Chroner wrote:How is
umdivx
[quote=Chroner]
How is functionality in windows media center comparable to SageTV?[/quote]
IMHO Media Center is easier to use, easier to setup, and better looking, but again that is my opinion.
Functionally it is the same, its a UI that does media content and DVRing.
[quote]
My primary concern is with external control of STB’s. My SageTV setup does channel switching on the STB’s via firewire. Is this possible in win7 media center? Are there drivers available for the STB’s that will work in win7? I have heard there are issues with 64 bit.[/quote]
If you are doing cable tv, why not ditch the cable STB’s and go for a cable card tuner? Media Center w/ cable card will get your more tuners including HD channels, and all you’d need is a cable card from your cable company.
You can still do STB’s with Media Center but only with IR blaster and Svideo input, which honestly looks like garbage and shouldn’t be ever done any more.
Cable card is honestly the way to go if you have Cable TV and thinking about going to Media Center.
[quote]
On the hardware side, my tuners are pretty ancient (nvidia dualTV tuner) and could use an update as well. I’ve seen alot of talk about the ceton cable card tuners, but I am hestitant to go cablecard because of all the potential DRM issues.[/quote]
Why do you need to worry about DRM? the only reason to worry about DRM is if you plan on offloading the content elsewhere, if you only watch it on your HTPC (and extenders) then you’ll never have an issue. I can honestly tell you though (I have comcast in Minneapolis) that I have yet to record anything with DRM copy once flag. It is only things like HBO that has the copy once flag.
[quote]If I went cable card, would i able to grab recorded files off of my HTPC and watch them on another machine? [/quote]
IF and only if the copy once flag is set, then no. Otherwise yes you can. But again get a few 360’s (or the new Ceton Echo extender when it comes out) around your house, ditch a full blown PC, and you’ll never have that issue.
[quote]We tend to grab a bunch of recorded TV and throw it on a netbook when we travel[/quote]
Should have read all of your post before starting, but as already stated as long as you don’t have the copy once flag set (which is easily identifiable on the recording) you will never have an issue copying off recorded content.
[quote]What are some options other than the ceton cablecard tuners? [/quote]
Silicon Dust HD Homerun Prime (3 tuners, Network based)
Hauppage WinTV HR-2650 (2 tuners USB based)
[quote]
I haven’t had much time to think about hardware but I’d likely be grabbing some middle of the road components because the machine is really only used for viewing/recording TV an occasional DvD and light web browsing. My current setup is using a DVI connection to get video to the TV but I’ve been considering adding bluray capability so I’d have to switch over to HDMI and verify HDCP compatibility. Any suggestions on graphics? Are onboard graphics to the point where i wouldnt have to worry about a discrete card?[/quote]
Cheap Intel Core I3 or core I5 running the Sandy Bridge chipset. The Intel Onboard video card will support full HD 1080p playback, even bluray.
4 Gigs of ram min, I always recommend 8gigs ($40 for 8gigs these days).
Then whatever the fastest hard drive you can find for recording storage and OS.
The one thing if you go with Media Center is it is not like SageTV where you can add HDD’s to a recording “pool”. Media Center you can only dedicate a single drive at a time for recording to, you can’t increase that “pool” to multiple drives at the same time.
I have a 2TB drive and then offload recordings to my Windows Home Sever box and I never run out of storage space for TV recordings.
Hope this helps you,
Josh