silly questions from newbie

[dedidio]

Hi,

Unfortunately I can not trial sage as I don't have a compatable card at the moment, I am however thinking of getting a hauppauge PVR 250.

I have posted on snapstreams forums about an issue I was having with their software: when I change channel on satelite it takes 2 seconds before I see the change on screen. I was told this would be the same if I upgraded my card tot he PVR 250.

Is this 2 second pause an issue in sage aswell?


As a seperate question (as I am not able to trial at the moment) does sage support 'on the fly' recording to formats other than mpeg 2 - if so, which formats?

Thanks in advance

[stanger89]

Channel changing:
Are you using a STB or cable direct to the card? In my experience with cable it's about .5s to change channels (has to re-buffer/encode the new channel). I think it might take longer if you're using a STB with an IR blaster since it sends the channel change command slowly.

Other formats:
Sage only works with HW encoder cards and there are none (at least supported ones) that encode to anything but MPEG2 (the 250 does MPEG1 but I don't know why you'd use it), so no, MPEG 2 is it.

[GbrNole]

channel changes by serial cable (on directv receiver) are pretty zippy for me too. prob a second or less.

[dedidio]

At the moment I have no way of using software to change channel. The problem I am on about is using the satelite box's own remote control.

I press channel up but then have to wait for 2 seconds before the change is seen on screen. It is because snapstream has a 2 second delay/buffer in its software. My question is whether or not I would have this same delay in sage.

Cheers

[stanger89]

Like I said when channel surfing in Sage (do this very rarely) the delay is about .5s.

Note that both of these products (Sage and BTV) are nearly useless if they can't change the channel on the box, you really need to use serial or IR to let the program change the channel.

[dedidio]

ok - thanks for the clarification

I am planning on getting an IR transmitter (not interested in receive), however my serial port is already in use so I am restricted to USB. The only one I have come accross is USB-UIRT and, being in the UK, will be forced to pay far too much for it (I have heard stories of people getting really stung by postage and customs and then more postage from uk depot to their home). If anyone can recommend an alternative that would be much appreciated!

Cheers