A New Skin and Commercial Skipping

Last night, I applied a new skin to the SageTV interface. The interface is known as SageMC. A really good description of the interface, and instructions on its installation, can be found here at the Geektonic web site.

I have also tried installing the commercial skipping software, again with the help of this article at Geektonic. I have yet to test this feature

One of the major problems I have identified with SageTV is a lack of documentation. Sure, they do have a basic manual available, but I really wish that there was some more extensive step by step instructions for importing media and configuring features.

Sage appears to be a small company, yet they produce impressive software and hardware. It seems a shame that no one has stepped up to the plate to create comprehensive online documentation to support new users. Creating documentation is much cheaper and easier than writing software, or designing and manufacturing hardware.

First Extender Is Wired, an the Server Is Up!

I finally completed the wiring, at least to one of my televisions. I was also able to install the SageTV Media Center software in my server.

Here is the functionality that I currently have:

1. Digital recording of a single channel. I currently only have one tuner card in my server, and my next purchase will be for a two tuner card, for recording and or watching up to three channels at onece.

2. Timeshifting, or TIVO like functionality

3. Program Guides

4. DVD playback from my server. I uploaded a single DVD to test. Uploading more DVDs will wait till I have a little time.

5. Picture viewing. I can view pictures, although I haven't determined how to view a slideshow or thumbnails of my images.

6. Internet content viewing. I found a catalog filled with videos from YouTube, Google, and others. The quality was quite impressive, far better than typical online content and very close to standard definition television.

Here is a list of some of the features I hope to enable soon:

1. Music - Surprisingly, I haven't quite figured out how to upload music. To my credit, I haven't actually tried yet.

2. Content labelling - I would like to upload movie posters, album covers, and channel logos to appear. I actually tried to do this, but I must be missing something.

3. Wiring my projector and my other television. This involves running wires outside my house. A quick look at the recent Denver weather will tell you why I haven't done that yet. The real point was not just to have the features, any Tivo would have done that, but to have them from every room in the house. Fortunately, the outside work will actually be quicker than the inside work, as soon as the weather cooperates.

TV vs PC: Can't We All Just Get Along?

Yesterday was slow day for my Quest, as other responsibilities kept me from making much progress on the media network.

In the mean time, I read this interesting article in PC Magazine by the irascible John C. Dvorak.

In the article, Dvorak pits PCs against televisions. Like me, he also has a projector with a 100 inch screen, which is only now the cost of an actual television of half it's width. He is correct that it is pointless to watch most TV programs from a projector.

Our movie room is in our basement, and we only go there to watch movies or special TV broadcasts.

What my project, and this blog, is about is the merging of your PC and your TV or projector. I envision a time in the future, say a few weeks from now, where I can access any media content from any TV or projector in my house.

The result will be harmony between PCs and TVs, with each working together to do what it does best. Ultimately, I will no longer consider my LCD screen or my projector to be a television, it will just become a household Media Center.

Wiring My House

It turns out that I was missing a single adapter for my KVM switch for my Media Server PC, so I couldn't install the server last night. Instead, I decided to work on the wiring.

Specifically, I needed to pull Ethernet cable from my office to each of the three TVs in my house. (One is actually a projector, but you get the idea).

Now, in theory, I could have gone with some sort of wireless system. I have chosen to go the wired route for several reasons. First, I have heard that HDTV over wireless is slow and unreliable. Second, I also found that my chosen Media Extender, the SageTV HD200, uses Ethernet. Finally, my house is already wired for cable, so I merely had to wire Ethernet alongside the existing cables. This is not hard, but it is somewhat time consuming.

Once alternative would have been to use phoneline networking, or HomePNA. I once deployed phoneline networking in a 12 story residential complex for internet sharing. It was much cheaper to share a single internet connection rather than each one of sign up for one.

Phoneline networking uses existing telephone lines in your house as your network cables. I used to use this product.

You would also have the option of powerline networking. That is using your homes electrical wiring to send data. While both of these solutions would be far less labor intensive, they would be more expensive. Ethernet cable is really cheap on EBay, like $15 for 100 feet of cable.

As usual, time will be my biggest constraint.

Glossary Of Terms

Since a key struggle in planning this project has been learning new terminology, I decided to put together a glossary of terms. This will help my readers to follow along and understand what I am doing.

This glossary will be updated and expanded as needed.

Commercial Skipping - It turns out that TV broadcasts have special codes in them to let the local stations know when to insert a commercial. Smart technical people have discovered this and have programmed Media Servers to detect these settings and give users the option of skipping commercials.

Ethernet - This is the most common type of data networking cable. It looks similar to a standard telephone cable, just a little more rugged.

KVM Switch - This is a Keyboard, Video, and Mouse switch. It allows you to control multiple computers from one keyboard, monitor, and mouse. This saves both money and space while keeping your office from looking like a computer room.

Media Extender - This device goes between the Media Server and a Television. It accesses the Media Server over a network, allowing the viewer to browse and view media. Typically, a Media Extender is a simple set top box that has inputs for portable storage and networked data, and an output to your television. Finally, a remote control is necessary for users to browse and view media.

Media Server (Hardware) - This is the hardware that stores various media such as recorded television, DVDs, Music, and Photographs. Typically a Media Server is a personal computer (PC) that has been dedicated to this task. The PC communicates with your televisions via computer network cables, (See Ethernet), or by wireless data transfer, or Wi-Fi. Between your Media Server and your television, there is a Media Extender to act as a client to your Media Server, avoiding the need for a client PC at every television

Media Server (Software) - This is the program installed on a PC that converts, catalogues, and distributes your media to your Media Extender. It also manipulates both recorded media and media from cable, sattelite, internet, and over the air broadcasts with PVR functionality. Popular servers include the Microsoft Windows Media Center, MythTV, and the Sage Media Center.

Open Source - This is a category of software that is not locked, allowing other people or companies to modify it's code. Imagine if software were a car. If Microsoft made cars, the hood would be welded shut, and all parts would be locked. If any lock were to be broken, the user would be subject legal penalties. Furthermore, even if you could work on the car, all plans and specifications would be a closely guarded design secret. These are all terms one must agree to before purchasing or using non-Open Source software. In contrast, Open Source software is like bicycle. Customers are encouraged to modify and upgrade it, and many companies exist solely to creat new designs. By swapping older parts for ones with newer designs, users can customize the product to meet their needs.

Placeshifting - I am going to have to go with the Wikipedia Definintion, "Placeshifting can be defined as watching or listening to live, recorded, or stored media on a remote device via the internet or over a data network."

PVR - Personal Video Recorder - This functionality was made popular by Tivo, and it makes possible several usefull features for watching television such as a program guide, Timeshifting, Commercial Skipping

Timeshifting - This feature allows users to watch a program while it is being recorded. Perhaps the game starts at 1pm and goes until 5pm. With timeshifting, I can begin watching the game at three, while the final two hours are recording. This would be impossible with a VCR.

A Word About Time

The last thing I want anyone to believe, is that I am an incompetent boob, unable to install and configure a piece of software in less than a month.

I am an IT professional, with 12+ years of experience installing and supporting large corporate e-mail systems. (Although I have no experience working with networked media.)

My biggest constraint in this project is actually time. At this time, I only have about an hour a day at home to work on this, sometimes less.

I am going to try to use the time constraint to my advantage. I will be able to blog the installation and configuration in detail over time, rather than a single post about what I did last Sunday.

Installing the Server

OK, so I got home yesterday and was ready to set up the SageTV Media Center software. Fortunately, I have a surplus PC from my office that will make for a great media server, while keeping my costs under control.

I was planning to hook it up to my existing PC's keyboard, mouse, and monitor using a Trendnet Switch (TK-209k). These can be had for about $25 and are a much smaller and more cost effective solution than having a second keyboard, mouse, and monitor on one's desk.

Unfortunately, I was missing a small part to convert my monitor output from DVI to VGA. I have since obtained one, and I hope to install the server in the next day or two.