SageTV acquired by Google

[Bagal]

Originally Posted by Polypro

If you have all your media (TV, Music, Videos, Pictures) on a Windows Home Server, for example...

And then set up 5 computers in the house with SageTV Server (which includes the client portion)...

And point them all to the WHS machine folders...

I'm 99% sure you will be able to watch all media on any machine. I did it with a Network Encoding experiment and it worked fine. 1 key, 2 servers, centralized directories, watch from anywhere...99% it will work if the worst happens and we can't buy client keys ever again.

If I get the time, I'll throw it on a netbook and verify.

P

That doesn't really get you anywhere though and is something you can achieve with any frontend such as XBMC. Going down that route you lose the server/client architecture and being able to watch live tv on any of your clients.

[phareous]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Get a grip. The SageTV software is exactly the same today as it was a week ago. The extenders have not changed. Nothing has changed. Even a year from now, the WORST case would be the forums are gone, and the community moves somewhere else, and the US/Canada EPG data is gone, and you ahve to instead use MC2XML and the XMLTV Importer to rather easily grab the exact same zap2it guide data you're getting now. a 15-20 minute process of resetting up the guide data, and you're set again for another 6 years if you want. the ONLY thing that has significantly changed at this point, is future expandability (no more client licenses or extenders). If googlesage ends up never releasing them for sale again, than at least the former will probably be filled in by gray market alternatives.

Nothing has changed? The beta won't be finished, the store is dead (so no upgrades and no buying additional extenders), and at this point is appears there is no future for Sage. The only thing that hasn't changed is they still offer email support

[Polypro]

Originally Posted by Bagal

That doesn't really get you anywhere though and is something you can achieve with any frontend such as XBMC. Going down that route you lose the server/client architecture and being able to watch live tv on any of your clients.

Gotcha. I never do 'Live', so that is what I was missing. Thanks.

P

[shill]

Look - it's fair to be pessimistic. This is probably not going to be good for us in the long run; I think the best thing we can hope is that Google will let them continue to run SageTV as it's own product line until they're ready to replace it with the new and improved GoogleTV that we all assume is coming as a result of this.

That being said, closing the website, not providing any advance information, and a period of transition that includes a blackout for everyone but those directly involved is STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE for any acquisition. We buy companies all the time at the software company I work for, and I've been part of these teams - it's just how it's done, so some of you need to stop taking it so personally and be patient. I don't like being patient either, but this is just the way the busienss world works, I'm afraid.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by phareous

The beta won't be finished

If there were no significant bugs, the current RC would be the 7.1 release. RC is good enough for me. If you don't like using the RC the 7.0 release is available.

[graywolf]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

If there were no significant bugs, the current RC would be the 7.1 release. RC is good enough for me. If you don't like using the RC the 7.0 release is available.

Except Diamond and other plugins require 7.1

Not that it matters to me as I'm on V7.1.7 on my Test Server but that is something for those thinking of using the last Official Release to consider.

[limiter]

Originally Posted by mightyt

I have often wondered my self when / if someone would ever build DVR capability in to TV's ...

My Mitsubishi TV had this capability at least 4 years ago. Plug in a Firewire drive and cable card then it used a built-in guide to let you schedule recordings.

[ChrisFix]

Originally Posted by Polypro

If you have all your media (TV, Music, Videos, Pictures) on a Windows Home Server, for example...

And then set up 5 computers in the house with SageTV Server (which includes the client portion)...

And point them all to the WHS machine folders...

I'm 99% sure you will be able to watch all media on any machine. I did it with a Network Encoding experiment and it worked fine. 1 key, 2 servers, centralized directories, watch from anywhere...99% it will work if the worst happens and we can't buy client keys ever again.

If I get the time, I'll throw it on a netbook and verify.

P

This got my interest...I installed SageTV 7 server on a second computer and it indeed accepts my existing license. Can this be set up as a client only using the SageTV directory from my main install? And with HDHomeRun tuners, wouldn't live TV still be available? If so, it could be a work-around if we can't buy client licenses or extenders going forward.

[gdippel]

Its been four days now since "Sageageddon." I'd I'd like to offer my perspective as an attorney and Sage user since 2003.

My first reaction upon reading the announcement Sunday morning was similar to most forum posters, "YIKES! This can't be good!" Of course, the past week I had just gone to an "ALL SageTV Solution" hooking up my last "free range" STB to my Sage server and streaming through my HD 300.

After reading some 700+ posts, here's my two cents:

1. If Sage were in dire financial straits (and we'll never know) Google could have done us all a favor. The worst case scenario would have been if Sage declared, or were forced into Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. The forum would probably have been immediately shut down. EPG data for US users would have immediately ceased and Sage's assets would have been sold off. As customers, any claims we would have for warranty repair, lost EPG service , etc. would have been relegated to the ranks of unsecured creditors, which generally means we would be out of luck.

2. When Google Purchased Sage, not only did they buy its assets, but they also assumed its liabilities. We, as sage customers, are liabilities when it comes to hardware warranty claims, potential tort claims (faulty HD 300 overheats and burns down someone's house or electrocutes someone.)
You can be sure part of Google's due diligence before closing their purchase of Sage would have involved trying to quantify this potential liability. I'm sure Google's engineers closely examined all of Sage's hardware that has been sold and I guess they didn't find anything too alarming, else the deal wouldn't have happened! But I doubt we'll ever see extenders being sold again as the liability from Google's standpoint is not worth the relatively meager income from their sale. More than likely they will soon be on containers sailing back to China to be sold for salvage value.

3. Google's lawyers are calling the shots concerning treatment of Sage's customers. Keeping the forums open, providing US EPG support for one year is designed to prevent any possibly legal claims by disgruntled Sage customers. While you could argue that any lawsuits or class actions (Yes, even after the US Supreme Court's Walmart decision), would be a mere nuisance for a company Google's size, I'm sure they don't want to draw any adverse PR regarding buying/killing smaller companies (competitors) while under increasing scrutiny of European and US regulators.

In conclusion, those who wish to continue using SageTV in it's present form should seek alternatives to extenders (Can anyone write a plugin to use Hauppauge's HD Extender?) US users should make contingencies to use XML plugins for their EPG guides. There will be life as we know it after Sage.

[jorton]

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets...tank-20110622/

[limiter]

Originally Posted by jorton

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets...tank-20110622/

Isn't that timely. It looks kind of like the HD200... maybe SageTV was already working with Google before the acquisition.

[wayner]

HD-200? It looks more like the size of the HD-100.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Polypro

Gotcha. I never do 'Live', so that is what I was missing. Thanks.

I never do Live either but I do watch sporting events that are still in the process of being recorded. Is this a problem with some of the "alternatives" if I wanted to use something else as a front-end to a Sage server?

[Bagal]

Originally Posted by wayner

I never do Live either but I do watch sporting events that are still in the process of being recorded. Is this a problem with some of the "alternatives" if I wanted to use something else as a front-end to a Sage server?

Most likely you'd only be able to watch up to the point it had recorded when you started watching i.e. if it was 15mins into the recording when you started watching, it would stop playback at 15mins and you have to re-start playback, only to stop at 30mins etc.

[starfire]

Originally Posted by jorton

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets...tank-20110622/

http://gigaom.com/video/google-tv-2-...ndroid-market/

http://www.slashgear.com/sigma-ultra...tlet-20160344/

Suspect they are looking for the Sigma skills that Sage obviously used on the HD100,200,300, presumably they can then push the price further down for GoogleTV 2.0 devices using Sigma chipset.

[joematt]

Originally Posted by wayner

I never do Live either but I do watch sporting events that are still in the process of being recorded. Is this a problem with some of the "alternatives" if I wanted to use something else as a front-end to a Sage server?

You would setup one server to do all of the recording. The other sever/clients would just look at the recoding directory just like it was a import location. There's some mumbo-jumbo that is used by the clients to view currently recording shows so the sever/clients would not be able to view them. However you could setup one client say in the family room connected to the recording server to watch them. There are some other problems (library refreshes) but that is the gist.

[brainbone]

Are keys transferable? Can you sell them to another? Any post that mentions where someone is selling their keys seems to get deleted.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by brainbone

Are keys transferable? Can you sell them to another? Any post that mentions where someone is selling their keys seems to get deleted.

Please remember, as I have posted elsewhere, that the forum rules are still in effect and the EULA does not allow the transfer of licenses. All offers to buy/sell/trade items on this forum are removed, the same as they always have been in the past.

- Andy

[joematt]

Originally Posted by brainbone

Are keys transferable? Can you sell them to another? Any post that mentions where someone is selling their keys seems to get deleted.

No they are not. Look at the EULA for the answer to this and other questions. I am not suggesting that we trade anything . And certainly not until the 7.1 release. If I were them I would put code into it so that with every EPG update there would be a key blacklist that would go along with it..

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Please remember, as I have posted elsewhere, that the forum rules are still in effect and the EULA does not allow the transfer of licenses.

However, the HD300 has an embedded license, yet talk of its sale seems to be allowed.