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.