[IVB]

Sorry for what may be a silly question, but i've now read 5 months of history here, crawled through SageTV & myHTPC sites, and can't figure this out.


I should note that I have bought no hardware or software, as I want to get whatever I need to meet the goal below. I am also shooting for a cheaper solution, i.e., more like the $180 PVR-350 rather than the $400 ATI.


The goal is to have my centrally located XP VAIO desktop which I'm using as an A/V server record & playback digital cable to any TV in any room in the house. Furthermore, there should not be a need to go to the PC to pick a program, as that severely diminishes the WAF. I have this for our audio side - ripped 250+ cds, and my wife uses an el cheapo laptop over our wireless LAN to control our networked MP3 players[Audiotrons] to play whatever song she wants. Looking for that same level of service.


So the question is: Is there software out there [either SageTV or myHTPC] that allows you to choose which recorded program to playback without physically going to the HTPC? As mentioned, I have an el cheapo laptop that I could use to surf to a browser if that's available. Obviously I could PCAnywhere but that's another $300 [$100 for host, $200 for remote]. Plus it's a total jury-rig.


BTW - The el cheapo laptop is NOT going to be connected to the TV [i.e., i will NOT be buying a USB hauppauge nor Sage Client]. The plan is to have the single A/V server send s-video & audio to a distribution panel which will send to every TV.


Thx.

 

[jkaiser]

"I am also shooting for a cheaper solution, i.e., more like the $180 PVR-350 rather than the $400 ATI."


Go even cheaper with the PVR-250. Using a PVR-350 only buys you MPEG Decoding and if this is on a server, then it will be of no use.


If all you want to do is control the HTPC with the laptop then look at NetRemote. It is mainly geared at using a PDA as a remote, but there is also a Win32 version of the application. Best of all it is free.

 

[IVB]

According to the hauppauge site, only the 350 specifically mentions video-out. I thought this meant the 250 was for folks who wanted to view their videos on the PC monitor, or on a DVI connected somehow to the VGA-out on the motherboard.


Is this not true? Does the 250 have a vid-out? Is it RG6, component, s-video, or what?


I'd love to save even more $$..

 

[mlbdude]

Most people that use the 250 have a video card with TV out already. I use a Radeon 9000 with SVIDEO myself. The 350 has video out via SVIDEO or RCA. Keep in mind that video and soon the SageTV OSD are the ONLY things that will be sent out of the 350. If you need to get to WIndows you will be out of luck. Same goes if you want to play back DVD or video outside of Sage or use myHTPC.