Google Fiber revamped GUI

[SHS]

Originally Posted by stuckless

In light of Jeff's remark that Google Fibre is not running SageTV... it begs the question... what does Google know that we don't If they bought a company, with the intention of using it for GF, and then totally went another direction... Are we insane to be pouring energy into this when Google doesn't think it's worth it?

I wonder if we shouldn't be looking at "revamping" SageTV, replacing the proprietary streaming with open protocols (hls or dash), and replacing the UI with native UIs, etc, much like I suspect GF did... although, it seems like they did more than just replace a few things... they replaced everything (if I'm reading it correctly).

What I'm ref to stuckless is things like Fav, Record conflict and other parts of SageTV style of done thing maybe still there I not ref to code it self as I'm sure Jeff rework all of that in new way.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by stuckless

In light of Jeff's remark that Google Fibre is not running SageTV... it begs the question... what does Google know that we don't If they bought a company, with the intention of using it for GF, and then totally went another direction... Are we insane to be pouring energy into this when Google doesn't think it's worth it?

I wonder if we shouldn't be looking at "revamping" SageTV, replacing the proprietary streaming with open protocols (hls or dash), and replacing the UI with native UIs, etc, much like I suspect GF did... although, it seems like they did more than just replace a few things... they replaced everything (if I'm reading it correctly).

IMHO I wouldn't read too much into it. What Google paid for Sage was probably a drop in the bucket compared to the whole Google Fiber project, and well worth it, even if it was only temporary. Sage was probably useful for them because it was a way to deploy a "known quantity" quickly, of high quality, and fairly cheaply. It also let them easily tweak the UI due to the relative ease of using Studio. Sage was a good decision for a start up project.

Who knows what Google has in mind for Fiber going forward. It's silly to even conjecture because only a few people probably really know, and they probably don't know for sure

[KryptoNyte]

With the speed of Google Fiber, couldn't they just fire up a massive SageTV Server (or similar) on their end and feed all the people TV through extenders via their global network? It would be the ultimate in "tuner sharing" so to speak.

Of course this little group here might not appreciate this style, so to respond to Stuckless, I don't personally think anything you folks do here for work on Sage is wasted. It serves a small community with a like mind in how to manipulate media to do what we want it to do.

[Monedeath]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

With the speed of Google Fiber, couldn't they just fire up a massive SageTV Server (or similar) on their end and feed all the people TV through extenders via their global network? It would be the ultimate in "tuner sharing" so to speak.

IIRC, this has pretty much always been Google's intended endgame. Remember, they're an advertising agency at their core, and the information they can learn about you, the better they will be at targeting advertising at you. The best way to gather that data is to centralize as much of that information as possible. So getting people to rely on "the cloud" (provided by them ideally) for all of their entertainment needs is right up their alley. Then they don't have to worry about @home apps failing to "call home" to them.

Google is great in a lot of respects, but Google is also pretty creepy in a lot of other ways. And they're not unique in this respect anymore, Apple and MicroSoft are doing the same things, only they don't have the excuse of being an advertiser.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by wayner

True, but we can get fast internet. My Rogers 250/20 service is C$98 which is about US$75. Or I can get 1000/50 service for C$150 which is US$115.

There seems to be some competition in Canada, at least for internet, between phone and cable companies - which in our region is Rogers vs Bell.

I thought that many parts of the US were more like this.

The problem in the US is that other than the type of wire coming into the house we have no real choice of provider. It all basically comes down to who owns the infrastructure. Then the companies have regional non-compete agreements where cable company A won't impinge on cable company B's territory, etc. So there's no overlapping coverage of same wire services. A lot of this is controlled by the Federal Trade Commission to attempt to prevent these oligarchies from becoming true monopolies.

Here in Oklahoma City your two choices for internet are AT&T DSL and Cox Cable. Of the two Cox is by far the better service, IMHO. They have recently begun offering 1Gb service here. AT&T is pretty much still peddling the same service they've had for at least 20 years. Their U-Verse service is a step up if you live in an area where it's available but speeds are still pretty anemic and your TV sucks up what bandwidth you get (not to mention the video quality looks poor).

I believe the core problem is that of land area. The US is relatively such a large open territory that it takes a lot of money to build out the infrastructure. The government here doesn't do that unlike many European countries. So you end up with huge private financial expenditures for outlay and then huge interests to keep control of that asset.

There were attempts by the FCC to let bit players like Earthlink rent lines to provide their own DSL service. But that didn't last long and ended up favoring the owner of the lines.

Not sure the solution but us little people just have to deal with what we have.

[Narflex]

Originally Posted by stuckless

In light of Jeff's remark that Google Fibre is not running SageTV... it begs the question... what does Google know that we don't If they bought a company, with the intention of using it for GF, and then totally went another direction... Are we insane to be pouring energy into this when Google doesn't think it's worth it?

Do NOT read into it that way...no further comment.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Narflex

...no further comment.

You said that once already...

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

You said that once already...

He said no comment to the other comment. This is a fresh no comment for the new comment.

I don't know how Jeff can keep the good info to himself. I wouldn't be able to. Google lawyers be dammed.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by stuckless

It's even worse in Canada we have an oligopoly for internet, phone, and cable. We 3 main providers and each provider has agreed to keep their prices high and not undercut each other. We have 3 "budget" providers and each of those is owned but one of the other big 3 companies.

Let's just say unless governments make the oligopoly illegal... we'll be stuck with this forever as there is no "real" competition... and when there is, they quickly get bought by the big 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ilMx7k7mso

it still makes my head spin that Canadian cable co.'s aren't forced to supply cable cards (TiVo, etc) as U.S. companies are. Therefore only OTA Tivo. Bummer

[wayner]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

it still makes my head spin that Canadian cable co.'s aren't forced to supply cable cards (TiVo, etc) as U.S. companies are. Therefore only OTA Tivo. Bummer

Or SageTV with HD-PVRs able to capture every channel. And at least in Canada you have been able to buy STBs from the cable company. I bought several SA3200HD STBs about a decade ago for $200 that have been feeding my Sage server.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by wayner

Or SageTV with HD-PVRs able to capture every channel. And at least in Canada you have been able to buy STBs from the cable company. I bought several SA3200HD STBs about a decade ago for $200 that have been feeding my Sage server.

Yup, Shaw Direct boxes here. Owning them is nice. And I use HD-PVR too, but Sage isn't really in the same league as TiVo when it comes to multiple family member simplicity / reliability. TiVo rules all in those departments.