Sage 7.0 Wishlist

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by gveres

Custom categories attached to your favourites would solve this problem. I just figured out how to use custom categories to simulate BTV's recording folders, which is what I use to separate my shows from my wife's shows from my kids' shows.

Please, please help out us BTV users make the switch, put in this seemingly trivial addition of custome categories. I would order SageTV and three client licenses and a placeshifter today if this was in there. But without it, I am still on the fence.

Greg

Actually, this is part of what a Multi-User support allows. It doesn't stop at custom categories, but also custom Favorites, Guides, permissions for Media Imports, Watch status, Don't like status, etc, and all customized per user. Multi-user support has been requested for years, but haven't been addressed. Hopefully they are listening and working on it.

[LostInSpace]

hi,

One think that would be really usefull if we use different sources (DVB-S, SAT,...) is to be able to assign a channel to one or more encoders.

Ferdinand

[gveres]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

Actually, this is part of what a Multi-User support allows. It doesn't stop at custom categories, but also custom Favorites, Guides, permissions for Media Imports, Watch status, Don't like status, etc, and all customized per user. Multi-user support has been requested for years, but haven't been addressed. Hopefully they are listening and working on it.

I don't disagree that this is a useful part of a multi-user feature. However, in my opinion this is the most important aspect - the second being different save points in each video.

I have been using BTV for over 4 years now extremely happily in a multi-user environment with nothing more than its video folders feature to provide the appropriate sorting of recordings into my area, my wife's area and my kids area.

The reason I call it out separately is because it should be a simple thing to do and would get us a huge step towards multi-user without all the complicated features that would slow down the release of multi-user.

In fact, I would hope that it would be easy enough that they could fit it into a minor release.

Greg

[IVB]

one more vote for mySQL integration. I already have a mechanism for my home automation program (CQC) to control & monitor SageTV over a TCP interface, but a better mechanism to trade data with it would be the bees knees.

I know that there's a market for this as I know many CQC folks that have gone with SageTV specifically because it's the only DVR out there that has such a rich API, and can be integrated into a true HA solution.

[korben_dallas]

Originally Posted by bialio

Some things I've often wished for:

The ability to allocate a tuner for live TV viewing that will NEVER be used for recordings.

And on the flip side, the ability to allocate a tuner to ONLY be used for recordings.

The ability to specify which tuner a recording is to be made on explicitly (not just depending on the merits).

x3 on these. I think we've been talking about tuner options for several releases now..

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by bialio

The ability to allocate a tuner for live TV viewing that will NEVER be used for recordings.

And on the flip side, the ability to allocate a tuner to ONLY be used for recordings.

I don't get it.

If you really need either of these two things, why not just buy an additional tuner? The effect would essentially be the same.

[Khristopher]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

I don't get it.

If you really need either of these two things, why not just buy an additional tuner? The effect would essentially be the same.

I have a SW Encoder card that I wouldn't care about watching TV with, but I certainly wouldn't want to record anything with it.

[bialio]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

I don't get it.

If you really need either of these two things, why not just buy an additional tuner? The effect would essentially be the same.

Basically what I want to avoid is the dialog box that says "Currently recording - press x to stop recording and change channel." I don't know if Sage actually has a dialog box like that - I remember them in TIVO as well as cable company PVR boxes.

One way to get there would be for the "recording tuners" to never be in use for live TV viewing - so there could be a bank of "recording tuners" busy doing their thing, and that doesn't impact live TV viewing.

Then you could have a tuner or a pair of tuners (HD/SD) for each TV, so the ability to watch live TV at each client simultaneously is never impacted.

--

Realistically - I've never had a problem with the 6 tuners I've got now. But I'm about to add another client (HD-100!) so possibilities for conflicts might increase. And as my kids get older they will be watching TV and not turning off the extender - I'd hate to miss an HD recording on a busy recording night because my kids TV is tuned to Disney HD and no one is watching it......

[PGPfan]

Originally Posted by bialio

Basically what I want to avoid is the dialog box that says "Currently recording - press x to stop recording and change channel." I don't know if Sage actually has a dialog box like that - I remember them in TIVO as well as cable company PVR boxes.

That's a conflict resolution warning - Sage does have it as I recall, but with enough tuners you never see it.

Originally Posted by bialio

One way to get there would be for the "recording tuners" to never be in use for live TV viewing - so there could be a bank of "recording tuners" busy doing their thing, and that doesn't impact live TV viewing.

I don't think it's possilbe the way you describe. Any DVR is essentially recording all the time, even with Live TV. The problem with NOT doing it this way is that sooner or later you run into a feature request like "If I'm 7 minutes into a show, I'd like to be able to press 'record' and have it record the whole show." Having Sage record Live TV provides that functionality. Your best solution is just to add another tuner (which you can get for $39.00 if you look hard enough).

Just my .02.

-PGPfan

[malbec]

1) HD Extender
2) Another vote for multi user
3) Another vote to crack open wiz.bin to something more convenient
4) Another vote for cable card, but with a full recognition that is an issue with the Movie industry and the members of Congress rather than the folks at Sage
5) A little less significant, but a pet peeve nonetheless ...

If you search for a recording and select "View by Category," it would seem to me that all recordings of the same name should be grouped with the show listed only once. If you so desire, you could drill/get more information and the items for that particular show would then pop up so as to select a time (if so desired). Having a full list of all 878 shows even though a lot of them are repeats is not very efficient when it comes to searching them.

6) The UI has improved a LOT!!!! But kind of wish it was a sexy as MCE. MCE has it faults though...
7) Fully integrated DVD burning of selected shows (akin to the integrated transcoding feature - awesome add by the way!!!)
8) Fully integrated Dynamic Menus in the base STV (talk about a must have plugin)
9) I don't suppose there is such a thing as VOIP caller ID?
10) Improved transcoding speed/optimization?
11) Ability to buy stock in Sage before Microsoft or Apple buys them

[bialio]

Originally Posted by PGPfan

I don't think it's possilbe the way you describe. Any DVR is essentially recording all the time, even with Live TV.

I'm not saying that I don't want Live TV recorded - what I'm looking for is that scheduled recordings (of favorites) happen on certain tuners, and other tuners are used for "live" viewing.

Having more tuners is something of a workaround, but it's not as concrete as it could be.....

I don't think there are HD tuners available for $40 are there?

btl.

[Djc208]

Originally Posted by malbec

6) The UI has improved a LOT!!!! But kind of wish it was a sexy as MCE. MCE has it faults though...

I'd like to see something like the SageMC interface in house as an alternate UI, the guys that do SageMC are great, and I can't thank them enough for the effort they put in , but there's that inevitable lag between Sage changes and their integration into SageMC.
I wouldn't scrap the stock UI, I've found that the stock UI is great if I'm placeshifting on my laptop or running a client on a computer where the mouse/keyboard is my control device. SageMC is much nicer/easier to navigate from a remote on the couch however.

Otherwise my only real wish would be cablecard support, I sure hope someone figures it out, every time I look at the cable company DVRs the limitations compared to Sage make me reluctant and the fees they charge just piss me off

[cowana]

- Away with the WIZ.BIN file and do something open like mysql
- More flexibility around the watched and do not record options settings
- Improvement of the epg grabbing/importing process. It's too complicated for the simple user to get this working, especially outside the US.
- DVB epg import filters - if you are getting your epg from your transport stream.
- A new explanation of all/most of the sage.properties file
- Software CAM so that I don't need two access cards in each tuner - not sure how possible this is?

Looking forward to ver 7!

[jaminben]

The thing I'd like to see most in Sage 7.0 would be a circulating buffer for live tv.
So when watching live tv and the current programme comes to an end you dont get the little blip in the recording as the next programme starts.
I know its not a major problem for most people as they proberly dont watch live tv but in our house we always watch live tv and having that gap can be a pain especially as BBC channels generally run over and when we're watching the last episode of Heros and you miss a few seconds of the season finale it doesnt go down to well with the missus.

Apart from that I'm very pleased with the way SageTV is working.

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by jaminben

The thing I'd like to see most in Sage 7.0 would be a circulating buffer for live tv.
So when watching live tv and the current programme comes to an end you dont get the little blip in the recording as the next programme starts.

This is part of what I posted before where we need an option to go into "LiveTV mode only" with either small temporary buffer or no buffering/recording at all. This is for people who stills channel surf or watch live events, such as a sports game.

I know its not a major problem for most people as they proberly dont watch live tv but in our house we always watch live tv and having that gap can be a pain especially as BBC channels generally run over and when we're watching the last episode of Heros and you miss a few seconds of the season finale it doesnt go down to well with the missus.

The pause doesn't bother me and I hardly miss anything, it is so short that it is almost continuous. But then this might vary with different tuners/computer hardware.

[Crashless]

I'm curious to know what everyone would do with a mySQL database vs what already exists with studio and it's access to the database internally.

It seems that everything people are looking for in a "mySQL integration" could be provided with a java plugin running.

[Diginerd]

+100 on Multi User support. Parental controls just don't cut it.

Some Flags that would be killer:-

Can / Cannot watch Live TV (Even better if coupled with what channels an account can watch. e.g., my 5 year old can see a couple of the kids channels and that's it but when I'm logged in I can see everything without having to disable parental control or keep typing in a PIN)

Can / Cannot schedule Recordings at all

Can / Cannot delete ANYTHING manually. (Master account manages this action, or favorite keep n shows deleting the older)

Each user has a default priority, but the master account also has total control over ALL favorites. So if a user can make recordings, higher priority wins. So Daddy's stuff is not overriden by the same 5 year olds Dora, but the 1 show that the teen MUST watch without sulking for a week can be juggled up.

Each users sees only their recorded files, and optionally files that are at their parental control level (Optional).

"Adult" accounts act more like filter views, so they can be freely and easily swapped between freely, unless PIN Coded.

Automatic STV swapping and association could be nifty too.. Simplified for the 5 year old (Including no "Quit" button!), ungodly complex for Daddy and a couple in the middle for Mum & teen. Mum & Dad with the priv flag at an appropriate level can see each other's recordings without swapping STV though.

Archived and ripped media controlled on a per file, or per folder basis <- Huge!

All of the above, including being able to play back "Media Center" content (Ripped DVDs any one?!) via placeshifter.

This all will take a supreme amount of work, and is much akin to going from Windows > Windows NT, but would be truely unique in the market place, and with the extender would make Sage very attractive for many families that struggle with ANY existing system to ensure that the right people see the right things.

My 5 year old does know how to use Sage, and right now she's very good at doinng exactly as she's told but it's only a matter of time before she gets curious and screws things up, shuts things down or stumbles into something she shouldn't.

So Pretty PUHLLLLLLEEEEEEEAAASSSE..

With Sugar on top!

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by Crashless

I'm curious to know what everyone would do with a mySQL database vs what already exists with studio and it's access to the database internally.

It seems that everything people are looking for in a "mySQL integration" could be provided with a java plugin running.

For me the main reason would be to allow custom data to be added to the database and, here is the key, have it be searchable. If this could be added into the wiz.bin architecture, then that would be fine for me.

Having an easy way to backup and merge databases would also be nice.

I really liked the way Meedio handled its database. They got it right. Oh well....

Aloha,
Mike

[jaminben]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

I really liked the way Meedio handled its database. They got it right. Oh well....

Thats what I've figured out, all the htcp software I've tired have diffrent things going for them and theres not one package that does everything. I guess we'll get the ultimate package one day but until then Sage will do just fine.

[src666]

Originally Posted by Crashless

I'm curious to know what everyone would do with a mySQL database vs what already exists with studio and it's access to the database internally.

It seems that everything people are looking for in a "mySQL integration" could be provided with a java plugin running.

For me, the issue is accessibility/barrier to entry. In order to work with Sage's data, you have to be able to write an STV/plugin. If they used a standardized database, then just about any developer tool comes into play.