Sage becoming XBMC?

[kricker]

Originally Posted by popechild

Kricker, just watched your video. Are you switching over to Sage when you first select Sage from the main menu, or on each of the individual selections of recordings/guide/etc? Basically, is that "tv" menu that shows the different tv options a Sage menu or an XBMC menu? (And great job on the integration - the styles you're using really do make it look pretty seamless. I never thought I'd be interetested in something like that, but now you've got me curious!)

Oops. Dang. Just remembered that I do 90% of my viewing from an extender, and I'm assuming neither the Sage extender or any XBMC-capable extenders that might be out there are capable of playing together, right? Oh well, I guess I'm back to waiting either for XBMC to develop Sage-like PVR capabilities or for Sage to develop an XBMC-like interface in order to reach htpc nirvana. Sometimes I wish I didn't discover all this stuff until 5 years from now when all these issues will be already figured out.

Each of those menu items you saw are in XBMC. Each one switched to the appropriate Sage screen, which is running SageMC. That was quite a while ago, and currently I have a similar but different setup.

XBMC will run on linux, win32, OSX, and the original xbox. I don't know of anyone trying to load it on an extender.

[opusinteractive]

For those interested in industry research data and as a followup to my last post, there's a new article and discussion here with some more data on online video users and the future of Internet TV.

It says in 2008 there were 563 million online video users and by 2013, there will be 941 million. That's a bunch! It goes on to quote an industry researcher "All stakeholders in the online video ecosystem are eyeing the living room...".

One thing is certain, there's going to be a WHOLE LOT of change happening in the world of online video content and delivery.

Mark

[popechild]

Originally Posted by kricker

Each of those menu items you saw are in XBMC. Each one switched to the appropriate Sage screen, which is running SageMC. That was quite a while ago, and currently I have a similar but different setup.

XBMC will run on linux, win32, OSX, and the original xbox. I don't know of anyone trying to load it on an extender.

Since the xbox is the only real "extender" of that bunch, I'm going to ask, even though I'm afraid I know the answer. There's no way to use the xbox as a Sage extender is there? Like set it up as a client machine or something? Otherwise, since Sage won't play with non-Sage extenders, and XBMC won't play with Sage extenders, I guess I'm at a dead end.

[kricker]

Originally Posted by popechild

Since the xbox is the only real "extender" of that bunch, I'm going to ask, even though I'm afraid I know the answer. There's no way to use the xbox as a Sage extender is there?...

Yes you can in sorts. There are scripts on these forums for XBMC that allow just that. They have a few limits such as the guide is only available in list view and no real liveTV, although you can watch a currently recording show. The new script by mikwilli has potential of being really great.

Old script one created by Coolwave and maintained by jhh and myself:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16518

Plugin for XBMC by jhh:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35765

New script being developed by mikwilli:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37206

[ElGato]

There were 3 reasons for me moving from XBMC to Sage;

1. XBMC didn't play HD
2. XBMC didn't do TV.
3. I screwed up my XBOX1 somehow with a XBMC update, could never get it to work again.

There was also an annoyance with my chip becoming unseated at times, (not soldered).

With the above I was left looking for an alternative and the main thing that swayed me was HD playback. But like many others I was a little disapointed with the UI.

I use the SageMC interface because of it's emulation of MCE which I liked from MS, but sometimes fall back to the default UI where I am refreshed by it's simplicity. Having said all that I do think that Sage runs he risk of being left behind due to the lack of a decent interface, or the ability to skin. And its the skinning ability I think that gives XBMC a lot of it's appeal.

[ElGato]

If/When XBMC crack TV integration I'm dumping Sage in a heartbeat. I'm sorry but I hadn't seen XBMC since my XBOX1 failed. I knew they were working on a PC version, but kinda lost touch with the development since moving to Sage. Now having taken a look at the Atlantis release, I'm gobsmacked.

On the PC it plays HD content, (couldnt do this on the XBOX due to hardware), so it copes with my no.1 priority, no.3 is no longer an issue with the PC client, so it only now has to integrate TV and I'm sold.

Sorry Sage developers but you need to get your finger out. You obviously have a very rich feature set, but the competition is gaining fast, very fast, and without an updated UI you are in danger of becoming extinct.

[S_M_E]

I certainly wouldn't care if the were an optional XBMC theme for SageMC but I sure wouldn't use it. Appeal and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.