Should I go with Sage TV?

[Blueflame66]

Hi all,

I am sure this question has been asked countless times before and I am sure that I can dig and dig to find answers to my questions. However I have a specific situation and needs and thought I would though them out there to see if anyone can easily address them with regards to SAGE.

Background
I am currently running a terrible hybrid of a homebuilt PVR. I am currently running windows xp MCE and beyond tv. Since only one of them can record without conflict, I record in MCE.

I use beyond tv for its web admin and showsqueeze to my iphone. I have two hauppauge cards running in the machine.... one is the 1600. I am in Canada and have a nice OTR antenna for HD signals.

My setup is such:
1) The recording PC is a standalone device is the kids playroom and it is not connected to a TV and I like it that way. I watch all TV recorded though two extenders: a) xbox 360 so that I can watch HD content in all it glorious resolution, b) a linksys MCE extender for our SD TV which I actually do not like very much... it is somewhat flakey
2) Beyond TV showsqueezes some shows into H.264 to which I download to my iphone so I can watch while traveling (on planes). I travel every week so my iphone (and ipod touch before it) allows me to keep on track with my shows.
3) I have a Hauppage MVP that I bought in 2003 and it will play those terrible MS-DVR files, but it is awkward to use.

My Requirements/Needs/Wishes
1) Simplified system to record basic Canadian cable shows AND OTR. Note that for MCE to have Canadian cable listings and OTR listing, you have to hack (documented) the registry. Apparently Microsoft does not believe that Canadians can get OTR!
2) It would be nice if the system ran on Linux! Much more stable for me!
3) I do not want to hook up the computer directly to a TV. I would rather watch (and program) though extenders. I know I will not be able to do this with my linksys, but I think my Hauppauge MPV will work and I am wondering about my XBOX.
4) The program must provide a simple solution to produce files that I can import into my MAC and Itunes to sync to my iphone so that I can watch my shows.

Anyhow from what I see, Sage seems to fit the bill on some of these... I worry about the extenders, and worry about creating H.264 files.

Does anyone have any experience with any this? I know that I am being a bit lazy by asking, but it gets confusing search for bits and pieces to the puzzle though the forms.

Thanks VERY much in advance!

Glenn

[mayamaniac]

As long as your hardware and TV provider is supported by SageTV, all those things are possible. The extenders are the best thing about SageTV, so it should be the least of your worries. SageTV has built-in compression to iPod, which I think is MPEG4 format, but you can continue to use BTV for that if you want.

[ghostlobster]

Hitting these one at a time...per my understanding, of course:
My setup is such:
1) The recording PC is a standalone device is the kids playroom and it is not connected to a TV and I like it that way. I watch all TV recorded though two extenders:

a) xbox 360 so that I can watch HD content in all it glorious resolution,
Recorded TV through the 360 dashboard, not a problem with sage.

b) a linksys MCE extender for our SD TV which I actually do not like very much... it is somewhat flakey
Your MVP can take the place of this device easily.

2) Beyond TV showsqueezes some shows into H.264 to which I download to my iphone so I can watch while traveling (on planes). I travel every week so my iphone (and ipod touch before it) allows me to keep on track with my shows.
Babgvant has "Sage-ified" DVRMSToolbox. Once complete, you'll be able to implement a profile which will strinp the commercials out and out put to any wrapper you want.

3) I have a Hauppage MVP that I bought in 2003 and it will play those terrible MS-DVR files, but it is awkward to use.
It'll work with Sage much better.

My Requirements/Needs/Wishes
1) Simplified system to record basic Canadian cable shows AND OTR. Note that for MCE to have Canadian cable listings and OTR listing, you have to hack (documented) the registry. Apparently Microsoft does not believe that Canadians can get OTR!
The EPG within SageTV is much more accurate and configurable that the one in MCE. I think you'll like this much more.

2) It would be nice if the system ran on Linux! Much more stable for me!
Check! Linux, not a problem for SageTV.

3) I do not want to hook up the computer directly to a TV. I would rather watch (and program) though extenders. I know I will not be able to do this with my linksys, but I think my Hauppauge MPV will work and I am wondering about my XBOX.
No, the XBox (v1 or 360) does not provide Sage extender functionality. However, everyone swears by the Sage HD extenders!

4) The program must provide a simple solution to produce files that I can import into my MAC and Itunes to sync to my iphone so that I can watch my shows.
See response to question 2 in the first stanza.