So whats the upgrade path?

[bigbill]

Its been over 2.5 years now and i am starting to think we are waiting not really on anything similar to sagetv from Google. I want to start thinking of whats next for my whole house implementation for recording and watching thru out the house. My sage 200's are not getting any younger either. What is everyone looking at for moving forward?

[hufnagel]

honestly? i'm just hanging on and riding this out as far as it'll go. I'm still using MVPs for playback (since I missed out on the HD200 and HD300 units) until I figure out what to make for PC-based playback adapters. If by some magic the evil gods at google do something useful with the product they bought and I can upgrade/segway into it, great. If not I'll worry about the next step when the time comes.

[IVB]

yeah, sadly, i'm looking at using Intel NUCs as PC-based playback. Still can't find anything that'll let me record the amount of stuff I want to.

If the world ends or comcast revokes my special pricing, i'll kill off local DVR and go all-streaming, and use a 2nd device for BluRay/DVD playback, perhaps using JRMC.

BTW, JRMC isn't a totally crappy solution, but it does require a PC, so may as well stick with SageTV if you have the licenses.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by bigbill

Its been over 2.5 years now and i am starting to think we are waiting not really on anything similar to sagetv from Google. I want to start thinking of whats next for my whole house implementation for recording and watching thru out the house. My sage 200's are not getting any younger either. What is everyone looking at for moving forward?

If there was something out there better, I'd switch, but I sure haven't seen anything!!!

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

If there was something out there better, I'd switch, but I sure haven't seen anything!!!

+1

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

If there was something out there better, I'd switch, but I sure haven't seen anything!!!

+1 as well.... bought a few HD200s and 300s from people who quit Sage so I have backups for a while. By the time they all break from age, I figure there will be something reasonable out there. Or, with how many I have, the whole TV/HTPC landscape might just be completely different and this will all be moot....

[Skybolt]

Well since you asked ...

I went with WMC due to my cable co encrypting everything on Cable Card. It's been about two years now and I don't regret the switch. For a DVR solution it's not bad and the main machine will play back anything. The clients (360's) are now cheap, but won't play anything above ~15mbps with any reliability.

Other then that you don't have much choice? Tivo, Genie, Hopper, - all equal no ripped content.

If your happy with what you are running now I would stick with it. I think it's going to be a while, if at all, until something else comes along that will fit the bill.

[comedian999]

In December, my HD-PVR went sideways on me. I did some research, and based on what I saw, I couldn't really tell if the HD-PVR 2 would be well-supported by Sage 7, and it seemed that I'd need to set up some kind of scheduled reboot for the Colossus. Still, I was ready to throw another almost $200 at a first-gen HD-PVR (more expensive than the next-gen on Newegg) to keep the thing running...

And then I stopped and realized that, between the PC and the parts and the RF remote to deal with IR interference in the USB-UIRT with the plasma TV and the home-built, hacked together USB-controlled powerstrip to handle HD-PVR crashes, that I have spent *thousands* over the years on Sage TV... and I was about to spend another $200 on a platform that simply isn't going to get any better.

So I did some more research, and found that the TiVo Roamio Pro has the same kind of space my Sage server had, but with 6 tuners and still-available extenders. And since it has been years since I made my own DVDs of recorded content, I decided to go in that direction. And honestly? It's pretty much as good as Sage 7 is, with the exception of Comskip. I really miss Comskip.

And it's really kind of heartbreaking. I'd used Sage since 2004, and I built this latest server in 2010. And when I did, it was *light years* better than anything else in the DVR world. And every time I realize the new, warranted box that still receives active regular software updates is pretty much as good as Sage 7, I wonder what cool stuff I'd be enjoying if we were on Sage 9 right now.

Ah well. tl;dr: The TiVo Roamio Pro has 3 TB of space, and home upgrades of the drive are now supported, as well as plug-in USB hard drives to extend capacity. TiVo also has a "Mini" (think Sage Extender) available. Lifetime memberships aren't cheap, but out of the box, it was comparable in price and viewing experience as my 2010 Sage 7 Server was, minus flexibility in using video outside the ecosystem. And Comskip.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

Well since you asked ...

I went with WMC due to my cable co encrypting everything on Cable Card. It's been about two years now and I don't regret the switch. For a DVR solution it's not bad and the main machine will play back anything. The clients (360's) are now cheap, but won't play anything above ~15mbps with any reliability.

Other then that you don't have much choice? Tivo, Genie, Hopper, - all equal no ripped content.

If your happy with what you are running now I would stick with it. I think it's going to be a while, if at all, until something else comes along that will fit the bill.

I've opened WMC 3 times, wow, IMHO, it's horrible!!! I'll go TIVO before I go WMC.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

I've opened WMC 3 times, wow, IMHO, it's horrible!!! I'll go TIVO before I go WMC.

Yeah, I left out that you MUST customize it. I don't have any of the original menus or anything. Once you do that and get the right plugins it's really not bad. Straight out of the box is complete junk.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

I've opened WMC 3 times, wow, IMHO, it's horrible!!! I'll go TIVO before I go WMC.

Nothing wrong with WMC (it is the only option that deals with DRM) and with the Echo's on Sale at Newegg for $99..good to go for just TV and Recording.

[IVB]

Originally Posted by comedian999

tl;dr: The TiVo Roamio Pro <snipped> and home upgrades of the drive are now supported, as well as plug-in USB hard drives to extend capacity. (

Really? Now thats interesting, the reason I recommitted to SageTV was due to that 3TB cap. Is it a single drive expansion? IE, anyway to hit mega storage levels or perhaps use a NAS?

[bigbill]

Seems like i will just stay where I am for now. I downloaded NPVR the other night and was playing with it on a VM. Looks nice.

I turned off the DirecTV back in 2010 and have not looked back. Amazon VOD, Prime, Netflix give me everything that is not OTA (which is all the Full bandwidth broadcast network)

Does anyone know if the new HDHR (with mp4 transcode chips built in) would work with SageTV or is that a pipe dream that will never see the light of day? It would be nice to downsize those MPEG2 streams and file sizes to about 1/3 what they are today. It would be like tripling my diskspace without cracking the case.

-Bill

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

If there was something out there better, I'd switch, but I sure haven't seen anything!!!

+1

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Nothing wrong with WMC (it is the only option that deals with DRM) and with the Echo's on Sale at Newegg for $99..good to go for just TV and Recording.

I said IMHO. If you like it, that's OK with me.

[FriscoJohn]

Skybolt:

Would you mind sharing how you customized WMC? I'm sticking with Sage for now but would like to keep WMC in reserve, just in case. I agree, it's pretty horrible out of the box, at least to someone accustomed to the Sage UI.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

I said IMHO. If you like it, that's OK with me.

Matt I have never been a Fancy UI type of Guy just like to select my show watch it save it or delete it.

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by FriscoJohn

Skybolt:

Would you mind sharing how you customized WMC? I'm sticking with Sage for now but would like to keep WMC in reserve, just in case. I agree, it's pretty horrible out of the box, at least to someone accustomed to the Sage UI.

+1

[Skybolt]

Well glad to hear the OP got his Sage setup back up and running.

Perhaps you may find this helpful should you need to use WMC.

Media Center Themer - let you change the background and color of text etc.
This one does not work with the Echo, only the Main HTPC and the 360.

MCE7 Reset Toolbox - this also lets you change pre packages themes along with editing the menus and guide setup. This really lets you clean up the menus and get rid of the useless ones. - theming doesn't work on the Echo.

My Channel Logos - adds channel logos to the guide and lets you edit the space around them

Recorded TV HD - makes managing and view series make sense, also adds fan art automatically.

Media Browser 3 - Like MyMovies, a great way to manage and watch all of your ripped content.

TotalMedia Theater - An excellent external player, but also brings Blu-Rays to WMC.

I almost forgot TunerSlad- lets you over ride the four tuner (of the same type ) limit in MCE, SO I can use all of both of my HDHR Primes six tuners.

And since I have the HTPC on 24/7 and located in my HT, a decent case with an LCD option that look's like an AVR, Here.

I should mention that for remote control you can use RemotePotato or Ceton's My Media Center, which is what I use.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

Well glad to here the OP got his Sage setup back up and running.

Perhaps you may find this helpful should you need to use WMC.

Media Center Themer - let you change the background and color of text etc.
This one does not work with the Echo, only the Main HTPC and the 360.

MCE7 Reset Toolbox - this also lets you change pre packages themes along with editing the menus and guide setup. This really lets you clean up the menus and get rid of the useless ones. - theming doesn't work on the Echo.

My Channel Logos - adds channel logos to the guide and lets you edit the space around them

Recorded TV HD - makes managing and view series make sense, also adds fan art automatically.

Media Browser 3 - Like MyMovies, a great way to manage and watch all of your ripped content.

TotalMedia Theater - An excellent external player, but also brings Blu-Rays to WMC.

I almost forgot TunerSlad- lets you over ride the four tuner (of the same type ) limit in MCE, SO I can use all of both of my HDHR Primes six tuners.

And since I have the HTPC on 24/7 and located in my HT, a decent case with an LCD option that look's like an AVR, Here.

I should mention that for remote control you can use RemotePotato or Ceton's My Media Center, which is what I use.

How about some screen shots?