OP
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2015
- Thread Starter
- #61
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Whole House DVR Project...About to pull the trigger
- Thread starter JrClocker
- Start date
OP
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2015
- Thread Starter
- #64
Not really...the NAS was a separate thing I wanted...not really part of the project. I already had a PC that was running Folding@Home all day (just repurposed to add the SageTV server/DVR). So, my "out of pocket" is:
- 2 x 16 GB NVIDIA Shield TV at $199 each ($398)
- 2 x Logitech Harmony 650 Remote at $54 each ($108)
- 2 x FLIRC USB adapters at $23 each ($46)
- 2 x USB extension at $7.50 each ($15)
- 1 x HDHomeRun Prime at $111
Total: $678
At $47.50 per month, that's a 14.3 month ROI...or the equivalent of a 89.4% return on my money...not too shabby!
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2001
Had you ever used SageTV before this? I've been using it since about 2007 or so, but I'm curious to see if we are actually getting new users after it went open source.
OP
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2015
- Thread Starter
- #66
OP
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2015
- Thread Starter
- #67
Just checking in...this project has been running solid since I turned it on in early June 2016.
Initial thoughts on future steps:
1. Go to full online TV service
---> I've been watching Sony Vue for about a year. For those who don't know what Sony Vue is, it's a 100% online TV service, with DVR in the cloud.
---> The only downside is that they still do not offer live local channels in my area.
I ALMOST pulled the trigger on Sony Vue this week. While scanning online looking to see if FIOS is in my area yet (which it's not...even though my neighbor has it) I saw that the "new customer" deals from my cable company was $80 less per month than what I was currently paying. I called up Spectrum and they said those deals are for new customers only. After not getting anywhere with the sales person, I started more research. Yesterday I was able to get a sales person on the telephone who gave me the $80 monthly discount.
Stay of execution for Spectrum.
The configuration I ALMOST pulled the trigger on was:
- Sony Vue for non-local channels with my current channel loadout...roughly $60 per month
- For Local channels: HDHomeRun Connect with an inside HD Antenna (running through SageTV)
So, I would have SageTV as DVR 1 for local channels, and Sony Vue as DVR 2 for all other channels.
This plan was approved by the wife...but the cable company brining my rates inline caused this to pause.
SageTV has been running great. 100% solid...absolutely no issues. The only downside, I haven't figured out yet how to get Alexa to control SageTV (she controls Plex now)...
Edit: On the bright side, I can get internet of 300 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up for an additional $50 per month (with a $250 one-time setup fee). 100/10 appears to be working OK for our house so far...but it's nice to see that the speeds are picking up in my "non-FIOS" area!
Initial thoughts on future steps:
1. Go to full online TV service
---> I've been watching Sony Vue for about a year. For those who don't know what Sony Vue is, it's a 100% online TV service, with DVR in the cloud.
---> The only downside is that they still do not offer live local channels in my area.
I ALMOST pulled the trigger on Sony Vue this week. While scanning online looking to see if FIOS is in my area yet (which it's not...even though my neighbor has it) I saw that the "new customer" deals from my cable company was $80 less per month than what I was currently paying. I called up Spectrum and they said those deals are for new customers only. After not getting anywhere with the sales person, I started more research. Yesterday I was able to get a sales person on the telephone who gave me the $80 monthly discount.
Stay of execution for Spectrum.
The configuration I ALMOST pulled the trigger on was:
- Sony Vue for non-local channels with my current channel loadout...roughly $60 per month
- For Local channels: HDHomeRun Connect with an inside HD Antenna (running through SageTV)
So, I would have SageTV as DVR 1 for local channels, and Sony Vue as DVR 2 for all other channels.
This plan was approved by the wife...but the cable company brining my rates inline caused this to pause.
SageTV has been running great. 100% solid...absolutely no issues. The only downside, I haven't figured out yet how to get Alexa to control SageTV (she controls Plex now)...
Edit: On the bright side, I can get internet of 300 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up for an additional $50 per month (with a $250 one-time setup fee). 100/10 appears to be working OK for our house so far...but it's nice to see that the speeds are picking up in my "non-FIOS" area!
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2011
so you went back to cable?
OP
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2015
- Thread Starter
- #69
OK - pulled the trigger on Sony Vue...very happy with this...but there is a back story!
Last week (Tuesday I think), all of a sudden I cannot tune into any TV programs with SageTV. The HDHomeRun and Google Live Channels apps could tune, but not SageTV. I spent 4 hours messing with SageTV (updates, config file modifies, etc.) and came to the conclusion that my Cable TV provider (Spectrum...was Brighthouse) change the video format! I verified this with Spectrum tech support...and SageTV does not support this "new" format!
I didn't want to go back to Kodi / NextPVR because I didn't want to deal with the instability issues I had in the past with Kodi (it may be better now, but once burned, twice shy).
I checked out Sony Vue, and I can get live locals for everything except NBC (NBC is on-demand only for Sony Vue).
Good enough for me!
Switched over to the ~$50 channel pack from Sony Vue. Get this, my cable TV was running about ~$70 a month! And I have more channels with the Sony Vue package. With the extra ~$20 I increased my internet speed from 100 Mbps down / 10 Mbps up to 300 Mbps down / 20 Mbps up.
So...same out of pocket...more channels...much faster internet. The internet speed has been solid at 350 Mbps down / 25 Mbps up for about 5 days.
Sony Vue is pretty cool. The picture quality is fantastic. DVR is in the cloud, and saves the recordings for 28 days. My wife loves the fact that she can record something, and then watch it on her phone/tablet/PC at a later time. You get live channels, and also everything else appears to be on-demand as well (haven't looked at all of the channels.) The only downside with on-demand is that you can't fast forward through the commercials.
The only weird thing is the way Sony Vue does the channel guide...times are vertical and stations are horizontal. Took a bit to get used to it, but we like it better!
So...the cord has been officially cut...and we couldn't be happier!
Last week (Tuesday I think), all of a sudden I cannot tune into any TV programs with SageTV. The HDHomeRun and Google Live Channels apps could tune, but not SageTV. I spent 4 hours messing with SageTV (updates, config file modifies, etc.) and came to the conclusion that my Cable TV provider (Spectrum...was Brighthouse) change the video format! I verified this with Spectrum tech support...and SageTV does not support this "new" format!
I didn't want to go back to Kodi / NextPVR because I didn't want to deal with the instability issues I had in the past with Kodi (it may be better now, but once burned, twice shy).
I checked out Sony Vue, and I can get live locals for everything except NBC (NBC is on-demand only for Sony Vue).
Good enough for me!
Switched over to the ~$50 channel pack from Sony Vue. Get this, my cable TV was running about ~$70 a month! And I have more channels with the Sony Vue package. With the extra ~$20 I increased my internet speed from 100 Mbps down / 10 Mbps up to 300 Mbps down / 20 Mbps up.
So...same out of pocket...more channels...much faster internet. The internet speed has been solid at 350 Mbps down / 25 Mbps up for about 5 days.
Sony Vue is pretty cool. The picture quality is fantastic. DVR is in the cloud, and saves the recordings for 28 days. My wife loves the fact that she can record something, and then watch it on her phone/tablet/PC at a later time. You get live channels, and also everything else appears to be on-demand as well (haven't looked at all of the channels.) The only downside with on-demand is that you can't fast forward through the commercials.
The only weird thing is the way Sony Vue does the channel guide...times are vertical and stations are horizontal. Took a bit to get used to it, but we like it better!
So...the cord has been officially cut...and we couldn't be happier!
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2004
I haven't had cable In 10+ years . My kids have only seen it a few times @ my parents house . Always wondering what commercials are and why they can't put the show they want on . ( They have sense gotten a Cromecast and a androd box )
I run a old Dual core amd as a NAS and plex server on my main . They also have access to Netflix but 99% of the time they watch youtube.
I run a old Dual core amd as a NAS and plex server on my main . They also have access to Netflix but 99% of the time they watch youtube.
OP
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2015
- Thread Starter
- #71
Was poking around on Amazon Video last night and saw that I had 4K content as part of my Prime membership...so, I watched my first 4K UHD movie yesterday.
WOW!
The detail in the picture (especially close-up of faces) is just fantastic.
Zoom out for large scenery views is just jaw dropping!
Now...I don't see a reason to re-buy 4K UHD videos of my "old" 1080p videos...but the difference is noticeable.
WOW!
The detail in the picture (especially close-up of faces) is just fantastic.
Zoom out for large scenery views is just jaw dropping!
Now...I don't see a reason to re-buy 4K UHD videos of my "old" 1080p videos...but the difference is noticeable.
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2011
nice! i did enjoy psvue as well, but ended up switching over to direct tv now streaming were on the bottom tier and since we have unlimited 4g on our cell phones we also get $25 off a month on the $35 package plus free HBO, can also stream it anywhere on our phones without it counting towards our data usage. if it werent only $10/mo with HBO id probably go back to psvue to be honest, it ran alot better on my firetv. though i did get a firetv stick gen2 for the kids room the gen1 was super slow, but the dtv now app runs flawlessly on there so we might switch to one of those in the livingroom its faster than my gen1 firetv box.
