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XBMC doesn’t have an integrated DVR.  There’s a whole thread on this on the sageTV forums.  My understanding is that there isn’t much alternatives if you want it all integrated into a single system.

 

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56082

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You never said if you were using an extender or you played the disks from the SageTV computer.  That can make a big difference in how you want to store the disks and rip them. I’m going to assume an extender since that is what I know.

 

You will probably want to look into ClownBD.  It allows you to strip out extras while leaving the video alone.  You can also re-encode the audio and include multiple tracks if you check the “Media Tank Options” option.  I use this to re-encode to Dolby so my TVs can decode the audio and sometimes also include the HD audio track.

 

I rip to BDMV because I find it is easier to deal with.

 

So far I haven’t found a good way to rip TV show disks for SageTV.  Sometimes you can find a track that has all the shows in one big 3.5 hour playlist, but other times it doesn’t.  So, I use a Dune media player and just rip the whole disk and the Dune is able to play the menus.  The Dune is an expensive route, unless like me you also needed a BD player so the wife could play her disks normally and then it’s still kinda pricey

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Some TVs will have a Variable Audio output.  You already have the TV, so you can check the settings in the TV and look for variable audio output.  The headphone jack also has variable audio output if you have one. 

 

My Sony has variable audio output. 

Then for amplification I use this:  http://www.amazon.com/AudioSource-AMP-100-2-Channel-Bridgeable-Amplifier/dp/B00026BQJ6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309723717&sr=8-1

And then I have Def Tech Mythos 2 speakers on the dresser  http://www.definitivetech.com/Products/products.aspx?path=On-Wall/Shelf/Stand%20Speakers&productid=Mythos%20Two

And then I use a Sub in between the amp and the speakers for some low end.  The amp turns itself off when there is no signal, and the TV controls the volume.

 

I spent a lot on this system so it will look nice, and honestly, I would have been happy enough with something like this:  It’s a soundbar and wireless sub that will learn the remote commands for your TV volume.  I’ve heard it in a store, and it’s not fantastic, but it’s MUCH better than TV speakers and for casual listening, it’s pretty good.

http://www.bostonacoustics.com/TVee-Model-20-P422.aspx

Also keep in mind, that the digital output of your TV will only output stereo sound from everything except the internal TV tuner.  Anything connected to the HDMI ports will be in stereo from that digital output.  Dumb yes, but that’s the deal.

 

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Unless you really liked the PC backup of WHS1, I don’t see any reason to switch to WHS2 since it lacks DE.

SageTV doesn’t care what disk your content is on, so you could build any OS you want for the server.  Win7 is probably your best bet, but if you had enough ram and a spare license even Vista isn’t that terrible.

The only thing to really think about is whether or not you use firewire channel changing.  The driver only works on 32bit systems so Win7 64bit is out if you use firewire channel changing.

Raid depends on whether or not you have content on your server that needs to be protected.  The only stuff needing protection on my server is pictures, so there are other options out there for that.  I don’t duplicate my videos or movies since I can always just re-rip them.

One thing you might consider in the new build is a SSD for the OS.  I’ve heard it really speeds up sageTV even on extenders.

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I like the Amazon App Store.  There  is a new free App every day. 

 

http://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b?ie=UTF8&node=2350149011

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I can’t wear closed earbuds.  here’s a nice review of 12 open buds. I’ve been looking for some myself so please let me know what you decide.

The 9wave NW Studio seems to be the winner in your price range, but you may find others that you will prefer.  Still, there is a good discussion in that thread.

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/531063/earbud-guide-12-earbuds-compared

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but why? are you going to connect your iPad to your big screen?

 

So he can watch his movies on his ipad in complete comfort laying on his couch…oh wait…

 

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Is it bad that I actually like the Millionaire Matchmaker as well?  I bet you like it too and are just unwilling to man up that half your favorites are Bravo and E!

 

I watch some shows because my wife likes them.  I’m willing to watch Cupcake Wars if it results in soft, hot, cakey, goodness every week.  But, I actually do enjoy AI and my wife doesn’t.  This is only my 4th season watching it so it isn’t that stale for me.

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I watched it, but I am not a fan of the audition shows.  I like to watch from Hollywood on.  I could really care less about the judges and I tend to fast forward through their responses a lot of the time.  Randy and Paula and Elen were worthless judges.  Steven at least was interesting last night.  It’s a bit of a bummer to lose Simon, but I watched for the music and the feel good story of watching an artist develop.  That part of the show will always be intact no matter who the judges are.  I also like the music and on my home theater the singing can sound really good.

What was with the age of the contenstants though?  I feel like we’re at a point were most of the talent has already tried out in the 9 other seasons so you’re limited to young artists who grow into the age limit.

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Thank you for the lengthy post George.  I didn’t post much about my system beacuse I wasn’t really looking for advice on my problems.  I was looking for feedback on the DirectTV whole house DVR system and whether or not it could fit my needs.

 

I have comcast cable.

My system is a AMD athlon X2 4800+ at 2.5 ghz on an Nvidia 6100 Gigabyte full ATX motherboard.  it’s 2 years old on quality parts.  I’m running an Intel Nic and I’ve experimented with the onboard firewire and an external card.   It runs WHS with 6 drives.  A mix of 1TB and 2TB drives.  4 are dedicated to WHS duties and the other 2 are dedicated recording drives not added to the drive pool.  One recording drive recently died after about 2 years of constant use and I lost half my shows.  It wasn’t a big deal because I tend to watch my favorite shows right away. All I lost was a bunch of junk and maybe an episode of Big Bang Theory.

 

Playback is via 2 HD200s and 1 dead HD100 I have yet to fix the PSU on.

 

 I’ve done extensive  work on trying to get the HD-PVRs stable.  All cables are 3 feet.  It doesn’t happen on certain channels. It isn’t a heat issue since it happens in winter.  I’ve returned one and got a new one that acted exactly the same.  I bought a new one and it’s the same as the old 2.  I have 3, only run 2.  My first HD-PVR is one of the first ones they made and it lacked a heatsink, so it has been taken appart and I couldn’t RMA it.  It’s the most stable.  It fails once every 2 months or so vs the newer boxes every 2 weeks.  It is not dependant on which cable box they are attached to.  They run 1080i AC3 audio.  Stereo audio didn’t help much but I really didn’t give it that much time because after it failed in stereo a few times I switched back to AC3.  I really really want 5.1.  I gave up on them about a year ago after everything I did simply made them worse. 

 

When one fails, it’s normally at night or when I am at work, so I lose all content the HD-PVR was supposed to record.  The HD-PVRs only record encrypted cable channels like history channel, CNN, Discovery, etc and those networks normally repeat their shows frequently so it isn’t a big deal if a HD-PVR goes down.  SageTV also seems to be smart enough to try and record the higher priority shows on the other, working, HD-PVR and I don’t usuallly miss anything that important.  All local networks are unencrypted and are recorded using a HDhomerun.  Shows like Big Bang Thoery, and the MOST important for WAF, the Bachelor, never fail because the HDhomerun is rock solid.

 

The server will occationally fail to start after a power outage, or the firewire channel changing will fail, or I’ve actually had some random crashes of sageTV server when I was skiing in Tahoe which caused me to lose some key network shows.

 

I used to watch a fair amount of TV and I could find a lot of shows I wanted to record.  Now, I feel like I’ve watched most shows I wanted to see, and I can’t find that many shows to record anymore.  I now preffer to rent a drama series such as Dexter on BD or DVD and watch it in marathon because I get into the show more.  That takes away even more shows that I wish to record.  Also, I recently got my PS3 back from my brother, and it’s working well as a Netflix streamer and more and more shows are available on Netflix.  I’m definately not at the point that I want to ditch cable TV, but maybe my needs are simple enough to just switch to a rented whole house DirectTV system.

 

I don’t use customizations that I care about

I don’t comskip, but I DO really really like my 2 minute skip and 10 second skip feature.  I’m not a fan of fast forward through commercials because it is slow and you have to pay attention.

I like the quick UI of sageTV

I’m not a UI snob.  If it works reasonably well it’s fine with me.

I don’t take shows with me on travel and I don’t use Placeshifter anymore

I DO occasionally watch TV on my computer in my office, so I would be giving that up.

 

 

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I heard it was 5 hours a day.  5 hours is doable.  9.25 hours a day is not.

[autoboy]

I heard it was 5 hours a day.  5 hours is doable.  9.25 hours a day is not.

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You need to go into the audio settings in windows, select the HDMI audio properties, and set the output to support HD audio.  The properties will list the supported output formats.  You check the ones you have.  Then you can set the TMT correctly. That’s how I did it, but I was just going for DD and DTS since my 3450 doesn’t support HD audio output.

BTW, am I the only one on this site that CAN’T hear a difference in HD audio?  Am I going deaf or something?  Cause I can pick out things pretty quickly.  I was at my Father in laws and I could instantly tell that his front right speaker was missing the tweeter.  Hitting it on the top of the speaker solved it.  At least temporarily.  I have no idea if my “fix” is still working.  He didn’t seem to mind it was missing.

[autoboy]

You need to go into the audio settings in windows, select the HDMI audio properties, and set the output to support HD audio.  The properties will list the supported output formats.  You check the ones you have.  Then you can set the TMT correctly. That’s how I did it, but I was just going for DD and DTS since my 3450 doesn’t support HD audio output.

BTW, am I the only one on this site that CAN’T hear a difference in HD audio?  Am I going deaf or something?  Cause I can pick out things pretty quickly.  I was at my Father in laws and I could instantly tell that his front right speaker was missing the tweeter.  Hitting it on the top of the speaker solved it.  At least temporarily.  I have no idea if my “fix” is still working.  He didn’t seem to mind it was missing.

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[quote=”babgvant”]
Are creating a new lossly version from the lossless track or comparing the stock core stream against the lossless one?
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I’m comparing the core track to the lossless track.  With DTS the core is actually part of the lossless.  With Dolby True HD the lossy track is a separate track.  I compared both by switching between the HDMI port and the Toslink port on the receiver.  The player output over both at the same time and I just needed to switch inputs.  Video was by component and HDMI which also output at the same time.

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