A simple question about sage from a newbie!

[ccerj8]

Ok guys, read in the faq, that most new users forget to put sage to sleep when not watching, so sage keeps recording everything.

Well My questions are this :

How much "buffer" or recording does sage keep during live tv, how much does it record at all times, before it rewrites over stuff? so if you were to rewind, how long does it keep in minutes?? 15??

Also, is it possible put sage to sleep so it wont record anymore, and yet still use the same "sage guide" to watch tv??, the reason Im asking is I hate my digital cable guide, it is super slow, and you cant watch tv while surfing it.

Thanks, ccerj8

[Opus4]

I guess there are moer ideas for the FAQ entries.

SageTV has no revolving buffer for LiveTV; the recordings get put into each show's own file. So, it will just keep recording until the disk is full, & then it will delete the lowest ranked recordings to make room for more -- to make room for more LiveTV, it should only delete things like other LiveTV files & perhaps watched shows and/or IR.

I think the FAQ lists 3 ways to stop LiveTV, including putting it to sleep. If you use v2's newer Close File command, it will stop recording while keeping SageTV awake. If you start playback of a prerecorded show, LiveTV recording ends. Is that what you were asking?

- Andy

[carlgar]

SageTV does not use a buffer, so it will record as long as you have disk space.
When you put sageTV to sleep it does stop recording live TV but will still record what you have scheduled to record. You would have to awaken SageTV to view the guide but it will not restart recoding live TV unlees you select live TV again.
You can either view the guide or view a show but not at the same time with the current release. I believe this is handled differenly in the Beta version.
The guide tries to keep about 2 weeks worth on data on your system so should be no waiting for data except for the very first download of information.

[ccerj8]

This is basically what I wanted to know.

(as you might not know) I dont have any sage yet, but em' about to buy if it will do all I want.

I want to know if I can watch the live tv in a small box while still viewing the program tv guide, like it shows in the screenshots??

I was wanting to know if there is a way to not have sage be recording the live tv, and still be able to access the live tv with guide??..because theres just some stuff i dont want recorded.

Also, does sage clearly name each file as it stores it??, and how does the files work, how often does it make a file, like if I were to watch three hours of live tv, would it put it all into one file...etc?? or break it up.

Thanks, cc

[Opus4]

Originally posted by ccerj8 I want to know if I can watch the live tv in a small box while still viewing the program tv guide, like it shows in the screenshots??

Yes, but that is V2 only. There are options to have it play full screen behind the menus, in the box as you mentioned, or not at all.

I was wanting to know if there is a way to not have sage be recording the live tv, and still be able to access the live tv with guide??..because theres just some stuff i dont want recorded.

Sure -- turn off the preview screen (that box in the corner) & make sure you don't have LiveTV already playing, since it will still continue to record when you return to a menu, unless you give it the command to stop recording.

Also, does sage clearly name each file as it stores it??, and how does the files work, how often does it make a file, like if I were to watch three hours of live tv, would it put it all into one file...etc?? or break it up.

I think the file names are fairly clear. I believe the number of files that you will get are determined by the format of the partition and the length of the show. Using NTFS, it will result in one big file. I think FAT32 has a limit of 4GB per file, so the file would get broken into pieces if it got that large. Someone else will correct me if I got this (or anything, I suppose) wrong.

- Andy

[carlgar]

I think the screenshot you are referring to is a beta (version 2.0) feature.
You can be recording while viewing another show or the program guide. The files are clearly named but you normally access them thru SageTV which provides a lot more information about the recording. Every show is contained in 1 file. If you shutdown and restart SageTV or the record stop and restarts for some other reason the show may be split into 2 or more files. SageTV is designed to handle that.
I don't watch much Live TV but I believe it still put each show in its own file. I believe I have seen some complaints about a few seconds loss of the program while SageTV switches files.

Are you aware that you can download a trial copy (15 days) of the released 1.4 software?
You cannot try the beta without purchase, but the upgrade from 1.4 to 2.0 is free.

[ccerj8]

Well about the live tv thing, I don't know if you really understand what I am wanting.

Let me try to make myself more clear.

Say I want to watch Headline news channel, can I watch that, and be looking at the program guide to see what else I might want to watch, and possibly turn the channel, all working with sage's guide, and not be recording any of it??

Thanks, cc

[carlgar]

Anything you watch will be recorded. Actually, it is recorded first and what you are watching is being read from the file. You can always delete the file.

[ccerj8]

Wasn't replying to you just then carlgar, was talking to opus.

Also, say i record a tv show, such as CSI, say I have it scheduled to record every week, how would I then find the file, and edit it and burn it onto a cd, or dvd, is that possible?? and how??

Thanks, cc

[Opus4]

Originally posted by ccerj8
Say I want to watch Headline news channel, can I watch that, and be looking at the program guide to see what else I might want to watch, and possibly turn the channel, all working with sage's guide, and not be recording any of it??

Nope, if you are watching something, SageTV is recording it. It _always_ records; you can't watch w/o recording.

Some of this stuff is in the FAQ thread; in particular, see: this entry.

- Andy

[Opus4]

Originally posted by ccerj8 Wasn't replying to you just then carlgar, was talking to opus.

You'll get a reply from whoever happens to see the question and feels like answering first... that's a good way to get extra input for a more complate answer.

Also, say i record a tv show, such as CSI, say I have it scheduled to record every week, how would I then find the file, and edit it and burn it onto a cd, or dvd, is that possible?? and how??

The file will have an easiliy identifiable title; if not, it is listed as part of the recording detail for a show -- again, that's version 2. I don't remember if v1.4 shows the file name, but I doubt anyone will be staying with v1.4 for too long.

As for creating DVDs... perhaps read this very recent thread: Need Help making DVDs!

- Andy

[ccerj8]

Ok I understand now, finally got it through my thick skull,( Sage on, sage record...bam bam...lol jk,) thanks,

about the thing with just talking to certain people , I didn't mean it how it sounded, I was just letting him know that it wasn't his advice that I was asking the other question about.

Now I need to understand how the files recorded works, I know you said that they put them into a large file, but are they recorded into plain mpeg2 format, and can you just click on the files through the pc, and play them or do they have to go through sage first. Also can someone tell me where all of the files are stored , in what directory.

thanks, cc

[ccerj8]

Hello,

Can someone please help explain the file system used by sage.

I understand that with NTFS file system, that all live tv recordings, and scheduled recordings are put into a large file.

My question is what is the default directory of where everything is stored.

Is live tv recordings recorded into a different directory or file, then the scheduled recording??

Also, Are the recording that are recorded , put into plain mpeg2 format, and can I just by going to the directory where the files are kept, play them through a program such as WIn media player or power dvd, or do the files have to be played through the sage software??

Thanks, ccerj8