Is it time to start buying backup hardware

[wayner]

The demise of the SageTV store with no warning has me worried. What if Hauppauge disappears tomorrow? What is the USB-UIRT was no longer available?

Is it time to start buying backups for all of your hardware in case these products become unavailable? I want my backend Sage server to run for many years but we are not assured that any new hardware will work with Sage. Therefore are we not stuck with the current hardware that works in Sage?

It looks like I may not be able to buy an HD-300 unless I am prepared to pay a 200% premium. I don't want to find myself in the same situation with my 2 HD-PVRs.

I being paranoid or are others thinking about this as well?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by wayner

The demise of the SageTV store with no warning has me worried. What if Hauppauge disappears tomorrow? What is the USB-UIRT was no longer available?

Is it time to start buying backups for all of your hardware in case these products become unavailable? I want my backend Sage server to run for many years but we are not assured that any new hardware will work with Sage. Therefore are we not stuck with the current hardware that works in Sage?

It looks like I may not be able to buy an HD-300 unless I am prepared to pay a 200% premium. I don't want to find myself in the same situation with my 2 HD-PVRs.

I being paranoid or are others thinking about this as well?

Paranoid.

If extenders die build a client.
If x tuner dies buy what is out there that works with Sage.
If USB-UIRT dies by a MCE ir receiver/blaster. (Or any other supported Sage device or look at firewire tuning or http tuning. (Depending on what you're trying to tune.)
Whatever dies and you have no replacement then start looking for a new product.
Whole house DVRs are coming from Tivo, DirectTV, FIOS, CableCo, Moxi, etc.
It may not be as good as Sage but it may just be good enough.

Gerry

[OneOfMany]

LOL.. I'm into old cars.. I buy back up parts of everything I may need..

Grant

[will]

Originally Posted by wayner

I being paranoid or are others thinking about this as well?

If you asked me this question in May, I would probably say YES. But today I say NO with an exception.

I would purchase a backup HD-PVR if you have the money but nothing else as there are multiple products in the market that can do the same thing (an elastic vs. inelastic product).

The HD-PVR is a unique product but you can buy it from multiple websites. So if it is discontinued we have multiple places to purchase from in addition to eBay.

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by wayner

... [Am] I being paranoid or are others thinking about this as well? ...

I would like to say you are slightly paranoid, but l never expected Sage to stop being available like this, either. I think I purchased five Sage licenses from PC Alchemy, which has been gone four several years now. VBox no longer exists, or at least is not producing or supporting OTA HD tuners [I have three VBox tuners]. Fusion no longer makes or supports their wonderful USB remotes, and I have a set of myTV myBlaster IR emitters, and myTV has been gone for at least four years now.

I have two HD-300s (purchased back in April) and an HD-100, and I'm really thrilled about them, but in retrospect I realize I should have been concerned about buying a product that was only available from one source ...

[davephan]

I think it would be a very good idea to buy a spare USB-UIRT. They sell a very good product, but is a small company. In retrospect, I wish I would have bought clients, but I never thought SageTV could go away after all these years. Any company can go away at any time for the right price.

Dave

[BobPhoenix]

I don't think you are paranoid. I'm going to be getting extras as funds permit. I'm hopping I will be able to use the Colossus to replace a HD-PVR so I will have an extra there (still not working well yet but still experimenting). I already have an extra HDHR. I want to be able to use Sage 10 years from now if I don't like any of the alternatives available now or then.

[tchapin]

I wish I had bought some HD300s...

[Audacity]

In most situations it isn't worth buying backup hardware if you aren't in a situation where you need immediate replacement parts. If you own a company with a internal network, you should probably buy backup network gear (switches, etc) in case something fails and you need service back right away.

For consumer electronics, I'd stay away from that strategy because things become obsolete too quickly, and I can't really think of a situation off the top of my head where some product type became unavailable and there weren't better replacements that I could buy new.

So, for example, I've got a Sonos system (5 zone players, 2 CR200 remotes), I'm not going to buy any backup hardware because it's expensive to do, I don't know what parts will fail first (ZP90? ZP120? S5? CR200?), and if Sonos goes away I'll instead spend my money on a Squeezebox system, or whatever the new hotness is.

You're better off investing the money and getting current gear when stuff dies.

To put it another way, would it have been smart to buy a bunch of extra Media MVP boxes? Sage HD100 boxes?

[valnar]

I have a USB-UIRT, but I never suspected it would go bad. Perhaps it can.

Has anyone had a USB-UIRT go bad?

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by valnar

I have a USB-UIRT, but I never suspected it would go bad. Perhaps it can.

Has anyone had a USB-UIRT go bad?

I bought 3 originally. One of which was DOA when I got it so that can "BE" bad. But I've never had a problem with the other two or the replacement so I can't really say they can "GO" bad.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Audacity

In most situations it isn't worth buying backup hardware if you aren't in a situation where you need immediate replacement parts. If you own a company with a internal network, you should probably buy backup network gear (switches, etc) in case something fails and you need service back right away.

For consumer electronics, I'd stay away from that strategy because things become obsolete too quickly, and I can't really think of a situation off the top of my head where some product type became unavailable and there weren't better replacements that I could buy new.

So, for example, I've got a Sonos system (5 zone players, 2 CR200 remotes), I'm not going to buy any backup hardware because it's expensive to do, I don't know what parts will fail first (ZP90? ZP120? S5? CR200?), and if Sonos goes away I'll instead spend my money on a Squeezebox system, or whatever the new hotness is.

You're better off investing the money and getting current gear when stuff dies.

To put it another way, would it have been smart to buy a bunch of extra Media MVP boxes? Sage HD100 boxes?

If you want to continue using SageTV then YES it might have been a good idea to buy a bunch of them. Wish I had bought a bunch of HD200s or even better HD300s now.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by Audacity

You're better off investing the money and getting current gear when stuff dies.

To put it another way, would it have been smart to buy a bunch of extra Media MVP boxes? Sage HD100 boxes?

It would have been a good idea to buy extra MVP boxes or HD 100 boxes if SageTV was sold several years ago, right after your purchases. The MVP is lousy compared to the HD-200 or HD-300, so then you would had to purchase extra HD units, and better yet several extra client licenses.

Too bad you can't really have faith that a company won't be sold and will no longer offer you the products at any price. The only way to protect your investment, is to invest even more, which I wish I would have done a month ago. I just had too much faith that SageTV would be around for many years in the future. That was a mistake to believe that SageTV would not be acquired, killing the future for the product as we know it.

Dave

[SafetyBob]

I got struck by lightening and all of my old Media MVPs are now toast. So if I want sagetv at each tv I need to build a small HTPC right? And they will be clients? I have like 5 licences for the MVPs and 2 or 3 placeshifter licences long time ago, still running version 5 and couldn't be happier.

Any suggestions welcome.

Bob E.

[SteveD]

Originally Posted by SafetyBob

I got struck by lightening and all of my old Media MVPs are now toast. So if I want sagetv at each tv I need to build a small HTPC right? And they will be clients? I have like 5 licences for the MVPs and 2 or 3 placeshifter licences long time ago, still running version 5 and couldn't be happier.

Any suggestions welcome.

Bob E.

Placeshift licenses and mvp licenses are the same. They are loaded on the server any devices such as the mvp or a pc running placeshifter will use them.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by SteveD

Placeshift licenses and mvp licenses are the same. They are loaded on the server any devices such as the mvp or a pc running placeshifter will use them.

But keep in mind those will work for Placeshifter but Placeshifter will NOT play back ripped DVDs. What you would really need is a PC client license which no longer exits and a Placeshifter license cannot be used in its place.

Gerry

[korben_dallas]

I am shocked - though logically I guess I shouldn't be - at the auction prices of SageTV products right now. Looks like a few people are dumping their SageTV hardware, while a whole lot of people are trying to snatch them up.

I guess if you have a whole house relying on SageTV, then an extender is worth the price of a TV..

[SteveD]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

I am shocked - though logically I guess I shouldn't be - at the auction prices of SageTV products right now. Looks like a few people are dumping their SageTV hardware, while a whole lot of people are trying to snatch them up.

I guess if you have a whole house relying on SageTV, then an extender is worth the price of a TV..

I am glad I never jumped on the sage extender bandwagon. I use all PC clients.

Eventghost, and USB uirts can enable HTPC to do pretty much anything you want. Isn't jumping ship now a little premature, guess its good old captialism for some.

[Audacity]

Buying extra hardware as "insurance" is like buying extended warranties at electronics retailers.

Occasionally you need it but you typically don't. Over time the person who does "self insuring" by saving the money they would otherwise spend on a warranty and replace their own equipment that goes bad wins.

What if a year from now the GoogleTV 2.0 solution comes out and on the whole is better than SageTV because it does all the PVR stuff as well as the streaming media stuff? What if another company steps up with a better solution? It is highly unusual for the marketplace to not fill a need that exists.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Audacity

What if a year from now the GoogleTV 2.0 solution comes out and on the whole is better than SageTV because it does all the PVR stuff as well as the streaming media stuff? What if another company steps up with a better solution? It is highly unusual for the marketplace to not fill a need that exists.

And if you actually believe that you need to remove the rose colored glasses. It will be 2 years before anything comes out since 2.0 just came out and has an established bed that does NOT included anything SageTV in it. You will need to wait for at least 2.1 and probably 3.0 before anything like Sage would come from Google. Also it is unlikely it will be PVR software as we know it. I expect a Microsoft DRM like product that I will NOT be able to use.