Switch from BTV to Sage how to?

[dheinle]

Hi, Sage newbie here.

I'm a longtime BTV user and I am looking to switch to Sage. The HD set top box sage has looks awesome.

Is there a guide or tutorial anywhere that explains the difference's in features between BTV and sage?

I currently have BTV, BTV Link, Beyond Media and several firefly's.

Basically what do I need to buy to keep the same feature sets. Looks like with sage you have to add a plug in for commercial skip, stuff like that.

If this has been asked before, I apologize. I did a couple of searches and didn't see anything.

Thanks
Dennis

[Brent]

Originally Posted by dheinle

Hi, Sage newbie here.

I'm a longtime BTV user and I am looking to switch to Sage. The HD set top box sage has looks awesome.

Is there a guide or tutorial anywhere that explains the difference's in features between BTV and sage?

Hi Dennis, I'm a former BeyondTV user also (still own it and do beta testing for BTV) and now use SageTV as my primary HTPC. There isn't a guide on switching per se but there should be. There are several forum threads that talk about this though. I'll get to that more below

I currently have BTV, BTV Link, Beyond Media and several firefly's.

Basically what do I need to buy to keep the same feature sets. Looks like with sage you have to add a plug in for commercial skip, stuff like that.

BTV = SageTV (Windows version, Mac Version, Linux Version)
BTV Link = SageTV Client
Beyond Media = these features are included and integrated (yes its true) into SageTV
Firefly - you can use firefly with SageTV if you want.

I think SageTV is more difficult to setup than BTV mostly because of its flexibility and the fact that there are several things you have to set up manually (user-developed add-ons) that are installed by default by BeyondTV such as:

• Commercial Skip - not a big deal. Matter of fact I have posted a step-by-step on how to set up commercial skipping on my blog if you are interested. Setting Commercial Skip takes approximately 5 minutes to set up.
• Auto Compression - this can be automatic, but can also be configured through an add-on
• Transcoding to iPod, Zune, a DVD etc. - mostly built-in, but also can do this with the SageMC add-on and then set up Sage Video Tools
• Web Admin - this is a free addon developed by a very talented user. You have to set this up manually, but it can do more than the BTV webadmin. Easy to set up and a very powerful add-on.

A few things I miss from BTV:

• Moving a file from one tv recording folder to another isn't as easy in SageTV since it stores all of the metadata in a single file: the wiz.bin file. It's also not as easy to import an externally recorded show into SageTV. There is a fairly easy way to import BTV shows though which I outline how-to HERE
• Kind of miss the above things being built-in. Not a big deal in the long run.

Placeshifter - they charge you for the what is essentially the BTV webadministrator?
SageTV also has a Placeshifter product which is a for-fee add-on that lets you run SageTV over the internet. It runs almost exactly like the SageTV you see on your HTPC so you can watch shows, movies, listen to music, change settings etc from your laptop at work or hotel for instance. It's totally different from the webadmin.

Testing out SageTV on same computer as BeyondTV:
The one thing to be careful with is to be sure you completely close BTV before running SageTV. And then when going from SageTV to BTV, be sure and completely close SageTV (and SageTV Service if running as service) before opening up BeyondTV.

SageTV is more configurable and has MANY more options so it does take a lot more time to get set up just right. I think you'll like what you find though. There are way more people on the SageTV forums to help you along so use the forums as you have questions.

One last recommendation. Check out SageMC once you get SageTV installed. SageMC is a user-made replacement menu interface that makes SageTV even better. Read more on it on my blog post here

You might also be interested in this thread

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by Brent

Hi Dennis, I'm a former BeyondTV user also (still own it and do beta testing for BTV) and now use SageTV as my primary HTPC. There isn't a guide on switching per se but there should be. There are several forum threads that talk about this though. I'll get to that more below

I suggested a "Switch To SageTV" forum a while back, but the SageTV either haven't seen it, ignored it, or didn't think it was a good idea. Maybe we can get stronger support this time.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

I suggested a "Switch To SageTV" forum a while back, but the SageTV either haven't seen it, ignored it, or didn't think it was a good idea. Maybe we can get stronger support this time.

I like this idea too. But in the meantime, post your questions here and there will be many people who will help you with the switch. I'm also a BTV convert.

Tom

[mickp]

Me too

[dheinle]

Ok, thanks for the help so far. Going to install Sage now and see how it goes.

Thanks
Dennis

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Brent

Beyond Media = these features are included and integrated (yes its true) into SageTV

I used the trial of beyond tv about 4 years ago before I went to Sage, are you telling me they STILL haven't integrated Beyond Media with their PVR software? Haven't they been promising this for the better part of a decade now?

[Brent]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

I used the trial of beyond tv about 4 years ago before I went to Sage, are you telling me they STILL haven't integrated Beyond Media with their PVR software? Haven't they been promising this for the better part of a decade now?

It's true, no integration for BTV/BM. They finally went out and said it wasn't in their plans for the "near" future although they still sell Beyond Media for $50!!! They gave a few refunds to folks who said they bought both on those promises. You may have noticed a large crowd of former BeyondTV users who migrated over to SageTV in the past year and this is one of the reasons for that. That fact and the HD extender are the main reasons I finally gave SageTV a chance - and I'm happy with my decision.

[dheinle]

Sage is installed and running. I had a few issues with my USB-UIRT and zones but did a couple of searches and got those issues resolved.

Right now it is recording 2 sat feeds and 1 HD feed with no problem.

The firefly acts all weird, but I found a post on that and I'm going to test it in a minute.

My biggest problem so far is that i am used to using esc to exit menus. I guess I need to read the book.

Next i need to install the client in the bedroom.

Question on the SageMC add-on. Do i have to install that on the server and client? If I install it on the server, will those menus appear on the HD extender?

I have not installed it yet.

Thanks
Dennis

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by dheinle

Question on the SageMC add-on. Do i have to install that on the server and client? If I install it on the server, will those menus appear on the HD extender?

You install SageMC wherever you need to use it. For extenders and placeshifter you will install it on the server. For PC clients, you install it on the client. You will have to load the SageMC_169.xml STV on each one you want to use it on.

Aloha,
Mike

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by dheinle

My biggest problem so far is that i am used to using esc to exit menus. I guess I need to read the book.

That same issue drove me batty at the beginning as well. I REALLY wish Sage would remap the ESC key to "back".

On the bright side, it did make me learn about the video menu options right away (I initially chose "Always" not realizing that would cause Sage to constantly record, "If Active" is a much better option.)

I can't help with the FireFly, (unless you want the two of them I have laying around the house someplace.) I started using the MVP as soon as I installed Sage.

SageMC is extremely popular, but I would recommend sticking to the stock STV for a few days so you can learn the basics.

[smak]

This weekend I have made the switch from BeyondTV to SageTV. I do agree that it is more complicated to configure but is well worth the effort. So far I have SageMC, Netflix, Pandora, and MovieTimes configured.

I do have one issue I can't seem to figure out. When browsing through the guide I select a show to watch. When that show completes the play pauses/stops. I would like to be able to select a channel from the guide and just let it play for awhile. I need to watch my Law and Order marathons without touching the remote

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

smak

[tmiranda]

When I want to do that I select "Watch Live TV". Just don't forget to eventually press the "stop" key or Sage will record forever.....

All of the shows that you watch will be recorded and saved.

[Polypro]

Selecting a channel from the Guide and playing it, should play that channel until you hit stop...??? It *will* pause for about a 1/2 second or so as it creates a new file at the end of each show however. It should also delete all these shows unless you have IR turned on or mark them as Manual Recordings.

P

[dheinle]

I thought I had the firefly figured out, but then the wife couldn't pause livetv!
I found another post about java 1.6 and edited the sage profile.

Now the firefly seems to be working like I am used to.

I found some 3rd party remote software that I might try tonight.

I also need to import all my BTV recorded shows.

Is there a way to import the scheduled recordings as well?

Dennis

[Brent]

Originally Posted by dheinle

I also need to import all my BTV recorded shows.
Is there a way to import the scheduled recordings as well?
Dennis

You can import your recorded (read already recorded) shows by following these steps.

There's no import of favorites (aka scheduled recordings) that I know of. I just input them in one by one.

[smak]

Originally Posted by Polypro

Selecting a channel from the Guide and playing it, should play that channel until you hit stop...??? It *will* pause for about a 1/2 second or so as it creates a new file at the end of each show however. It should also delete all these shows unless you have IR turned on or mark them as Manual Recordings.

Hmmm... I'll have to try again. Maybe that 1/2 second tends to be longer on my system. The hard part is testing this out. I only get one shot every half hour. I'm not focused enough and keep forgetting when the time rolls around

I'll try it out again and see what happens.

Thanks

[mistergq]

Originally Posted by dheinle

I thought I had the firefly figured out, but then the wife couldn't pause livetv!
I found another post about java 1.6 and edited the sage profile.

Now the firefly seems to be working like I am used to.

I found some 3rd party remote software that I might try tonight.

I also need to import all my BTV recorded shows.

Is there a way to import the scheduled recordings as well?

Dennis

Before I got the extenders, I was using Firefly with Stephene's plugin. That made life a lot easier.

I purchased MC remote, but could not get them working on my XP Pro machine. It does work on my server which is XP MCE. I keep it on there now so that when I am watching TV on that machine or doing something, I can use the remote since I can navigate faster.

Btw: welcome. You will not regret the choice to switch. There are a few things I miss from BTV (the Web Admin and ease of moving shows), but I have gained so much more. Does BTV even support the HD PVR yet?

[dheinle]

I installed LM remote last night and it works ok, I wanted more so I just bought it. I hope it lets me changes some key around. The wife is getting frustrated at the menu system. Sometimes you just want to go back and it doesn't work like I think it should.

I got all my recorded shows imported but I have a problem. When you sort by date it doesn't have the year. I have some old recordings from last august and they show up before yesterday's recordings. Any way to make it look at the year?


BTV does not support the HD PVR yet and they have nothing like the HD100. As long as sage works as well at BTV, i'll switch just for the HD100. It's makes so much more sense than a pc in the living room / bed room.

Dennis

[dheinle]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the help you guys gave me. I bought Sage earlier this week with an HD-100, placeshifter and client license.

It seems to be working perfectly and the HD-100 will go great with the home theater I am building in the basement.

SageMC is great, we are still learning the menu system though.

So far I am happy that I made the switch to Sage.

Dennis