When I was on Comcast, my STBs didn't reboot as often (now I have FiOS). I also rebuilt my server to Win7 x64, which prevents me from using firewire channel changing. My USB-UIRT works OK, but it's definitely slower and less reliable than firewire.

[nyplayer]

FriscoJohn,

I have a similar setup except I went with 2 primes. and returned 2 Cable boxes. I have 3 tuners allocated to WMC and 3 tuners for SageTV. I have mini PC's attached to my TV's. I kept 1 cable box for on demand etc.... I also have 3 dual Hd Homeruns for OTA.... 4 for Sage and 2 for WMC. I seamlessly switch between Sage Client and WMC in each client when I need to.

When I want to watch live TV I use WMC all the time.

[sundansx]

I don't want to burst your bubble, but if your cable provider sets the "copy-once" flag on those channels (thats what is probably happening on your movie channels) then the party is over. Thats the boat I am in...Frontier fios turned on copyonce on every channel except locals.
That said, have fun with your setup..I am jealous.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by sundansx

I don't want to burst your bubble, but if your cable provider sets the "copy-once" flag on those channels (thats what is probably happening on your movie channels) then the party is over. Thats the boat I am in...Frontier fios turned on copyonce on every channel except locals.
That said, have fun with your setup..I am jealous.

In my case if they Set the copy-once flag I just switch everything over to WMC... and say Bye to sage.

[jerryb33]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

To get the premiums you might get a HD-PVR and STB to record them in SageTV. I use the original 1212 versions but since I'm on satellite I don't have a cable card option so I had to use a HD-PVR to get HD.

Directv has some sort of copy protection on their HDMI port. "Treme" on Sunday was block with something like "can't copy" over HDMI. I had just put a new 19" TV in my "computer room" (my sage, DTV, old Panny DVD recorder,etc) Hooked the HDMI directly to TV and component cables to the HDPVR 1212. UNblugged the HDMI from the TV, (don't really watch, just test) and "Treme" recorded thru the component cables to Sage.

Didn't someone have a splitter that bypasses the copy protection thru the HDMI?

[mguebert]

Originally Posted by jerryb33

Directv has some sort of copy protection on their HDMI port. "Treme" on Sunday was block with something like "can't copy" over HDMI. I had just put a new 19" TV in my "computer room" (my sage, DTV, old Panny DVD recorder,etc) Hooked the HDMI directly to TV and component cables to the HDPVR 1212. UNblugged the HDMI from the TV, (don't really watch, just test) and "Treme" recorded thru the component cables to Sage.

Didn't someone have a splitter that bypasses the copy protection thru the HDMI?

It's expensive but I found this

http://www.hdfury.com/shop/3dfury/hdfury-iv/

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by jerryb33

Directv has some sort of copy protection on their HDMI port. "Treme" on Sunday was block with something like "can't copy" over HDMI. I had just put a new 19" TV in my "computer room" (my sage, DTV, old Panny DVD recorder,etc) Hooked the HDMI directly to TV and component cables to the HDPVR 1212. UNblugged the HDMI from the TV, (don't really watch, just test) and "Treme" recorded thru the component cables to Sage.

Didn't someone have a splitter that bypasses the copy protection thru the HDMI?

Originally Posted by mguebert

It's expensive but I found this

http://www.hdfury.com/shop/3dfury/hdfury-iv/

I have one of these for HDMI recordings to my Colossus. Don't need it on my DirectTV HR21 because it isn't protected. But when I had a H24 connected it worked when I tried it.

[jerryb33]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I have one of these for HDMI recordings to my Colossus. Don't need it on my DirectTV HR21 because it isn't protected. But when I had a H24 connected it worked when I tried it.

My HR21 does have some sort of protection!! In my situation I had the HDMI going to a TV and component going to the HDPVR. BY removing the HDMI from the TV allowed me to record on HBO. It did not record the first time, both connected. Other channels (not premium) did record.
I will try it again and let you know.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by jerryb33

My HR21 does have some sort of protection!! In my situation I had the HDMI going to a TV and component going to the HDPVR. BY removing the HDMI from the TV allowed me to record on HBO. It did not record the first time, both connected. Other channels (not premium) did record.
I will try it again and let you know.

I have the following out of my HR21: HDMI to Colossus, Component to TV & SPDif to reciever (never watch from box so seldom used), SVideo and RCA Stereo audio to HVR-2250 for SD channels (almost no recordings any more). The premiums like HBO give me the least amount of problems on the Colossus. Channels like FXHD & SyFyHD that have commercials are having the most problems. The problems on HBO usually happen after tuning from another channel like FXHD. Because you had HDMI to the TV will cause the box to turn off other outputs (maybe only the components). If you switched the outputs and used HDMI to Colossus and Component to TV I think you would have better results with HBO.

[IVB]

Originally Posted by FriscoJohn

Installing SageDCT was quick and uneventful. It caused the three HDHR cablecard tuners to show up in the Sage Source Setup menu. Configuring these was straightforward.

Please everybody checkout his site babgvant.com for a lot of neat extras and chip in a $5 donation to show your appreciation.

Again, major props to babgvant.

Dang, ditto, I just got my HDHR Prime and Cablecard yesterday. After hours of putzing with HDPVR1, buying an HDPVR2 and having Windows issues, I was shocked when I went from plugging in the HDHR to having a signal in (60 minutes? had to stop and quickly eat with the family then run back to set up )

Off to donate myself, thanks much.

[BobbyDing]

Question???
I just had Verizon Fios installed and have a cable card and HDHR Prime OTW. I want to install it this weekend on my Sage server running Win7-64bit. It's a quad core with 4gb ram, but no special video card as it just serves a couple of extenders and clients. Will the WMC "Digital Cable Adviser" bawk at the lack of an HDMI video output?

Do I need to install a better video card even though this machine isn't used for watching tv?

Thanks for any advice!

Bobby

[FriscoJohn]

If you run into problems this might help:

http://www.missingremote.com/guide/o...media-center-7

Cheers.

[rgroves]

Good info. I'm still debating if I want to get an HDHR Prime and hook it up to SageTV or WMC. One question.... How do I find out the flags on channels? I'm on Charter in Est Tennessee and when I call the office they stare at me thru the phone like I have antlers on my head. SO, what can I do to find out for myself?

I subscribe to everything on Charter and I'd like to be able to record a few shows that are on HBO, Encore, etc... I don't want to build a WMC box just to record 2-3 shows a week, but if I have to, I will.

[JerryB]

Originally Posted by rgroves

Good info. I'm still debating if I want to get an HDHR Prime and hook it up to SageTV or WMC. One question.... How do I find out the flags on channels? I'm on Charter in Est Tennessee and when I call the office they stare at me thru the phone like I have antlers on my head. SO, what can I do to find out for myself?

It's easy to find out the flags (at least copy freely) on channels if you have an HDHR Prime.

First, run a channel scan in HDHR Setup, Then, go the the HDHR web page and click on Channel Lineup. The lineup will list all the channels you receive and will place a DRM marker after the name of any copy protected channels.

[BobbyDing]

Excellent Thread. Thanks. Does anybody know if I can set up the Media Center on One PC (just to get the CC working, not for general use) and the set the CC up for Sage on a different PC that does not have CC set up in Media Center? Both on the same network of course...

Thanks for any info!

Bobby

[JerryB]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

Does anybody know if I can set up the Media Center on One PC (just to get the CC working, not for general use) and the set the CC up for Sage on a different PC that does not have CC set up in Media Center? Both on the same network of course...Bobby

I have an HDHR Prime that can be accessed by 3 computers on my network: one with SageTV (server) + Media Center, 1 with SageTV (client) plus Media Center, and 1 with just Media Center and at one point the SageTV (server) + Media Center computer only had SageTV (not Media Center) so you shouldn't have any problem with what you propose. The only issue to be aware of is that there is no communication between SageTV and Media Center with respect to which tuners are being used or free so if you want to use both programs outside of limited testing, you need to make sure that they're not trying to simultaneously access/control the same tuner. I don't have this problem since I primarily rely on SageTV and setup Media Center on the computers more for testing, than actual use.

[BobbyDing]

Originally Posted by JerryB

I have an HDHR Prime that can be accessed by 3 computers on my network: one with SageTV (server) + Media Center, 1 with SageTV (client) plus Media Center, and 1 with just Media Center and at one point the SageTV (server) + Media Center computer only had SageTV (not Media Center) so you shouldn't have any problem with what you propose. The only issue to be aware of is that there is no communication between SageTV and Media Center with respect to which tuners are being used or free so if you want to use both programs outside of limited testing, you need to make sure that they're not trying to simultaneously access/control the same tuner. I don't have this problem since I primarily rely on SageTV and setup Media Center on the computers more for testing, than actual use.

Thanks. I should be good to go then. Another question though.... My server presently has 4 HDHR3's installed for OTA. Should I leave them installed when setting up the Prime? Or remove them and re install again after the Prime? I guess what I'm asking is, with the HDHR3's cause any confusion during the Sage install of the Prime?

Thanks..

[JerryB]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

Thanks. I should be good to go then. Another question though.... My server presently has 4 HDHR3's installed for OTA. Should I leave them installed when setting up the Prime? Or remove them and re install again after the Prime? I guess what I'm asking is, with the HDHR3's cause any confusion during the Sage install of the Prime?

Thanks..

I removed my HDHR3 when I setup my HDHR Prime but that was only because I was switching cable from the HDHR3 to the HDHR Prime (I don't have OTA) so I don't have any direct experience to answer your question but, since the HDHR Prime is not directly recognized by SageTV and instead must be setup up using SageDCT, I don't see any reason why there would be a conflict that would require you to remove your HDHR3s prior to setting up your HDHR Prime.