Should I switch from Beyond TV...

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by gveres

What happens when I have run comskip on a recording and then I convert it to an avi or something?

If you comskip on the original .mpg or .ts file before you convert, you should still be able to skip the commercials. JREkiwi just updated his comskip plugin so that it should work for any video file that has a comskip file, before it only worked for .mpg/.ts/.avi files, and not for other types of converted videos like.mp4 files. I'm not sure if SageMC has that limitation, if it does, I'd ask flachbar to see if it could be updated to support that.

You just need to make sure you have the comskip finished before you finish the conversion and delete the original file. The comskip programs won't work on non .mpg/.ts/.dvr-ms files.

In BTV, it was smart enough to keep the commercial information so that I could still skip commercials when playing back the show squeezed file.

Sage will too, as long as the main filename still matches between the comskip file and the video file.

I just finished installing comskip monitor and it is churning away so I guess I can find out in a couple of hours.

Not sure if comskip monitor is configurable to know not to delete the comskip file if the video file has been converted.

edit: Yes, it appears that comskip monitor can be told to associate .avi files as a related extension, so that when it does clean up of orphaned comskip files (the recording has been deleted), to not delete the .txt/.edl files if it can't find the .mpg file, but does see a matching .avi file. Otherwise, you would lose your comskip files right after you convert them.

[gveres]

Thank you for your reply.

I have comskip installed and running. I need to go intergrate it into the UI since I am not using SageMC and don't think I will.

I know there is a plugin somewhere, I just haven't had a chance to search for it yet.

Greg

[JREkiwi]

Not much searching required List of available customizations

John

[MarcP]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Not much searching required List of available customizations

A lot of those customization have broken download links since the sage-community.org site is dead.

[superporky]

Great Thread!!! I also am a satisfied BTV customer and more importantly my wife loves it. However the BTV Link (client) I have connected to my TV is getting old and tired. It's in a cabinet and I have the fans turned down so it gets extremely hot which has taken it's toll. Enter SageTV Extender. This thing looks fantastic, the things TV dreams are made of.

Before I turn my TV world upside down and move to Sage, I'm wondering....It seems the extender mimics the exact same UI as SageTV. When comskip is setup, does exender also see the commercial breaks? If it does I'm sold.


Current BTV setup
BTV Server - BTV 4.7.1 | AMD 64 3500 | 1GB | Evga 7300gs not connected to anything (yet) | 2x 160 gb sata 3gbps RAID 0 | 2x 250 gb pata RAID 1 | PVR 150 to DCT1800 STB | PVR 250 to DCT1800 STB | USBUIRT | XP Pro

BTV Link 1 - BTV Link 4.7.1 | XP-M 2500 @2.0ghz | 1GB | GF 6600 - fanless | 10 gig 2.5" HD | ASROCK K7S41GX | Silverstone Lascala LC02 | IR Keyboard/Mouse | XP-Home | BM + BTV | Harmony 880 using keyboard and firefly mini receiver.

BTV Link 2 - BTV Link 4.7.1 | Compaq R4125CA notebook

[gilded07]

Yes, it not only sees them, unlike BTV, it automatically skips them. In BTV, the coms show up as a different color on the bar at the bottom of the screen and you press the up or down arrow keys to skip past the commercials. The com skip hack for Sage actually identifies the coms AND skips past them automatically so you don't have to touch the keyboard or the remote.

The WAF (wife acceptance factor) for Sage is much lower than for BTV

The configurability and expandability of Sage is kind of a two edged sword - its offers the ability for lots of add ons but at the same time it can be confusing for non tech-savy people (read: spouse, young kids, etc.). I can't support this comment w/ facts (disclaimer ), but I'd guess the avg Sage user is much more comfortable w/ home networking and software configuration whereas the average BTV user is less so. I say this because BTV has some out of the box functionality that works w/ no configuration (com skip, showsqueeze for example) and one has to read this forum and post questions and read answers before this functionality is working w/ Sage. I don't say this to knock Sage as I'm a happy Sage user now and don't see myself going back to BTV but the trip to get here has taken much more time than getting BTV set up.

After 3 years of watching TV on my 15" CRT , the extender option is awesome and worth the trade off for me, personally. I don't have any HD service and don't plan to for awhile. The Hauppauge MVP only supports standard definition w/ S-video and Composite outputs w/ RCA for audio, more than sufficient for me. I've read that an HD extender is due out soon.

[toricred]

Actually, I don't know the WAF is lower for Sage unless you roll out Sage before having it working just right for your situation. My wife and kids can't imagine life without it and have a very difficult time watching TV when we visit relatives.

[MarcP]

I had BeyondTV for 1 1/2 year before I switched over to SageTV this summer. The WAF dropped because of the learning curve of a new interface, but came right back up and beyond once she played with it for a week. Don't rely on the initial shock. The new SageTV beta got a couple of notch up with the kids podcasts. I sure won't be among the crowd that cares whenever snapstream can be bothered to release BTV 5.0.

[Khristopher]

I used BTV for almost 3 years before migrating to Sage.

I have to agree with Marc, don't rely on the initial shock of a new piece of software. Once you get the hang of it you'll find that it's far more capable than BTV.

I'm still finding out new things I can do with Sage and that "Wow" feeling comes back each time (unlike when I use Vista)!

[tmiranda]

I used BTV for years before switching to Sage. WAF with Sage is WAY higher. WAF was actually the reason for me switching to Sage, having a PC in the bedroom simply became unacceptable - I tried the MVP with BTV but that was just not very solid. I tried the trial version of Sage with the MVP and the WAF immediately went sky high.

Sage has a bigger learning curve than BTV which IMHO keeps potential new users away. Then again, my kids who are now 6 and 8 have been using Sage for a year and they have no trouble finding and playing their shows.

It's been interesting reading the posts over at BTV, there are many irked users who are either trying Sage or considering trying Sage. Some of these people are long time, active, BTV users. I am sure once they try Sage and get over the initial learning curve they will be well rewarded.

Also of note, I can't recall a single thread or post on the Sage forums saying "I'm considering switching to BeyondTV". And Sage has never censored their forums. (BTV used to immediately delete any post comparing products.)

[gilded07]

Before I made the jump, I emailed BTV support (not the forum) and asked them if there were plans to officially support an extender. The reply was no. I told them how shortsighted this was and how, based on the forum comments in both forums, they were losing business. Either they're too ignorant to notice or too arrogant to care.

Its too bad because they have an outstanding product.