Newbie question about online content

[lucasbuck]

I'm starting to build my first SageTV setup, but had some questions about online content. With all the info I've read, I'm still kind of lost. I'm using my TV as a the computer model, so I'm not going through an extender if that makes a difference. And if there's any tutorials or info pages anyone can point me to regarding online content, I'd appreciate it.
If I understand correctly SageTV can load up nbc/youtube/etc. through the menu, and by using playon you can add hulu, netflix, etc.
But what about sites such as crackle.com and southparkstudios.com? Would you just launch an internet browser and pull them up? Does SageTV have a browser built in? Is there any way to integrate sites such as these into the menu for easy access?
Sorry if this is a stupid question, just curious as I work on my setup. (Still putting the box together).

[49studebaker]

I do not have any experience with Playon but maybe this will solve your problem:

http://www.playonplugins.com/index.php?board=2.0
http://www.playonscripts.com/

[pjpjpjpj]

Those sites you mention are only available in SageTV via the PlayOn plugin. It allows easy surfing of the content through the Sage interface. But if you have an HTPC at your TV, do you have a keyboard and mouse that you regularly use there? If so, you wouldn't really need the plugin, you could just jump over to the web. There is no web "surfing" within SageTV.... the PlayOn plugin just gives you the ability to search for content via categories (alphabetical, etc.).

Also, while native SageTV can offer youtube and Google video, I don't think (someone correct me if I am wrong) that you can get to any of the "episodes/clips" portions of channels like NBC. The native content in SageTV is mostly podcast-type pieces, and beyond the default stuff, you have to manually add lines in order to get more (not hard to do, just not built in). So while you might get a "daily recap" of a talk show or NBC nightly news or something like that (after it's shown and archived), you won't get, say, episodes of "The Office". Those would require PlayOn and the plugin.

[lucasbuck]

Thanks for the reply! So with playon, can I add sites where I want it to check for videos\episodes (like the two sites I mentioned)?

The PC will be hooked up to the tv itself, so I guess I could just pull it up through the browser. I just figured it would be more handy to go through something in the sagetv menu, especially with the wife using it and all.

[pjpjpjpj]

Unfortunately, there's not (that I know of) a comprehensive listing of all the content available through PlayOn and which works in SageTV. You can read the forums that 3DOptics linked above, but those are not all guaranteed to work in Sage (many do, some don't). But most Hulu content does work, so if you see something on hulu.com, you can likely get it.