Just upgraded from v.6 to v.7 and wife hates it -- suggestions?

[Karaktu]

So, after much delay in implementation, I finally did a full HTPC rebuild at my house over my weekend and upgraded to Sage 7 (after testing it myself for a month). Got my QAM channels working, the interface looks great, etc.

I'm thinking, the wife is going to like this...MyMovies works, music is arranged more intelligently. It rocks!

Well, not so much. After one day of use, I just got a phone call that, "This version of Sage sucks!"

WAF = WTF?



The main problem is that a lot of the things you used to be able to do with the remote in Sage 6 with the SageMC overlay apparently now required a keyboard (according to her).

In general, the user interface seems to have been changed to be less...intuitive. Is this accurate, or am I totally missing some simple customizations?

Technically, I'm excited about the improved features of Sage 7, but if the wife isn't happy, no one is happy.

Thanks for any advice!

[Fuzzy]

give her a week, and find out specific complaints. There is no loss of functionality in v7, from v6 - but some things are done a little differently.

[Bagal]

I agree with Fuzzy, find out the specific complaints and try to address them and at the end of the day if she's still not happy you could always go back to SageMC which is available from the plugin manager and you'd be able to stick with v7.

After a week's use though you may find she becomes accustomed to the new UI without you having to do anything

[jphipps]

You should be able to load SageMC on v7 and look just like it did before (From the plugin menu). There are also alot of plugins that will enhance the functionally of v7 and a few new interfaces such as Pheonix and Ortus coming soon..

Thanks,
Jeff

[blade]

I agree with telling her to use for a week or so then trying to address her specific complaints. When v7 was released there were a lot of things I liked and some that I disliked about the usability of the UI. Through plug-ins and mapping certain functions to my Harmony remote I'm pretty happy with the usability now. Probably more so than with v6.

I don't see the point in trying to hang on to SageMC when using v7. It's no longer under development (at least the last time I checked) and there is a lot of activity with the v7 plugins. It's basically a dying UI.

[OneOfMany]

Like everyone else has said.. give her some time. Sometimes wives are resistant to technological advancement .

I'm not sure what the keyboard concerns are, as we use 3x PC extenders, and none have a mouse or keyboard attached.

Grant

[APillowOfClouds]

Mostly what I've found is that when Sage is working fine, the wife feels it's the greatest thing in the world. When it or any other HTPC software has even the slightest hitch, all of a sudden it's the worst thing in the whole world and the wife wants a regular cable box (until she wants to record something). I've found this to be a pretty universal rule among my friends with HTPC servers as well.

[Karaktu]

I'm trying to get a detailed problem description from her that is intelligible, but the complaints seem to be changed remote functionality related.

Thanks for the replies!

P.S.

Why in the WORLD would anyone EVER want more than ONE wife???

[wrems]

Give her time and show her some of the screen shots for Phoenix and Ortus and see if those tickle her fancy. Then explain that you need to stick with v7 until those other UI's become available. Worked for my wife! There's a lot to be thankful for with v7 and it takes a little while to get used to.

[ranger]

I don't have this problem at all. When it comes time to use SageTV, my wife just hands me the remote.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Karaktu

I'm trying to get a detailed problem description from her that is intelligible, but the complaints seem to be changed remote functionality related.

Thanks for the replies!

P.S.

Why in the WORLD would anyone EVER want more than ONE wife???

I can't think of any changes to remote functionality. Did she at least give an example of that?

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by Karaktu

Why in the WORLD would anyone EVER want more than ONE wife???

I think George Burns summed it up well. He said the key to a happy marriage was to find a woman who was a great mother, a woman who was a great cook, and a woman was was great in bed - and never let the three of them meet.

[SyrA]

I tell my wife some white lies every time i change stuff.

1. The old version broke
2. Theres no way back....sorry....for real...yes!
3. Choice: New version or No TV?

Then you have to be nice in other areas, like cleaning the house, help out with the kids more and maybee even spend some $ on a dinner.

[mayamaniac]

I recommend installing the Diamond theme and a few other UI plugins to enhance the v7 experience. After using that for a while, going back to v6 feels dated.

[Skirge01]

If the complaint primarily revolves around the remote, then I would definitely check all of your mappings and ensure they're how she expects them to be. Not being able to control the TV would absolutely be a valid complaint.

[michaeldjcox]

I've been using SageMC for some years now but was keen to try and move away from that as it does not seem to be moving forward in any way.

When SageTV came along I ran it on one extender only for about 3 weeks.

My wife said "I hate this" - so I set it back to SageMC.

It seems to be the usuability of the interface that is the issue.

Little things like:

In SageMC you watch something, you click stop, and you are back at a menu where you can choose to archive / delete etc.

With SageTV7 you end up back at the top list of all your recordings and if you want to do something with the recording you just watched you have to find it in the list again.

The group by category feature in SageTV7 needs a "group movies" feature so you can for example group by title and the have one group that has all the moves in. Makes for a shorter list to traverse.

Generally theres something a bit more "cluttered" about the SageTV7 interface that I cannot quite put my finger on - perhaps its just a case of getting used to it. All the imagery behind the menus is hard work on the eyes - all though there are some SageTV7 themes that help with this.

I think with a bit more customisation from the user community I think eventually I will be able to turn off SageMC...

Michael

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by michaeldjcox

I've been using SageMC for some years now but was keen to try and move away from that as it does not seem to be moving forward in any way.

When SageTV came along I ran it on one extender only for about 3 weeks.

My wife said "I hate this" - so I set it back to SageMC.

It seems to be the usuability of the interface that is the issue.

Little things like:

In SageMC you watch something, you click stop, and you are back at a menu where you can choose to archive / delete etc.

With SageTV7 you end up back at the top list of all your recordings and if you want to do something with the recording you just watched you have to find it in the list again.

The group by category feature in SageTV7 needs a "group movies" feature so you can for example group by title and the have one group that has all the moves in. Makes for a shorter list to traverse.

Generally theres something a bit more "cluttered" about the SageTV7 interface that I cannot quite put my finger on - perhaps its just a case of getting used to it. All the imagery behind the menus is hard work on the eyes - all though there are some SageTV7 themes that help with this.

I think with a bit more customisation from the user community I think eventually I will be able to turn off SageMC...

Michael

Solution to pretty much everything you listed? Use the Malore Recordings Screens.

[ranger]

Originally Posted by michaeldjcox

In SageMC you watch something, you click stop, and you are back at a menu where you can choose to archive / delete etc.

With SageTV7 you end up back at the top list of all your recordings and if you want to do something with the recording you just watched you have to find it in the list again.

The group by category feature in SageTV7 needs a "group movies" feature so you can for example group by title and the have one group that has all the moves in. Makes for a shorter list to traverse.

Generally theres something a bit more "cluttered" about the SageTV7 interface that I cannot quite put my finger on - perhaps its just a case of getting used to it. All the imagery behind the menus is hard work on the eyes - all though there are some SageTV7 themes that help with this.
Michael

I thought the same thing when I first started using 7, but after a while I found that by creating additional views and using the grouping and filtering functions built into the SageTV 7 I was able to come up with something I liked and was pretty useful. The addition of BMT, turning on the secret "extras", and a few plugins and I was back to where I wanted to be. I worked with the Malore menus for a while, but found that SageTV's built in ability to create multiple views gave me everything I wanted in a layout that worked better for me.

The attached file shows the setup of my TV recordings menu. Topped it all off with Diamond and now I don't mind waiting for the Ortus and Phoenix systems.

I can't tell you what's different without going over all the setup options, but when a show finishes you can still get the option to delete automatically and I usually end up back at the listing for the show I just watched.

Edit - Movies can be "grouped" by using the "Filtering" function.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by michaeldjcox

I've been using SageMC for some years now but was keen to try and move away from that as it does not seem to be moving forward in any way.

It's no longer being developed, as MeInMaui stated quite some time ago.

In SageMC you watch something, you click stop, and you are back at a menu where you can choose to archive / delete etc.

With SageTV7 you end up back at the top list of all your recordings and if you want to do something with the recording you just watched you have to find it in the list again.

You need to take a look at the list of plugins available for SageTV v7. If you click on the first link, you'll see a listing of all the plugins. You might want to check out the Multi Function Stop for this particular "issue".

The group by category feature in SageTV7 needs a "group movies" feature so you can for example group by title and the have one group that has all the moves in. Makes for a shorter list to traverse.

I use TVExplorer (aka TVE, for short) and it has the option to group movies into a single item, as well as placing that item at the very top of your list of recordings. I imagine Diamond can do this or something similar as well.

Generally theres something a bit more "cluttered" about the SageTV7 interface that I cannot quite put my finger on - perhaps its just a case of getting used to it.

Hehe... well, if even you don't know what it is, there's no way we can point you in the right direction.

All the imagery behind the menus is hard work on the eyes - all though there are some SageTV7 themes that help with this.

Are you talking about fanart? If so, you can always turn that off. I think many of the plugins also have the option to change the transparency level, too. Or, are you talking about having a playing video behind the menus? If so, that can be turned off.

I think with a bit more customisation from the user community I think eventually I will be able to turn off SageMC...

You're right, but you need to look around for those customizations. You could start here.

[Torkild]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

I recommend installing the Diamond theme and a few other UI plugins to enhance the v7 experience. After using that for a while, going back to v6 feels dated.

X2 aka Me too.
Diamond is a nice theme and my wife loves it a lot.