Could someone decloak the network encoder mystery?

[cmaffia]

What does the network encoder do?
Do I need to purchase additional software?
How can it benefit a SageTV server/single tuner with a client attached to it?

Thanks for the explanation in advance.
I've tried to understand documentation on this subject but it still seems unclear to me.

Thanks

[stanger89]

A network encoder is a way of utilizing a tuner in another PC as if it were a local encoder. It requires a copy of SageRecorder and wouldn't benefit a single tuner/client setup.

[cmaffia]

Originally Posted by stanger89

A network encoder is a way of utilizing a tuner in another PC as if it were a local encoder. It requires a copy of SageRecorder and wouldn't benefit a single tuner/client setup.

What scenario would one want to use a network encoder then?

[nielm]

1) only one Plextor convertX per machine is supported by the drivers
2) Limited pci slots on one machine
3) PVR-x50 v 15/v16 incompatabilities mean you cannot have both versions on same machine
4) exposes recording side of sage to allow 'plugins' to support other recording hardware (such as Anders' excellent DVB and generic network encoder plugins)
5) allows devices only supported by other OS's (such as running linux sage with windows-only encoders on separate machine)

Originally Posted by stanger89

It requires a copy of SageRecorder

...or other software that supports the sage network encoding protocol