Do not record while watching live TV

[traveler]

Is there a plug in to stop SageTV from recording all the time when all I want to do is just watch TV or have the TV on for "background noise"?

What would happen if I left SageTV on 24/7 for a month or so?

Or is there another TV viewing software package I should check out?

I'm used to ATI Media Center. While watching TV you can turn the constant recording on and off at will with a click of a button (called TV-On-Demand by ATI) and at any time click a button to start the recording of what your watching should you choose to do so. But now that I'm going with a HDHomerun I need some new software.

What does it take to get the SageTV people to put a on/off button in their software to turn off the constant recording of live TV? A lot of people ask that question since I saw it in the FAQs. So if "millions" of SageTV owners and/or potential owners ask that question why don't they do it already?

[motobarsteward]

The answer to your question is that Sage has to record while it plays. However, if you have turned off intelligent recording, then the program is deleted as it finishes and the new proram starts.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by traveler

Is there a plug in to stop SageTV from recording all the time when all I want to do is just watch TV or have the TV on for "background noise"?

What would happen if I left SageTV on 24/7 for a month or so?

Nothing? It would be writing them to the harddrive, and the oldest shows would be removed as space was needd for the newest. I don't see a real drawback to the way it works now, and having a seperate 'live viewing' mode would not really add anything but more complications.

Originally Posted by traveler

Or is there another TV viewing software package I should check out?

Sure, there are plenty of other options. You've even mentioned ATI Media Center.

Originally Posted by traveler

I'm used to ATI Media Center. While watching TV you can turn the constant recording on and off at will with a click of a button (called TV-On-Demand by ATI) and at any time click a button to start the recording of what your watching should you choose to do so. But now that I'm going with a HDHomerun I need some new software.

What does it take to get the SageTV people to put a on/off button in their software to turn off the constant recording of live TV? A lot of people ask that question since I saw it in the FAQs. So if "millions" of SageTV owners and/or potential owners ask that question why don't they do it already?

I would say a well stated need. 'Because the other software can do it' isn't really a need for sage to do so. If you can bring up a serious limitation imposed by this, it'd be one thing.

[Polypro]

There are too many upsides to the way it works now..."Hey, what was that movie preview?" rewind...and no upside to NOT recording. MCE/VMC is always getting dinged for not being able to grab the whole show, if you decide to start recording 30 minutes in.

P

[PLUCKYHD]

The only advantage to this would be getting rid of the annoying delay when shows change from one time slot to the next. I think they need to come up with a better/smoother way of doing this, but I don't think a "livetv" mode would be the way to handle it

[Fuzzy]

The delay on program change is not necessarily tied to the fact that sage continually records, but is instead caused by the recording and playback graphs being completely destroyed and rebuilt upon program change. It is fixable, but would add a LOT of extra work/complexity to the Sink and source filters. Basically, the filters themselves would have to have some sort of buffer separate from the recording file. This buffer's source or destination would have to be able to change on the fly programatically. It can be done, but as said would be a LOT of work and possibly break a lot of other things in the process.

Encoder graph writes to 'NewSageWriter' sink filter. This filter has a destination of the currently recording video file.
Playback graph reads from 'NewSageReader' source filter. This filter has a source of the currently watched video file.

When a program change is reached, instead of stopping and recreating the associated graph, it is instead just 'pointed' to the new file.

This would add a decent amount of overhead, and a LOT more risk of problems. Extra code would have to be added to ensure file breaks occurred on safe boundaries. As said , it could be done, but it is a LOT of extra work for a minimal gain to the relative minority that do a large amount of livetv viewing across program boundaries.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by traveler

Is there a plug in to stop SageTV from recording all the time when all I want to do is just watch TV or have the TV on for "background noise"?

What would happen if I left SageTV on 24/7 for a month or so?

Or is there another TV viewing software package I should check out?

I'm used to ATI Media Center. While watching TV you can turn the constant recording on and off at will with a click of a button (called TV-On-Demand by ATI) and at any time click a button to start the recording of what your watching should you choose to do so. But now that I'm going with a HDHomerun I need some new software.

What does it take to get the SageTV people to put a on/off button in their software to turn off the constant recording of live TV? A lot of people ask that question since I saw it in the FAQs. So if "millions" of SageTV owners and/or potential owners ask that question why don't they do it already?

Is there a reason you don't want it recording? Hard drive space? Because if you are watching "live" via Sage, as stated above, it will delete the show when it is over anyway. All you are doing is saving a "trailing buffer" in case you want to back up.

Depending on what you are watching, you could turn off your extender (I'm assuming you are using an extender?), pick up the TV remote, and change the input to your antenna or direct cable hookup... doesn't get any more "live" and "not Sage" than that...

And unless you have done some fiddling or have a random PC glitch, nothing more should happen by leaving SageTV on for a month than would happen if you leave your PC on for a month.

[tedson]

I wish it would just keep recording and not stop at program boundaries. Then post cut the long recording file.

[Polypro]

Just an FYI, on the 6.5.18 RC...the file change seems really fast when it happens.

P

[tmiranda]

When I want to watch TV without recording it I press the "TV" button on my remote, and when I'm done I press the "HDMI" button.

[nyplayer]

I too hit the TV Button but then I cannot figure out the new QAM channels for ex 35 ESPN is now on my TV 106-10.(now Have SpreadSheet) So then I hit the Component button and go to the sage guide and watch ESPN on 35.

[tmiranda]

On my TV you go to the major channel (106 for you) and then press the "up channel" button. Of course you have to do a scan first to pick up all the QAM channels....

[sharker]

I would assume that the worry here is constant hard drive access. I imagine that if there was sufficient memory in you system, you could set up a virtual drive and keep from accessing the hard drive. I think you can assign a specific tuner to the "Live" tv, but I'm not sure. If you went with a virtual drive, it would be nice if you could have Sage dump to a physical drive once you exceeded a certain space limitation. For example, if I was channel surfing, I would be recording to the virtual drive. If I stopped surfing, it would record up to about a Gig or 2. Once it reached the end of the VD, it would begin to dump the file onto the physical drive. This could also be used as an extended buffer, where when you went to close down Sage, you would get the option to dump the buffer onto a physical drive. Does this scenario sound stupid? I think the benefits are 1) extended HD life, 2) Power savings, 3) Wake-up time would be much faster (you would not have to wait for the HD to spin up, 4) less fragmentation (that one's a stretch I think), 5) Quiter for HTPCs as you wold not have the drive fan noise.