General questions about features

[dmeglio]

Hi, I just built a media center PC and I have to say, after 2 days of using MCE, I'm very disappointed in its features. I stumbled on SageTV and I'm just wondering if someone can answer some questions.

1.) Does a VistaView Saber 2020 work with SageTV? It's MCE compatible if that matters.

2.) Can I have two separate inputs? The Saber 2020 is a dual tuner. I want tuner #1 to be split from my analog coax cable (channels 2-96). Tuner #2, I want to go through my STB so I get my digital channels plus the analog (channels 2-600). First, can I have different channel sets (EPGs) for each tuner? Keep in mind, the STB connection has all the same channels as analog + the digital so tuner #1 is a subset of tuner #2.

3.) If yes to above, can I set priorities? I'd prefer recordings of analog channels to go through the analog tuner because then I don't monopolize my STB.

4.) I've read there is some firewire support. I have an SA3250HD (Passport software if that matters). I'm hoping to be able to use SageTV to tune channels as well as record my digital and HD channels, is that possible? Note: This box doesn't stream analog over Firewire (as far as I know) so I guess that means my setup would now be tuner #1 - 2-96, tuner #2 100-600 (unless it's smart enough to treat the firewire as a 3rd tuner instead of like FireSTB does for MCE?)

5.) If I can tune channels using Firewire, do I still need an IR blaster? (I don't have one and even with FireSTB for MCE, I still need an IR blaster even though it won't be used)

6.) Does it work on Vista?

7.) How receptive are the developers to community suggestions? This is by far my biggest complaint about MCE. No one seems to want to listen to what the users want. I'm hoping a smaller product like Sage has more customer interaction that MS is notorious for.

Also just in general, is there a comparison of MCE vs SageTV? I'd love to hear what some of Sage's strong points are over MCE.

Thanks!

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by dmeglio

1.) Does a VistaView Saber 2020 work with SageTV? It's MCE compatible if that matters.

It should have better support in v6.1, which should be out in the somewhat near future. But, I don't have the card, so I can't comment on its exact support.

3.) If yes to above, can I set priorities? I'd prefer recordings of analog channels to go through the analog tuner because then I don't monopolize my STB.

There is an mmc/encoders/<some #>/encoder_merit property that can set tuner priority, which is used when all other scheduling decisions are equal.

4.) I've read there is some firewire support. I have an SA3250HD (Passport software if that matters). I'm hoping to be able to use SageTV to tune channels as well as record my digital and HD channels, is that possible? Note: This box doesn't stream analog over Firewire (as far as I know) so I guess that means my setup would now be tuner #1 - 2-96, tuner #2 100-600 (unless it's smart enough to treat the firewire as a 3rd tuner instead of like FireSTB does for MCE?)

The hardware forum section has info on firewire customizations -- check the stickies there.

6.) Does it work on Vista?

People are using SageTV on Vista & posting their experiences.

7.) How receptive are the developers to community suggestions?

You can submit suggestions to SageTV. Posts in the forum may or may not be seen. However, there is no promise that a suggestion will be acted upon... it depends on what it is.

- Andy

[dmeglio]

Originally Posted by Opus4

It should have better support in v6.1, which should be out in the somewhat near future. But, I don't have the card, so I can't comment on its exact support.

Speaking of that, an important wallet based question, how do upgrades work? Are they free, reduced fee, or what?

There is an mmc/encoders/<some #>/encoder_merit property that can set tuner priority, which is used when all other scheduling decisions are equal.

But can I base this on channels? Meaning, Channel 100+ always goes to tuner #2 (tuner 1 doesn't even have these channels), but <100 tuner #1 has priority.

One last question that you didn't address (mixed into the firewire stuff), can I have different EPGs per tuner? So one goes through my STB and the other is direct analog coax?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by dmeglio

Speaking of that, an important wallet based question, how do upgrades work? Are they free, reduced fee, or what?

The last info posted about this was "The current upgrade policy provides minor version upgrades for free and a free upgrade for Version 5.0 users to Version 6.0." That would indicate that v6.1, being a minor version upgrade, is free.

But can I base this on channels? Meaning, Channel 100+ always goes to tuner #2 (tuner 1 doesn't even have these channels), but <100 tuner #1 has priority.

If channels are available only on a single tuner, then it isn't a priority decision.

All tuners using the same EPG use the same set of enabled channels. If you want to enable different channels on different tuners, they will need to use a different EPG provider setting (lineup).

One last question that you didn't address (mixed into the firewire stuff), can I have different EPGs per tuner? So one goes through my STB and the other is direct analog coax?

As hinted above, yes: separate tuners can use separate lineups by choosing a different EPG provider for the sources during Source Setup.

- Andy

[dmeglio]

Wow great. Can't understand why anyone is using MCE when Sage seems to be lightyears ahead!

[GoldenTiger]

Originally Posted by dmeglio

Wow great. Can't understand why anyone is using MCE when Sage seems to be lightyears ahead!

Me either... I've used it for over 1.5 years and love it. I'm having a few Vista issues, but I'm not entirely sure if it's due to user error, or just that the older version I own (v4/5) isn't compatible with Vista. SageTV's support and program itself are incredible, however .