Is There A Better Paid Version?

[stevec5000]

Hi, I downloaded the "FREE" version of SageTV V6 but when I start it now I get a nagging message saying it's a 21 day trial version and they want me to pay $79 to register it. That's more than my HDTV card cost so I was wondering if I pay for it do I get a better version without so many bugs?
This seems like a Beta version so I don't see how they could have the nerve to try and charge so much for it. I've only been using it for a few days and it's much better than the crappy WinTV program that came with the card but already I've found a number of problems.
1. Playback is jerky unless I change the Priority to a higher value each time.
2. It's very slow to change channels with the mouse and up and down arrows.
3. There's no keyboard control to type in channels numbers making it hard to change channels. Even WinTV had that!
4. I recorded one program then recorded another one later and it erased the first one before I could watch it so now I have to change the file name of the stored files each time so they don't get erased.
I certainly wouldn't want to pay for this so is the paid version any better?
Thanks.

[fidget]

Originally Posted by stevec5000

Hi, I downloaded the "FREE" version of SageTV V6 but when I start it now I get a nagging message saying it's a 21 day trial version and they want me to pay $79 to register it. That's more than my HDTV card cost so I was wondering if I pay for it do I get a better version without so many bugs?
This seems like a Beta version so I don't see how they could have the nerve to try and charge so much for it. I've only been using it for a few days and it's much better than the crappy WinTV program that came with the card but already I've found a number of problems.
1. Playback is jerky unless I change the Priority to a higher value each time.
2. It's very slow to change channels with the mouse and up and down arrows.
3. There's no keyboard control to type in channels numbers making it hard to change channels. Even WinTV had that!
4. I recorded one program then recorded another one later and it erased the first one before I could watch it so now I have to change the file name of the stored files each time so they don't get erased.
I certainly wouldn't want to pay for this so is the paid version any better?
Thanks.

There is no "FREE" version of SageTV, just the trial.

1) What are you using to play back the HD broadcasts? Is your computer able to play the video normally?
2) How long is "slow?" Does it take seconds to change channels? When SageTV changes channels, the time it takes is the time the tuner cards takes to tune the new channel and receive the broadcast. There will be some buffering time, but it isn't very long (IMHO). FWIW, I don't surf the channels using SageTV.
3) There is keyboard control for entering TV channels. Have you read the manual?
4) How did you record the program? Did you mark it for manual recording, did you mark it as a favorite or did you just pause live recording and then jump to the second program without watching the first? I have never had a program that I had marked for recording deleted on me. I assume that you had plenty of hard disk space?

[CollinR]

Same version just no nagging.

How old is your machine?

1. Check your multimedia settings if your video card supports hardware decoding choose it as your decoder of choice.

2. See #1

3. Check your NumLock or use the numbers at the top, SageTV can be controlled in a variety of ways but numerical input or channel numbers is a given.

4. It only erases stuff if it's video storage path becomes full.

You may have an installation issue too I guess, you can reinstall the demos and you can also demo other versions.


EDIT:
As mentioned it will clean up live TV files if configured to do so as well.

[GKusnick]

The software you downloaded is the actual product, not some crippled version. The problems you're describing are not typical and I'm sure can be resolved.

1. Jerky playback. Does your graphics card do hardware decoding, and do you have hardware acceleration enabled in SageTV? What's your TV source and capture hardware? What codecs are you using? HD playback in particular requires good CPU and graphics horsepower and will not work well on an underpowered system.

2. Slow channel changing. This depends to some extent on your capture device, but there will always be a delay of a couple of seconds due to time-shift buffering.

3. Typing in channel numbers from the keyboard works for me in the stock UI. You do have to hit Enter after typing the numbers. (If you're using a third-party UI, please say so when asking questions.)

4. You should not have to rename files. Sage gives each recording a unique name and does not overwrite old programs with new ones. It does however do autodeletion of live TV temporary files, so if you did not actually mark a program for recording (or canceled the recording after it started), then Sage will treat that file as a temporary and delete it.

A lot of this sort of info is covered in the manual, so it's worth having a look at that if you haven't already. If you have further questions, you'll find people here are more than willing to help you solve your problems. However bear in mind that we've all paid for the product and are mostly happy with it, so you may meet some resistance if you start off from the position that the product is junk and nobody in their right mind would pay money for it.

[stevec5000]

>3. Check your NumLock or use the numbers at the top, SageTV can be controlled in a variety of ways but numerical input or channel numbers is a given.

Not true! I had hoped the keyboard could be used since it works in WinTV but
no keyboard keys do anything when the program is running except change the volume and clicking the up or down arrow takes 6-7 seconds to change channels which seems like forever when I'm trying to go from 6.1 to 12-1 or something.

[stevec5000]

>Typing in channel numbers from the keyboard works for me in the stock UI. You do have to hit Enter after typing the numbers. (If you're using a third-party UI, please say so when asking questions.)

Enter just brings up the on screen graphics, same as clicking on the player.

>There is no "FREE" version of SageTV, just the trial.

Excuse me but it says "Free Download" right on the sagetv.com home page!
What I got seems to be a lot different than what you guys have though.

>A lot of this sort of info is covered in the manual, so it's worth having a look at that if you haven't already.

It would be nice to have a manual huh? That might clear up some issues if one were available.

Found yet another problem, the WinTV remote doesn't work with this either.

No offense but I wish anyone who decides to try and answer questions know what they are talking about before answering or else you are just wasting everyone's time.

[HelenWeathers]

The manual should have installed into your program files\sagetv\sagetv folder if you used the default install path. It's here as well:

http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_Manual.pdf

[fidget]

Originally Posted by stevec5000

>
>There is no "FREE" version of SageTV, just the trial.

Excuse me but it says "Free Download" right on the sagetv.com home page!
What I got seems to be a lot different than what you guys have though.

>A lot of this sort of info is covered in the manual, so it's worth having a look at that if you haven't already.

It would be nice to have a manual huh? That might clear up some issues if one were available.

If you read farther down the page, you will see this:

All SageTV trial software is fully supported and comes with an installation manual.

It use to say "Download Trial". Look in your SageTV directory for the manual (PDF file).

Found yet another problem, the WinTV remote doesn't work with this either.

Did you configure SageTV to use the WinTV remote? How did you do this?

No offense but I wish anyone who decides to try and answer questions know what they are talking about before answering or else you are just wasting everyone's time.

We do know what we are talking about, but you need to provide a bit more information on what you are trying to do. We are not telepathic.

[sic0048]

Off to a great start, huh Steve. Most people would cut the attitude when looking for help. Normally I would help newbee's because we've all been there before. But I think I have better things to do - and besides, I may not know what I am talking about. Good luck to you Sir.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by stevec5000

Enter just brings up the on screen graphics, same as clicking on the player.

The OSD should come up as soon as you start typing numbers. If that's not happening, then either the program doesn't have focus, or your Num Lock key is in the wrong state, or there's some other problem with your setup.

Originally Posted by stevec5000

What I got seems to be a lot different than what you guys have though.

Then why don't you tell us exactly what version you have (Setup > Help > System Information), where you got it, and what kind of OS and hardware you're running it on.

Originally Posted by stevec5000

It would be nice to have a manual huh? That might clear up some issues if one were available.

Start > All Programs > SageTV > SageTV_Manual.pdf

Normally the first thing I do after installing a new program is go to the Start menu to see what the installer put there.

[davephan]

You obviously are novice with PVR software and need some help. WinTV is pretty poor software. Although you get what you pay for. That's pretty surprising that you didn't know SageTV was a 21 day trial version. The 'trial' logo is pretty annoying. If you need free PVR software, you could try Mythtv, http://www.mythtv.org/. Although if you try Mythtv, the you'd probably really start complaining!

Since your new to SageTV, you need to have some expectations of what SageTV can offer you. If SageTV is setup properly with decent equipment, the video and audio quality will be very good. SageTV will learn what you like and do not like and will record the programs for you without always scheduling them manually. The commercials will go away either with manual fast forwarding or automatically with Comskip or ShowAnalyzer. The lousy TV programs you used to watch by only watching live TV will go away, since you will be watching more recorded TV and less live TV.

You didn't seem to include any of your system specifications. It's pretty tough to analyze any problems if you just tell people you have a computer and a cheap HDTV card. Setting up PVR software is not as simple as installing web browser software.

The jerky playback, or 'stuttering' can be caused by a number of things. You should be using separate drives for your video storage that are formatted with 64k blocks, you should not be using your C drive for the video files. Your computer has to be fast enough to process the video. If the computer is a few years old with a single core slow CPU, you probably will have 'stuttering'. You need to have at least 1 gig RAM. If you don't have enough RAM, your computer will be continuously caching to disk, slowing down everything. Your router could be causing video 'stuttering' if you don't have all the ports open and you are using extenders. If you have a software firewall, it can also be blocking ports, causing video 'stuttering'.

You started using SageTV with a cheap HDTV card, which is not the best method, but the cheapest method.

I don't know why you would need to change the filename on a recorded video file to prevent the file from being erased to record another video file. You should be able to record and save the video files until your video storage runs low, then video files could be lost, unless you archive them.

The way to successfully set up a PVR computer is to start with a dual or quad core CPU that is at least 2 gigs in CPU speed. The computer could be a single core using a HD-200, but a dual or quad core system works better. The computer should have several PCI-e slots for the newer tuner cards. It is possible to use a single core, but you don't want to use a 'retired' computer that is no longer used for other things because it is too slow.

The next thing to consider is how you get your video content, over the air, cable, satellite, or DVDs. There are various tuner cards that are available for the different video content, both standard definition and HD. You should start off with one single or dual tuner card of device. More tuner cards or devices can be added later to prevent 'recording conflicts'.

To playback the video on your TV, use a media extender, not a video card in your computer. You should use a HD-200 media extender. Don't bother with the MVP, since the HD-200 is far superior. The video/audio content will flow from your computer to your media extender through an Eithernet cable, which is part of your home computer network.

You will need large video storage drives, all formatted with 64k blocks. It is very easy to use up many TB of disk with video files. Do not record your video files on your C drive. To protect the video files you do not want to loose due to drive failures in the future, you could use RAID or copy the important video files to more than one drive. Windows Home Server is also another method of protecting from video file loss.

If you decide that you want to use SageTV long term, you should take disk images of your C drive periodically. You should store the image files on more than one hard drive. Don't store the image files on DVDs. If something bad happens to your system, you will then be prepared to recover the system to a working state very quickly, instead of suffering with a painfully slow manual system rebuild.

If you decide that a PVR is not for you, there are self-contained PVR systems for your, such as the units provided by the cable or satellite company. The feature set is very limited and the usability is very poor. The units cannot be expanded. You have to watch the program on the TV connected to the PVR, not any TV in your house. Plus, there is a very high price monthly rental fee. However, this method does work if you are willing to accept its limitations and monthly fees.

SageTV is usually not quick and simple to setup, and you may have questions. Fortunately, there are many people on the SageTV forum that are waiting to answer questions and help others.


Dave

[ChaOConnor]

This is the funniest post I've read on the internet in a long time... Thank you stevec5000.

[reggie14]

The OP sounds like a troll, but if he wants free DVR software he should check out GB-PVR.

[matt91]

I don't think he's a troll, just someone who'd be much happier with a plug-and-play setup like Tivo

[SHS]

Come people let play nice now
stevec5000 it be most helpful if you post some System spec and OS you are using
Also stevec5000 just becuases it said free download that dosen't make it free apps there min other place that say the thing there just trial/demo or a paid ver .

[heffe2001]

If you do a net search on his handle, this is pretty much his method of operation. Whenever he tries something that doesn't work for him out of the box, he comes in the forums for that software and starts spouting of about it being written by a 12 year old, or 'beta' software, etc. He usually won't even give his system specs for help, since it should just work...

I for one won't help, unless his attitude changes drastically, and I'd suggest everyone else do the same.

The Sage software has served me well since back in the 1.x versions, so I'd definitely say it's NOT beta software...

[stevec5000]

Too bad there's not a better version of SageTV that works better because no matter what all you fan boys and shills for SageTV say this software is not going to be useful unless they can get it to change channels without taking forever. It also needs to accept keyboard commands and stop freezing and crashing so often. Also it won't even work with my Pinnacle PCTV device and every other program I've tried, even the free ones, works with that! It did work with the ATI TV Wonder but keeps crashing so they need to fix a lot of bugs and produce a useable version before I would even consider paying anything for it!

[Brent]

Originally Posted by stevec5000

because no matter what all you fan boys and shills for SageTV say this software is not going to be useful unless they can get it to change channels without taking forever

It's sometimes difficult to find capable end users in the world... Blaming your inability to get a program working does not mean said program is bad - look in the mirror and stop the blatant flamebait posts. If you want help, post your specs and explain the issue. Otherwise why are you here exactly.

I wonder if this is the same stevc5000 on the TiVo forums - sure looks like the same one...
here's a quote from this june from mr steve:

Originally Posted by stevec5000

Just curious as to why anyone would go to all the trouble to write so much nonsense is all. How could you guys build a community on worthless software packages and directions that don't make any sense?

[PGPfan]

Steve, you certainly whine a lot for a new user!

Fact is, most people have systems that work perfectly with SageTV. Those that have issues, try to rectify them by posting what hardware they have - rather than little 'hints' to their hardware as you choose to do. Pinnacle hardware, for your information, has a very poor reputation in the PVR/DVR space, and not much better in the video capture/editing space which is where it is meant.

If you care to look before you leap, you'll easily find the list of supported tuner cards on the Sage website - if yours isn't listed it's certainly not SageTV's fault!

I highly doubt you'd be satisfied regardless based on your posts at other forums - so you probably should look to the free alternatives - they are more your speed. That, or just use a TiVo.

-PGPfan

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by stevec5000

Too bad there's not a better version of SageTV that works better because no matter what all you fan boys and shills for SageTV say this software is not going to be useful unless they can get it to change channels without taking forever. It also needs to accept keyboard commands and stop freezing and crashing so often. Also it won't even work with my Pinnacle PCTV device and every other program I've tried, even the free ones, works with that! It did work with the ATI TV Wonder but keeps crashing so they need to fix a lot of bugs and produce a useable version before I would even consider paying anything for it!

I like him. He's silly.....