what the heck? sageTV needs 2 sec for buffering when switching channels?

[simisimisimi]

mayamaniac: thanks, you're the only person that understands me!



but as i said, i will try gotallmedia. this guy tony from their forum says:

"You can use the Hauppauge decoders for video and audio.
You can also select post-processing filter (maybe Hauppauge deinterlace) for video.

GAM uses same Timeshifting engine as MCE, IMO best available. You can switch the Timeshifting on or off anytime you want."

but maybe sage's got this option in 3.0?

would be cool. because even IF pvr is so cool, let people have the option. that way they can start into pvr easily. i think timeshifting got it's advantages as well, i gotta use it more maybe!

you know: it's not just the 2 second break i'm talking about. it's also the picture quality which is better in winTV! maybe because it doesn't need to do an endoding/decoding loop (maybe, because i don't really understand computers that well...but something must be the reason...)

simon

[mlbdude]

Not sure what you mean in that last post, but MCE's timeshifting buffer works just like Sage (only it is limited in size and you can't save it) and has the same delay. Generally unless the PVR supports software tuners it won't be an option.

[Wheemer]

Considering the relative ease in adding support for software tuners at this point in the game, I think Sage should consider it. They would open themselves up to a much bigger market.

[stanger89]

But it would also open Sage up to a support nightmare, especially if software encoders were supported for recording. They just aren't anywhere near as reliable, and cary massive hardware requirements, especially if you want to try multiple simultaneous recordings.

Besides, capture cards, in the traditional sense of capturing/digitizing/encoding analog video are a dying breed, the future is direct capture of digital broadcasts.

[pawn]

I have no information to offer regarding what this thread has become about: the ability to disable PVR functionality, but I can offer the following advice on the original question about the length of time between channel changes:

The following items can be tweaked in the Sage.properties file:

actisys_irtune_global_preroll=
videoframe/local_encoding_to_playback_delay=
videoframe/network_encoding_to_playback_delay=
videoframe/time_to_start_into_tv_file_playback=

Some of these are IR blaster and network encoder specific, which I don't think the OP is concerned with. Furthermore, if someone has an IR blaster to control a STB, the very first line of their ".ir" file has two numbers at the end, which are preroll before switching channels and time between sending each channel number respectively (in milliseconds).

By playing around, I have managed to reduce the time between channels changes for an IR controlled STB to around a second, which is an improvement.

HTH

[Lucas]

Just to clarify that this

videoframe/local_encoding_to_playback_delay=500

would cut the buffer down to half a second.

This is what I use in my system and it works fine.

[simisimisimi]

cool man, i'll try that!

simon

[Ken C]

Lucas, Can't seem to get the change to "stick" in Sage.Properties. Changed 'videoframe/local_encoding_to_playback_delay=' to 500 in both Sage.properties and in Sage.properties.autobackup. Seems to save ok but when I run the program no change in channel change time. And then when I look at Sage.properties, the value is back to 2000. What am I missing ?

Ken C

[Opus4]

Are you editing the properties file when SageTV is completely closed, including the service, if you are using it?

- Andy

[Ken C]

SageTV was closed but the service was still on, I'll try again as you suggest.

Ken C


The setting "sticks" now. But I really don't see a lot of difference in channel change time. What other changes can be made ?

Ken C

[SHS]

simisimisimi and mayamaniac what you want and what get or three diff thing being all the Hardware MPEG Encoder that don't do REALtime AVI (YUV2) all that well and needlless to say the PVR 150, 250, 350, 500 USB and USB2 are using an odd ball AVI (NV12) beside the idea behind PVR is to record it and watch it later.
Beside it take time to dev technology that works and at low cost.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by Lucas

Just to clarify that this

videoframe/local_encoding_to_playback_delay=500

would cut the buffer down to half a second.

This is what I use in my system and it works fine.

Sweet

Just added that to my system and so far, it seems to work great. I thought that it was only for Live TV, but it also works when loading up a recording.

[Lucas]

Ken C,
On tuner channels it should make a noticeable difference.
On channels from an STB through SVid/Composite, the delay is also reduced but if you use an IR blaster, the channel change there introduces a delay of at least a second.

[Ken C]

Thanks, Lucas. I'll try from the keyboard. Not using an IR blaster but am using the iMON Pad remote. I'm loathe to mess with too much at the moment, all is running so well !! :-) So well, in fact, "She who must be obeyed" wants to learn how to access the recorded shows, this is a BIG step !

Ken C

[wbarber69]

Some body said it earlier, and I think more detail is needed on the post about the fact that non-buffered live tv, would be hard on the programs server/client relationship.

What is meant by the server/client relationship, isn't the relationship between a sage server and a sage client, but the fact that sagetv is in itself a server and a client, and also to include the fact that most are trying to shoot at but seem to not be getting through to the posters out there, is that SageTV is PVR software, which means "Personal Video Recorder", not "Personal Live Streaming Media Player"

And in fact they could probably incorporate this into the software, but then it would become something else, even tivo buffers all the time, it just does it so fast (because it is built for that) that most people don't notice the difference.

The next thing you people will be asking for is the ability to ff past the present; how hard is it really to balance out your impatientness to the recording speed of a piece of software that is essentially designed to release you from the shackles of live tv, I mean you should have so much more free time to do whatever you want when you want, so why are still sitting in front of the tv waiting for it to show you what you want. Man please, get off the couch!!

[Lucas]

KenC,

I wasn't refering to the remote control you use. I was referring to an IR blaster(eg USBUIRT) that SageTV can use to change channels on an external STB that is connected through an S-Video input.

And as far the other half, in my case it's "She who obeys", and she is allowed to access the recordings as long as she doesn't delete any of my precious recordings!
I have given her a different remote (the one that came with the PVR card) and programmed that just to do the basic things.

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by simisimisimi

MY QUESTION IS:

do you know any software that combines the cool design and easy user interface of sageTV with the nice live-TV picture quality and fast channel switching of winTV?

Is your main "beef" a changing channel delay (as the thread has focused on) or do you see a noticable quality drop when recording via Sage? If the later, I'd suggest focusing on improving your recorded video output. Even with a somewhat bigger TV than many that shows more both good or bad in the picture (55") I find PQ via Sage excellent. Took a bit of tweaking and new video card, but it's been excellent for over a year. The ability to watch Sage timeshifted "LiveTV" and wait an important phone call, I'm gonna miss the last 10 minutes of whatever... just hit pause... continuing watching after taking care of business... has true live time TV beat hands down IMNSHO. Not to mention recording (currently up to 6 simultanesouly) what I want when I want and watching when I want and others at the same time watching what they want from other Clients...etc etc etc...

If you think WinTV or something else is superior to Sage, use it.

[Ken C]

Lucas, Sorry, I mis-understood. I don't have a STB or an IR Blaster.

What remote did you give her ?

Ken C

[scavenge]

Simi..., what are you using to actually watch on (a monitor, a TV, an LCD TV etc.)?

I've got a Dell LCD TV, my Sage box connects via the computer input and I watch in the "PVR style" this way.

I also split my cable line into the house (radio shack has 2 and 3 way adapter) and put a second line into the tuner on the Dell LCD TV. My wife uses this when she's watching TV in the "channel surfing" way.

Of course this gets more complicated with digital cable, and STBs but it sounds from your posts like you're only using coax input anyway.

In short, as long as you're not watching on a computer monitor, split your cable line and run one to PVR and one to TV tuner - best of both worlds

[salsbst]

Some body said it earlier, and I think more detail is needed on the post about the fact that non-buffered live tv, would be hard on the programs server/client relationship.

What is meant by the server/client relationship, isn't the relationship between a sage server and a sage client, but the fact that sagetv is in itself a server and a client, and also to include the fact that most are trying to shoot at but seem to not be getting through to the posters out there, is that SageTV is PVR software, which means "Personal Video Recorder", not "Personal Live Streaming Media Player"

I was actually referring to the fact that streaming raw video over a home network isn't practical.