Glad I Didn't Buy The HD Extender

[bastafidli]

Can you post some more details about the issues which you have found too hard to overcome? Feedback is essential to improve the solution. Thank you

[rstumpf]

Here's a quick list for the Extender:
1. Obviously, the remote control issue. I will not perform the case mod to fix something that should have been caught in QA, only to void my warranty.
2. The device frequently shuts off during live TV and playback. Definitely ruins the viewing experience.
3. Frequent hard reboots were required just to get the device to respond to any sort of command.
4. The many zoom/aspect issues.
5. The UI (even with SageMC) looks and feels outdated.
6. The remote, when it did work and I stood directly in front of the device, jumped all around the UI. I had to be very careful when ever I used the remote so I didn't select the wrong option.

The software is also more hands-on than it needs to be to win over fence sitters. Give users the option for some basic customization screens with canned defaults (e.g. Video Quality = Good, Better, or Best). Leave the current options for users who choose to use Advanced customization screens.

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by rstumpf

Here's a quick list for the Extender:
1. Obviously, the remote control issue. I will not perform the case mod to fix something that should have been caught in QA, only to void my warranty.
2. The device frequently shuts off during live TV and playback. Definitely ruins the viewing experience.
3. Frequent hard reboots were required just to get the device to respond to any sort of command.
4. The many zoom/aspect issues.
5. The UI (even with SageMC) looks and feels outdated.
6. The remote, when it did work and I stood directly in front of the device, jumped all around the UI. I had to be very careful when ever I used the remote so I didn't select the wrong option.

The software is also more hands-on than it needs to be to win over fence sitters. Give users the option for some basic customization screens with canned defaults (e.g. Video Quality = Good, Better, or Best). Leave the current options for users who choose to use Advanced customization screens.

The extender has survived two intense Sundays worth of live football and I never saw #2, #3, or #6.

[Polycron]

My experiences with mine have been much more positive then negative. It was definately worth the $200. Obviously there is the IR issue which is annoying but not a show stopper.

On the other hand my WAF has never been higher. My old client PC was a royal pain. It would lock up 2 to 5 times a week which usually resulted in a phone call from my wife telling me that the "TV was locked up again". 10-15 minutes on the phone with her and it would be rebooted and working again. After the first 5 to 10 times she probably could have done it without calling but I think she did it more to "inform me" about her annoyance with the PC.

Now if there is a problem she just needs to hit the switch off and then back on and she is back in business. And even this only happened once since getting the unit.

I suppose I could have dropped more money into a new client PC but in the end I'm extremely happy not dealing with driver issues, random lockups, loud fans and all of the other issues that will eventually get you when dealing with a PC. I work with PC's all day long (my job) and am very happy to not deal with them when I get home too.

I know quite a few posts I've read complain about the fact that an Appliance (like this) just does not give you the flexibility of a PC. This is definitely true but then again you also do not have the complexity when things go south.

In the end, I consider myself one of the people who are extremely happy I bought one when I did and I know my wife is very pleased I bought one too.

[BFisher]

In general, I'm real pleased. My house was 5 MVPs, now it's 4 MVPs and 1 HD Extender (will be adding more once they are available again).

Some minor issues:
- IR - I have mine wired into my house system so it minimizes the issue (I have a repeater mounted right on the IR sensor), but sometimes it delays making you think it missed a signal when it really is busy...
- Screensaver - doesn't seem to work right anymore (very inconsistent)
- Standby - doesn't work anymore
- Aspect ratio - can't get it to do what I want without a lot of steps

Overall though, it has my thumbs up - picture quality is very good and it's easy to use. I'm betting the other items above will be resolved in the next release of software.

[Yooper]

The bottom line on the HD Extender is this: My analog cable video is digitized by my video card at my video server. From there to my lcd screen the signal is entirely digital without any losses. This way, I can focus on getting the best quality signal at the server, without needing to fuss with analog losses for each individual line in my house.

I am not having the problem with the remote. Mine works well.

The other issues are firmware or software issues that will be fixed in the future.

[autoboy]

rstumpf,

Sorry to hear you are leaving. One more question though, how many hours did you spend on your MCE solution to get it to where you wanted. 2 days doesn't sound like enough time to get the box to work for you.

All your problems are known bugs on the first firmware, and should be getting worked out quickly. From a small company like Sage, you can't expect totally flawless operation out of the gate for a brand new product like this. Check back with us in a couple months.

[rstumpf]

The thing is that my Vista MCE solution has worked flawlessly for me right out of the box. I know this may not be the typical case, but within two hours of beginning the reformat of a fresh install of Vista I was viewing MediaCenter through the Xbox 360 with all of the channels available to me on the guide. The setup of MCE actually only took 15 - 20 minutes.

Granted, Vista's lack of support for clear QAM is one hell an incentive to find an alternative solution. Which is exactly why I tried the HD Extender.

I really do want to be a customer of Sage's again. I just think I will have to site this rev out. Us fence sitters will have to wait until you trail blazers get things sorted out so we can jump on the band wagon when it really starts rolling.

[OneThomas]

I'll also chime in here and say that right out of the box, SageTV has worked flawlesly for me going on 2 plus years. Other then the occasional software update (which is expected and normal), Sage sits and runs on a dedicated server day after day with no "software" intervention from me. The two MVP extenders (and now the HD 1000) are all I use to interact with Sage on a day-to-day basis. Granted, the HD 1000 has had a few issues right out of the box - but with such a small company, and such a great product, they are acceptable - and Sage will surely soon have them all ironed out, soon. Folks tend to lose sight of the fact that Sage is a small company, the hardware extenders are NOT full fledged PC's, and for the cost, flexibility, and functionality - you just can't beat Sage. Most issues with Sage that folks expierence (including me) over time are a result of factors that Sage can not control - such as other updates to the PC that it is running on, or the network the hardware is running on. And, I actually like the basic menu system that is the Sage default. Both my PC's (including the one "serving" Sage) are Windows MCE machines, and I think those screens are way too busy. If folks want fancier screens, they can use Sage tool to create custom menus. Also, I remember that when Windows had the Externder made by LinkSys - that thing was 500 bucks and didn't do half what the HD100 can.

Of course, if anyone has another product that works for them and they like, that's great. But I sure don't see myself moving away from Sage ANYTIME soon.... (I'll probably go to a Mac now that it will run Sage, before I go to Vista, as well....)

[rstumpf]

Wow! You folks are certainly passionate about Sage and the Extender. This company is damn lucky to have you.

Because of all of the comments in this thread, I am now second guessing my decision to RMA this thing. Funny thing, too, as I just received the RMA approval email from Sage.

What to do? What to do?

OK. Based on the experience you folks have with Sage and its ability to deliver solid products, is there a general consensus that the issues I've identified with my Sage HD Media Center will be worked out in the near future? Do you loyal Sage customers have a high confidence level that this thing will work as one would expect it should (based on marketing ballyhoo)?

I am all for delayed gratification, so should I go through with the RMA or should I be a bit more realistic with such a new product and let it mature over the coming weeks/months? Can the payoff be good enough?

And here I was so confident about my decision...

[heffe2001]

Not sure if anybody mentions this lower down or not, but you can do clear Qam in Vista MCE if you're using a HD Homerun. Works just fine . (I use Sage for 99.9% of my TV viewing, but occasionally use my HDHR on my Vista Ultimate machine, usually when I'm bored and don't feel like watching 2 screens, the TV and the monitors, just throw MCE on the left monitor full screen, and surf or whatever on the right monitor).

Should also mention my extender is working pretty well, but I have gotten the black screen problem that requires a reboot of the Sage software. Haven't seen it since I switched from service mode back to program mode. Also haven't updated to the latest firmware yet (just saw it up today, but I'm at work). Hopefully this will fix the little nagging problems some folks are having.

If it were me, I'd wait it out. The older MVP's work very well (we have 2 on the system now), and I'm sure I remember them having issues at release as well. Just give it a bit of time and I'm sure it'll be fine.

Originally Posted by rstumpf

The thing is that my Vista MCE solution has worked flawlessly for me right out of the box. I know this may not be the typical case, but within two hours of beginning the reformat of a fresh install of Vista I was viewing MediaCenter through the Xbox 360 with all of the channels available to me on the guide. The setup of MCE actually only took 15 - 20 minutes.

Granted, Vista's lack of support for clear QAM is one hell an incentive to find an alternative solution. Which is exactly why I tried the HD Extender.

I really do want to be a customer of Sage's again. I just think I will have to site this rev out. Us fence sitters will have to wait until you trail blazers get things sorted out so we can jump on the band wagon when it really starts rolling.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by rstumpf

Wow! You folks are certainly passionate about Sage and the Extender. This company is damn lucky to have you.

Because of all of the comments in this thread, I am now second guessing my decision to RMA this thing. Funny thing, too, as I just received the RMA approval email from Sage.

What to do? What to do?

OK. Based on the experience you folks have with Sage and its ability to deliver solid products, is there a general consensus that the issues I've identified with my Sage HD Media Center will be worked out in the near future? Do you loyal Sage customers have a high confidence level that this thing will work as one would expect it should (based on marketing ballyhoo)?

I am all for delayed gratification, so should I go through with the RMA or should I be a bit more realistic with such a new product and let it mature over the coming weeks/months? Can the payoff be good enough?

And here I was so confident about my decision...

Other than the poor performance angles of the remote all of your other issues should be correctable by firmwear updates. One just came out that should fix the random power off of the HD Extender. For me I'm using a Harmony remote and don't really have the angle issue like I did with the original remote. So I won't be doing a Black and Decker on HDX.

For the people who have been with Sage awhile, we have seen them do an honest job of turning out the best product they can. When the MVP first came out after a Sage user originally created a plugin for it, there were issues that came and went as they worked through them Did you know you couldn't play ripped DVDs on an MVP before? And for awhile people were thinking the HD Extender was some sort of mythical beast that no one had ever actually seen.

I've been here awhile and have always found it worthwhile to hang in with them.


Gerry

[sixdoubleo]

I have been delightfully impressed by the quality and stability of the HD extender. I had planned for a few weeks of troubleshooting and messing with the thing, but literally after the first day, I disconnected the old MVP and was using the HD Extender full time. I've used it pretty much every day for two weeks now and haven't look back.

As for the IR issue, my configuration mitigates it. My HD Extender is hidden from view (as it should be), so I am using an IR distribution block to get IR to it. Due to this, I"m feeding the IR signal right where it needs to be...no angles.

Electronics are back-end infrastructure and should never be part of your decor or even be visible to viewers. Hide them and you will solve the IR problem in the process.

[sixdoubleo]

Originally Posted by rstumpf

Wow! You folks are certainly passionate about Sage and the Extender. This company is damn lucky to have you.

Because of all of the comments in this thread, I am now second guessing my decision to RMA this thing. Funny thing, too, as I just received the RMA approval email from Sage.

What to do? What to do?

OK. Based on the experience you folks have with Sage and its ability to deliver solid products, is there a general consensus that the issues I've identified with my Sage HD Media Center will be worked out in the near future? Do you loyal Sage customers have a high confidence level that this thing will work as one would expect it should (based on marketing ballyhoo)?

I am all for delayed gratification, so should I go through with the RMA or should I be a bit more realistic with such a new product and let it mature over the coming weeks/months? Can the payoff be good enough?

And here I was so confident about my decision...

Sage has been my whole house DVR solution since some time in 2003. I have a server with three tuners, 3 PC clients, 1 MVP client, and now one HD Extender client. To call it rock-solid is really an understatement. It works flawlessly day in and day out. The new HD Extender is no different. I simply plugged it in and forgot about it.

If you have the technical ability and patience to set up a very clean Windows machine and optimize its performance, you shouldn't have any trouble setting up a very stable Sage system. But Sage is not a "Next, Next, Finish" type of install. You need to take some time designing your system...trying some things, failing, and reconfiguring. Every time I sat there swearing at the monitor at Sage, I later realized that it was my own fault, or my own lack of understanding that caused the problem.

But if you take the time with Sage, the benefits are well worth it. There are plenty of people here who would be more than happy to help you.

[Roundup5]

Originally Posted by sTVb

I think the HD extender looks like a great value.

Unfortunately, without support for CC, the extender is worthless to my wife and I. I really hope CC support gets added before I have a spend time and $$ on building a client for the wife.

I second your comment about the CC support. It needs native support, and not some complicated work around. Im still waiting.

Carl

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by Roundup5

I second your comment about the CC support. It needs native support, and not some complicated work around. Im still waiting.

Carl

I could see Sage supporting native digital CC support on the HD Extender. Its already embedded in the digital stream, no need to have CCinDVD driver support like for the analog tuners. Analog CC is dependent on the analog tuner manufacturers (and analog is pretty much going bye-bye long term).