Just in case- Alternatives to SageTV

[cncb]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I think I'd be happy with a TiVo, except that I want multi-room viewing. You can sort of do that with a TiVo Premiere now, but I'm hoping the TiVo Premiere Elite (aka Premiere Q) will have a client-server mode that is closer to what we have with SageTV and the extenders.

Don't you have to pay the monthly service fee for each of the ones you are just using as an "extender"?

[heatvent]

The deal killer is they want $20 month for service fee (EPG, etc.). THey have a lifetime membership for $500. So some investment $$$.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by valnar

Interesting. I never owned a Tivo before.

Now if they can just make it a client-server setup where all Tivos in other rooms can watch the same content, they may have something. Even better if it could do the Popcorn Hour/Dune type stuff too, like watching MKV/MP4/AVI files from your network. If only somebody would think of marrying a DVR with a media streamer. Oh wait.....

My parents have tivo's from their cable provider and they can share recordings with other tivo's. Is that what you're talking about?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

My parents have tivo's from their cable provider and they can share recordings with other tivo's. Is that what you're talking about?

Not exactly the same thing. There isn't a single master server than coordinates everything. You could set up the same series on each, and it would be recorded on each unit. If you primarily use, say, the living room unit for all your created favorites, and such, then the bedroom unit probably won't have many season passes set up, and likely wouldn't really have anything worthwhile recorded on it, wasting MOST of the tivo hardware.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by cncb

Don't you have to pay the monthly service fee for each of the ones you are just using as an "extender"?

You do now with multiple TiVo Premiere's set up to stream off one another. But they're not really set up like extenders. You can stream off each other, sure, but I don't think you can schedule recordings on one TiVo from another (for instance).

But, that *might* change with the TiVo Premiere Elite and the TiVo Preview (the extender-like device). I don't think TiVo has made it clear what the features would be yet, or how the monthly fee would work.

Originally Posted by heatvent

The deal killer is they want $20 month for service fee (EPG, etc.). THey have a lifetime membership for $500. So some investment $$$.

It sounds bad, but I think it makes more sense to look at overall costs. Don't look the monthly fee by itself- look at how much the unit would cost over a ~3 year lifespan. Then compare it to how much it would cost to buy a computer and HD-PVRs, and rent a couple STBs for a few years. Or, compare it to how much it would cost to rent a cable company provided DVR.

Sure, the TiVo probably still wouldn't look cheap, but it probably wouldn't look that bad either.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Not exactly the same thing. There isn't a single master server than coordinates everything. You could set up the same series on each, and it would be recorded on each unit. If you primarily use, say, the living room unit for all your created favorites, and such, then the bedroom unit probably won't have many season passes set up, and likely wouldn't really have anything worthwhile recorded on it, wasting MOST of the tivo hardware.

I see.

[flavius]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I think I'd be happy with a TiVo, except that I want multi-room viewing. You can sort of do that with a TiVo Premiere now, but I'm hoping the TiVo Premiere Elite (aka Premiere Q) will have a client-server mode that is closer to what we have with SageTV and the extenders.

.. which will have 4 tuners. Where did you hear about client/server mode?

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by flavius

.. which will have 4 tuners. Where did you hear about client/server mode?

It's not certain, but references to the Premiere Q, the cable company version of the Premiere Elite, say there will also be a TiVo Preview device which can stream off the Q. I'm sort of assuming that the retail version will also have a version of the Preview.

[flavius]

After reading some of the comments on that page I'm wondering if even the high-end Tivos still have performance issues. The unbearable slow UI was one of the main reasons why I got rid of my Series2 in 2005.

[tchapin]

From the TiVo forums, it looks like you can choose what UI you use, the older, more stable, faster one, or the slower, more featured, flash-based one.

In addition to multi-room viewing, a concern I have about TiVo is the lifespan of the internal hard drives. One of the many things I liked about Sage is that since I control the hardware, I can back up or otherwise manage my content however I like. So, when my hard drive died recently, I was only hosed a little, because I had backups of everything.

With TiVo, I think they've added web backups of your season passes, but your recorded content would be gone.

Plus, with TiVo, I'd still run my server to host ripped DVDs, music, photos, and other software. TiVo does offer a program to download shows from the device, but there are restrictions on what you can do with them.

[emveepee]

I've made good progress on my import program from SageTV for NextPVR and if any of you would like to test it (Windows only) let me know. Your SageTV Recording History, most of your Favourites, and a test view of your channels (without EPG data or a real tuners installed) are available. For those of you who aren't ready to change but are curious to see what NextPVR can offer today, I expect you probably can get this up and running in under 5 minutes. I can provide tips on quick setup too if you'd like.

If nothing else it's probably worth trying NextPVR so you can start providing feedback on what you feel is missing to improve NextPVR.

Thanks again to the SageTV users who provided their wiz.bin files and also for the suggestions to use the web server and sagex web interface, they work very well and they are remarkably quick.

Martin

[dgeezer]

Martin,

I would be interested in trying this out also. I have NPVR setup on my desktop, Zotac Ion 330, which is definitely not a powerhouse. So far it is running great. I am able to record and playback QAM HDTV from my HDHomerun with no problems. I've got Playon working as well. I started with a fairly clean Windows 7 install and just installed Babgvants antipack for my codecs. I've used the sage extenders for the last several years and was afraid of trying to set up a client pc, but so far it's been easy.

I haven't had time to experiment much, since I am in the process of building a new house as my own General Contractor . So far NPVR is able to do everything that is important to me. I think that lots of us here tend forget how many of the features we like best are actually produced by the community and not part of the core SageTV package.

For me that would be:
Comskip Playback
Playon
Batch Metadata tools
Diamond Theme

[emveepee]

Originally Posted by dgeezer

I would be interested in trying this out also. I have NPVR setup on my desktop, Zotac Ion 330, which is definitely not a powerhouse. So far it is running great. I am able to record and playback QAM HDTV from my HDHomerun with no problems.

Hi dgeezer I would very much like to work with you, right now the utility doesn't work with existing tuner and EPG data so you can help with the merge logic. I will PM you my contact info.

Martin

[mbowling]

I gave Windows 7 Media Center a test drive this weekend. It has a nice user interface, integrated Netflix and some of the Internet TV content is integrated in the TV guide. This is all very nice and is really all I need. I record over-the-air TV and watch some shows on Netflix. One of my top priorities is commercial skipping. I installed ShowAnalyzer, DvrmsToolbox and DTBAddin to try commercial skipping in Media Center. This was disappointing. Only about 50% of the commercials were successfully skipped. I use Comskip with SageTV and around 90% of the commercials are successfully skipped. Apparently Comskip cannot process the Windows 7 Media Center wtv files. I didn't try to do any tuning with ShowAnalyzer because I haven't done any with Comskip, it just works. So, after my test drive with the Media Center/ShowAnalyzer combo I have a new appreciation for SageTV and Comskip.

[Synomenon]

Now that AFAWK, SageTV is no longer being developed and BeyondTV is the same, what options do we have left for Windows TV Tuning / PVR software?

*merged *

[stanger89]

There's been plenty of talk ("Just in case - Alternatives to SageTV" thread for example) but:
Windows Media Center
NextPVR (Formerly GB PVR)
MediaPortal
MythTV
to name a few.

[95TBird]

I've gone back to WMC. While not as "cool" as Sage in many respects, for me it has some advantages.

We were using Sage (with 3 HDHomeruns) for Clear QAM & 2 Tivos for all other Cable Channels.

Now that the HDHomerun Prime 6 tuner unit is available (ours should arrive on or around the 25th) I will be able to have all our recordings on one box.

The other advantage is that MyMovies on MCE is Excellent!! You have full descriptions, Automatic backdrops & Now support for TV series!!

I wish Jeff & the Gang all the best!!

-Bruce

[stanger89]

So just curious, how are you handling the clients? Are you using Xbox 360's? For your ripped movies to?

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by 95TBird

The other advantage is that MyMovies on MCE is Excellent!! You have full descriptions, Automatic backdrops & Now support for TV series!!

-Bruce

MYMovies for sage does all but TV. I've got BMT and Ortus for that. Hope everything works out for you.

[jaminben]

I've been trying out MediaPortal and I'm pretty impressed with it so far.... it has its flaws like most things though.