Just in case- Alternatives to SageTV

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by lfilomeno

There is a program from DVBlink to add tuners on a centralized server and being seens by WMC "client" PC's on the newtork

I am using DVBlink to server two HDPVR's to Sage and WMC. Super rock solid set up.

[stanger89]

I've been wondering, what happens in the event of a conflict, like if a scheduled (on another machine) recording is occuring and another PC tries to watch something live?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by lfilomeno

Fuzzy,

I being doing research not out of paranoia but out of need of adding clients which I cannot do it with SageTv anymore. Windows 7 MCE gives me the ability to watch live TV on their XBOX entenders based on the numbers of tuners I have available. Given the steep prices of HD200\300 on Fleabay, the new XBOX 360 seems like a great alternative as an extender. It is quieter and smaller. I personally do not want to go the game console route but that is one option to expand. I am more a PC client guy. There is a program from DVBlink to add tuners on a centralized server and being seens by WMC "client" PC's on the newtork! Some light at teh end of the tunnel for us with upgrade needs. Not as lively as SageTV but it is an upgrade alternative.

Id rather move to less legitimate methods of maintaining/expanding my sagetv setup when the need arises, than shift to something else that is going to be more limited in features. (like watching DVD/BD Rips from any where).

[valnar]

I weighed the price of ripping and replacing everything with a less functional product and came to the conclusion that an extra $300 HD300 from eBay wasn't too bad. I suppose if you needed 2 or more, that would change the equation.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I've been wondering, what happens in the event of a conflict, like if a scheduled (on another machine) recording is occuring and another PC tries to watch something live?

Is this question about DVBlogic?

With two tuners available in DVBlogic...

If Sage is recording on one of the HDPVR's and I tune live TV in WMC. Then DVBlogic uses the second HDPVR. Seamless!

If there were to be two recordings occuring in Sage when I tune live TV in WMC, I will get a screen about "No available tuners".

I do have the HDPVR's on a daily power re-cycle.

[lfilomeno]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Id rather move to less legitimate methods of maintaining/expanding my sagetv setup when the need arises, than shift to something else that is going to be more limited in features. (like watching DVD/BD Rips from any where).

I agree and respect your opinion. I just dont see any other "polished" Media Center solution in teh horizon and was trying to pass down what I found with forum members on a similar solution.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by jerryt

Is this question about DVBlogic?

Yup.

With two tuners available in DVBlogic...

If Sage is recording on one of the HDPVR's and I tune live TV in WMC. Then DVBlogic uses the second HDPVR. Seamless!

If there were to be two recordings occuring in Sage when I tune live TV in WMC, I will get a screen about "No available tuners".

I was thinking more about the case of multiple WMC machines. I've looked into DVBlogic a bit, as I've seen it referenced a few times as a way to, I suppose "approximate" is the best word, SageTV's client/server functionality.

The two big problems I see is it seems you only have two options, either there's no "locking" of tuners, or you choose one (and only one) machine that always wins.

So if you pick a "master" DVBLogic machine, do you get any notification when it boots another client to begin a scheduled recording?

The other issue is scheduling. Recordingbroker can "spread" recordings around WMC machines, but it doesn't seem to be able to force/move all the recordings to a single machine (ie the DVBLogic master)...

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

The two big problems I see is it seems you only have two options, either there's no "locking" of tuners, or you choose one (and only one) machine that always wins.

So if you pick a "master" DVBLogic machine, do you get any notification when it boots another client to begin a scheduled recording?

The other issue is scheduling. Recordingbroker can "spread" recordings around WMC machines, but it doesn't seem to be able to force/move all the recordings to a single machine (ie the DVBLogic master)...

My understanding is the tuners are available on a "first come" basis, I don't believe you can set a master. But I could be wrong.

I am pretty sure that if I select all the available tuners with live TV 5 minutes before Sage is scheduled to record, then all Sage will record is the "No tuners available" screen.

I have two HDPVR's to Dish STB's and only watch live TV on one computer, with 99% of all STB recordings occuring one at a time. So this is serving me well at the moment. I believe you could solve the problem of multiple "Live TV" and Multiple concurrent recordings, by going to four HDPR's and STB's.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by jerryt

My understanding is the tuners are available on a "first come" basis, I don't believe you can set a master. But I could be wrong.

I am pretty sure that if I select all the available tuners with live TV 5 minutes before Sage is scheduled to record, then all Sage will record is the "No tuners available" screen.

I have two HDPVR's to Dish STB's and only watch live TV on one computer, with 99% of all STB recordings occuring one at a time. So this is serving me well at the moment. I believe you could solve the problem of multiple "Live TV" and Multiple concurrent recordings, by going to four HDPR's and STB's.

I think that would be the biggest problem with the tuner sharing mechanism. It would be better if DVBViewer actually failed, or didn't respond to the request at all, as at least then it wouldn't think it had recorded it when it hadn't.

Does DVBViewer pool subchannels as well though? That might give it a distinct advantage in some ClearQAM setups (if any still exist), where multiple recordings can take place on the same tuner, if they reside on the same stream.

[motobarsteward]

My SagetTV system has been largely un-used now for nearly a year. It got quite unreliable when I upgraded to using two HVR4400 combo cards. I just about got it stable and then upgraded to SageTV 7. Thanks to a huge amount of work from SageTV support, I got it up and running again but, in the mean time, we got a new TV with integrated BBC iPlayer and, since, my wife has not been bothered about sage. My main PC is also now a Mac.
Now, I'm looking at setting up a new system based around eyeTV Netstream, their software and iPad app. I'll use the iPad app and airPlay video to my AppleTV. So, it looks like I may be leaving the SageTV fold after joining during the heady V2.0 days

[reeven]

There arent any software like Sage, at least for my old leadtek analog tuner, the best was Sage and Christv.
Now for digital, there are Dvbviewer on top, then ProgDVB( full of bugs), Dvbdream( bugs), Mediaportal, Win7 Mediacenter.
I like Dvbviewer the most, i could stream livetv to ipad,iphone, laptops, in all my condo.

[Qusix]

I don't want to leave Sage. It truly is the best option but my extenders are dying.

My hd200 died when lighting struck a tree outside. One HD100 just died today. So now Im left with one hd100. I guess I'll be moving to Windows Media Center.

I blame Google.

[jptheripper]

Originally Posted by Qusix

I don't want to leave Sage. It truly is the best option but my extenders are dying.

My hd200 died when lighting struck a tree outside. One HD100 just died today. So now Im left with one hd100. I guess I'll be moving to Windows Media Center.

I blame Google.

Whats wrong with the hd100? if its the caps, there are many here (myself included) that can repair it.

[speck55]

Originally Posted by Qusix

I don't want to leave Sage. It truly is the best option but my extenders are dying.

My hd200 died when lighting struck a tree outside. One HD100 just died today. So now Im left with one hd100. I guess I'll be moving to Windows Media Center.

I blame Google.

Or if you have a soldering iron, you could buy about $3 worth of capacitors and give it a whirl. The power supply board is separate from the main board, so it's easy to do, and probably with the $3 to try.

[Qusix]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

Whats wrong with the hd100? if its the caps, there are many here (myself included) that can repair it.

I don't think it is the caps since I have already replaced them on both of my hd100's.

The box just flickers and cuts off. It will stay on for about 10 mins. The screen will flicker and then it will just cut off. I have to flip the switch in the back to get it to come back on.

[Thron]

[QUOTE=SHS;502765]
Media Portal
Pro: Cool UI
Cons: No Server/Client/Extenders Support, Configuration is still done External

It looks like Media Portal does have an extender of sorts. They call it a client.
http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/ne...tenders-97838/

Don't know how well it works though.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Thron

Actually it's called a PC. (They have no extenders like the Sage extender.)

That what you want is exactly the main goal of MediaPortal. The only necessary hardware restrictions for extenders are a PC running Windows XP, Vista or 7 (preferred) and a GPU with enough power to display 1080i HD material (DXVA/CUDA would be a great advantage). Then you can set up a main Server with installed TV cards (as much as you like or need) and watch Live HD-TV, playback media, show EPG, schedule and watch recordings on every PC connected to your network with a running MediaPortal client.

[mlewis]

>I wonder if google would really develope it or shelve it? I hope develope
>it but it seems everything they do is free, how would one make
>money from it?

NOTHING Google does is free, it comes at EVERYONE'S cost, most people are simply not noticing that yet.

The Internet is filled with garbage thanks to Google and it supposedly pulls in some three *Billion* a month on it's ad services alone. I could care less that it can make that kind of money but it's at the cost of the Internet being filled with more and more crap. They are directly responsible for also creating an environment that has become practically impossible for small sites to become known unless you pay through the nose to do it.

Sure, they 'give' lots of things away but it is at OUR cost in EVERY way.

It's only a matter of time before people start noticing that.

Now, back to the problem... what the heck can STV be replaced with?

[stevech]

Google ads... I must be the exception to the rule. I cannot recall ever buying something that began by seeing an ad on a web page sidebar.

I buy because I search out something then find the best deal.

[hoep]

maybe dvblogic's v4 connect server could be a valid replacement, as they seem to have a decent client api - they also show pictures of a boxee client.
see this post (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...&postcount=385), there's the link included.
use v3 with damian flynns addon for sagetv - works super-stable