My Experience installing SageTV Linux version...

[mrrrl]

My experiences installing and running SageTV on Windows was pretty bad. My machine specs are as follows:

CPU 1.6 Pentium 4
GeForce FX 5500
2 Hauppaguge 150
20 GB HD for OS
250 GB HD for recordings
1 GB Ram

Windows setup of SageTV was by far the easiest to do. But the issues I had running SageTV on Windows was the worst.

These were the most common Windows problems. Mulitple “sage.PlaybackException: ERROR” errors. This would happen randomly. SageTV would lock up overnight, giving me the playback exception error, this just started about two weeks before my switch. Never could get rid of the shutter. I tried different HD’s, different video card and even different versions of Windows. I tried XP Home, XP Pro (with and without SP1 or 2) and finally tried Server 2003 R2, but always had a shutter. It only happened about every 15 or 20 minutes but was very noticeable.


Setting up Linux was a little more complicated then in the Windows environment, but not that tough. I did learn that you need to have a DHCP server running so SageTV can call home for the activation; otherwise it just will not finish installing.

Also had a problem getting SageTV to recognize the 250 GB HD, but that was more with Gentoo then SageTV (See this thread on getting it to work http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ad.php?t=17149 , Thanks to all that helped.).

Had to change the remote control setting so that it was on the other 150 card (See this thread to change to another card http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ghlight=remote ).

Also had to set the volume levels (See this thread, post #7 http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ighlight=audio ).

Found out that you can’t have both the monitor and the TV (S-Video) hookup at the same time, if you do only the monitor will have a picture once SageTV starts with this video card.

I have been running the system now for over 2 weeks with a remote SageTV Windows client running 24/7 and have not had a major problem yet. If this keeps up I would like to get this setup to receive HDTV OTA signals. Also would like to get the DVI to component output to the TV and see if that clears up the picture quality. Compared to my Series 1 TIVO, the picture is somewhat disappointing, so I am hoping that running DVI to component out of the FX 5500 will improve this.

Between the two versions, the Linux version wins hands down in my book. I have only seen one hiccup in the video in the 2 weeks. By far, more stable then the Windows version in my opinion.

[Dekard]

I run the linux version as a media server and I'm very happy with it. I had numerous problems with the setup as you did, but I think many of those were resolved by my learning a bit more about linux.

OTA HDTV is still a mixed bag with the linux edition, as I understand it there is currently experimental support for it and thats about it. I'm sure in the new release we'll see soon and the upcoming release in the next months they will be working on this. I'm waiting for the stable HDTV support personally.

As far as video out quality there are a couple of things to look at. What recording settings are you using? The lower quality ones will definately reduce your picture quality. I suggest trying some jpeg images. They will allow you a better comparision of pure video output quality. I don't believe the 5700 cards are noted for their video out quality, but I may be wrong. I know the Ati stuff is highly regarded in the windows world though not supported in Sage due to lousy ATI drivers. I believe the cream of the crop is the 6600 series? Something to consider if you aren't satisfied with the increased quality you get from swithing outputs.

Glad you like it though!