Best Mainboard for SageTV Server?

[Hector]

I have this motherboard too. I really like it, no problems with Sage. The extra gig nic can be handy as it give you another nic in your htpc area. I knew I was going to have an Nvidia video card so why not let everyone play nice together.

peace . . .

Originally Posted by mdmint

To answer your mobo question my SageServer and HTPC Client both solid with AMD & Nvidia chipsets (Asus A7NX8-E Deluxe which also has onboard Gb nic.)

[jptaz]

My friend who had the same problem with the PVR 500 bought the Asus A7NX8-E Deluxe last night. I will see how his works for him.

Thanks for all the input,
John

[jptaz]

OK an Update.

My buddy got the A7NX8-E Deluxe and he got everything working with SageTV. I took my PVR 500 over so that he had 2 PVR500s and 1 PVR250MCE installed and all 5 encoders worked like a charm.

I am definitely not get this mainboard since it will not suite my needs. Do to the fact that Asus can not layout a mainboard worth a dam we could not install his second PVR250MCE since there are all sorts of tall capacitors in several of the PCI slots that interfere with the MCE cards from physically being installed because of the bottom RCA connector. Also the fact that they placed the FireWire header right in front of one of the PCI slots you have the choice of installing the firewire connector on the header or installing a PCI card. Likewise the internal Audio connecters like the SPIDIF are in such poor locations it is impossible to plug them in with any of the MCE cards without crimping the cable and potentially shorting the main board and in some cases even a PCI card with out the protusion at the base would cause problems.

All my Giga-byte mainboards have had intelligently located internal headers that do not interfere with PCI cards. In fact both my current and previous board had them located in such a location as to easily connect them to my cases front panel Firewire and USB 2.0 ports. As I now recall this is why I stopped buying Asus products to begin with.

Everyone is entitled to their own opion and so far I agree that the Asus board is probably solid, just not designed well for utilizing all the features.

John

[mdmint]

Well that may suck. I now have 4xPVR250 (not MCEs) and a 3ware 9500S RAID ctrl in that mobo's 5 slots but am considering replacing some of the PVR250s with PVR500MCEs. Hope it won't be an issue... sounds like it won't be but might. BTW, my main point in mentioning that ASUS mobo earlier wasn't the fact that it is was ASUS but the Nvidia chipset seeming highly Sage friendly and integrated gigabit nic.

[jptaz]

You should be ok. 3 of the slots are ok for MCE cards. The slot closest to the AGP slot has the issue with the capacitor blocking the card. The 4th slot from the AGP may or may not have the issue so you should be able to replace a few of the PVR 250s.

I am hoping that you are right about the nForce2 chipset is good. I think I will get the Giga-Byte with all the IDE slots and SATA. I know the onboard RAID is crap, but I am just interested in keeping all my IDE drives seperately. I have been pleased with the Giga-Byte boards so far.

Thanks for the advice.

John

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by jptaz

You should be ok. 3 of the slots are ok for MCE cards. The slot closest to the AGP slot has the issue with the capacitor blocking the card. The 4th slot from the AGP may or may not have the issue so you should be able to replace a few of the PVR 250s.

Cool, that's means could increase from current 5 tuner/encoders (one PVR250 in HTPC network mode) to 8 w/o mobo concern!

[Juncti]

Jptaz, would you recommend the A7N8X-E Deluxe for someone trying to hook up 2 PVR 500MCE's? I've been going through hell trying to get them working on my computers and am looking to replace a motherboard since it's likely the problem.

I just want to get one that will work with the 500's since I've already spent a good deal trying to get this far. Looks like with this board I could just move my Athlon 1.4 over to here and then in the future I could even upgrade the processor.

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by Juncti

Jptaz, would you recommend the A7N8X-E Deluxe for someone trying to hook up 2 PVR 500MCE's? I've been going through hell trying to get them working on my computers and am looking to replace a motherboard since it's likely the problem.

I just want to get one that will work with the 500's since I've already spent a good deal trying to get this far. Looks like with this board I could just move my Athlon 1.4 over to here and then in the future I could even upgrade the processor.

I'm not Jptaz but have that mobo in my Sage Server and ordred a PVR500 this weekend so hopefully will know this by this weekend. (to replace one of the 4 PVR250s)

Earlier in this thread Jptaz did say:

My buddy got the A7NX8-E Deluxe and he got everything working with SageTV. I took my PVR 500 over so that he had 2 PVR500s and 1 PVR250MCE installed and all 5 encoders worked like a charm.

He also said 3 PVR500 for sure and maybe 4 that mobo can use because of mobo layout.

[jptaz]

The A7N8X-E Deluxe has been solid for my buddy with both our PVR 500MCEs and a PVR 250CMCE. On saturday he was recording for 5 hours straight at Max MPEG2 on all 5 tuners.

Having said that may want to consider the A7N8X-X if you do not need SATA or Firwire especially since if you are using all the PCI slots you will not be able to use the Firewire any way.

I am going to take a chance on the Giga-Byte as I think my problem was the VIA chipset and I have heard the nForce2 is the way to go for Athlon XP.

John

[jptaz]

Also I have communicated with Hauppauge and I asked the support rep what boards they have had success with, and he said Asus and FIC boards.

[Juncti]

Well I went ahead and ordered my board. I went with the Deluxe since it's had a set of 500's and run fine. Figure better safe than sorry. I'm just dying to get Sage up and running. It looks so nice till it crashes lol

Don't really need the SATA at the moment, but I'm sure I will in the future when my 300 gig drive isn't large enough anymore, then I can slap some SATA drives in there to expand. Plus I can upgrade the processor sometime as well since this will take faster speeds. My Shuttle MoBo caps out at 1.5ghz.

Thanks a lot for the updates on this, hope it all works out. Now if only they would release better drivers so we wouldn't need to go through all of this to get running.

[jptaz]

From what I have read it has more to do with some chipsets not correctly implementing PCI. I have read several forums about PCI RAID and SCSI cards that use some of the more advanced PCI protocol for performance failing because of incorrect implementation.

I would think that they could write the drivers to handle this since VIA is a pretty popular chipset.

John

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by Juncti

Don't really need the SATA at the moment, but I'm sure I will in the future when my 300 gig drive isn't large enough anymore, then I can slap some SATA drives in there to expand. Plus I can upgrade the processor sometime as well since this will take faster speeds. My Shuttle MoBo caps out at 1.5ghz.

Single 300G, putting in two PVR500, you'll be able to chew that space up FAST! At Max Qx4 less than 15hrs!

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by jptaz

From what I have read it has more to do with some chipsets not correctly implementing PCI. I have read several forums about PCI RAID and SCSI cards that use some of the more advanced PCI protocol for performance failing because of incorrect implementation.

I would think that they could write the drivers to handle this since VIA is a pretty popular chipset.

John

But if the card drivers are written to the PCI spec and the chipset itself and the chipset driver doesn't correctly follow the PCI spec who's the fault if it doesnt' work? Over the years I've had more problems with VIA chipsets than any other myself and have stayed away from them for a couple years.

[Juncti]

Well whoever's fault it is, it would be nice if they would work together so the end user doesn't suffer. I've tried to get this working on 2 computers no with no luck. Oddly though I can display 4 channels at once using 4 instances of AMCap. It's only when Sage starts to record on all those channels that I freeze up. Guess it takes more power to convert and store than to just display.

Anyhow, looking forward to my new board (was well overdue anyhow). Newegg already processed it so I should have it by the weekend.

And as to 300gig filling up fast. You ain't kiddin lol But I gotta stay within my budget, I'll add later which is when those SATA slots will come in handy. I'll just keep an eye out for sales and buy then. I got the 300 gig Seagate for $150.

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by Juncti

Well whoever's fault it is, it would be nice if they would work together so the end user doesn't suffer. I've tried to get this working on 2 computers no with no luck. Oddly though I can display 4 channels at once using 4 instances of AMCap. It's only when Sage starts to record on all those channels that I freeze up. Guess it takes more power to convert and store than to just display.

Oh I totally agree, we the end users don't know about mfg'ing shortcuts and downfalls 'till often too late. Recording vs viewing it really wouldn't take anymore cpu power since the encoding done on the cards, but it would be utilizing the PCI bus heavier. VIA pci implementation likely the culprit as you suspect.

Anyhow, looking forward to my new board (was well overdue anyhow). Newegg already processed it so I should have it by the weekend.

Newegg always is top rate for service. I expect you'll have it well before the weekend!

And as to 300gig filling up fast. You ain't kiddin lol But I gotta stay within my budget, I'll add later which is when those SATA slots will come in handy. I'll just keep an eye out for sales and buy then. I got the 300 gig Seagate for $150.

Yeah, $0.50/GB good price point. (I remember when $10/MB was good! ) Just got number three 250GB SATA @$120 after rebates for my workstation array last week, still working on getting the 4th @$125 or less. (That $120 deal was limited to one rebate or would have gotten 2 then)

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by mdmint

Oh I totally agree, we the end users don't know about mfg'ing shortcuts and downfalls 'till often too late. Recording vs viewing it really wouldn't take anymore cpu power since the encoding done on the cards, but it would be utilizing the PCI bus heavier. VIA pci implementation likely the culprit as you suspect.

What's really annoying is seeing VIA based boards get glowing reviews, knowing full well that the PCI implimentation still sucks (as evidenced by reports here).

[jptaz]

I agree Stanger. Glowing reviews cause problems.

Frankly I think it is only a little better than all the glowing reviews the Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe. Most of them were over clocking sites and gamer sites where the users would never even install a single PCI board. It seems really weak for a mainboard to be given glowing reviews when you have to make trade offs on either using built in features like the SPIDIF out and FireWire or occupying PCI slots. I have not read the spec for PCI card dimmensions and maybe the fault lies with Hauppauge for having the RCA ports so low on the MCE cards, but I kind of doubt a main board is suppose to have anything in the path of the PCI slots at the back of the case. Even a SCSI card with a large cnnector or two could have issues with the Capacitors in Slot 1 and I am not sure any PCI baord would not interfere with the firewire and spidif headers.

I suspect the Gamer and Over clocking boards are equally to blame for VIA getting away with a bad PCI implementation as they would never test with unusua PCI cards let if no PCI cards at alll. Oh wait maybe we should be complaining to Microsoft. I didn't buy my board for this reason, but my mainboard is certified by Microsoft as being "Designed for Windows XP" and so is the Hauppauge PVR 500 MCE (or at least the Drivers are certified). Last time I checked that was supposed to mean that they should meet Microsoft Guidelines for be compatibility and quality. I guess Microsoft just let those PCI guidelines just slip by the way side.

I guess in the end is just buyer beware since even a Microsoft Certified Main Board can have issues. No more VIA mainboards for me, that is for sure.

John

[Juncti]

Originally Posted by mdmint

Newegg always is top rate for service. I expect you'll have it well before the weekend!

How good is their service for exchanges? This pc is going to be the death of me.

I get my board yesterday, get home and remove the old board, place this one in and it fits just right. Install the cpu, ram, ect... Hook it up and hit power, no POST. Nothing happens. Drives power up, fans are running, but nada. No error messages, no nothing.

I spend a few hours trying the parts in different pc's, all the parts work, only part not working would be the motherboard.

This is the one thing I hate about online shopping, having to deal with stuff that isn't working. Such a pain to exchange.

Seems like I'm never going to get Sage up and running.

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by Juncti

How good is their service for exchanges?

Excellent. No hassles.