Sage @ CES this year?

[Opus4]

Ooooh questions I might be able to answer...

Originally Posted by mistergq

so how is the weather in Vegas?

I don't know... you could check what I check for that type of question: weather.com. Strangely enough, it looks as if it is something like the weather where I am.

what casino game is your favorite?

None -- the only real way to win at gambling is to own the casino & set the rules.

do you agree with welsey to always bet on black?

No -- always bet on the customer losing more than he wins. In the long run, you'll come out way ahead.

- Andy

[evilpenguin]

Sounds like you got the making of an STX-2000 there

edit: also, BluRay... BOO!

[mickp]

Originally Posted by Opus4

In the Echostar booth (Central Hall 9021) there's a technology demo with an Echostar set-top box streaming live HD TV to a Pioneer Blu-ray player running SageTV software. It's currently a technology demo only, no product release commitment from Echostar or Pioneer at this point.

By Echostar STB does he mean streaming a dish network hdtv stream via Sage? That would be quite a coup for both companies.

Mick.

[JUC]

Originally Posted by mickp

By Echostar STB does he mean streaming a dish network hdtv stream via Sage? That would be quite a coup for both companies.

Mick.

Could just be a STB running sage software (that might be what you were saying). That would get sage into many households!
Juc

[nick_l]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Here's some info I can post about SageTV at CES:



That's all I can say about it, so if you ask me questions, don't expect an answer.

If you are at CES, you might be able to get more info at the Echostar booth.

- Andy

Ok, there are just too many things there to get my head around. Could Echostar actually be complicit in our finally capturing HD material (easily)? I hope someone that is there can stop in and make sense of it for us!

I'm all a tingle.

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Here's some info I can post about SageTV at CES:



That's all I can say about it, so if you ask me questions, don't expect an answer.

If you are at CES, you might be able to get more info at the Echostar booth.

- Andy

Andy can you comment if we can expect some sort of product announcement out of SageTV during CES? This sounds like a non workable solution for me as it would likely entail HDCP over HDMI for HD. My 1080i Pioneer Elite 710HD is still going strong..

B

[malbec]

Smells to me like Echostar might be incorporating Sage into their DVR offerings? How cool would that be? Think of the momentum Sage would gain from such a distribution channel?

[jdg]

" streaming live HD TV to a Pioneer Blu-ray player running SageTV software. "

The idea that a blu-ray player is running sageTV sounds like the real story here.

[Brent]

Arent' the logical choices:
1. Extender v2 - blu-ray player running sageTV (not sure how this would work with Echostar's direction unless it ties in with slingbox (recently purchased by echostar) Would be good to get more SageTV into more houses.
2. SageTV and blu-ray integrated into a DishTV (echostar) set-top box. Big because it would give us the HD content for encrypted satellite SD & HD channels
3. Something I'm missing...???

From the tidbit given to us:

there's a technology demo with an Echostar set-top box streaming live HD TV to a Pioneer Blu-ray player running SageTV software. It's currently a technology demo only, no product release commitment from Echostar or Pioneer at this point.

My guess and hope is it's #2

[mogrinz]

Regarding the HD-PVR capture product, the tech itself was locked in a cabinet behind the monitor. You couldn't see it - the hauppauge rep told me it was a complete prototype piece of hardware: just the board; no case. Hence why it was hidden. He did tell me that they were hoping to have it more finalized by cebit (perhaps even for formal announcement)

Not sure it it's a card; I got the impression it would be a USB component capture device.

This echostar news is interesting. Alas, I've already braved the main hall and am not really planning on going back. Though given this tidbit, it is tempting... If I can wring any info out of anyone, I'll definitely post it here.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by mogrinz

They definitely aren't at the Hauppauge both. I visited them today. But Hauppauge folks did show me a super-prototype new HD capture product: the HD-PVR (tentative name). Tentative price: $250. Captures full 1080p over the analog hole, so no DRM issues.

I asked if Sage new about it or would support it, and the rep told me he didn't think they were aware of it yet. So Sage folks: Please make some calls and start bugging hauppauge. I'd love to use this to capture HD off my cable box or as an alternative to the R5000.

Did they have a working prototype to demo or was it just a box they were talking about? Just curious how far along they might be with this thing.

[gblinckmann]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

BluRay... BOO!

Well, it is looking like they are betting on the right horse, at least... HD-DVD isn't looking too good today.

[mogrinz]

Originally Posted by Brent

Did they have a working prototype to demo or was it just a box they were talking about? Just curious how far along they might be with this thing.

Hauppauge was demoing a working prototype. As to echostar - I've been thinking about this.. there was a moment when I walked past their both and saw what looked something like the default sage UI on a screen. I stared at it for a few seconds and thought, "nnnaahhhh - everyone here is demoing a similar looking UI. Can't be"

Now I see I was wrong though. I probably am going to go shake them down tomorrow before my flight!

[DigitalMan]

Originally Posted by gblinckmann

Well, it is looking like they are betting on the right horse, at least... HD-DVD isn't looking too good today.

Not only that but Blu-ray players already support java, although I'm not sure what the limitations are...

I've held off getting into either format but it would be nice to get one that doubled as a Sage HD extender since I'm going to need more of them!

[fidget]

Originally Posted by gblinckmann

Well, it is looking like they are betting on the right horse, at least... HD-DVD isn't looking too good today.

If my memory serves me right, BD is built around Java so this would be a very feasible port. Since the Echostar DVR is streaming to it, does this mean that the Dish Network boxes run Java too?

[mikesm]

I stopped by the Echostar and hauppauge booths today and got a good download. It was a little hard to find someone who knew what they were talking about, but I managed to get some good info.

The Dish box was streaming encrypted video to Sage running on the blue ray player using DTCP-IP. The sage player was not recording it, just playing it. From the conversation with the echostar guy, it sounded like they were not going to let another device record content, but rather provide it to a device that could display it in whatever UI the device wanted. This is unlike the cable guys who will allow other devices to display content, but only if they control the UI completely.

This is not the dish box acting as a tuner to Sage.

The hauppauge box was quite interesting. USB connected, it has a analog component encoder that can encode 720p, 1080i, and yes, 1080p content in an H.264 format at data rates of 5 to 25 Mbps. This allows for pretty good quality, though not as good as an R5000. The HD-DVD disk they were encoding looked very good at 9 mbps.

The h.264 profile they are using is blue ray compatible, so a codec that can playback BR content should be able to play this back too. They also can take in SPDIF for multichannel audio recording, which is synced in software to the video. It's fresh out of the engineering lab, but they claim it will be in production and distribution in a couple months for $250.

A friend of mine said a bunch of companies are working on this same type of product, some farther along actually, and so we will likely see a number of such products soon. The BOM for such a card is likely sub $50, so the $250 price is high and is likely to come down soon after there is more competition.

The Dish guys thought the Sage guys were at the show, maybe in a suite, but I couldn't find it on any of the show documentation. They must be in stealth mode. I wonder what they are cooking up... Must be good if they don't want to share. :-)

Hope this helps answer some questions.

[evilpenguin]

Wow, great stuff, thanks for the info

[Crashless]

Yeah, great info!

Getting into STBs would definitely be a very lucrative proposition for SageTV. Just don't forget about us ok?

[mattdcknsn]

Thanks also.

[Khristopher]

Originally Posted by Crashless

Yeah, great info!

Getting into STBs would definitely be a very lucrative proposition for SageTV. Just don't forget about us ok?

Yes, PLEASE don't pull a "Snapstream" and forget about the Consumer side of things if an Enterprise side develops.