What are you going to do now?

[ChrisFix]

From the Geek Tonic "interview", Jeff states the following:

"Existing SageTV Keys & SageTV Beta Status

The most recent version of SageTV was in a public beta so I asked what happens to that beta?

The beta versions do not expire. SageTV/Google does not currently have plans relating to posting a final release of V7.1; the current release candidate is of 'release' quality based on SageTV’s prior standards."

Does this mean that the 21 day trial doesn't apply (even though the Beta states so when you install it)...or just that the Beta software will continue to work if you already have a license?

[sleonard]

The beta will continue to work only if you have a valid license.

S

[Fuzzy]

Beta versions have no different licensing than 'full' versions. If you have a v7 license, any version of v7 will work with it. there is no time limit on the betas.. there IS a time-limit on non-licensed trials (regardless of version number).

[farscapesg1]

I'll be sticking with SageTV for now due to costs. I've got 4 extenders now, plus two client licenses. If one goes down, I can pull the one from the bedroom that is rarely used. If push comes to shove, I can build a new computer and use one of the client licenses.

I'm going to take another look at Media Center, but right now I can't afford to buy 3-4 XBOX's to run as extenders Though apparently you can make a kiling on Ebay for the HD300's... Too bad I only have one, with 2 HD200's and a HD100 that is still running (after being repaired by SageTV once, then again by myself).

[jhh]

I think there is an option missing: keep using SageTV - I use XMLTV guide data and I'm not too worried about not having a Sage provided EPG.

Then I would have selected that one

Jan

[pieroxy]

For me: Media Portal.

One advantage over Media Center and SageTV: It is open source, no one is going to ever pull the plug on it.

Proprietary software has shown one of its limit right there: It can be removed by its creator. There is nothing you can do or say about it, you just watch in awe.

[ThePaladinTech]

Originally Posted by dcardellini

Lot's of really smart people in this forum, users of SageTV.

Lot's of really optimistic people here, too.

IMHO, this is the end of THIS world as we know it.

When EPG shuts down in a year, and support dwindles to non-existent....

...and this community scatters to other forums when this board is shut down.... it will be clear.

Love my extenders, but love my PC Clients even more. The options for low-power small form factor extender-like PC Clients are getting closer all the time. Sandy Bridge and upcoming products from AMD make this clear. They may never be as cheap as $150, but you WILL have a very flexible vendor-independent solution available to you indefinitely. It is a good fall-back option.

So many bright, visionary third party developers pouring heart and soul into a closed, proprietary product like SageTV. What if all this effort had been focused into an open source multi-platform solution.....guaranteed to live on indefinitely.

..sorry for the pessimism. I need to start now in developing my go-forward plan. And it will take (at least) a year for the alternative to be production-ready for my family.


Just like I refuse to drink the Apple kool-aid, I fear lousy solutions that take forever to bring forward from other massive companies. What are the viable open source alternatives?

I do believe this is the end of this world as we know it ... and i feel fine.

By the time the EPG goes away we will have another solution.

Out of your comments I think you nailed the one that really concerns me. There *are* a whole bunch of smart people here. Without this community I might still be using Tivo. If it all goes south it already sounds like people will be scattering, it's more obvious then ever to me that sage was a unique product. if it were not I would expect most everyone to say the would be going to product X to replace it. but that is not the case, there doesn't even seem to be a front runner for a replacement. Different people have different priorities and SageTV was the only thing that encompassed them all. I know for me the biggest thing is the DVR capacity and extenders. I begrudgingly agree that the future is not local based storage. I also doubt that the quality will be the same. Where I live the internet is not fast enough to download a you tube video (pity anyone that has broadstripe cable like me!) And I think the solution to that will be metering. But I getting of topic a bit. the point is if it all goes south we will each be moving in the direction that makes the most sense for each of us, thus tearing this community apart.

[Polypro]

I voted #1. Somebody is already working on a Schedules Direct plug-in.

P

[valnar]

Originally Posted by jhh

I think there is an option missing: keep using SageTV - I use XMLTV guide data and I'm not too worried about not having a Sage provided EPG.

Then I would have selected that one

I intended #1 to include "getting EPG data by any means possible"

[sunray]

All these people talking about how the cloud and streaming will replace everything are dreaming. Netflix was a big proponent of this idea and they've been trying their best to kill off the DVD by mail system quickly as possible and force everyone to stream. But then they ran a problem. Bandwidth. Netflix is now the biggest user of bandwidth on the Internet and the ISPs want them to start paying for it. So now they are backing off killing the DVD by mail quite so quickly. Somebody's going to have to pay for all the bandwioth streaming uses.

Also the availability of TV shows and movies comes and goes with streaming depending on the whim of the copyright owner of the show or movie. With local storage and no DRM I can keep a show around as long as I want it plus some shows will most likely never be available for streaming.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by sunray

But then they ran a problem. Bandwidth. Netflix is now the biggest user of bandwidth on the Internet and the ISPs want them to start paying for it. So now they are backing off killing the DVD by mail quite so quickly. Somebody's going to have to pay for all the bandwioth streaming uses.

I know that Netflix uses up a significant portion of the traffic on the net but I haven't heard stories recently that the entire internet is now bogged down thanks to the volume rquired for Netflix? The reason that ISPs want bandwidth caps is that the ISPs are often cable companies (or phone companies hoping to sell IPTV) and they don't want to lose customers with an ARPU of $70 to Netflix.

[tmiranda]

I've got so much blood, sweat, tears and money invested in Sage that I'll use it for as long as possible. But I will start investigating alternatives because I want to have a backup plan.

SiliconDust will be losing a sale, because I will cancel my HDHR Prime pre-order.

[LehighBri]

I'm probably going to jump ship soon so I can move past this and onto whatever the future solution is.

I'd love to move to XBMC or Plex using jailbroken Apple TVs as extenders as XBMC, Plex, and Boxee are great for imported media, netflix, etc, but don't do DVR, thus I still need to fill the hole related to DVR capability.

Does anyone have a recommendation on what to use for a DVR replacement (e.g. perhaps Media Center?) but with the ability to use a very inexpensive extender (e.g. Apple TV as an extender)

[stuckless]

I'm going to stick with SageTV until the lights go out. I'm sure Slugger will have some hacks ready by the time the EPG data is gone, and Stranger will keep up posted on a really good alternative (I just hope it is Linux friendly).

My only concern is what do I do when the Extenders die I'm wondering if the HD300 firmware can be flashed on other devices running similar hardware?

So, as long as my extenders don't die... and I can get epg data from somewhere...I'll be here

[panteragstk]

My plans won't change until sage no longer functions. I still need to find some extenders, but that won't be too hard. I could always make more clients, but I'll have to find a license somewhere.

I'm not going to even think about an alternate solution. You guys know as well as I do that if the devs we have stick with sage, then it will never really stop working.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I'm not going to even think about an alternate solution. You guys know as well as I do that if the devs we have stick with sage, then it will never really stop working.

Then the only issue becomes client licenses. Hmm, I wonder where we will be able to get those ...

On that note, perhaps we should start another forum ASAP where we can start trading Sage equipment, etc since that is still verboten on this forum.

[TallMomof2]

For now stay with Sage. I've never been completely happy with the HD-PVR/Colossus hardware. I probably need a better server and was considering moving to Win7 and keeping my WHS for system and file backup. Plus, with the cable cards out I am very tempted to use those since they seem to have fewer problems than the HD-PVR/Colossus.

Now I'll wait and see if something better comes up and hope that the new GoogleTV will have a solution that allows me to record live TV and play it back on clients. I am very excited that there will most likely be an Android app since I switched the entire family to Android phones and own a couple of Android tablets.

I'm on Verizon FIOS and don't see changing providers since everytime I call to tell them I'm switching they give me a better deal.

[Trepidati0n]

I'll stick with SageTV for quite a bit. I guess one of hte biggest things i'll miss about sage (especially my wife) is the "slide show feature" as the screen saver. Always nice to see memories when not killing braincells with mindless drivel.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

more specifically, Keep Sage for now. Use EPG as long as possible, then free XMLTV sources from then on.

+1 This is precisely what I plan to do.

However, I'm also testing out XBMC on my client and seeing how difficult it is to get everything imported from my WHS. So far, music and movie rips are working just fine. Next step is the SageTV recordings folder. My only concern at the moment is that both recorded movies and TV shows are in a single folder and I'm not sure that XBMC allows the same path to be listed twice (once for movies, with the associated scraper, and then once for TV shows). From what I've seen, you can only use a single scraper per folder path.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

+1 This is precisely what I plan to do.

However, I'm also testing out XBMC on my client and seeing how difficult it is to get everything imported from my WHS. So far, music and movie rips are working just fine. Next step is the SageTV recordings folder. My only concern at the moment is that both recorded movies and TV shows are in a single folder and I'm not sure that XBMC allows the same path to be listed twice (once for movies, with the associated scraper, and then once for TV shows). From what I've seen, you can only use a single scraper per folder path.

But WHY bother with that? What are you going to GAIN using XBMC over a sage UI? Unless of course, you can't GET a sage UI anymore...