Just in case- Alternatives to SageTV

[boukmandutty]

Stanger89 regarding your question about wmc7 and sagetv integration with metada support, have you ever tried Recorded TV HD? I noticed this week that it picks up recordings in my SageTV directory and finds metadata to match. The files play without a hitch.

What his seems to have problems detecting however are files that have long names. Files with just one word in the name are easily detected so things like Fringe and Eureka dont have nay problems at all. Files are CriminalMinds (SageTV doesnt put space btween words when it creates files) arent detected however.

If the dude who writes the Recorded TV HD plugin works on this it could be a useful transition for those moving to Windows Media Center. The ability to access the guide from WMC7 and schedule programs would provide the server ability that Microsoft is dragging its foot on.

[stanger89]

No, I haven't really plaid with 7MC much.

What I did do is get "bored" so I bought parts for a new PC so I'd have something to play with (A DQ77KB, i7-3770s, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD, LianLi PC-Q05 case) so I dropped Windows 8 RP and installed XBMC on there.

Well I'll say one thing XBMC is shiny, and it's metadata scraping is pretty good. And I was liking it pretty well. Well that is until I brought it down to my HT. Hooked it up and tried watching some stuff, and I remember why I don't like using PCs for playback, the playback was well "jerky", anyway, I've got it, so I'll play with it some more, but it's not instilling confidence.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Well I'll say one thing XBMC is shiny, and it's metadata scraping is pretty good. And I was liking it pretty well. Well that is until I brought it down to my HT. Hooked it up and tried watching some stuff, and I remember why I don't like using PCs for playback, the playback was well "jerky", anyway, I've got it, so I'll play with it some more, but it's not instilling confidence.

I found the same thing when I started playing with it. As much as I like it, it just isn't sage. What I do like quite a bit is that XBMC's refresh rate switching works perfectly. It's much nicer to be able to watch at 23.976hz properly. I've tried to get sage to do it properly, but after the switch sage playback is jerky when it wasn't before. So, playback is the area I actually prefer XBMC over sage. I still like everything else about sage better though.

[Ken C]

Well, sad to say, the Sage server has died. I've spent all morning and most of this afternoon trying to resurrect it. All kinds of hard drive errors, keeps losing the network, etc. Looks like a bad motherboard.

Of course the Ceton Q is still vaporware, Cox cable doesn't offer much. So, I'm left with Dish or Direct, Hopper vs HR34. Any thoughts ?

BTW, if I go satellite, drop Cox cable TV, can I still keep Cox internet ?

All in all, not a good day !

[SHS]

DirectTV HR34 or Dishnetwork Hopper
5 Tuner | HR34 the winner
Small Client | Hopper the winner
GUI | Both are carp so no winner
Rec/Fav/Setting feature | Both are carp so no winner
No other outside Media Playback like DVD, Video, Picture and on.
Hand down both are Junk, No good alternative for Sat

For cable it TiVo with super high price EPG
Cable it to has it down side as well.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by Ken C

Well, sad to say, the Sage server has died. I've spent all morning and most of this afternoon trying to resurrect it. All kinds of hard drive errors, keeps losing the network, etc. Looks like a bad motherboard.

Of course the Ceton Q is still vaporware, Cox cable doesn't offer much. So, I'm left with Dish or Direct, Hopper vs HR34. Any thoughts ?

BTW, if I go satellite, drop Cox cable TV, can I still keep Cox internet ?

All in all, not a good day !

If you have an image, take an image of the way the computer is now, then roll it back to the last "known good" image. If the recovery works, then you know it was a software problem. If the recovery does not work, then it is probably a hardware problem. You might try applying the "known good" image to a different hard drive and the same system board.

If it is a system board problem, then apply the image to the different system board, assuming you have imaging that works with different hardware. The system should function at that point. Check the devices to make sure the drivers are OK.

If you don't have an image, then rebuild from scratch and take images of the new build. Then you will be prepared for the next disaster, before the disaster occurs.

Since the forum could vanish at any time without warning, you should be prepared to recover your SageTV computer without the forum with images. Imaging is more important than ever!

Dave

[ChePazzo]

Originally Posted by Ken C

Well, sad to say, the Sage server has died. I've spent all morning and most of this afternoon trying to resurrect it. All kinds of hard drive errors, keeps losing the network, etc. Looks like a bad motherboard.

Of course the Ceton Q is still vaporware, Cox cable doesn't offer much. So, I'm left with Dish or Direct, Hopper vs HR34. Any thoughts ?

BTW, if I go satellite, drop Cox cable TV, can I still keep Cox internet ?

All in all, not a good day !

If the hdd is a total loss and you're already preparing your mindset to get new hw and reset everything up, why not just install Sage on the new machine?

If you ditch Sage, you'll have to redo all of your favorites and setup anyway.

[Fuzzy]

I agree... at this point, if I had a complete failure of my sage system, I would gladly purchase/cobble together the necessary hardware to bring it back. That, in my mind, would be far cheaper/easier than switching to any other solution.

[Ken C]

Well, it's a done deal. DirecTV got me with the free NFL Sunday Ticket. The installation should take place tomorrow.

Last night was the first time watching non-Sage, regular TV in almost 7 years. And, it was painful. Yes, I know there will be an enormous "adjustment period" but I've reached the stage where I want to simplify.

On the bright side, I have a HD100, a HD200, and a HD300 for sale. I'll be posting those in the marketplace soon.

It's been fun.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by Ken C

Well, it's a done deal. DirecTV got me with the free NFL Sunday Ticket. The installation should take place tomorrow.

Last night was the first time watching non-Sage, regular TV in almost 7 years. And, it was painful. Yes, I know there will be an enormous "adjustment period" but I've reached the stage where I want to simplify.

On the bright side, I have a HD100, a HD200, and a HD300 for sale. I'll be posting those in the marketplace soon.

It's been fun.

You just might get used to the pain! When I go to my in-laws, they suffer through commercials or constantly flip around watching fragments of several shows.

You might get a DirecTv DVR, then you can record some programs. I think the DirecTV DVR is about $16 a month, which is very expensive. If you want to record and playback at more locations, then you multiply the $16 monthly cost by the number of DVR units. I tried one of those DVRs several years ago. The interface was nothing short of barbaric and crude.

I suggest you hold off on selling your SageTV equipment and licenses for 2 - 3 weeks. Give yourself some time to determine if you can tolerate the pain of watching all those commercials. About 1/3 of TV are commercials, which you'll have to consume without SageTV. Also, find out how many programs you miss because they weren't recorded automatically.

Maybe you'll determine TV without SageTV is OK for you. Maybe the commercials will drive you up the wall and the missed recorded programs is too annoying.

For me, I am reminded how bad TV without SageTV is every time I watch TV at my in-laws. Every time I see a commercial, I know I should be able to skip the commercial, but I can't. I am stuck putting up with commercial after commercial. Meanwhile, my in-laws seem to think watching commercials is "normal", even though they experience automatic commercial skipping when they are at my house.

So, for me, I have to keep SageTV running as long as possible and back it up so I can quickly recover back to a working state as quickly as possible if it ever fails.

Dave

[panteragstk]

If I were to switch from sage, it would be to something that can use my existing hardware. I could never just sit and watch TV using a "normal" dvr again. Comskip or GTFO.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by Ken C

Well, it's a done deal. DirecTV got me with the free NFL Sunday Ticket. The installation should take place tomorrow.

Last night was the first time watching non-Sage, regular TV in almost 7 years. And, it was painful. Yes, I know there will be an enormous "adjustment period" but I've reached the stage where I want to simplify.

On the bright side, I have a HD100, a HD200, and a HD300 for sale. I'll be posting those in the marketplace soon.

It's been fun.

I still don't understand? You switched content providers because your sage server died? Sounds like that's what you wanted anyway.

That being the case Sage can still be the DVR for all of your viewing, and DTV can be hooked up with serial cables for channel changing instead of IR.

All that being said. A HDHR Prime and a 7MC box would give what you were looking for (DVR Only), if you were looking to getaway form Sage. Just my 2 cents ...

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by boukmandutty

... regarding your question about wmc7 and sagetv integration with metada support, have you ever tried Recorded TV HD? I noticed this week that it picks up recordings in my SageTV directory and finds metadata to match. The files play without a hitch. ...

Awesome plug-in, gives you folder's back in the Recorded tv view! You could actually pull the default TV view from the start menu and only use this if it weren't for the guide being there...

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

DTV can be hooked up with serial cables for channel changing instead of IR

I prefer HTTP tuning for the HD DirectTV boxes over serial myself.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I prefer HTTP tuning for the HD DirectTV boxes over serial myself.

+1 to that. Works perfectly.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I prefer HTTP tuning for the HD DirectTV boxes over serial myself.

Yeah, I never got that to work because my STB's didn't support it. So when I aksed for new ones, they said no, I switched to cable and now I have a cable card.

Wish I could have been a +1 ...

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

Yeah, I never got that to work because my STB's didn't support it. So when I aksed for new ones, they said no, I switched to cable and now I have a cable card.

Wish I could have been a +1 ...

I just bought my STBs at BestBuy after they installed the first one. All of the HD boxes have a network port and work with HTTP tuning (3 of them) for me.

[sacrament055]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I just bought my STBs at BestBuy after they installed the first one. All of the HD boxes have a network port and work with HTTP tuning (3 of them) for me.

Wouldn't that mean you still have to pay them to activate the additional boxes? I know they have to provide some sort of smart card and I thought they charged for that.

I'm curious because I have DirecTV as well and am only using 1 box to keep the price as low as possible.

[IVB]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

Wouldn't that mean you still have to pay them to activate the additional boxes? I know they have to provide some sort of smart card and I thought they charged for that.

I'm curious because I have DirecTV as well and am only using 1 box to keep the price as low as possible.

*AND* you have to return them when you disconnect the service, they're still considered leased equipment.

I know this because I literally just today got the box from DirecTV to return the HD one I got from BB.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

Wouldn't that mean you still have to pay them to activate the additional boxes? I know they have to provide some sort of smart card and I thought they charged for that.

I'm curious because I have DirecTV as well and am only using 1 box to keep the price as low as possible.

Yes you still have to activate the box but they come WITH the credit card like activation card. You just call them and they add it to your account and activate it. You are still paying their fee per month for the box and like IVB said you have to return it to them when you cancel. The only thing you are saving is the service fee for the tech to do the same thing and possibly getting one that has a network port.