Use Sage Client to control Extender

[dlevey]

Agreed, the dvr costs aren't ideal, but I can record 2 things at once on each and frequently do. I can also watch a football game that I am recording and switch to another game without losing the recording, and have the ability to rewind in game, etc.

Sure I could do that with sage also right? 2 more non dvr cable/sat boxes and a total of 4 HD-PVRs.

Boy this adds up quick.

I don't need an 8 x 8 matrix switch, because I don't need all 7 locations to be switched. I need 4 switchable and 3 splitable, which is why I have a 4 x 4 matrix switch from monoprice.com for $160 and a 4x hdmi splitter also from monoprice for $60.

I'd love to have an 8 x 8 matrix, or even a 6 x 6. Someday monoprice will offer that at a reasonable price too, but for now my setup works just fine.

[dlevey]

actually, the biggest use of the dual tuner dvr's is to be able to watch one thing while recording another.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by dlevey

actually, the biggest use of the dual tuner dvr's is to be able to watch one thing while recording another.

True... but I do that now with sage. And really, since I don't watch anything but football live, I don't see the need to have more than 2 cable/sat boxes, as long as there's a dual OTA tuner as well. (I've got an HDHomeRun for OTA locals, and two ViP-211's for Dish network). I never have any recording conflicts with that setup - mostly because cable/sat channels usually have a fair number of reairings, and the locals, which don't have the reairings, are actually available on all 4.

[dlevey]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

..., than muttle around with handling recordings on 2 different, and inferior provider DVR's, even if it DOES require losing HD - that would be a valid tradeoff for me,... .

If it isn't in HD, I don't watch it.

I wouldn't call the provided dvrs inferior - at least the ones I have. They do their jobs well enough.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by dlevey

If it isn't in HD, I don't watch it.

I wouldn't call the provided dvrs inferior - at least the ones I have. They do their jobs well enough.

Yet multiple times you've mentioned the desire for a common interface. I'm just trying to point you in the direction of getting one.

And how much are you paying for your DVR fees a month, and how long would it take each of them to have paid for an HD-PVR or two?

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by dlevey

Sure I could do that with sage also right? 2 more non dvr cable/sat boxes and a total of 4 HD-PVRs.

It depends how often you need 4 simultaneous sources or how your subscriptions are spread across those. Depending where you live, maybe OTA is an option or analog/clear QAM cable could be used for the 3rd/4th simultaneous recording.

I need 4 switchable and 3 splitable

OK, so you don't need 7 HD extenders, a single one for your "kitchen area" would do with your existing splitter and four for the other areas.

So you would go from 3 different interfaces (cable/satellite/SageTV) to 1, or possibly 2 if you throw in the web mobile interface/taSageTV/tiSageTV.

While the upfront cost is higher, you would have to compute when the break even point is reached...

[dlevey]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

True... but I do that now with sage. And really, since I don't watch anything but football live, . .

Right, so, everybody has different base needs, everybody has different equipment, subscriptions, and setups in their homes to satisfy their needs.

There is no option for NFL Sunday ticket other than DirecTV. On football day, I have a 88 inch projector running and 2 50 inch "side" screens with other games, or the red zone, running. I have another 32 inch showing whatatever local broadcasters show.

I'm sure now someone will say " Oh, well don't have sunday ticket - just watch the locals" well, my team isn't local.

So now someone will say "your needs are not typical" . Correct, most people have a cable or satelite and pay them for a box at each tv in the house.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, who uses SageTV is a typical TV viewer.

It is a product for techies who want to expand the envelope. Maybe , envelope is larger than most who use Sage.

I haven't even mentioned the total equipment I have in use to support all of my AV needs, mostly because I really didn't want to devote the next week to explaining why it's all this way.

I haven't mentioned the other non dvr cable box, or the 2 other non dvr sat boxes, or the channel injectors, or the IP/CC video surveilance system, or the 4u 12 drive WHS, etc.

I just want a "play to extender" option in Sage Client, and saying I won't get it because it isn't really needed is nothing short of ignorant.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by dlevey

I just want a "play to extender" option in Sage Client, and saying I won't get it because it isn't really needed is nothing short of ignorant.

Nobody is saying that, but how high do you think it lies on SageTV's to do list?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by dlevey

I just want a "play to extender" option in Sage Client, and saying I won't get it because it isn't really needed is nothing short of ignorant.

I didn't say you won't get it because it isn't needed - I said you likely won't get it because not many would need it. Studio is freely included with sage, so you're more than welcome to look into making the UIMOD to do this yourself. That's where these plugins come from... very few people start making a plugin for others, that they themselves don't have a need for. More often, it someone makes a plugin for themselves, and then, does the necessary extra work to share it with others.

[dlevey]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

It depends how often you need 4 simultaneous sources or how your subscriptions are spread across those. Depending where you live, maybe OTA is an option or analog/clear QAM cable could be used for the 3rd/4th simultaneous recording.

yeah, as long as OTA was what I wanted to record.

Seriously, this is getting old.

yes, I could split out a HD300, for the few places where I acept a split instead of a switch - but those are on different floors of the house, so now I need the rf remote, or IR repeater, and now it is back to being inconsistent and I still spent more money than I needed to.

[Fuzzy]

I don't know what to tell you. It sounds like sage just isn't what you want in your setup. I'm sure for what you are doing, you could just as easily use any media streamer on the market, and be in the same situation.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by dlevey

yeah, as long as OTA was what I wanted to record.

It's all about timing, airing and re-airing. Having one person watch 4 different tv's in the same room at the same time isn't exactly typical use...

Seriously, this is getting old.

Well, this is a user-to-user forum. There is a special link for "official technical support" if you didn't want other users to try to help you. Or if you just wanted to vent/rant, you could have said so and spared us the trouble of trying...

[dlevey]

ok,

Maybe I need to put this a little more simply.

I don't use SageTV for any live veiwing at all, no cable, no satellite, no tuner, no recording.

It's only purpose for me, right now, is as a media streaming device for either stored or internet based content.

So, any arguement that includes those topics is out of scope for what I use it for. I could give, and have given , reasons why that is.

The potential single biggest reason is the day that my wife or kids can't just watch tv because one of the 15 things needed to make it happen doesn't work, would be a showstopper.

I'm sure I will now get a barrage of replies that it always works and never doesn't work. Right, computers always work and never reboot, usb devices never lock up, routers never get hung, etc, etc.

So, remove all of the TV aspects from this, all dvr aspects from this, and that is how I have chosen to use SageTV.

I'm also now certain to get replies that say "then just go use any old media streamer". Yes, I could, I looked, and I decided to choose Sage mostly due to it's potential for customization and development, adding other channels like webcams, internet radio, etc all in one interface, and all playable (using the same interface) on a computer and via extender on a tv.

Now, in that light, just maybe it will make more sense to somebody that a "play to extender" option just might be a good idea.

[dlevey]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I don't know what to tell you. It sounds like sage just isn't what you want in your setup. I'm sure for what you are doing, you could just as easily use any media streamer on the market, and be in the same situation.

no, any media streamer on the market doesn't have an identical simultaneously usable interface on the PC.

[dlevey]

" Studio is freely included with sage, so you're more than welcome to look into making the UIMOD to do this yourself"

If I had the time, I would.

[dlevey]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

Or if you just wanted to vent/rant, you could have said so and spared us the trouble of trying...

I didn't want to vent or rant, I stated quite clearly what I was looking for and why, and instead of any suggestion even remotely close , I received replies only telling me why it really isn't needed, when, for me at least, it is.

[GKusnick]

As far as I'm concerned, the OP is entitled to use Sage in his system however he likes. I too use Sage as just one source feeding a matrix switch, and have a satellite DVR in my rack as well, for reasons that seem good to me and that I don't feel obliged to explain here. Want to tell me I'm doing it wrong too?

That said, my feeling is that with a system of that level of complexity, you shouldn't expect the stock Sage UI to match your needs exactly. A certain amount of customization is to be expected to make Sage integrate better with the rest of your system. Sage comes with the tools you need to do this (SageTV Studio, as Fuzzy mentioned), and it's not that hard to learn how for someone with the technical competence to set up this kind of system in the first place. Instead of repeatedly insisting that "play to exender" should be in the base product, I invite you to come over to the Studio forum where you'll find lots of people willing to help you add that feature yourself.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by dlevey

I'm sure I will now get a barrage of replies that it always works and never doesn't work. Right, computers always work and never reboot, usb devices never lock up, routers never get hung, etc, etc.

Yeah, and Cable/Sat DVRs never hang or need to be reset, or crash and blow away all your recordings... Let's be honest, in this day and age of complex systems and low budgets/price points, nothing that us mere mortals use is bulletproof.

I'm also now certain to get replies that say "then just go use any old media streamer". Yes, I could, I looked, and I decided to choose Sage mostly due to it's potential for customization and development, adding other channels like webcams, internet radio, etc all in one interface, and all playable (using the same interface) on a computer and via extender on a tv.

Now, in that light, just maybe it will make more sense to somebody that a "play to extender" option just might be a good idea.

If I had the time, I would.

I'm not entirely sure what you're expecting here then, for SageTV to implement it because someone on the forum asked for it? For another user to devote time to develop a plugin just for you?

The simple fact is there's not much demand for this so it's unlikely SageTV or forum members are going to devote time to implement the feature.

That said, have you looked to see if the play to extender plugin in available?

Originally Posted by GKusnick

As far as I'm concerned, the OP is entitled to use Sage in his system however he likes. I too use Sage as just one source feeding a matrix switch, and have a satellite DVR in my rack as well, for reasons that seem good to me and that I don't feel obliged to explain here. Want to tell me I'm doing it wrong too?

Yes

I do think though that the OP does actually have a more complex, and less integrated and less fully-featured system by using Cable/Sat DVRs in his setup in lieu of SageTV.

[dlevey]

the suggestion was that the sat/cable boxes would still be there (maybe not as dvr's), but would be the first in a chain of technologies (HD-PVR - PC - SageTV program USB-UIRT - ethernet - Router/switch - extender - tv) all of which are far more likely to have something mess up than having a simpler chain of technology in place.

Here's a very simple example. At christmas I was going to play a Xmas music playlist over sage to have as music while we decorated the tree. I had made the playlist last year and this was going to be it's "debut".

When the time came - I couldn't find the playlist and had no idea why. It turns out that I had to completely blow away and reinstall WHS earlier in the year for another reason and I had forgoten to save playlists since they weren't on the storage pool. My wife said "can't we just put in a cd? and the answer was, no we couldn't , because I had eliminated the need for it. That went over well.

I looked though the plug-ins and didn't see it. The only things I've seen that accomplish it are the webserver, or tasagetv.

I guess this is where I'm going to dive into Studio and start playing - although I don't have the first idea of what I'm doing in there.

[dlevey]

"and less fully-featured system by using Cable/Sat DVRs"

that's a matter of perspective.

I have the ability to watch 5 different digital cable/sat shows live all on different (and multiple) tv's while recording 2 others, and to stream media to a variety of places all at the same time.

Not that I can think of when I have ever done that, but I can't say it's "less-full featured".

To do that in the manner that has been suggested would require 7 HD-PVRs (and a computer that can support that) and at least 5 HD 300 boxes.