Replacing TiVo?

[jptaz]

On the networking features:

For almost a year now I have been using SageTVClient as my primary way of Watching TV. For the most part it is very robust and works really well. I use the ATI All In Wonder Remote and never use the keyboard or mouse. You will find several threads on the Remote Wonder along with Pluggins and Girder Files.

I occasionally will use SageTV on the Server PC, but that is rare. All scheduling, and any other tasks are performed on the SageTVClient Machine in the living room.

Eventually I plan on adding more clients, but at the moment I don't have a real need since I do all my TV Watching in the living room.

I just recently bought a house and my office now is right next my living room with a big closet in the bed room in between the two. This room is also a guest bed room so I put both the server and the Client in the Closet and feed wires for the TV through a small hole in the wall and then the monitor cable goes to my desk, both mouse and keyboard are wireless. My living room is now silent with no PC noises. Not something everyone can do but I was happy when I could.

P.S. The network features really sold me on SageTV.

John

[Holykat]

There is something you can do about the PC noise level. I had the same problem on WAF regarding noise so I end up building a quiet PC from scratch to get her approval. Here is a list of things you can do:

Antec Sonata case:
With 20.4dBA noise level, you not gonna hear much from the case it self. ($99-120)

For CPU cooling, try to find a fan that runs between 20-25dBA. ($25-40)

Find a Video Card that doesn't use fan.
($30-250)

Find a quiet HD and mount it with rubber grommets.. I am using Seagate Barracuda IV and it's pretty quiet.

If you need additional information, you can get them at
Quiet PC site or other similiar sites.

If your PC only generates 20dBA, you won't hear much from 1 meter away. If the TV is on, you won't hear a thing!

*PS Yeah, with so much money spent on making this box quiet, my wife won't let me buy a USB_UIRT and MX-500.

[fidget]

Here is one thing that I could never do with my TiVo (one of these recorders is my PVR-350 over the network).

[justme]

PS Yeah, with so much money spent on making this box quiet, my wife won't let me buy a USB_UIRT and MX-500.

That's why I bought the USB-UIRT along time ago. It was the major thing to convert my wife from Tivo to SageTV. As for the MX500 I just finished saving up ebough money to buy one. I already ordered the Sonata case and the extra(a 350 and a M150) PVR cards(I already had a 250). I still need to get the HD and MB yet. But once I do it will be heaven, after Sage adds MCE PVR support for the 150 of course. I saved up $500 dollars and now my wife is going to allow me to charge whatever goes over, as long as I pay for it. I sometimes feel like a child on an allowance. Seriously she's great with money.

PS:Huge thanks to everyone who gave me info/advice/links about quiet PC parts for a Sage box. Both here and in the quiet HD thread I started.

[ErsatzTom]

justme:
Heh. My fiancee made me wait until my birthday so I could ask for parts. I got the first batch today. She is much better with money.

fidget:
That image reminds me of one small detail I'd really love. It is a very small thing but I'd really like to rename my tuners. It kind of drives me crazy that not only are the names all long and very similar, they their numbering doesn't seem to correspond with their order in the display. *shrug*

t

[justme]

It is a very small thing but I'd really like to rename my tuners.

Brilliant idea. It's small little refinements like that, that will make Sage2 stand out even more. Are you going to submit it to the bug page as a feature request. I would encourage you to, if not may I do it. I just didn't wan to steal your idea. Even if you do post it I may post too, to help show it's feature wanted by multiple users.

ErsatzTom said:My fiancee made me wait until my birthday so I could ask for parts.

We will have been married for 9 very happy years on April 1st 2004. And no that date is not a joke it is for real. We just thought it would be cool, and it happened to fall on a saturday so we knew it was fate. I hope you two will be as happy as us.

[ErsatzTom]

We should both submit it... make sure it is noticed.

I wouldn't have minded an April wedding as it is beautiful here at that time of year, but that is the problem. The place is completely overrun until the end of April. We are tying the knot in November and I can't wait (except for the complete lack of wedding planning we have done so far is a little frightening). Since we both work from home, currently live in a pretty small condo, and live in the midst of an overwhelmingly retired population, we spend ALL of our time together. If we still love each other after 4 years of that, marriage should be a breeze.

t

[Deadbolt]

Here is the secret with the spouse..start a "computer" fund. I have $50 every pay check (every two weeks) put into the computer fund. What I spend it on is up to me...but if I blow it all on PVR stuff...I will of course have to wait for a new main computer. It helps to have a "vacation" and "home" fund as well that are >= the computer fund.

Deadbolt

[ErsatzTom]

That's a good idea... I just need to make it retroactive somehow so that it isn't another two years before I'm allowed to upgrade my mac to G5.

t

[justme]

That's a good idea...

Trust me it works, thats the way that I got the money for this new Sage box I'm wworking on. As for the retroactive part, I really wouldn't do that if I were you.

[ToonGal]

Slightly off-topic, but I've always been curious. If Tivo is open enough via the various hacks for software (they added on the ability to remote schedule) and hardware (add-on enet cards and the like), couldn't it be hacked to simulate the SageTV EPG info in Tivo?

I'm surprised nobody has worked something like that out, given all the user base that hacks their Tivo.

I'm still on the Sage plan (parts research / pricing as we speak), but curious why Tivo owners haven't been able to get something like that working.