SageTV is a complete waste of money

[Joe Mabb]

Hello all. I just want to inform any potential future SageTV customers out there what to expect when if you purchase SageTV.
I purchased SageTV for the Mac with a Hauppauge MYTV.pvr tuner as a bundle thru Sage. I bought this back in November 2007.
When I finally received it... it never worked. I got this message telling me it couldn't connect to the SageTV service... all I got was this blue screen and that's it.
After 6 months, they finally corrected their software so it would recognize the MYTV tuner. It still didn't work fully. I still can't record shows in the future because after an hour or so, the software automatically loses connection to the tuner, and any shows programmed to record are lost.
The people I have had tried to deal with at Sage just don't care. Not once did they contact me first in those 6 months of waiting to explain what the problem was. They would only respond to my emails. They never gave me an estimate when they would fix their software, or have any other solutions to their problems.
Now I want my money back because their software still doesn't do as advertised, and they refuse. I now am the proud owner of a useless TV tuner and some useless SageTV software!!!!
FYI.... I recently purchased ATI USB Wonder 650 for the Mac... this tuner is excellent... PLUS it has built in software that comes included that Sage advertises they don... AND MORE. And it works!!! And it was a LOT CHEAPER!!!!!!

[mayamaniac]

Title should say "SageTV for MAC is a complete waste of money".

I don't know about SageTV for Mac, but most people here can attest that SageTV for Windows works very well.

Sorry to hear that SageTV isn't working for you. If you charge the purchase with your credit card, you can try to file a complaint with the credit card company and try to get your money back that way. After 30 days, it's really hard to get money back from most companies.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Joe Mabb

Hello all. I just want to inform any potential future SageTV customers out there what to expect when if you purchase SageTV.
I purchased SageTV for the Mac with a Hauppauge MYTV.pvr tuner as a bundle thru Sage. I bought this back in November 2007.
When I finally received it... it never worked. I got this message telling me it couldn't connect to the SageTV service... all I got was this blue screen and that's it.
After 6 months, they finally corrected their software so it would recognize the MYTV tuner.

Did you submit a support request? Or did you just wait and hope it would work as some point.

The people I have had tried to deal with at Sage just don't care. Not once did they contact me first in those 6 months of waiting to explain what the problem was.

How did you contact them? DID, you contact them in that "first 6 months"? I've never gone more than a day or two without a response (usually only hours).

They would only respond to my emails.

That's the only support line.

Now I want my money back because their software still doesn't do as advertised, and they refuse. I now am the proud owner of a useless TV tuner and some useless SageTV software!!!!

Well after six months, what do you expect? I don't know any product/store that will give refunds after six months.

[Stuntman]

I find it hard to believe that a bundled package doesn't work at all.. either that or you are the only one who ever bought that package?? While I recognize the fact that you might indeed be the only owner of such a package, it is also possible that this package works on the other systems that it has been bought for.. which would then lead to speculation that something within the OS is causing problems.. There isn't any way for those of us here on the forum to know, but I'm sure there are some that would be willing to help.. flaming the product probably doesn't help..

Don't get me wrong, I'd be upset too.. and I applaud your patience.. I certainly wouldn't have waited that long before I demanded either a refund or an answer..

Can anybody verify they have this system working? What specs?

Personally I use Windows.. because it just works...

[pratt733]

I can definitely say that SageTV for the Mac works just as well as its Windows counterpart (haven't tried Linux). Before I made the Mac jump, I was running on Windows, with Windows clients and a couple of MVPs. Since I wanted to record HD and it didn't work well on Windows, I set up a Mac firewire network encoder. It worked so well, I went completely firewire. Then, I realized, there was no need for all that network traffic and built a SageTV OSX Leopard server. Now, I'm not running any PCI tuners, so maybe that's the difference. Oh, did I mention I'm running OSX on an AMD2 "hackintosh"?

Other than the fact that the MVPs don't particularly like using SageMC (unsupported by SageTV and DEFINITELY unsupported on the Mac), everything's been perfect. Even better, with the generous work of bjenkins, I know even have comskip running!! It's in every way as good as Windows.

[schmots]

I can attest that the Mac client works fine. I run the server part from a linux system. I am looking to get an iMac and run the client on that, my current only problem is remote control. I am afraid I will have to go keyboard/mouse

[autoboy]

Sorry to hear that. I've had my fair share of problems with SageTV too. I've had it since V2.1, got so frustrated, that I switched to Windows Media Center, and 4 months later of ridiculous limitations I was back to SageTV, worked through my problems on this wonderful forum, and I now have every SageTV product they've made. Sometimes I curse the day I first ordered it, but every other day as I watch TV anywhere in the house with or on the road with any file formate I absolutely love it. For me, SageTV is like women, you don't realize what you have until it is gone. Lucky for me both took me back when I saw the light, though SageTV was much cheaper

[inlvnv]

Anyone have any info on whether the latest Sage TV for Mac version, beta or otherwise, can play ripped DVDs? It's a major missing feature.

[hotwire]

Anyone have any info on whether the latest Sage TV for Mac version, beta or otherwise, can play ripped DVDs? It's a major missing feature.

I'm running the 6.4.3 Media Center beta on a 2GHz Core Duo MacBook using the HDHomeRun for a tuner and I can play ripped DVDs from the STX-HD100.
Hope this helps.

Kenny

[exdirtfarmer]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

Title should say "SageTV for MAC is a complete waste of money".

Actually it should just say " MAC is a complete waste of money "

me ducks low and crawls for cover.

[mohanman]

Haha.. mac completely waste of money. I would have found that hilarious about one year ago before I switched over the mac. I was the biggest microsoft fan out there, I loved it! Then, for some reason I walked into an apple store.. looked at the laptops, looked at the desktop, the ability to do both mac and windows on one machine, the solid feel of the laptops compared to the cheap plastic feel of most of the windows laptops and instantly bought two computers. I now have a Mac pro, mac book pro, mac mini, apple tv, iphone among a few apple products, and I can't get enough! I am addicted, and much happier! The mac stuff does just work! It works!

Since I now have a computer which actually works, and doesn't crash as much as windows did, I have more time to do things.. I actually lost 14 lbs since I switched... windows made me fat!

Mo

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by mohanman

windows made me fat!

There are so many truths bound up in this one small statement that my mind is reeling.

Aloha,
Mike

[flavius]

Yeah, just look at Justin Long. He's is quite the slim guy.

[Khristopher]

Originally Posted by exdirtfarmer

Actually it should just say " MAC is a complete waste of money ".

Spoken like a true uneducated Mac virgin!

[exdirtfarmer]

Originally Posted by Khristopher

Spoken like a true uneducated Mac virgin!

Hey come on, lighten up. No need to be flamin' cause I poke a little fun at your favorite brand. I agree I am a Mac virgin. Probably stay that way because I feel they are a complete waste of money.

Apparently some people feel the same way about SageTV.

or is that just the Mac version.

[flavius]

Mac users have been getting quite a bit of attention from Sage lately. There's either some Mac lover at Sage with a lot of cloud or attending to this group of users makes at least some sense economically. Or both, doesn't really matter.

I don't think the Mac version is the ugly step-child here.

[Khristopher]

Originally Posted by exdirtfarmer

Hey come on, lighten up. No need to be flamin' cause I poke a little fun at your favorite brand. I agree I am a Mac virgin. Probably stay that way because I feel they are a complete waste of money.

Apparently some people feel the same way about SageTV.

or is that just the Mac version.

It wasn't meant as a flame......more of a tongue-in-cheek comment.

I've actually only been using a Mac for a couple months now, and I have to say I absolutely love it. It's easy to use, provides a logical flow, and very elegant.

I used to be of the mindset that "Macs suck! Period!" so I've really had to eat some crow lately. I was a little bored one day and came across a random Psystar post so decided to check out OS X. I installed it on my Dell m1330 and had a good feel for it within a couple days.......a week later I went out and bought a MacBook.

I'm running SageTV Server on a Windows box right now, but I've had no problems with the Placeshifter on my Mac.

I think the OP was having issues getting SageTV Server installed on a Mac.....and that I really can't comment on but I can say that SageTV has met all my expectations and surpassed some of them with regards to being a TV/Media Server program.

[mohanman]

just look at the sales numbers. i see more apple stores popping up and dell stores closing... at least my observation?

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by Khristopher

I used to be of the mindset that "Macs suck! Period!" so I've really had to eat some crow lately. I was a little bored one day and came across a random Psystar post so decided to check out OS X. I installed it on my Dell m1330 and had a good feel for it within a couple days.......a week later I went out and bought a MacBook.

I just bought my first Mac also, a 15" Macbook Pro. It's super expensive ($2700) even though I got a 15% discount. Retail was $3200 . I bought it because of the hardware. You can't find a PC laptop with the same features, as thin (1") and weighs only 5.4 lbs, not to mention with DVI and firewire 800. The funny thing is I'm buying it to run Vista 64bit. I'm not one of people who are ignorant of the Mac and OSX, I know it fairly well. I've been using it since it came out for work, just never own any mac products before this Macbook Pro. But overall, I prefer Vista 64bit over Leopard. I'm not a Windows fanboy nor do I think Windows is better, it just suits me better.

But lets not turn this thread into a Mac vs. Windows thread, there's enough of that on the internet.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

I just bought my first Mac also, a 15" Macbook Pro. It's super expensive ($2700) even though I got a 15% discount. Retail was $3200 .

I like Mac's as well, but not enough to pay the big premium they sell for.