Control of Cable box via SageTV on Windows Media Center 2005

[Sierraguy]

I'm running Windows Media Center 2005 rollup 2 with a Haupppauge 1600 MCE WinTV card. I stream music and video to my XBox 360 via Win Media Center. This is half the reason I bought the XBox 360.

I need to record live cable TV and am looking for the best application for scheduling recordings on the Hauppauge card. I'm trying out SageTV 6.x and have run into a snag.

SageTV can be controlled by the MCE remote controller. But it cannot control my cable box via the IR blaster on the Hauppauge card. SageTV says something about a conflict with Win MCE.
They say it can't be done without completely shutting down all Media Center services. Herein lies the problem...

I need to record to a directory that Win Media Center monitors so I can stream my recordings to my TV on demand.

Am I complicating matters by trying to use Sage TV? It does appear to do a better job that Windows Media Center... but that's only on the surface without a major investment of time comparing the two.

Can SageTV control the cablebox via the Ir blaster? Or am I at a dead end? If so, what are some recommendations to get around all of this. I need to record then have access to those recordings for streaming...
I prefer not to have to shut down Win MC when recording...

Are there better options? I need cable analog control with digital OTA HD.

Is it worth just pulling the plug and upgrading to Windows 7 for this?


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Brett

[edDV]

Have you tried the SageTV user forum?

Normally you use MCE *OR* SageTV, not both. They would fight.

I would think SageTV can use the Hauppauge IR feature.

[Sierraguy]

How do I combine quality recording (with scheduling) with streaming to an Extender then?
Is Windows Media Center enough to do this?

Or can Sage TV stream to Windows Media Center Extenders? Or do they offer a technology or client software product that runs on the XBox 360 or that the XBox 360 can connect to and stream video, music (with full control over order, genre, album, etc), images. etc?

The Sage TV forum just gave me some very ambiguous response that didn't address my technical needs.