Another "blackbird" question

[Roscoe62]

I'm currently not a Sage user, but I'd like to be.

I'm really interested in purchasing one of the Sage bundles. Sage used to offer the Hauppauge PVR250 in a bundle, but I notice this has now been replaced with the "Blackbird". I also notice on the detailed picture that this card has a sticker on it that says NTSC/NTSCJ, and there don't appear to be any details on the Hauppauge website.

Does anyone know whether this card also supports PAL?

If it doesn't this is a deal-breaker for me, as our TV is PAL format here.

Can anyone help?

[sub]

I suspect the models carried by Sage all have NTSC tuners. These can still be used with PAL via the composite or svideo inputs, but the tuner would not be able to tune in NZ television.

If you want a version where the tuner also works in NZ, you'd need to get a model from Singapore or Europe.

BTW, I'm also from Wellington.

[Roscoe62]

Hi sub, nice to see a fellow kiwi here....and a Wellingtonian to boot!

So the NTSC only applies to the in-built tuner? That's OK. I'll be doing all my connections via a Sky Satellite box, so the tuner section would have been obsolete anyway. I guess I'm good to go!

FWIW, the Hauppauge site describes both the PVR-250 & 350 as being fully PAL & NTSC capable. That's why it was a little disappointing to no longer see the PVR250 bundle.

Thanks for the confirmation!

BTW....how have you been finding Sage? I understand the EPG won't work here, but I'm not too concerned about that. Any feedback is appreciated.

Ross

[sub]

The PVR250 would have also had the same situation with the tuner.

I dont actually use Sage anymore. I used to, but now I'm using other software. I just drop by the website every couple of days to see whats going on.

[kny3twalker]

you will have to do xmlt for the guide data in Europe
but the roslyn blackbird is just a pvr 250 with added hardware that are not sold retail without a software like sage, beyond, or MCE like normal pvr 250s

you ask what added hardware well I can predict you would ask

it has the ability to do a live preview and there will work with software for normal TV cards as well as software for hardware encoders cards

[sub]

Since when was New Zealand in Europe? Other than that, kny3twalker is correct that you'd need xmltv for the EPG.

[Roscoe62]

kny3twalker, I knew that at some stage I would be taking the Sage plunge, and might have to get my feet wet in xmltv (for EPG purposes) so I had been watching the happenings there every now and then. The last time I looked New Zealand had dropped off the XMLTV radar, and was given over to some other product which was still being launched, or maybe I'd completely lost the plot that day.

Now that I'm planning to make the move, I'll have to revisit it all.

Sub, is it going to upset anyone here if you tell me what product you've moved to, and why? I'm interested to know.

pm me if you have to.

Cheers
Ross

[kny3twalker]

He is writting his own and it is free
GB-PVR

he is down there as well maybe he can help you set it up
Australia

[mdmint]

I recently built my first SageTV Server and Client. I decided on compatibility over price and went with 5 PVR250s, 4 in Server and one in HTPC Client (for the remote control primarily plus a 5th tuner in network mode)

It's working TOO well! What with Client also on Debi's PC and scheduling stuff so easy I've determined my original 750GB storage plan 'taint gonna cut it. Even with watching we're way over 300GB used up. 3Ware Escalade 9500S-8 arriving tomorrow to switch from 4x250GB SATA HD RAID5 plus onboard 2x250GB mirror to 8x250GB RAID5 with online spare for 5GB OS/SageTV partition and 1.495TB main storage. Drives will be mounted in two 3Wares 4in3 hotswap cages. That'll still max out my Server's space and give better redundancy with online hotspare. Will use the 4 port Promise FastTrak S150 SX4 elsewhere... There's is case room for a couple internal not hotswap HDs to run off sysbrd SATA or IDE but don't see the need. Plus they'd be only to make up the 5GB so why bother. Performance wise it doesn't seem to matter, at least not in my current 4x RAID5 with OS/SAGE on the RAID5. 5 concurrent records @3.25GB/hr plus simultaneous playback kept up so should hopefull be ok...

[sub]

I've never said anything was wrong with SageTV. I think its really good, and can appreciate all the hard work thats gone into it - but I'm programmer at heart, and love to be working on my own software development projects...

In fact, I only started GB-PVR because in September last year the Frey guys invited me to be part of the private beta program, but the NDA was too restrictive. Effectively I couldn't work on any of my own home theatre software in future, so I decided against participating. Soon after I though damn - if I'm missing out on the new SageTV features for this reason, I should at least be writing something that'll meet my needs. Since then I've been looking at cool stuff like the MVP and XCard. Probably more info than you needed Roscoe62, but I'm sure some others were wondering.

[justme]

GB-PVR is a great program and has some very cool features not yet on SageTV or BTV. For instance GB-PVR has the best support for the MVP, IMHO. I'm personally of the school, that competition is always good for the consumer and good companies.

Glad to see you still drop by sub. keep up the great work. I just wish you could avoid using .Net. Sorry but I hate that .Net stuff, but I've grown to accept that it's the future.

[Roscoe62]

Well, as a NON-programmer and XLobby front-end enthusiast I have to say I'm a big fan of .NET but I also realise my view is probably lop-sided.

I see that the NZ TV grabber has now shifted to PyTV and there is a release candidate out there now. I am technically-minded, but I'm not a developer. Looks like it might be a steep learning curve!

Sub, I am pleased you went into a bit of detail about your project. I always enjoy researching and evaluating what's out there to see what will best suit my HT needs. I'm also very interested in seeing what a fellow HTPC enthusiast from New Zealand has to say about TV capture & control applications - especially one who is in the process of designing their own. I'd be foolish NOT to listen.

I think I'm still going to go ahead and get into the blackbird/Sage bundle as a starting point, but you can be sure I'll be following up on your project. Do you have a web presence yet?

kny3twalker - that's strike 2! Contrary to popular opinion, New Zealand is NOT part of Australia, although we are neighbours geographically. Don't worry, I didn't take offense - we get that ALL the time! That's what comes of living in such a small country!

mdmint - That's a great setup you have there! I would love to start using the 3ware Escalade 9500S-8 - especially when they implement the online capacity expansion capability. I see that Hitachi are now distributing their 400Gb drives. Perhaps that's an option for you? I have a humble terrabyte on my media server right now - and no RAID yet. But that's just for audio and DVDs. Once I get into Sage I'm going to have to arrange further storage specifically for TV. I can't see myself using the amount of space you do though! I can't find THAT much interesting ON TV!

Cheers
Ross

[sub]

Roscoe62, just in case you didn't realise. http://www.ascent.co.nz has good prices on hauppauge now. A couple of days ago they dropped their price on the Hauppauge PVR250 from NZ$626 (this was about as good as it got in NZ) to the new price of NZ$354. Now thats what I call a price drop. Worth considering.

BTW, my website was www.gbpvr.com

[Roscoe62]

Thanks for the heads-up on the Hauppauge cards Sub. I didn't realise they were available in NZ.

Even so, with the exchange rate at the moment I can probably still land the Blackbird and Sage package for less than that....well, it'll be close anyway. I'll go have a look anyway. I've bought from Ascent before and they do have great service and a very large range of products.

I also found your website and have registered to use the forums.

It looks like a very impressive product. I'll have more time this weekend to go through some of the posts to learn more.

Can you tell me something though....The one thing that I figured would be missing from Sage and GB-PVR is the EPG side of things. Not because the products don't cater for it, but because here in NZ I haven't found anything that will do the job (apart from the scanty pyTV mentioned earlier). Have you found any way to incorporate an EPG in NZ?

I promise I'll direct any further questions on your forum!

Thanks for any information you can provide.

Ross

[Ian Norman]

Roscoe62
Since NZ and OZ are neighbours and if you really want a PAL Blackbird you could always buy a PV258TF from me. I can't offer the Roslyn and the remote that is supplied is a MCE remote and not the Streamzap. The SageTV Blackbird bundle is a good deal. It's probably cheaper than I can sell you a PAL PV258TF but I thought I'd let you know anyway.
I even know someone who has a PV258T in N.Z. Not sure what he thinks of it.
If you need more info contact me.

[sub]

I can also vouch for the PV258T, which seems to be pretty nice blackbird card from my experience with it.