Vista Media Center with Tuners in a Server?

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frankhuzzah

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
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As the title suggests, is it possible to put several tuner cards in a server box that Vista Media Center connects to? Ideally what I'd like to do is let my server box handle all of the recording and storage while my Vista MCE boxes tell it what to record. So the box in my bedroom doesn't have to have separate tuners from my main HTPC box. I think MythTV has something like this, just wondering if it was possible with Vista. Thanks!
 
Doesn't work that way with MCE unfortunately.

You only option is to run MCE on a box and use an extender like an Xbox 360 for your front end.
 
Drat! Oh well, I was hoping Windows Home Server had some of that functionality. Thanks a ton for the help.
 
You can put tuners in a server and then share the record folder to watch them in mce
 
You can put tuners in any computer in your network and share the record folder via Windows Home Server. You can also use extenders with this setup, but WHS takes away the definite have to have of extenders. You can put full fledged HTPC or simply PCs in each room with WHS.
 
...or you could use Sage. It is a proper client/server media center software. They also have dedicated HD capable hardware extenders, or you can use a client pc. Sage can do many things that Vista MCE can not, but Vista MCE is more flashy.
 
madcoder said:
...or you could use Sage. It is a proper client/server media center software. They also have dedicated HD capable hardware extenders, or you can use a client pc. Sage can do many things that Vista MCE can not, but Vista MCE is more flashy.
Click to expand...

How is Sage as a DVD server? I didn't really care for any of the Windows MCE versions until I saw the registry tweak for the DVD library in action. If Sage can do it as elegantly as Vista MCE I'll certainly give it a good look. I'm not tied to any particular software, but, as most of us combat, there are people we live with who don't share our enjoyment of constant tweaking. The DVD serving is my primary concern with the TV tuning being second.
 
You should use DVD Profiler to profile all of your DVDs. Sage can use the resulting output data by way of extensions to Sage (much like MyMovies or the reg.hack in Microsoft Media Centers). By using DVD Profiler to catalog the collection, you can export it to Sage or to VMC without needing to redo the data. You can even use a 5 dollar cuecat bar code scanner from eBay to input the titles very fast (by scanning your DVD boxes). Sage can hold the DVDs in the backend on the server, and they serve fine to both PC clients and the HD extenders. Again, Vista will look prettier doing this, but with the Microsoft solutions you need a full blown PC client or other workarounds to make an extender work. With Sage, the clients and extenders understand the DVD structures by default.
 
madcoder said:
You should use DVD Profiler to profile all of your DVDs. Sage can use the resulting output data by way of extensions to Sage (much like MyMovies or the reg.hack in Microsoft Media Centers). By using DVD Profiler to catalog the collection, you can export it to Sage or to VMC without needing to redo the data. You can even use a 5 dollar cuecat bar code scanner from eBay to input the titles very fast (by scanning your DVD boxes). Sage can hold the DVDs in the backend on the server, and they serve fine to both PC clients and the HD extenders. Again, Vista will look prettier doing this, but with the Microsoft solutions you need a full blown PC client or other workarounds to make an extender work. With Sage, the clients and extenders understand the DVD structures by default.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the info, I'm going to download the Sage trial and give it a whirl. From the sounds of it, Sage might be what I've been looking for.
 
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