Vista Media Center Plugin

[davieboy]

Originally Posted by mikesm

Are you crazy? Haven't you pulled out your hair trying to make HD playback work under windows? What a POS. It not just MSFT's fault, you can thank crappy drivers from ATI and Nvidia too, and Cyberlink etc... don't help much either. That "underpowered" extender should be able to play back HD flawlessly without hair pulling. How do you think STB's work? I haven't seen too many threads on how Moto and S/A boxes studder and tear and which driver versions fix which problems, etc... There is a reason why CE devices work well and windows has issues.

Client machines may be able to play back HD-DVD etc... in the future. True, after you swap out the video card, after you get the right drivers loaded. oh, the codec downsamples HD audio to SPDIF? Great.

I think there are times to use real clients and extenders, but for most folks, the extender is definitely the way to go. Sage has some teething pains here to work through, but their trajectory is right. And don't exclude the possibility of playing back HD media through the extender. We just can't talk about it here.

Sideshow is another POS looking for a problem to solve. They should work harder on making their DRM break less. I would like Sage to look prettier and have better plugin support. But that is driven by numbers, and as Sage grows more numerous in the base, it will attract more of these kinds of features, assuming the underlying architecture is extended somewhat to enable that.

Just for the record guys I am not saying that sage as a media center is bad, I am also not suggesting that vista media center is better. All I am saying is that it would be nice if sage offered as a side product a plugin for the vista media center users of the world period. I most certainly do not want this thread to develop into a flame war. Most of the people who have posted on this thread are already happy with their sage setup. The plugin that I am suggesting isn't for you guys at all. Its for others who are stuck in the vista media center world. Remember its more profitable to sell software than hardware. I think there are plenty of non sage people out there who would buy in if such a plugin existed. This would equal more revenue for sage. More revenue = more cash to invest in development thus making things better for all the different users of sage no matter what platform they use it on.

[sandor]

Originally Posted by davieboy

Just for the record guys I am not saying that sage as a media center is bad, I am also not suggesting that vista media center is better...

and i think some of us are saying "why would sagetv waste resources on having to support more issues with windows?"

[sainswor99]

davieboy:

Hang around here for a while, and you'll start to notice a pattern:

1. Some body who's new to the forum (and usually new to the product) will start a thread, saying something along the lines of "wouldn't it be great if sage could (integrate with x, play x, change x, eliminate old age, etc)".

2. A few people will post saying "huh?", others will post saying "great!", and a few more will post saying "that's stupid; sage is fine like it is".

I'm not suggesting that your idea is any better or worse than any other idea that comes down the path; however, there are a few things that should be pointed out:

1. This is a user forum, not a developer forum. You can put an idea out here, and it can get discussed to death, and never amount to much. The developers do stop by every once in a while, but there's no guarantee that they'll like your idea. Even if they do, they probabably won't comment on it. If you want to submit your idea to the the developers, submit it as a support request.

2. Posting statements that can be deemed to be derogatory to the current product offerering (ie., "underpowered" extenders) is one way to stir up the crowd; however, such stirring up often fails to lead to productive discussion of your original idea.

3. Unless you're a marketing genius, you may to refrain from making statements like "There are many peolpe who would jump on this. The reason they havent jumped on sage yet is the interface etc." and " think there are plenty of non sage people out there who would buy in if such a plugin existed." It hurts your credibility; we all know that the home-built PVR market is at best a niche market; how many is "plenty of people"? 10?

Personally, I think this is an interesting idea; I just think you're either selling it to the wrong crowd, or you don't know enough about the users here to pitch it your detractors approrpiately.

Stu

[davieboy]

Originally Posted by sainswor99

davieboy:

Hang around here for a while, and you'll start to notice a pattern:

1. Some body who's new to the forum (and usually new to the product) will start a thread, saying something along the lines of "wouldn't it be great if sage could (integrate with x, play x, change x, eliminate old age, etc)".

2. A few people will post saying "huh?", others will post saying "great!", and a few more will post saying "that's stupid; sage is fine like it is".

I'm not suggesting that your idea is any better or worse than any other idea that comes down the path; however, there are a few things that should be pointed out:

1. This is a user forum, not a developer forum. You can put an idea out here, and it can get discussed to death, and never amount to much. The developers do stop by every once in a while, but there's no guarantee that they'll like your idea. Even if they do, they probabably won't comment on it. If you want to submit your idea to the the developers, submit it as a support request.

2. Posting statements that can be deemed to be derogatory to the current product offerering (ie., "underpowered" extenders) is one way to stir up the crowd; however, such stirring up often fails to lead to productive discussion of your original idea.

3. Unless you're a marketing genius, you may to refrain from making statements like "There are many peolpe who would jump on this. The reason they havent jumped on sage yet is the interface etc." and " think there are plenty of non sage people out there who would buy in if such a plugin existed." It hurts your credibility; we all know that the home-built PVR market is at best a niche market; how many is "plenty of people"? 10?

Personally, I think this is an interesting idea; I just think you're either selling it to the wrong crowd, or you don't know enough about the users here to pitch it your detractors approrpiately.

Stu

I think if you read my post properly you will find that I was referring to the MICROSOFT extenders. I have never said the sage product is bad. In fact I was saying its so good that they should consider expanding the product line so that their great product can reach more users (Customers!). Take a look over at thegreenbutton there is a lot of talk about Sage there. (hence my comment about vista media center users that would really use what I suggested as a plugin) I am annoyed by the fact that people are taking a negative stance to my suggestions (they are only suggestions). I didn't post here expecting a reply from the developers. I posted to see if people thought this would be a good idea. Period. So again for the last time if I thought Sage was a BAD product why on earth would I be asking for them to make a plugin for us vista media center based users??? This thread has now lost my interest. Happy new year everyone. Good luck in 2008

[mickp]

Drink the Kool-Aid Davie Boy :P

Try using SageMC for a week or two and let the developers know where you think it needs improvement.

Many btv users have been flocking to SAGE recently due largely to the lack of integration of the Beyond Media and Beyond TV products.

Rakesh at SS has stated (some time ago admitedly) that Snapstream's future may be in providing something like what you've suggested for vmce. See here for more details. Maybe they would also be interested.

Mick.