Just in case- Alternatives to SageTV

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by theguru

A very simple question. Is it time to move to some other PVR platform or is there a future on Sage.

I can't find a peep our of anyone officially for over a year now I think. It might be time to move on I guess. If there is a thread on this someone, please point it out for me.

Everyone loves/hates car analogies, but I'm looking for a 98-2002 pontiac trans-am with an ls-1. It will work just fine even though pontiac no longer exists.

[nyplayer]

Why think about moving on ... if Sage is currently working with the equipment you have. The only time I would consider moving on is if I need new equipment.. I have 7 tuners right now and I know they work great with Sage so why move on? Grass always looks greener on the other side of the pasture.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Why think about moving on ... if Sage is currently working with the equipment you have. The only time I would consider moving on is if I need new equipment.. I have 7 tuners right now and I know they work great with Sage so why move on? Grass always looks greener on the other side of the pasture.

I'll jump in on the post that vanished from "theguru" ...

Why concider moving on? Not every one was able to get there systems running to the state where they were perfectly happy. Me for one. I was hoping Sage would support CableCards and CopyOnce channels.

I was happy with captureing HD channels via SVideo on my old TV but my new one, these recordings are unwatchable for the most part. So I have no choice now, but to move on, atleast for TV anyway. And what's the likely hood that GF will support anything we currently have? Not so good I think. And how far out in time will that even be available for the rest of us not in the KC beta.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

Why concider moving on? Not every one was able to get there systems running to the state where they were perfectly happy.

Yup, I was "happy enough" with Sage when it was being developed, when there was a reasonable expectation that things would get fixed/implemented.

But now the bugs that I've got with my HD300 and HDMI 1.3 bitstreaming, along with the sorry state of CableCard (no offense to Andy, but SageDCT is just way to flaky for me to rely on long term) mean I "have" to look elsewhere.

[ranger]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Yup, I was "happy enough" with Sage when it was being developed, when there was a reasonable expectation that things would get fixed/implemented.

But now the bugs that I've got with my HD300 and HDMI 1.3 bitstreaming, along with the sorry state of CableCard (no offense to Andy, but SageDCT is just way to flaky for me to rely on long term) mean I "have" to look elsewhere.

Mileage definitely varies. I've been using SageDCT for about 9 months and have only missed one recording. SageTV still works here. I keep looking at other apps, but so far there just isn't anything that will meet my needs.

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Yup, I was "happy enough" with Sage when it was being developed, when there was a reasonable expectation that things would get fixed/implemented.

But now the bugs that I've got with my HD300 and HDMI 1.3 bitstreaming, along with the sorry state of CableCard (no offense to Andy, but SageDCT is just way to flaky for me to rely on long term) mean I "have" to look elsewhere.

Also want to defend SageDCT. For me, absolutely rock solid! MAYBE I have missed a recording over the last year, and that might not have been SageDCT. Andy is a, well, a god

[Skybolt]

I don't think anyone needs to "Defend" SageDCT, and Andy. His hard work is GREATLY appreciated by all for all of his contibutions, not just SageDCT. SageDCT just falls short, for some, of what Sage really needed (No fault of Andy's). Not everyone is ok with there available "CopyFreely" station list. For me that's basicly a little more then the locals. If Sage were able to support DRM then Andy would have been able to, most likely.

As for the HDHR Prime I use, I have a task to do a soft reboot every morning at 5AM. Without the soft reboot the Prime, for me, is very unstable. In 7MC it will popup "Unsubscribed" without the reboot.

[nyplayer]

Maybe the cause of your problems is the HDHOMERUN Prime ... or your cable card. I would start off by requesting a new cable card. My first cable card was bad they gave me a used one I requested a brand new one and that did the trick.

[ckewinjones]

I'll add another endorsement for SageDCT. It has been rock solid for me as well.

SageDCT delivers exactly what it promises: a way for SageTV to access CableCARD-based tuners for Copy Freely content. It's hardly fair to say that it "falls short" because it does not deliver what it does not (and cannot) promise.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by ckewinjones

I'll add another endorsement for SageDCT. It has been rock solid for me as well.

SageDCT delivers exactly what it promises: a way for SageTV to access CableCARD-based tuners for Copy Freely content. It's hardly fair to say that it "falls short" because it does not deliver what it does not (and cannot) promise.

While this may be true, the fact that SageDCT cannot capture protected content is a serious disadvantage for realistic use. I am in a Cox Cable area and the only content that is not protected are the locals that are already available in clear QAM. Not at all advantageous to have a CableCard tuner here unless you're using Windows Media Center.

Unless Google comes up with a SageTV based solution outside GF that includes capture of protected CableCard content I will have to consider other means of recording. Including Cox Cable's own multi-room DVR that's now available.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by ckewinjones

I'll add another endorsement for SageDCT. It has been rock solid for me as well.

SageDCT delivers exactly what it promises: a way for SageTV to access CableCARD-based tuners for Copy Freely content. It's hardly fair to say that it "falls short" because it does not deliver what it does not (and cannot) promise.

Ok, so then Sage falls short on not being able to support CableCards and CopyOnce content. Either way it works out the same. I wasn't dis'n Andy's hard work (Please reread my original post), just the fact that for most, an HDHR (clear QAM) will get as many stations as an HDHR Prime will when used with SageTv.

Those who get all/most non-premium stations are in the minority. After experimenting (3-4 months) with SageDCT and the Prime, I switched to the HDHR because it got the same amount of stations more or less. And still need to use the STB's for premium channels. Which if used right, two cablecards and I can get rid of six cable boxes and there constant turning off by the cable co.

That being said, back on topic - 7MC has all of the needed support for CableCards and with Ceton releasing the Echo it looks like the Sage replacement is here. Not that I was looking to replace sage but that day is here as well.

[panteragstk]

Hopefully the echo will support everything we hope it does.

[stanger89]

I've just had a good deal of trouble with SageDCT while the HDHR QuickTV and 7MC have handled it fine. There seems to be a lot of black art of firewall settings and buffers and the like for at least a number of us to get it to work when QuickTV and/or WMC work with no issues. Including me getting halt detected on one particular channel through SageDCT that's actually clear QAM.

I just want something that works, I wonder from time to time if I should have just stuck with Dish and got a Hopper and maybe a Dune for my media playback.....

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

... I just want something that works, I wonder from time to time if I should have just stuck with Dish and got a Hopper and maybe a Dune for my media playback.....

Ahh - the simple life. But now you're one of the beta tester's and so let the fun begin!

[ChePazzo]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

. . . the fact that for most, an HDHR (clear QAM) will get as many stations as an HDHR Prime will when used with SageTv.

Those who get all/most non-premium stations are in the minority.

For me, much of what we watch is on Comedy Central, FX, USA, Food which all require a cable card where I am.

I think SageDCT is great and the only reason I don't use it is because I don't have Windows in my house. Although, if MythTV hadn't been so easy to interact with the HDHR-Prime, I probably would have forked over the $$ for a Win lic and run it in a VM. The MythTV solution is far from ideal mostly because it doesn't interact with Sage, but if we ever lose the channelguide function from Sage, I'll need some sort of fallback which I now have.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by ChePazzo

... The MythTV solution is far from ideal mostly because it doesn't interact with Sage, but if we ever lose the channelguide function from Sage, I'll need some sort of fallback which I now have.

Have you tried the xbmc version which supports live tv with a Myth back end? I have Myth in a VM and have tried setting up these different versions of xbmc but I have had no resonable luck with this. It reminds me of the Sage v3/4 days when I was using MCE 2004/5, and waiting for Sage to become more stable as it did in v5.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

Have you tried the xbmc version which supports live tv with a Myth back end? I have Myth in a VM and have tried setting up these different versions of xbmc but I have had no resonable luck with this. It reminds me of the Sage v3/4 days when I was using MCE 2004/5, and waiting for Sage to become more stable as it did in v5.

I used mediaportal as the back end when I was testing xbmc and it worked just fine

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I used mediaportal as the back end when I was testing xbmc and it worked just fine

I've heard that, it would much easier to use MediaPortal as well. That's good to know. Thanks.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

I've heard that, it would much easier to use MediaPortal as well. That's good to know. Thanks.

No problem. The have a tv service that runs in the background and is very light. I like it just fine. If sagetv broke completely for me and they made the pvr builds of xbmc a little better I think that would be the route I'd go (if the echo doesn't pan out to be what we hope it is). Especially since mediaportal supports all of the tuners we use (no cablecard).

[ChePazzo]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

Have you tried the xbmc version which supports live tv with a Myth back end?

All of my MythTV recordings show up on all of my computers' media players (even Linux and PS3) discovered media servers, which is pretty cool.

I've not tried recording.

Is there a way to delete a recording after watching via XBMC?