Considering a move to SageTV

[LionRed]

I have been using BTV for 2yrs now. I do not have a typical setup. I use a program call autoxvid to scan for commercials, cut the commercials out and then compress the videos. But I then do a manual check of the commercial cuts (run through comskip with videoredo output file). If needed make adjustments/delete the bad cut videos. ..then drag the corrected video to autoxvid again.
Can I do this in SageTV? Can it cut the commercials out? Then compress the vid to Xvid or Divx. Can I check that the cuts were correct? Before deleting the master recording?

What do I need for the following setup? I want to put a computer in the basement to record and viewing to be on an upstairs computer/TV.
I think I understand what is required for the basic SageTV/Client/Placeshifter. What I don't know..is how this SageTV MediaCenter works? Does it do the same thing SageTV does? with extras?

If someone could help me figure this out.....

I have been reading on the forums all day

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by LionRed

I have been using BTV for 2yrs now. I do not have a typical setup. I use a program call autoxvid to scan for commercials, cut the commercials out and then compress the videos. But I then do a manual check of the commercial cuts (run through comskip with videoredo output file). If needed make adjustments/delete the bad cut videos. ..then drag the corrected video to autoxvid again.
Can I do this in SageTV? Can it cut the commercials out? Then compress the vid to Xvid or Divx. Can I check that the cuts were correct? Before deleting the master recording?

I don't use comskip or compression, so I can't really help with that. Perhaps someone else can point you in the right direction. I think it's possible, though.

Originally Posted by LionRed

What do I need for the following setup? I want to put a computer in the basement to record and viewing to be on an upstairs computer/TV.
I think I understand what is required for the basic SageTV/Client/Placeshifter. What I don't know..is how this SageTV MediaCenter works? Does it do the same thing SageTV does? with extras?

If someone could help me figure this out.....

I have been reading on the forums all day

SageTV MediaCenter is SageTV; it's just a moniker to illustrate the fact that media center functionality is INTEGRATED within SageTV (sorry, as a former BTV user, I couldn't resist). You'll need a SageTV MediaCenter server for downstairs, and a Client license for the upstairs machine (if you want to play DVD's in the SageTV interface). If you don't care about DVD playback and tweaking codecs), you may want to look at a Placeshifter licence instead (in my opinion, it's much more flexible).

HTH,
Stu

[davephan]

Lionred,

You can end up with compressed video without commercials with SageTV, but may not exactly the same method. Comskip or ShowAnalyzer can be used to cut out commercials. Then SageTV has a built in transcoding application. Or, you can use an alternative video transcoding method which uses a number of programs and batch files that was assembled together by Roxy99. The Roxy99 method can also combine Comskip and Mpeg2 to Xvid AVI video transcoding (compression).

I use ShowAnalyzer to process the shows that I do not intend to keep, and I edit out the commercials of shows I intend to keep with VideoReDo. DirMon2 can be used with Comskip or ShowAnalyzer to monitor your video recording directory. DirMon2 is free and detects when files are no longer growing in size and puts them in queue for processing by Comskip or ShowAnalyzer.

The media extender is simply a small and silent set top box. There is a media extender called an MVP, which can be used to playback Mpeg2, MOV, AVI, and maybe other formats onto a standard def TV. I understand that high def can be played back through the MVP, need a fast CPU to do it. The MVP costs about $100. The video streams from the SageTV server through eithernet to the MVP. There is another media extender for high def called an SDX-HD100 high def media extender which is also a set top box that costs about $200 and allows you to watch high def without loading down your CPU.

There is also another device called HDHomerun which has two HDTV tuners in it and streams the output through eithernet to your SageTV server for recording high def.

Processing commercials and video compression is very CPU intensive, so a fast CPU helps to do it quickly and not load down your computer.

One downside to SageTV is that it runs on Java, which I do not believe is the best choice for high speed.

Many people have moved from BTV to SageTV. I tried BTV briefly before I bought SageTV at version 1.4. SageTV has improved drastically since version 1.4. I heard that the BTV forums are censored, so that could make it more difficult to troubleshoot problems and find out real opinions on topics.


Dave

[Brent]

Originally Posted by davephan

LI heard that the BTV forums are censored, so that could make it more difficult to troubleshoot problems and find out real opinions on topics.


Dave

Dave, they used to censor the Snapstream (BTV) forums (or should we just say enforced the rules of their forums) but that was well over a year ago and they pretty much allow all talk beyond spam these days. Trust me, there's plenty of opinions being expressed over there.

[lcddream]

you can use showanalyzer or comskip to make an edl file

then us the Video Editing Plugin to check the cut points and adjust as necessary then make the cuts (I believe you need VideoRedo installed to do this)

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22312

Then use the built in compression tools or the SageMC video tools plugin(i beleive you SageMC installed to use)
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28006

This what I am going to set up when I find the time.

[LionRed]

Thanks for the answers guys.
I was looking at SageMC Video Tools v3.0....it looks interesting.

Hehe anyone want to have a peek at Autoxvid and see if it could be adapted to SageTV

Oh boy...am I ever gonna be busy just to try this SageTV out for the trial period and get the commercial scanning/cut and compression up and working smoothly. As well as make it WP.

BTV is working great...but some of the features that SageTV has are very appealing.
This is a good time to try it out. My old gaming rig is getting an upgrade (Q6600). The E6600 is about to take over the HTPC. AMD FX 60 will do the placeshifting duties in the living room. With fresh installs of windows xp on 2 of the 3 rigs.

This outta be fun

[mickp]

Welcome to Sage LionRed,

Just to reiterate what others have said;

Bob's amazing, spectacular, superlative++ video editor is brilliant for editing commercials. It will automagically have any detected commercials marked when you fire it up and allows you to tweak very quickly. Much of the time I find it just as quick to edit all of the commercials without comskip data. Best of all it works with just you, your remote and the tv.

Comskip plus Comskip monitor works well for me for commercial detection though there are many other options.

E.P's video tools for sagemc are definitely worth a look re: your compression requirements. Hopefully the dvd burning portion will be back up and running soon. I reckon you might find that this does everything that autoxvid did for you in BTV.

I'd have felt that I'd compromised on interface moving from BTV to Sage (integration, reality, etc aside) if it weren't for SAGEMC.

Mick.

[LionRed]

Bob's amazing, spectacular, superlative++ video editor. Can this nice looking app be run from the computer upstairs....while the main recording computer is in the basement? Autoxvid is pretty slick...it uses comskip or VR or a few other detection programs (you pick one), for cuts it uses ProjectX ...with autogk doing the compression (I think its even more amazing..the guy that brought these all together is in his 70's). You select the time frame for this all to happen..for me between 2am and 10am.

I guess I have a couple of other questions about SageTV.
How fast does SageTV respond to the remote...how well does the recording folder respond? I always find BTV a little slow in regards to the recorded folder (better with this version...but still not as fast as it should be). When your done watching a recording...it can be 5-10 seconds for it to exit back out. BTV response to remote in the general is great....just the recording folder can be slow.

I was considering replacing a comp with a MVP (with BTV). But after reading in the forums the remote response was really slow. How well do the MVP's respond to the remote...with SageTV?

[[JiF]Mike]

I am a recent (still on trial) BTV to SageTV convert. I've had SageTV running for almost 2 weeks now and I love it. If I had the cash to buy it now I would lol! I bought an MVP 2 or 3 years ago and it has largely sat in storage until I read it could be used with SageTV. The remote is a bit slow but my SageTV server isn't as powerful as I would like so I put some blame on it. Still, it is great to use something I had originally bought for BTV, but got so frustrated with I stopped using it. Other than the remote response being slow it works perfect, giving me every feature on my remote tv that is on the primary. I can even watch the DVD's I have ripped into my library (something else I never could do with BTV) and with a 2.5 year old who likes to watch various Disney movies as he goes to sleep, it's made the rushed DVD hunt a thing of the past.

The biggest thing for me, has been the fact that SageTV just works. I have had virtually no trouble with anything I have tried to do and I keep finding new things to do. My wife has just been laughing at me as I spend many nights just fiddling with it, totally geeking out lol.

[LionRed]

I never had any probelms with BTV playing a file (as long as the codecs were installed on the computer...plays 99% of everything).
SageTV is drawing my attention:
1.) Video playlist? (I hope I understand it can do this), ability to que up videos to play...say for that evening of watching.
2.) I guess the intergration of the Media Center?
3.) Weather (this work for Canadians?)
4.) Recordings can be sorted by many methods?

One thing that doesn't matter to me is playing DVD's. Burning DVD's...could care less really (for me...I am sure many find it a great option). I dont want to go searching for shows on DVD's later. I have 3 Raid 5 arrays for storing shows. Considering the price of a 500GB HD and having shows at my finger tips. Although if I should have a raid control fail...I will be crying

[lcddream]

1. yes
2. not sure what the question is, but if you can unzip a zip file then you can set up SageMCE
2. Don't know
4. You can sort into groups (individual shows) at least...thats all I use. There are probably other sorting options.

The remote response is fast with the recording screen. However sometimes in other areas I find sage has to sometimes 'think' before it can bring you to the next menu, and you will see the sage loading icon. Overall it is fairly responsive on my setup. Not perfect but very acceptable given the feature set.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by LionRed

Bob's amazing, spectacular, superlative++ video editor. Can this nice looking app be run from the computer upstairs....while the main recording computer is in the basement?

Yes it will work from a client. It will even work from an MVP (VideoReDo of course runs on the server in that case) - just not as well as from a PC client - skipping does not work as well from an MVP as it does on a real client.

Autoxvid is pretty slick...it uses comskip or VR or a few other detection programs (you pick one), for cuts it uses ProjectX ...with autogk doing the compression (I think its even more amazing..the guy that brought these all together is in his 70's). You select the time frame for this all to happen..for me between 2am and 10am.

The next version of the plugin will be fully schedule-able but I've been working on it for a year now - slow progress - so I can't tell you when it will be out. I hope soon because I'm tired of working on it - need a break.