Category: Software

SageTV 2.6 and Windows Home Server 2

~ rbonini ~ 2 Comments

Got my shiny new Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T 500 – Dual Digital Freeview TV tuner and hooked it up to the server.

Driver installation was painless. the server picked it up with no problem.

I installed the SageTV V2.2 Add In via the console. At this point, I have to say that it offers zero settings to configure either on the tab or under settings. On one had it does wonders to the confusion factor. On the other, being unable to do something as pedestrian as changing the storage location is frustrating . Since this is for WHS, you should know that the system partition is 20GB and it makes no sense to store video files there. Try a Share.

As long as you remember to download the SageTv client off the site, it works fine.

Channel set-up was a breeze. My only beef is the EPG via tvtv.co.uk. 90% of the channels don’t show up in the EPG yet for some reason. I’ll give it time to load all the channels up before emailing tech support.

To test it I had to do some acrobatics with the cable coming down from the antenna. I’ve not tested it with both tuners in action. I’m going to get the TV guys down here tomorrow to turn it into a permanent set-up with both tuners working.

The quality is amazing on the client. The user interface is well designed and unobtrusive.

Some points from a first impression.

Talking of the user interface:

  1. I wish you could expressly dock the window to the taskbar like you can do with the  video window of the Windows Media Player Toolbar.
  2. Being able to remap the channels could be a lot easier.
  3. Choosing channels could be a lot easier. Instead of giving the user an exhaustive list of every free-to-air digital channel in Europe, simply show the ones found in  the channel scan. Make the huge list an option.
  4. Configuring the screen size could be less confusing. Took me a while to realize what to do.

The whole EPG thing could be improved. Surely you could pick this information up from the Tv signals themselves? How come my set-top box does it quite easily? I’ll have a play around and see if there is that option.

I’m a wee bit confused about the license structure. In 15 days, what do I do? Do I buy a SageTV license for both Client and Server?  

And finally, when can we expect a release?

Looking ahead. I plan to get the Extenders for the Tv’s at some point. And I plan to grab another dual tuner to make sure everyone can watch what they want.

I love it when a gamble pays off big. 🙂

TV Tuner for WHS

~ rbonini

I’ve just ordered the Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T 500 – Dual Digital Freeview TV tuner from amazon.co.uk and it should be here tomorrow.

I’m dying to tryout the SageTV Add-in and Placeshifter ( they are both Release Candidates, but then again, what on the server isn’t?) and will play around tomorrow (assuming Amazon’s delivery estimate is correct 🙂 ).

We Got Served says:

SageTV is designed to be your “always on” digital entertainment hub that’s accessible at home or over a broadband connection. Put any Video, Music or Photos onto your SageTV Media Server and enjoy them on any TV, PC or Mac screen.

  • Enjoy all your TV, Video, Music or Photos anytime, anywhere using SageTV Placeshifter to connect to your Windows Home Server from any broadband connection
  • Connect your TVs at home to SageTV on Windows Home Server with SageTV Media Extender
  • Handles nearly every Video, Music and Photo format
  • Works with Cable, Satellite and Broadcast TV around the world including NTSC, ATSC, PAL and DVB

    • As long as it works in the UK, I’m happy.

    Download | More Info

    WHS Add In: DHCP

    ~ rbonini ~ 3 Comments

    Now I’ve tried getting the built in DHCP server that is part of the underlying Windows Server 2003 working and it didn’t turn out very well.

    Now, however a new Windows Home Server Add In takes the pain out of DHCP. DHCP4WHS is great. I just spent ten minutes getting it working.

    This thing handles anything you care to throw at it: Remote Access, Remote desktop, VPN connections.

    Basically I ticked the box on the Router setup page ( I have a Linksys  W54WAG gateway/Router) for DHCP Server Relay, typed in the the static IP address I’d just set up for the server (be sure to do this first), get the nameservers from the DSL  status page and finally, amend the port forwarding on my router to get Remote Access working. The nameservers are the most important bit as you need them to get online.

    In the DCHP4WHS config page, if you do change settings, be sure to restart the service for the new settings to take effect.

    I’ll grant you that a DHCP Server isn’t very sexy… but it does have something very unique that I think is worth bragging about… as far as I can tell DHCP4WHS is the first and only DHCP server written in C# and/or for the .NET Framework.

    It is quite an achievement. I’d love to see the source.

    In the finest tradition of Windows Home Server, DHCP4WHS “just works”.

    It gets my Code2Fame vote.

    (Thanks to MS Homeserver blog and We got served for the info)

    SageTV for WHS

    ~ rbonini

    If you’ve been reading my blog lately you’ll know I’m installing SageTV for WHS. The idea is to eventually have Freeview (for those outside Britain its free-to-air Digital TV) on all PC’s and Tv in the house come through WHS.

    Now the Website isn’t entirely clear on exactly how SageTv 6 integrates with WHS.

    Does it use the console? Does it run as a service (a big thing for WHS software since no-one is logged in most of the time)? How does it deal with the WHS folder structure? Does PlaceShifter integrate with the Remote Website?And a million and one other questions.

    Now I was just browsing through the feature list for SageTv and it is impressive.

    Here are my favorites:

      Multiple Tuner Support
      Record two or more shows at the same time! No limits to the number of tuners allowed. I can’t seem to find a card with more than two tuners so expandability is great.

      SageTV Studio Development Kit (learn more)
      Let’s you customize or develop new applications for SageTV . Need I say more?

      Support for multiple formats across multiple tuners (can mix MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/DivX hardware encoders). Better and better.

      Favorites ManagerTM
      Never miss your favorite shows whether it’s first runs, re-runs, or all episodes. This is good since I currently have Google Calendar remind me of shows 🙂 .

    Sounds too good to be true. I’ll let you know how it plays out when I get it. It might be soon, it might not. Stay tuned.

    Subtle Hints

    ~ rbonini

    BBC blogger Bill Thompson has just blasted electronic voting machines due to the inability of manufacturers to put adequate security on them. He titled his post “The Ghost in the Voting Machine”.

    IF you remember correctly this is a paraphrasing of an expression used by Dr. Lanning in iRobot. He said that the Ghost in The Machine was/were random fragments of code that would allow machines to develop consciousness. Now how’s that thought: A voting machine with a conscience, or is that a contradiction in terms?

    Subtle hint, or what?

    Windows Home Server Updates

    ~ rbonini ~ 1 Comment

    Well, here’s another update.

    The extra  1GB RAM is in and is working its magic on server performance (2Gb in total) .

    Next, I’ve got to choose a TV tuner card (details here). And then there is SageTv to install and configure.

    I also hear that Diskeeper 2007 has a WHS edition.

    Diskeeper automatically keeps all of the hard disks (both internal and external) on your home server defragmented to optimise the speed and performance of the server. Unlike the standard Disk Defragmenter application included in Windows Home Server (and other Windows SKUs), Diskeeper runs as a service in WHS, and continually works on defragmenting your disks whilst the server is idle. Access the server, Diskeeper stops. Server idle? Diskeeper gets back to work so there’s no noticable performance hit whilst it’s running. They call it Invisitaksing.

    Sweet. I checked the disks yesterday and most had more than 30% file fragmentation.

     I wrote a quick Vb console app to defrag all the drives automatically (using defrag.exe and the task scheduler), but I’m still testing it and I’ll post the code when I’m done. (its a stop gap, I know 🙂 ). So I’m desperate for Diskeeper 2007 to be RTM’d ( that’s Released To Manufacturing).

    The homeserver.com domains are being registered. I just checked and swapped my domain over ( thanks to this reminder ).

    And we have estimate retail pricing for WHS. Its a rumor that has yet to be confirmed.

    I’m not sure weather to belive the ÂŁ150 price tag. On the one had its rather cheap given the fact that Vista Home Premium is going for ÂŁ135 from amazon.co.uk ( Home Basic: ÂŁ79). On the other hand, it makes perfect sense since this is a product targeted at home users and should be in the same price range. On second thoughts, it also makes sense since people who buy WHS off the shelf most likely have spend money already building their server and won’t baulk at the price tag.

    Update to the Update: Philip Churchill of the Ms Home Server blog suggests that it’ll go for £88.74 here in the UK.

    Cheeky question time: if you’ve built a home server either for yourself or someone else, does that make you eligible for OEM prices? 🙂

    Using Silverlight

    ~ rbonini

    Not that I’ve used Expression Blend 2 to create anything fancy. I’ve done a two page test Slideshow in a quick feasibility study with regard to one of my pet projects.

    Then I had to deal with the hosting. I’m using Sliverlight Streaming to deliver the applications to my webpages (via an Iframe, I belive).

    It took a while to figure out how to upload the pages so that the service could understand what was supposed to happen with the application. then it took a wee bit longer to understand how to integrate the provided code on to my ASP.net page.

    But I got it working, in the end 🙂 .

    Now that I know it works, I have a few ideas.

    And now I have to go and actually build the thing….

    PS. If you get Error 2252 while running your application make sure that the path from your xaml file to the dll is correct. Took me a while to figure that one out. I find that its usually the simplest things that stump you 🙂 .

    How True

    ~ rbonini

    I’ve just read this post from Jeff Atwood:

    I believe there’s a healthy balance all programmers need to establish, somewhere between…

    1. Locking yourself away in a private office and having an intimate dialog with a compiler about your program.
    2. Getting out in public and having an open dialog with other human beings about your program.

    If you didn’t catch the humor there, it had to do with the “intimate dialog with a compiler” bit 🙂 .

    Funny things are often true. Hold that thought.

    So this bit had me chuckling:

    Most programmers are introverts, so they don’t usually need any encouragement to run off and spend time alone with their computer. They do it naturally. Left to their own devices, that’s all they’d ever do. I don’t blame them; computers are a lot more rational than people. That’s what attracts most of us to the field. But it is possible to go too far in the other direction, too. It’s much rarer, because it bucks the natural introversion of most software developers, but it does happen. Take me, for example. Sometimes I worry that I spend more time talking about programming than actually programming.

     

    Natural introvert. Hmmm. Remarkable timing on Jeff’s part. I was telling myself  just the other day how much more comfortable it is to talk to a C++ compiler….

    Jeff spends the rest of his post urging the rest of us to stop talking about implementing features and implement them. I’m as guilty of this as the next programmer/developer, so I’d better get a move on.