Migrating from Tivo to SageTV, need some help

[AlphaWolf]

So I finally got all of my hardware working with SageTV, and now I'm having a few problems with the overall operation of SageTV. Mainly just a few ui problems (annoyances?) that I am hoping some people may have an answer for.

- When watching entering live tv, and even right after changing channels, the video starts out paused all the time. How do I make it so that it just begins playing immediately?
- When changing channels via the guide, and selecting another program on the guide, how can I make it so that just hitting ok changes the channel and closes the guide, rather than first hitting ok to bring up a menu, and having to hit ok again?
- How can you run tivo style dual live buffers so that you can watch something else while waiting for commercials and be able to turn back to the channel with the buffer still intact? That is, without committing to recording anything.
- How can you do XBMC/tivo style fast forward and rewinding where pressing the button multiple times increases the forward/backward speed?
- Is it possible to do slow motion playback?
- How can I get rid of the long pause between showings even when I haven't changed the channel? (e.g. when family guy ends, and robot chicken begins, there's like a 3 second delay, and I didn't change the channel.)
- How can I make it so that the windows mouse cursor disappears if it is accidentally moved without having to move it off to the side or bring up and close the OSD?
- Two of my clearQAM channels (channel 8-1 and 8-2 which are PBS local channels) say "no data" in the guide but the video works fine. What might be the reason for this? How do I fix it?

I've also been trying SageMC, and have a few questions about it as well:

- How can you get rid of the "my" prefix before every menu item? I've seen a screenshot of it without that but can't figure out how to change it.
- I set the RSS ticker to scroll right to left on the bottom of the screen, but it only shows one headline and then stops. How do I make it show all of the headlines from the RSS feed in sequence?
- Are there any places to find new pre-made UI's that show screenshots? The only places I've found so far just show lists with mild descriptions. On that note, are there any that are similar to the XBMC project mayhem theme?

Also I am not sure if this problem is specific to SageTV, but I've noticed some shows (particularly cartoons like family guy,) when there's a sudden scene change, there's heavy pixelation/macroblocking/tiling for about a split second. Not a showstopper but it's very annoying. Don't suppose anybody knows what might be causing that?

Thanks

[RocKKer]

I know some of these.

Originally Posted by AlphaWolf

- How can you run tivo style dual live buffers so that you can watch something else while waiting for commercials and be able to turn back to the channel with the buffer still intact? That is, without committing to recording anything.

Can't, SageTV doesn't work that way. (I miss that feature!) Best you can do is to record both.

Originally Posted by AlphaWolf

- How can I get rid of the long pause between showings even when I haven't changed the channel? (e.g. when family guy ends, and robot chicken begins, there's like a 3 second delay, and I didn't change the channel.)

Again, it is the way the software works, can't change it. However, if there were an option to change this behavior I would select it in a heartbeat. I think there is a thread on that, I'll look around and add it if I find it.

here is the thread discussing the pause.

Originally Posted by AlphaWolf

- Are there any places to find new pre-made UI's that show screenshots? The only places I've found so far just show lists with mild descriptions. On that note, are there any that are similar to the XBMC project mayhem theme?

Look at Fanart maybe?, works hand in hand with Batch Metadata Importer. Both of these are excellent customizations!

Originally Posted by AlphaWolf

Also I am not sure if this problem is specific to SageTV, but I've noticed some shows (particularly cartoons like family guy,) when there's a sudden scene change, there's heavy pixelation/macroblocking/tiling for about a split second. Not a showstopper but it's very annoying. Don't suppose anybody knows what might be causing that?

What's your hardware setup like? (don't forget versions, firmware, platform specs, SageTV customizations, etc). There are some very bright people here and they might be able to help you if you give them enough to go on.

[AlphaWolf]

Originally Posted by RocKKer

What's your hardware setup like? (don't forget versions, firmware, platform specs, SageTV customizations, etc). There are some very bright people here and they might be able to help you if you give them enough to go on.

On the server it is a Core 2 Duo E6300, DG33TL motherboard, Hauppauge HVR-2250, and windows 7 ultimate. All firmware, driver, and software versions are at their latest. On the client side its a core 2 quad q6700, geforce 8800gts, windows 7 ultimate, everything is at the latest possible version on this system too.

This pixelation issue doesn't happen on digital streams btw, just analog ones. I am guessing that the problem lies in the tuner hardware somewhere but not sure where exactly. I set the quality in sagetv to "great" with 2 gigs per hour.

I'm hoping this sagetv setup can replace my tivo fully, right now it's not quite where I'd like it to be though. In some ways it's better but in several other ways its an inconvenience. I'm hoping that customization can fix these inconveniences though. Right now the biggest problem for me is the stream pausing everytime I change channels...I can't stand that. The two button process to change channels in the guide is the second most annoying.

[xxLJLxx]

Originally Posted by AlphaWolf

- How can you get rid of the "my" prefix before every menu item? I've seen a screenshot of it without that but can't figure out how to change it.

These directions are for SageMC. If you're on the "home" screen, just try right clicking whatever selection (My Movies, My Music, etc), and select Main Menu Options. You can then rename it. Don't forget to save the menu (File...->Save Menu File) when you are done!

- Are there any places to find new pre-made UI's that show screenshots? The only places I've found so far just show lists with mild descriptions. On that note, are there any that are similar to the XBMC project mayhem theme?

You may check here. This is just in the Downloads section toward the top of the forum page and there is a page made just for themes and anything similar. Some of them should have screenshots. SageMC is very customizable so you may mess around with it yourself if you feel comfortable. If you look at any of the examples, that is what they have done. I believe I chose the iTV theme. Maybe?

Hope some of this is helpful. Good luck!

[AlphaWolf]

Originally Posted by xxLJLxx

These directions are for SageMC. If you're on the "home" screen, just try right clicking whatever selection (My Movies, My Music, etc), and select Main Menu Options. You can then rename it. Don't forget to save the menu (File...->Save Menu File) when you are done!

Thanks! Thought I tried that earlier so I just looked a little harder and it was there.

[freedml]

In the 'commands' part of setup you can 'link infrared/keystroke to sagetv command' to change the function of remote buttons. There are 'smooth ff/rew' options which increase speed the more you press them. Unfortunately, you have to repeat these changes at each client, no way to 'apply to all clients'.


I like the Hauppauge remotes and have assigned skipping to some ff/ww buttons and smooth to some. I also use the 'record' button as my 'delete' key since I have little need for a 'record' button in sagetv but I delete things all the time.