BTV Customer Evaluating SageTV

[BankZ]

I am a current BTV owner and I am thinking about buying SageTV. It seems like a popular and well liked program.

I've had it installed for about 15 minutes and here are my first impressions:

1. It takes a lot less CPU than BTV.
2. The UI is a lot harder to use.
3. I have heard good things about its "intelligent recording" features.
4. The "media library" is not as clean as BTV. BTV can group things by series, which makes things a lot less cluttered.

I have two weeks to make a decision of if I am going to buy this. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[sleight42]

Sage can group by series as well. Using a mouse (I'm still prototyping on a PC and not HTPC), right click in the Recordings screen. You can group "Intelligently" which will group by series.

Also, try installing mlbdude's STV (See the customization section). It provides even more flexability and was constructed using the closed beta version of Sage Studio. Evidentally, at some point in the future, Sage Studio will allow the user population to modify the Sage UI to any way that suits their fancy.

I haven't read much about BTV as it doesn't support a multi-tuner/recorder setup. However, it may be easier to use out of the box. Sage, currently, is geared more toward the geek community as it is light on documentation but large on features.

By the way, welcome aboard. I believe that, ultimately, you'll find that Sage blows everything out of the water. I'm tossing TiVo in favor of this beaut.

[BankZ]

Originally posted by sleight42
I haven't read much about BTV as it doesn't support a multi-tuner/recorder setup.

The new beta of BTV now supports multiple tuners.

I am a computer geek, but my wife isn't Thanks for the tips. I will try it now and post back more feedback and questions.

I'm going to give it a full two weeks and if I like it better, I will buy it

[Frunobulax]

I use BTV as well, and am using SageTV. BTV has a more intuitive GUI, in my opinion, but I'm getting used to SageTV's way of doing things. SageTV also gives me more control over certain image qualities, such as sharpness. The registry entry for BTV's sharpness doesn't give me enough latitude in adjustment.

[BankZ]

Can Sage resume a show? For example, if I reboot and want to restart a program?

[stanger89]

Why, not... OK, I've been a Sage user for a long time, so don't take the the wrong way or anything...

Originally posted by BankZ
I am a current BTV owner and I am thinking about buying SageTV. It seems like a popular and well liked program.

I've had it installed for about 15 minutes and here are my first impressions:

1. It takes a lot less CPU than BTV.
2. The UI is a lot harder to use.

How? Forgive me, I've used Sage since 1.4 and have never found it difficult (Actually I don't partitcularly like BTV's navigation). Not trying to argue, new/rookie users are often the first to spot useability difficiencies that more experienced users don't notice.

3. I have heard good things about its "intelligent recording" features.

It works great, it takes a few days/weeks to train (gets better quickly but takes a few weeks to be great). I run it because it picks up stuff I might otherwise miss. Just remember to put Sage to sleep when not in use (especially after watching Live TV).

4. The "media library" is not as clean as BTV. BTV can group things by series, which makes things a lot less cluttered.

You might want to look at some of the STVs in the customizations forum, mlbdude has an awesome STV that you really should include in your evalutation. Comparing the stock apps is good, but the customizability of Sage is going to become one of it's greatest features.

I have two weeks to make a decision of if I am going to buy this. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Feedback is easier if there are questions to answer, so when you have questions, just ask, and someone will get them answered (or try).

[stanger89]

Originally posted by BankZ
Can Sage resume a show? For example, if I reboot and want to restart a program?

AFAIK, but I've never tried after a reboot (I nearly alwasy finish whatever I'm watching).

[BankZ]

stanger89,

I've never gotten "lost" with the BTV UI. The SageTV UI may just take me a while to get used to. However, I fear my wife may not like it as much.

I will try the "mlbdude" customization.

The SageTV UI just locked up on me. Are there any logs I can look at that may give me a clue on what happened?

Thanks,

Nate

[mlbdude]

I actually started to recreate the BTV UI (old BTV user here). Got a couple of screens in and gave up. It is too old and outdated. Give the Sage UI a little time and you will see.

[BankZ]

I will give it two weeks

I will not use BTV for that period.

[carlgar]

Originally posted by BankZ
The SageTV UI just locked up on me. Are there any logs I can look at that may give me a clue on what happened?

Are you by any chance using a PVR 350 for output? If so, about 50% of SageTV users using the PVR 350 have problems, usually hard and soft freezes.

[BankZ]

Nope, I am using a 9200 ATI w/ Cat 4.6.

[BankZ]

ok, it just locked up on me 3 times in a row... The video locked but the audio continued for 2-3 seconds and then ended. I was able to still move the mouse. Any ideas?

[Opus4]

Originally posted by BankZ
Can Sage resume a show? For example, if I reboot and want to restart a program?

I know stanger89 answered this, but he said he wasn't sure.

Yes: as long as the show is not marked as completely watched, it remembers where you were the last time you watched it. I can even watch part of the show on my server & finish it on my client later (or vice versa) if I want.

If the show is marked as Watched & you want to watch it & have your place remembered, simply clear the Watched marker first.

- Andy

[mlbdude]

Lets start with the basics.

What video decoder and video renderer are you using?

What audio decoder and audio renderer are you using?

Are you using 3D Acceleration?

Do you have any hs_err_pidXXXX.log files in your SageTV folder (if Sage crashes it writes here but if it something Sage uses dies there won't be a log).

[BankZ]

I am using the hauppauage decoder for audio and video, not using 3d acel and do not see any *.log files

[BankZ]

Ideas?

[carlgar]

Be patient this is a holiday weekend. I am also very interested in what the verdict is. The conditions you describe are almost identical to what I see with a 350 freeze. I think you are the first to encounter the problems without a 350 so it is probably going to be a tough issue to resolve.

[Opus4]

I know you said 3D acceleration is off, but just to verify: you do mean in Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> 3D accel, right? What is the video renderer? Default, overlay, VMR9? Is the video card driver up to date? (I see you gave a version #, but I don't use ATI.) What version of java is installed? If it isn't the latest one, I would suggest uninstalling teh current one before installing the new one. Have you tried resetting everything by deleting/renameing the properties file and setting it up again?

Just some guesses that I hope aren't a complete waste of time.

- Andy

[kny3twalker]

also you do not have BeyondTV running or anything (or installed)

I remember when I tried to test out the new beta and Sage did not like to share the same pvr 250 with BeyondTV whether it was running or not

try setting the render for video to overlay
and audio render to default wave out

and set both decoders to intervideo non css