Is there a way to force buffered recording. . .

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by nick_l

While I'm sure you are right about this, I just can't get it through my head why this would be much of an issue. Unless I'm missing something, This would only be an issue if someone were to sit down to watch "live" tv and leave it on the same channel through multiple shows. do people really still sit down in front of the tv and watch and entire evening of NBC or Comedy Central?

Well, I think you have a point. I don't watch a lot of live TV, although I do watch a fair amount of slightly time-shifted TV (i.e., I'll start playback 15 minutes into a show). Often I'm still watching the channel when the hour/half-hour is up, so I see "the pause", as it's been called. Sometimes I'm going to stop playback anyway, sometimes I might keep watching the channel. But, rarely is there ever two things on in a row, on the same channel, worth watching.

It becomes more of an issue for sports, since they often go over time, and people are more likely to be watching them live.

But, mostly the pause bothers me because when other people use my Sage system they think something broke when it happens. I don't like hearing "the TV is broken again... nevermind".

[paulbeers]

I don't care for the pause, but if I were to make a list of things I would like fixed or changed, this would be towards the bottom which is why I always state that I don't care about it (or not to change it). In my line of work, we always have to prioritize our fixes. Our system updates always fall in this prioritization:

1. Break/fixes with no manual work around
2. Break/fixes with a manual work around
3. New features to stay competitive
4. Nice to haves

I would put this at 4 for me. Especially since this is clearly a personal preference item that for some doesn't matter and for others it matters a lot. The only time this bothers me is when a sporting even runs past its scheduled time. Otherwise, I don't even notice it.

[fidget]

Originally Posted by Fullsound Recor

have a few questions.

Running sage 6.6 AND a 1250 card...

1. How do I turn completely off the back ground recording of the sage TV? as
in absolutely no writing to hard drive.

As has been stated repeatedly in the forums, you can not do this. SageTV is designed to time shift and, as such, will play from the hard drive.

2. And how does one use the numeric key pad to enter in say QAM ch 92.7
then hit enter for channel select?

Which numeric key pad? What remote are you using?

3. Is there a way to use the + and - keys for channel up and down?

Yes, you can go into the detailed setup and have Sage learn that function for those keys.

4. And last, when the TV viewer is say docked up in a corner of the desktop
screen all reduced to say a couple inches how does one get rid of the top
blue bar of the frame so one just has the simple outline of the frame around
the TV picture until the mouse is floated over it again ofcourse?

I don't think this is possible, you basically get a standard window.

Oh one more thing, Is there a card you guys recommend over all other as to
stability and good tuner and speed of changing channels. Its very slow this
1250 card when changing channels.

I don't know what you are looking for in "speed of changing channels" but each type of tuner has its own issues. I don't think that the HD HomeRun is bad, but I don't surf the channels like I use to. Now, I look at the program guide and then select the show that I would like to watch. Tuners like the HD-PVR, which must control a set top box, are very slow to tune channels because the set top box is so slow.

There will always be a little latency changing channels because the tuner needs to generate the data stream and Sage needs to start playing it back.

[Fullsound Recor]

Oh boy this is not good. Looks like a refund is in order here

Is there a older version that does not write to disk?

[stanger89]

No, Sage has always written to disk, all the way back to 1.0.

[nick_l]

Originally Posted by MitchSchaft

It's an issue whether it's live TV or not. The pause is there and the last few seconds of a show is paused then skipped. Why is it so hard for you to understand that?

It is so hard for me to understand because what you say makes no sense.

Unless you sit down to watch two or more contiguous shows on the same channel while they are airing, it should make no difference (with the exception of those examples that Reggie14 presented).

If I sit down in front of an old back and white rotary tuner knob style tv, and I want to watch a show on NBC and then a show on FOX, there will be a "pause" as I tune from channel 4 to channel 53 (or whatever channels those stations live on in your area). If I use a comcast cable box, same thing: pause as the box switches from one channel to another. If i sit in front of a TiVo that is already scheduled to record these shows and watch them as they are being recorded, there will be a pause between the two shows as TiVo stops the first recording, tunes the next channel, buffers and then show playback. Same with a DishDVR, or Verizon's pvr offering, or Comcast's, or any other. Unless the two shows are on the same channel there will always always always be a "pause' of some kind. SageTV's pause is just a bit more primative to some people, which I can understand.

Nick

P.s. Now that I think about it, I think we discussed this before and you described some other sort of pause that was occuring in your case. If that is in fact the case, I think it was mentioned that that is not how Sage is supposed to behave.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Fullsound Recor

Oh boy this is not good. Looks like a refund is in order here

Why is it not good? What makes buffering to disk a deal-breaker for you?

As far as refunds go, that's what the 21-day free trial is supposed to be for: to discover your deal-breakers before you buy the product.

[Fullsound Recor]

I will again reply to your below email George. thanks

im out, Its simple I have at least 5 reasons I don't want drive writing while using the TV tune
Whatever happened to the idea that maybe I just want to watch TV and use the tuner as just that. Who in all there infinite wisdom decided that force wring and using resources in the background with out at least giving the end user a little check box to disable all background recording was the great plan? Its crazy. Some of us have these boxes doing critical tasks while the TV is part of that task and all this pause TV time crap is nuts.

In out. I cant believe such a little thing as allowing the end user to determine if writing is ok on there machine could be so imposable.


Email from George

I can offer you this one time guarantee. Purchase the software and if in 21
days you are not satisfied with it we will refund your money. Just keep this
email as proof of our agreement. The 21 days will start from the time of
purchase.

George

[doc]

Originally Posted by Fullsound Recor

Oh boy this is not good. Looks like a refund is in order here

You could always buy a copy of Windows 7, and if you're not happy with its Media Centre ask Microsoft for a refund...

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Fullsound Recor

im out, Its simple I have at least 5 reasons I don't want drive writing while using the TV tune

I must have missed where you listed them.

Whatever happened to the idea that maybe I just want to watch TV and use the tuner as just that.

It went the way of the dodo when people realized they could record stuff and watch it whenever they want.

Who in all there infinite wisdom decided that force wring and using resources in the background with out at least giving the end user a little check box to disable all background recording was the great plan?

The people who architected a product (class of products really) who's primary two purposes are to record TV for later viewing, and to allow timeshifing of "live" TV.

Its crazy. Some of us have these boxes doing critical tasks while the TV is part of that task and all this pause TV time crap is nuts.

Huh? Is Sage really interfering with some "critical task"?

In out. I cant believe such a little thing as allowing the end user to determine if writing is ok on there machine could be so imposable.

It's not impossible, but it's the standard design for most every DVR solution out there.

[Fuzzy]

I'm definitely coming to the realization that some customer are bound and determined to be unhappy before ever becoming a customer. I'm pretty sure that every video capture card on the market comes with software capable of 'just watching tv'. If that's all you want to do, then use that. If you want a greater tv watching experience (skipping commercials, favorite recording, whatever, use sage. Either way, don't complain about needing a refund on a product that has a 21 day trial program, that you apparently didn't take part in.

Originally Posted by Fullsound Recor

I will again reply to your below email George. thanks

im out, Its simple I have at least 5 reasons I don't want drive writing while using the TV tune
Whatever happened to the idea that maybe I just want to watch TV and use the tuner as just that. Who in all there infinite wisdom decided that force wring and using resources in the background with out at least giving the end user a little check box to disable all background recording was the great plan? Its crazy. Some of us have these boxes doing critical tasks while the TV is part of that task and all this pause TV time crap is nuts.

In out. I cant believe such a little thing as allowing the end user to determine if writing is ok on there machine could be so imposable.


Email from George

I can offer you this one time guarantee. Purchase the software and if in 21
days you are not satisfied with it we will refund your money. Just keep this
email as proof of our agreement. The 21 days will start from the time of
purchase.

George

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I'm pretty sure that every video capture card on the market comes with software capable of 'just watching tv'.

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure the Hauppauge software always records stuff to a circular buffer.

[ONLYinHD]

This is a long standing complaint of a lot of people new to SageTV. It used to drive me nuts to have a 3 second wait as one show ends and another begins. It's one of those things I'm willing to overlook because sage works so well in all other areas. But if I could vote this "pause" issue higher in the priorities I would.

One suggestion might be to have parallel buffers, both recording during the transition between shows. Let's call them A and B. In this scenario buffer A is already recording the entire show. A couple of minutes before the program nears its end buffer B starts recording and the video output is "seamlessly" switched from A to B which continues to record the end of the first program and the entirety of the next. This process repeats with buffers A and B alternating. There is no "pause" and no loss of functionality.

This should be possible with a single tuner. If two tuners are needed then I would want the option to disable the functionality when it causes a conflict with favorites or manual recordings. Would this cause ulcers/nightmares for the programming staff? I don't have the foggiest idea. I just thought it might be an option to consider.

[Fuzzy]

The problem is it would rely on major changes within the directshow filters in use to be able to support the on-the-fly changes.. work that would introduce a LOT of potential instabilities, and only really be an advantage to a relatively small percentage of people who like to watch a single channel past the show boundary.
The only time I can see this as a problem for the majority of sage users would be live sports that run long, however, the real solution to thi would be padding, so the recording stays in the same file. This is already accomplished with the SRE (Sage Recording Extender).

[ONLYinHD]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

it would... only really be an advantage to a relatively small percentage of people who like to watch a single channel past the show boundary

No offense intended but I quite disagree. It is an issue for every new SageTV user. This has come up in the forums a number of times and every time it does the "old timers" line up to say it shouldn't matter or you're dumb for wanting this.

[evilpenguin]

Actually, I think you'll find that what we're saying by and large is: you're using a full fledged advanced PVR now, not a VCR, stop fighting it and enjoy it. Pretty much the same response you'd get if you went onto a sports car forum complaining that it doesn't off road as well as a truck.

But, of coarse, when people get defensive in response then we get cranky. What do you expect? We're old timers and need our naps

[Fuzzy]

I think you'll find that nearly all the newcomers who complain about this within about 5-6 months become old timers who this never affects. Once you embrace the full PVR idea, timeslot means nothing... You start watching shows as shows, not timeslots, and this issue never comes up again.

[wayner]

I resemble that remark Fuzzy but my wife still likes to watch live TV and channel surf.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by wayner

I resemble that remark Fuzzy but my wife still likes to watch live TV and channel surf.

Even I still occasionally watch live TV (or nearly live TV), and I'm an "old timer". I've been using Sage nonstop since August of 2003.

[Fuzzy]

Certainly I too still watch live tv on occasion. However, it is mostly limited to news and sports, and I never watch anything that crosses a time boundary.. as such, the 'pause' has never been a problem for me.