Moving to a new box. Suggestions?

[rrussell]

I've had it (again) with my M9000 mini-itx.

The graphics keep resetting between reboots. The hardware config changes itself. The CPU is too low-powered to handle background defrags when recording. I'm tired of wrestling with it.

So, I am soliciting a parts list. Who has built something out of, say, a lowish-end pentium/celeron in a box that wouldn't look like a PC stuck in a stereo rack? Onboard TV-out would be a bonus. I'm not particular about vid quality. SPDIF out for DVD audio would also be a bonus.

I'm going to move the hard drives (currently in external USB + Firewire enclosures) into a dedicated server in another room, but I'd like to keep the PVR250 in this box. Is this dumb? (I have a cable hookup here, but not elsewhere, hence that idea.)

I'd like to keep the box cool and quiet - absolute silence is not necessary, since anything will be better than the insistent honking buzz that the M9000 cpu fan emits.

Anyway, I'd love to hear about your experiences. In return, here's mine: VIA Epias are not up to this task.

Thanks,
Rob

[salsbst]

a) I'd put the 250 with the hard drives in the separate room running SageTV and run SageTVClient on the HTPC. I just really like having the client seperate from the server. It means I can tweak/restart/crash the HTPC without disturbing recordings. I'd run the cable back into the other room. It's what I did. Perhaps I'm crazy.

b) I wouldn't bother defragging drives that are used for Sage recordings. I've seen no evidence that this is necessary. NOt sure if you are or are not, but you probably don't need to.

c) I used an ATech Fabrication case for my HTPC: http://www.atechfabrication.com/products/atech_3000.htm . Warning: they are not cheap. It's actually the most expensive single piece of PC hardware that I've purchased since I stopped buying PCs prebuilt. But I'd do it again today.

Good luck!

[Crowdx42]

Yes,, totally agree,, run a server with your capture cards and have a client machine at your tv set. I have a client with a PVR 350 and it works 95% of the time flawless. As was already mentioned you can then mess around with the client and it will not affect your server recording etc.
As far as defragging goes, the reason for 64k cluster size as recommended here on this site is because it will mean no need to defrag the hard drive cause this clusted size does not defragment.
Patrick

[stanger89]

Originally posted by salsbst

c) I used an ATech Fabrication case for my HTPC:

Ooh, Mr. Megabux

Personally I'd love to have one of these:
http://www.atechfabrication.com/prod...en_display.htm
Take that Fosgate

I especially like how the Atech cases are like Ferraris in that you don't buy one, you get one made for you.

Rob, seriously, don't bother defragging, I've never done it, and have no problems.

[Crowdx42]

So I presume the touch screen is extra? How much would it cost for a touch screen like that?? Looks REALLY nice
Patrick

[jdbrown]

Originally posted by salsbst
a) I'd put the 250 with the hard drives in the separate room running SageTV and run SageTVClient on the HTPC. I just really like having the client seperate from the server. It means I can tweak/restart/crash the HTPC without disturbing recordings. I'd run the cable back into the other room. It's what I did. Perhaps I'm crazy.

b) I wouldn't bother defragging drives that are used for Sage recordings. I've seen no evidence that this is necessary. NOt sure if you are or are not, but you probably don't need to.

c) I used an ATech Fabrication case for my HTPC: http://www.atechfabrication.com/products/atech_3000.htm . Warning: they are not cheap. It's actually the most expensive single piece of PC hardware that I've purchased since I stopped buying PCs prebuilt. But I'd do it again today.

Good luck!

Wow that is a nice case!

I'm thinking fo doing what you said - how are the client and server networked? Wired or wireless? Since my only other practical option is 2 stories away from my TV just wondering...

[Crowdx42]

Wired is still the easiest option BUT the new higher bandwidth wireless options should work fine too. Depends also on how many clients you end up.
Patrick

[Opus4]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
As far as defragging goes, the reason for 64k cluster size as recommended here on this site is because it will mean no need to defrag the hard drive cause this clusted size does not defragment.

Well, technically, the drive will still get fragmented to an extreme amount eventually, but with 64K clusters it just doesn't matter as much since the drive can seek fast enough to read/write all the data it needs to. A badly fragmented drive with a 4K cluster size simply can't seek fast enough to keep up with the data stream. I've always wondered, though, whether a fragmented 64K cluster drive could have problems when using a large number of tuners at the same time.... but I suppose if you've got something like 6 tuners, you'll be using multiple drives & spreading the load around.

Anyway, I don't bother defragmenting my video drives either, just my OS & apps partitions.

Several people use wireless w/o problems (or at least the higher bandwidth versions), but I know at least one person with a lot of radio interference who can't seem to get good results with wireless. So, your results may vary.

- Andy

[jdbrown]

So with SageClient, you do not need a PVR card or a DirecTV tuner (in my case)? It is always watching recordings from the SageServer?

I guess I am not 100% sure on the different variations of Sage - SageTV, Server, Client. and what they can/can't do.

[stanger89]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
So I presume the touch screen is extra? How much would it cost for a touch screen like that?? Looks REALLY nice
Patrick

They're about $400, maybe a little less if you look.

[Opus4]

SageTV controls all your recording devices.

SageTVClient 'talks' to SageTV over the network to get its content and can do pretty much everything that SageTV can do... except control a tuner on its own.

SageTVRecorder can record from a tuner and can be used on a network PC to make use of a networked tuner for SageTV. In that case SageTV tells SageTVRecorder what to record, so it is still in charge.

- Andy

[stanger89]

Originally posted by jdbrown
So with SageClient, you do not need a PVR card or a DirecTV tuner (in my case)? It is always watching recordings from the SageServer?

Yes, you don't need a card, or box at the client, it views video streamed from the server.

I guess I am not 100% sure on the different variations of Sage - SageTV, Server, Client. and what they can/can't do.

SageTV is the whole thing, does everything, manages recordings, tuner, scheduling, disk space. Server is part of SageTV, it's just an option you turn on/off. SageClient is just a remote interface to SageTV, it provides you nearly all the user features of SageTV, but has no "guts" (ie no recording/scheduling/etc) itself.

[rrussell]

So perhaps the epia would be sufficient for a CLIENT.... I just need to set up the server with the drives and PVR250 elsewhere.

Very interesting option. I'm not sure what would be involved getting the cable coax to the right place, but I may check it out before moving on.

If I have a DVD drive in the client, does that still work as it does now?

[rrussell]

PS that is a NICE NICE NICE case. Wow!

[Opus4]

Originally posted by rrussell
If I have a DVD drive in the client, does that still work as it does now?

Yes, and in fact, the DVD player will ONLY work locally. You cannot stream a DVD from SageTV (server) to SageTVClient.

- Andy

[salsbst]

Originally posted by rrussell
PS that is a NICE NICE NICE case. Wow!

It is a nice case, and I don't plan to upgrade it any time soon (ever, really). I figured that the hard drive, mobo, CPU, RAM and the rest will come and go over the years, so I didn't buy any top of the line stuff there.

But that case should last a long while. First, it's built like a tank. Second, it'll suite me as long as I can find decent ATX motherboards. While there may be alternatives to ATX floating around, I don't see ATX going away any time soon.

Just had to say that in my own defense since Stranger is teasing me.

[stanger89]

Originally posted by Opus4
Yes, and in fact, the DVD player will ONLY work locally. You cannot stream a DVD from SageTV (server) to SageTVClient.

- Andy

Just to clarify, you can't stream a DVD in the Sage server DVD drive, however you can stream ripped DVDs from the video library.

[Opus4]

So: that probably comes down to whether the encryption has been removed, right? If so, maybe a non-encrypted DVD would stream? Other than self-made DVDs, I don't know how many of those exist...

- Andy

[stanger89]

Encryption, region coding, Optical drives aren't shared as Optical drives (with Windows file sharing at least), there's a bunch of issues. Probably the biggest one is that Sage isn't designed to Share/stream it's local optical drive.

[rrussell]

That's ok - I wouldn't want to have to run into the server room and put the DVD in there anyway. I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't have to