ver 6 whats next

[blade]

Originally Posted by sainswor99

Anytime someone posts an idea that you disagree with, you immediately jump in with "this is why you are wrong; if you disagree with me, you must be trying to pick a fight".

I agree, many of the ideas posted here are impractical, and may have a number of issues that need to be worked out, but describing something as a "waste of time" when it's merely an idea is killing the creative buzz.

Since you're saying I'm killing creative ideas by saying they're a "waste of time" maybe you can point out where I did that because I can't seem to find anywhere in this thread where I told someone their idea was a waste of time. If you're referring to my comment to jsonnabend maybe you should take the time to do a search and look at our past exchanges and maybe then you'll realize why I don't want to waste my time arguing with him. I've attempted numerous times to get him to hash his problems with me out via PM and he refuses. Instead he'd rather argue in the open forums.

Someone asked why people want a HD extender and I listed the reasons why. That same person asked why not use a mac mini or PC client so I posted the reasons why a HD extender would be better IMO. I guess I was shooting down his idea by answering his question though.

Then the idea of downloading shows came up, which I completely agree with and when someone asked if websites try to intentionally prevent it I said that a company such as Sage should seek permission first. With permission they would not have to worry about the 3rd party sites stopping them. Maybe I'm missing something, but to me that is what they should do in order to make it feasible to implement and isn't shooting down the idea.

Don't worry since some of you find my posts to be offensive or detrimental to the forums I won't bother coming here any longer. I'd hate to continue to be a negative influence on the forums.

[garyellis]

I guess the first question would be...who would Sage ask permission of?

Since many, many sites will have video playback, it might be impractical to ask permisssion of everyone.

I wonder if they asked permission from "Google" to use the google videos? May be...I don't know...

There would certainly need to be a standardization of the video library to make it practical for Sage to access the videos. Otherwise, it would seem to be impossible to program all the varied ways to access the sites...

May be too complicated, but certainly something I would love to see..

And Blade..don't leave..you've helped me many times in the past...

Gary Ellis

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by blade

Don't worry since some of you find my posts to be offensive or detrimental to the forums I won't bother coming here any longer. I'd hate to continue to be a negative influence on the forums.

Now who's being too sensitive?

I wasn't trying to discredit your knowledge or helpfulness in these forums, and my intent was certainly not to make you "take your ball and go home"; I was simply pointing out a specific case where you came across as negative, after you implied that I should explain my sarcasm.

If you decide to leave, fine. If you decide to stay, fine.

Stu

[spacecadet]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

And +1 on this one, too. I don't want to wait until 1:00 a.m. to watch my Devils' games...

I third this notion. Sports mode for favorites is a great idea! It bums me out when Sage decides to pick up the replay.

I also would love the idea of auto-compressing favorites (and auto-deleting the compressed file on the same schedule as other recordings).

[traker1001]

I like the way blade replies to things, I think he is just very straight forward informative and honest.

BTW, For those looking for a 300ish full HD client, I ordered a dell C521 a little while back with a x1300 and its noth the smallest, However it is quiet, and does hd relativly well. I used one of the many deals floating around the internet, paid $540 after shipping and taxes. It came with a 19" flat screen that I just ebayed for $190, after the total I paid $350 for a athlon x2 3800+, 1GB ram, X1300 video, 80GB hdd.

I plan On trying to get another one soon, It seems to work really well.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by garyellis

I guess the first question would be...who would Sage ask permission of?

Since many, many sites will have video playback, it might be impractical to ask permisssion of everyone.

I wonder if they asked permission from "Google" to use the google videos? May be...I don't know...

There would certainly need to be a standardization of the video library to make it practical for Sage to access the videos. Otherwise, it would seem to be impossible to program all the varied ways to access the sites...

May be too complicated, but certainly something I would love to see..

And Blade..don't leave..you've helped me many times in the past...

Gary Ellis

Yes-Sage has permission from Google for access to the videos. Sage doesn't stream them-they actually download it to your PC.

And who would Sage ask? The owners of the videos or the website presenting them. Most websites are presenting the videos to drive traffic to their website. If it is available through Sage guess what? No web traffic. TV videos are owned by the studios. They charge big bucks for commercials for the shows. If the video moves to the studio/station website there is a reason. Web traffic-so they're not going to give it away. We alreasdy have a plugin that scrapes the imdb site for info and pictures. Guess what-it breaks on a regular basis because that plugin doesn't have imdb's permission. And at anytime it could probaby issue a desist and decease order. Blade's point is it will be better in the long run to do it right and get permission. Not that the idea is bad. I'd love to see these videos thru Sage-great idea.

Gerry

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by blade

I've attempted numerous times to get him to hash his problems with me out via PM and he refuses. Instead he'd rather argue in the open forums.

I wouldn't even bother arguing. Just keep this in mind: Click

Someone asked why people want a HD extender and I listed the reasons why. That same person asked why not use a mac mini or PC client so I posted the reasons why a HD extender would be better IMO. I guess I was shooting down his idea by answering his question though.

I think the Mac Mini has a separate brick adapter. I have the old G4 mini and I think its quiet enough. But just curious, what existing hardware under $300 that can be a good candidate for a SageTV HD Extender?

Don't worry since some of you find my posts to be offensive or detrimental to the forums I won't bother coming here any longer. I'd hate to continue to be a negative influence on the forums.

First of all, how dare you. And second of all, HOW DARE YOU! I counted 2 people on this thread that has a problem with your posts. The rest of us don't find your posts offensive so DON'T accuse all of us.

[jsonnabend]

Hey, I have no problem with Blade; there's nothing to "hash out." This is a discussion forum. I simply tried to discuss with Blade the basis for a conclusion he had reached concerning the legality of a requested feature. He responded by insulting me.

I'm still curious about the whole "poaching" and "lawsuit" thing. Such topics I find interesting, and I'd like to know Blade's basis for his conclusions.

Sorry if I offended anyone.

- Jeff

[rseabrook]

The install was a bit frustrating with the Placeshifter Key not wanting to register unless the service was unloaded, but overall I like the product. What would complete it for me would be a UPnP server to stream my recorded shows to the media player I have connected to my television. Then I could use Sage to record shows while I'm away and use my Dlink 320RD to play the content on the television.

[sainswor99]

One thing that I'd like to see is an overhaul of the UI. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the challenges of designing user interfaces, and the additional challenges of updating those interfaces (once you've established an audience accustomed to that setup); it just seems that there are so many features that are not easily apparent to the average user.

I like the fact that you can tweak settings using property files, and those property files are configurable on a per-client basis; just wish there was an obvious place to do that in the GUI. I like the settings options, but they seem counter-intuitive at times.

All in all, Sage is a great product; I just think it needs some additional finessing.

[garyellis]

Ok..completely "out of the box" new feature I would like to see...

Video Telephone throught the Sage Interface...

....using webcam and voice input...

Gary Ellis

[justme]

Another vote for a UI overhaul. Or at the very least easier theming of the base UI, that didn't require changing your STV. I like the look and features of SageMC, but feel Sage should have something different. We have such a cool product it's base(out of box) UI shouln't look like a MCE wannabe,IMHO. What this new UI or theme should look like is up to professionals. I know enough when to leave something up to someone better qualified than me. I just feel that the Sage UI is feeling dated. IMO, Ver 6.1 doesn't have to have a new UI but Ver 7 better. We need some new user blood and good PVR/HTPC software reviews would help. We keep getting under-rated in many reviews(due mainly to the old UI, no matter what the reviewer says IMHO).

Other features I'd like but don't think were mentioned in this thread yet:

1> I'd also like full Closed Captioning support for all supported cards. If MCE can do it, so should Sage. Sorry but I had to beat the old CC issue again, it's a crusade.

2> Full support of multiple audio/subtitle streams from Sage's UI. ie Play back an imported MKV file that has an Eng, Jap, and Director's Commentary audio track and you could call up an OSD to select/change the desired stream. The OSD should list the stream realworld names(Jap,Eng,etc.) used by the encoder, instead of stream 1, stream 2, etc. Same thing with the subtitle streams. It seems like these features are on the way with the integration of mplayer in Ver 6, but I wanted to put in a public vote.

3> Chapter support would also be cool for contianers(MKV,OGM,etc) that support it. Once again the chapter names should be visiable/selectable from the Sage OSD. Of course a one click button on the keyboard/remote to jump chapters would be handy too.

Ideally all 3 should work on a MVP or Placeshifter client, not just SageTVClient. It should be doable since Sage streams and/or transcodes the data to these devices. I beleive CC would have to be drawn into the video similiar to how the official mplayer does subtitles, for it to work on a MVP. Alternatively the CC or sub could be drawn by Sage as if they were OSD UI elements, similiar to how the old Malore STV(added basic CC support) worked. The only thing about using the Sage UI method, is that it may stress the CPU(Placeshifter)/hardware(MVP?) more than transcoding and embedding the text in the video.

Dreaming of the next ver release,
justme

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by justme

Other features I'd like but don't think were mentioned in this thread yet:

1> I'd also like full Closed Captioning support for all supported cards. If MCE can do it, so should Sage. Sorry but I had to beat the old CC issue again, it's a crusade.

Even though I got this to work for my PVR-150 and 500's, I still want this for all cards. I am still limited to Hauppuage cards if I want CC.

2> Full support of multiple audio/subtitle streams from Sage's UI. ie Play back an imported MKV file that has an Eng, Jap, and Director's Commentary audio track and you could call up an OSD to select/change the desired stream. The OSD should list the stream realworld names(Jap,Eng,etc.) used by the encoder, instead of stream 1, stream 2, etc. Same thing with the subtitle streams. It seems like these features are on the way with the integration of mplayer in Ver 6, but I wanted to put in a public vote.

3> Chapter support would also be cool for contianers(MKV,OGM,etc) that support it. Once again the chapter names should be visiable/selectable from the Sage OSD. Of course a one click button on the keyboard/remote to jump chapters would be handy too.

Ideally all 3 should work on a MVP or Placeshifter client, not just SageTVClient. It should be doable since Sage streams and/or transcodes the data to these devices. I beleive CC would have to be drawn into the video similiar to how the official mplayer does subtitles, for it to work on a MVP. Alternatively the CC or sub could be drawn by Sage as if they were OSD UI elements, similiar to how the old Malore STV(added basic CC support) worked. The only thing about using the Sage UI method, is that it may stress the CPU(Placeshifter)/hardware(MVP?) more than transcoding and embedding the text in the video.

Dreaming of the next ver release,
justme

+1 on all of this. Having Sage control of audio tracks and subtitles would be very cool. Right now, I have to manually control VobSub whenever I want to turn on/off subtitles.

[Fountainhead]

How about a placeshifter client for Windows Mobile 5 devices? That'd be smooth.

[toricred]

I'd really like Parental Controls that allow us to lock channels, not just programs. As it is, if a program has no rating there is no way to block it.

[mdnttoker]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

Even though I got this to work for my PVR-150 and 500's, I still want this for all cards. I am still limited to Hauppuage cards if I want CC.

How'd you get this to work on the 150's? (pm me or point me to a forum??)

Thanks!
Dan

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by mdnttoker

How'd you get this to work on the 150's? (pm me or point me to a forum??)

Thanks!
Dan

Check this thread!

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Check this thread!

Yah, where you been. I've had CC working for a week now

Just update your 150 drivers to 24201 or newer and enable the CC options in sage.properties and sageclient.properties so you get teh CC option selector in Sage.

[paulbeers]

What I want has already been mentioned in this thread, but I want to mention it again...

1. HD Extender. Please, Please!! Heck if I knew which one Sage was GOING to get working, I would even buy one. If nothing else, I would use the play back function on whatever device (and record using something else). I seriously don't think you can make a completely (or darn near) client completely silent. About a year ago I put this client together and it is very close:

1. Inwin Micro-ATX slim tower ($40)
2. AMD Sempron 2600+ ($50)
3. ECS MicroATX mobo ($50)
4. Gigabyte nvidia 6600 silent ($130)
5. 512 mb DDR Ram ($50)
6. 40 GB Laptop HD ($50)
5. Remote Control ($40)

(I actually had a 6GB 5400 RPM 3.5" drive when I built it, and just recently put the 40GB Laptop hard drive into it when my 6GB drive died)

That is $410. Not silent either. Fairly quiet, but not silent by any means. This was before the 6150 chipset came out, but I guarantee my 6600 works better than the 6150's onboard video. Doing a pretty quick skim over at newegg, and to be honest these prices aren't much different now (okay so I don't think you can get a 2600+ anymore, so now you might be looking at say a 3000+ for 50 instead).

2. The other big thing I want is multi-zonal audio. I have that setup thru xlobby currently, but it would be great if Sage could do it. Especially thru the MediaMVP's. Right now only my full clients can do it. *snif*. Plus it means running more than one piece of software.

[Goodspike]

I'd be happy with an icon to hit when in full screen that would exit Sage. I don't know why it's taking them so long to add that. Seems like if you're running service the icon to put it to sleep is totally useless.

To exit I need to switch from full screen and then click to exit. Gets annoying.