Google Fiber + SageTV

[phareous]

Originally Posted by Brent

All quotes from an article in today's Kansas City Star newspaper

I see lots of things I'm used to with SageTV such as the "on the hour hiccup". I imagine taking something like SageTV which was used to dealing with a moderately to highly geeky consumer group to a more broad-based-population even on a small scale is quite a challenge for Jeff and the team.

On the other hand, this "broad-based population" is probably less than the number of sagetv users...

[Brent]

Originally Posted by phareous

On the other hand, this "broad-based population" is probably less than the number of sagetv users...

today yes - at least the number of former SageTV users. In four months I would guess it will be multiples larger and grow tremendously after that. The rollout began intentionally slowly, but the plan seems to be to multiply the size of rollout with each step.

The easier part of now versus dealing with the SageTV user base is they only have their own devices and tuners to deal with and they control the video feeds going into the devices.

[wayner]

Didn't the "on the hour hiccup" go away with Sage 7? Is it back with Sage8?

[rwc]

What was the 'on the hour hiccup'?

Also, from that poll some time ago, wasn't it estimated to be around 300 or so "current" sage tv users? If so, I'd venture to guess that there are more google fibure users with sagetv, than customers than sagetv on their own.

And am I the only one that's noticed many times the audio and video is out of sync slightly when watching HDTV (regardless if it's sagetv or not?) Maybe it's just me...

[wayner]

The one hour hiccup was in SageTV 6 (and maybe earlier versions) where when the TV show changed (on the hour or half hour usually) you would get a brief pause and restart as Sage shifted from one file to another.

300 Sage users is way too low - this form has 17,000 members, 535 of whom are active. There are 22 members browsing the forums right now.

[rwc]

Any idea on the # of google fiber customers? (I'm assuming at least 80% of them would get their TV via google fiber)

[wayner]

By the way the other thing of relevance is does the number of users matter or the number of licenses? I have four server licenses and ten extenders (many bought second-hand). If Sage was still an operating company that would be much more relevant since that would be providing the company with revenue.

[dgeezer]

Originally Posted by rwc

What was the 'on the hour hiccup'?

For me it's about a second and a half pause every time a show ends, but only when watching Live TV. It's never been something I worried too much about since we watch almost everything recorded.

See this thread: Pause on the Hour

I imagine a lot of people that aren't used to using something like SageTV just turn on the TV and watch live TV like they always have. Therefore, they will notice this glitch whereas lots of us here may have never seen it.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by dgeezer

I imagine a lot of people that aren't used to using something like SageTV just turn on the TV and watch live TV like they always have.

I find it amazing that people still watch live TV.

[bclenney]

Originally Posted by wayner

I find it amazing that people still watch live TV.

I agree! The only live TV I have watched in the last year was probably the Boston Bombing suspect hunt. Everything else we start watching about 15 minute into the hour.

[nyplayer]

I never watch LiveTV in Sage. I watch at my convenience... When I do watch LiveTv for news, sports etc... I watch it on my TV. Sage in my household is used just for recording... favorites or manual shows. That is why I am using Plex as clients and switch to Sage only to setup up a recording.

[wayner]

Sage makes watching sports SO much more efficient. I can watch a hockey game in 1 hour rather than 2.5 - but you have to watch within a few hours of the game. I don't usually watch news unless there is a special event occurring, like the bombing.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by wayner

I find it amazing that people still watch live TV.

I find it amazing you guys are so surprised that people still watch live tv. News, sports, lazy channel surfing are still the norm in this world despite us. I watch sports and very occasionally news live, but I guarantee you that the majority of TV watchers still watch plenty of live TV or at least pause-delayed tv and in both of those cases they would notice the "on-the-hour" blip.

[wayner]

I know that it is the lazy thing to do, to pick up the remote and just surf. But I find it so much more liberating to not have to have a schedule imposed on us by a TV network.

I get that some people want to watch sports in real time, but being inundated by my job and wanting to spend time with my kids means that I really value the ability to watch a sporting event in 30% of real-time. And I don't watch news on TV very often, I get it from the web.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by wayner

I know that it is the lazy thing to do, to pick up the remote and just surf. But I find it so much more liberating to not have to have a schedule imposed on us by a TV network.

I get that some people want to watch sports in real time, but being inundated by my job and wanting to spend time with my kids means that I really value the ability to watch a sporting event in 30% of real-time. And I don't watch news on TV very often, I get it from the web.

I totally understand and I do much the same as you. But you and I are not the norm. That was kind of my point about how expanding this to joe off the street tv watcher who is buying into the Google Fiber thing to get "fast" internet and the TV package is just a very nice bonus. Most of them have no idea what a HTPC is - and doesn't care. They just want their TV with a bunch of channels and the ability to record a lot of stuff.

[brainbone]

The "on the hour hiccup" has always been a solvable problem -- it's just that us geeks were never really bothered by it, nor were the likely more geeky Googlers that tested SageTV 8 before roll out.

Even now, I'm sure there are many higher priority issues that need attention before the hiccup between shows.

[david1234]

I find it funny they would complain about the HD channels being first in the lineup. It always annoys me when we go to the in-laws and they're watching the SD version of a local station-who knows we're they stuck the HD feed

[wayner]

With my cable company's STBs they map they HD versions of channels into the low (<100) number range. If you are used to watching ABC on channel 7 and you go to that channel then you get the HD version. You can still get the SD version if you want, in the 100s or 200s, but they assume that most people with an HD box will want the HD channel.

[Fuzzy]

Dish network actually supersedes the SD channels with the HD one, so there aren't separate channel numbers - you know.. they RIGHT way to do it.