SageTV acquired by Google

[barney B.A.]

Originally Posted by Narflex

It is real.

Is this some kind of sick joke?

[bastafidli]

I am also concerned. Most of the technology Google acquired tends to stagnate for a while before it reappears. Also Google TV has been disappoitment. I was about to buy several HD300s but now I have to look for new vendor. If history is whitness it will take a while before we hear anything back.

[ohpleaseno]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

I personally see them wanting the PVR backend and nothing more. The store going offline instantly like that I don't see as a good sign....

The store going away is pretty bad. I really hope all my stuff holds up until we hear what is next.

[barney B.A.]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

I personally see them wanting the PVR backend and nothing more. The store going offline instantly like that I don't see as a good sign....

It's a terrible sign.

[fidget]

Google will be getting a product that works, as opposed to the current GoogleTV product, but I don't expect the SageTV product to be carried forward. I wonder when we will be losing the program guide information

[ohpleaseno]

It's all sinking in to me the problems I'll have when all of this stuff stops working.

[starfire]

As long as there is no remote kill switch (ala Android rogue apps) that can kill Sage functionality I'm OK for now.

[peternm22]

I'm hoping this is just some hacker who broke in the SageTV webserver and is screwing around with us. There does seem to be a lot of that going around lately.

Can anyone name a company that Google has bought that they didn't simply integrate all of it's assets into their own leaving nothing of the original? (think of the Borg)

As bad as this seems it could be worse. Think if Microsoft or AOL had bought it...

[Enormous]

My stomach sort of churned when I saw the tweet about this. Didn't know the store had gone down too. Damn glad I just got my HD300 last week!

Congratulations to the SageTV team, you deserve all the success you find. I hope there is a silver lining for all of us die-hard fans as well.

[ohpleaseno]

Originally Posted by peternm22

I'm hoping this is just some hacker who broke in the SageTV webserver and is screwing around with us. There does seem to be a lot of that going around lately.

Can anyone name a company that Google has bought that they didn't simply integrate all of it's assets into their own leaving nothing of the original?

As bad as this seems it could be worse. Think if Microsoft or AOL had bought it...

Google typically just keep the form of the original and adds little bits. I can't imagine a product like Sage that has a hardware aspect to it will be able to maintain that record though. The EPG alone is going to have to be maintained by someone and turning off that switch will be the end for me.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by fidget

Google will be getting a product that works, as opposed to the current GoogleTV product, but I don't expect the SageTV product to be carried forward. I wonder when we will be losing the program guide information

Not provided by SageTV anyway, but even if it cuts off, the rest of the world manage with XMLTV feeds...

[peternm22]

For EPG data, we can always go to http://www.schedulesdirect.org/

You have to pay for it, but with the SageTV plugin architecture it should be possible to use. It's more reliable that web scraping (I used something similar before SageTV had Canadian EPG support)

[thomaszoo]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

I personally see them wanting the PVR backend and nothing more. The store going offline instantly like that I don't see as a good sign....

The store going offline is probably a temporary thing while they "transfer assets". While I predict we won't have as responsive support, I could be wrong. Google doesn't do things in the traditional business sense.

While one of the posters is concerned about DRM, I would welcome it IF it is a choice. Specifically, I am using a Ceton that can record all of my cable channels. With SageDCT, I am limited to only those that are copy freely, so I must use my HD PVR for the premium channels. If I could record those with the cable card and watch them back on the extenders, I would pay a premium for the capability. That said, I don't want anything else touched. I like having Comskip on all of the nonpremium channels (where is is needed). I see this as an opportunity to take SageTV to the next level. Since I have started using it, it has evolved from a hobby to the way everyone in my house watches TV.

Wayne

[mkanet]

I remember when HiPix went out out business; TitanTV left their account open indefinitely. Maybe Zap2it/Tribune may leave things as-is for current customers.

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Not provided by SageTV anyway, but even if it cuts off, the rest of the world manage with XMLTV feeds...

[peternm22]

The openness of the Android platform gives me a little bit of hope. But the fact that Google offers virtually no tech support for end users beyond FAQ's is very distressing.

[frontlinegeek]

This will either be epically good or epically BAD.

And right now, I am leaning BAD.

I loves me some Google and use many of theirs services and have an Android phone but the reality is that HTPC and centralized media management is a niche category and I just can't see this ending well if the SageTV team is still not in major control of the Sage product...

Time will tell but I agree that the first bad sign is that the site has been shut down with that message like it was. VERY bad.

Prove us Wrong SagleTV....

[madpoet]

Stunning news. I cant blame the owners, i hope they made out well. But I have to feel like we just got abandoned... store down, very limited statement. Hope time proves me wrong.

[joematt]

I haven't been using the guide data anyways. But I have been waiting for the 7.1 release so on to WMC. To bad I paid for the new release.

By By .... so long!

[robogeek]

Let's hope it's full speed ahead with a seamless continuation of a great PVR software, and not full speed ahead like a train wreck into the center of a blackhole...like what happened to Meedio when Yahoo acquired it.

This is either going to be very good or very bad for us SageTV users. I really hope I'm wrong, but my money is on the latter. I guess we'd all be smart to start looking at alternatives until more specific details about Google's plans for SageTV are released.

On a side note, is it possible Narflex's account was hacked by those Lulz hackers and they're doing all this and messing with us just for 'entertainment'?

[srothwell]

I feel like I just lost a beloved parent :-(

I have dearly loved SageTV, in its current form -- free from dedicated hardware, draconian rules, opressive DRM, "monthly service fees",etc.

I deeply fear that SageTV is now going to be absorbed by GoogleTV and that Sage will no longer exist. I fear that gone are the days of innovation and quick bug fixes and responses from the engineers. I fear gone are the ability to use my OWN hardware with SageTV. I hope it is not a matter of time before we're told that SageTV, in its current form, has been discontinued and will only be supported on certain TV sets or set-top boxes and that DRM will have returned with a vengence.

I hope I am wrong.....

That being said, even though I am sad that SageTV will likely be gone (as we know it), I am glad that the folks that started and work for Sage will likely be reaping the financial rewards that come with being purchased by someone who wants the technology.

alas, now I fear there will NEVER be an ipad version of Placeshifter :-( Over my dead body will I ever use an Andriod tablet.....