*****OFFICIAL SageTV/SageClient FEATURE REQUEST/UPDATE THREAD*****

[drpepper]

Great program! A few ideas some of which have been touched on already.


1. Skinnable interface. There would be many users in the sage community who would put their efforts towards customization (which means less work for you guys in the eye candy department). End result - more appeal to new users (read purchasers)
[NARFLEX: SageTV Studio]

2. Shows are not always shown when the epg says they should be shown. If no conflicts or multiple tuners, perhaps an option in the sage.properties file could allow for recording to start x minutes before epg start time and end y minutes after epg end time.
[NARFLEX: Already exists V1.3]

3. Option to stop live tv recording or at least keep them in a separate menu from pre-programmed recordings

4. OSD support for hauppauge cards

[Jim S.]

Augh! My post got trashed!

Ah well, here I go again, only shorter:

1- OSD support for the 350, gol dang it!

2- Drag and drop to play a video file (and play it on the tv)

3- Record in a different format-- I know that this means that I will need to engage the CPU since you can't just write the MPEG stream to disk, but I've spent a fair amount of time trying to get a decent conversion, and you just can't recompress a compressed file.

4- "Never record this show" feature.

5- Ability to set a "if nothing else is on, record this channel" default-- in other words, rather than just sticking with channel 5 until 11PM because you recorded something on there at 4PM, jump to 5 to record the show, and if I'm not actively using the system, go back to channel 63 and record that. I'd rather have hours of the History Channel stored up than be deleting Drew Carrey all the time because it's what comes on after The Simpsons.

[justme]

1)More commandline control in general.

2)The ability to play a file in SageTV using the commandline. This should work even if SageTv is already running. There should be an option for local or TV if it is a PVR350 card. Also an option to disable local(desktop) playback.
Example:SageTV.exe C:\My Documents\My Videos\Dune.mpg /PVRout /disablelocal

[justme]

Way out requests.

1)The ability to set(by KB/IRremote keypress) a bookmark in a show your are watching. You should be able to set multiple bookmarks per file. Sage should be able to jump to the next bookmark with just a key press when the file is played again.

2)There should be two types of bookmarks an A type and a B type. Pressing one key repeatedly would skip from A to A to A. Pressing another would skip form B to B etc.

3)The location and format(preferably a hh/mm/ss/ff format) of bookmark info should be documented. The bookmark data should be able to be set or read by an external program(or even manual user intervention).

Result I:These features(with proper documentation) could allow the creation of a plugin that could identify comercials and the set bookmarks that could then be used to skip commercials with a keypress.

Result II:A MPG editor program could read the bookmarks and use this data to then cut out the comercials. This is why there needs to be an A and B type, for markin and markout. By using the combination of a commandline MPEG editor and a script(to read the bookmark data and then pass it to the editor) this would allow SageTV to appear to act as a rough MPEG editor. Once setup this process could be virtually hidden from the user, much like the XMLTV plugin.

[mlbdude]

The ability to alwasy record two favorites at once on a multi tuner system would be nice. Or at least the ability to control that behavior.

See http://www.freytechnologies.com/foru...=&threadid=936 for more details if needed.

[JasonJoel]

One I'm not sure I've seen....

DVD playing capability. I know it is on the list, I just wanted to reiterate that here.
[NARFLEX: In Beta V1.4.6]

Low priority compared to some other PVR enhancement features though like favorites limiting, etc (in my opinion).

Jason

[Lester Jacobs]

I would like if SageTV displayed a warning dialog if the user tries to exit while a recording is occurring. Twice now I've interrupted a recording by shutting down SageTV. In addition, SagetTV should display a similar warning if the user tries to reboot the machine while a recording is going on (I believe one can trap the Windows shutdown messages).

Regards
Lester

[edmc]

Not to discount Lester's request for this check, but the only way I know to shut down SageTV is to "Sleep" it. Then, hovering my Mouse over the SageTV Tray Icon, I right-click to get the Menu and select Exit. The thing is, when I hover the Mouse, I get a ToolTip which identifies it as SageTV. However, if SageTV is currently recording a program on any of its Tuners, it tells me what program it is recording - at least one one of the Tuners is recording that is. So I've never exited SageTV by mistake this way.

There is an exception to the above. If I shutdown my PC or simply LogOff, SageTV will be told by WinXP to exit. Don't exactly know what behavior Lester is asking for to prevent this case...

But I do have a related Enhancement Request. It would be nice, assuming it is possible, for that ToolTip to indicate *ALL* programs being recorded currently in a multi-tuner system.

Similarly, the ToolTip could, when SageTV is not currently recording anything, indicate when the next program to be recorded will start (or, rather, when SageTV will begin recording on any Tuner in the system) and what will then be recorded.

[edmc]

A very nice feature of ReplayTV is the ability to pre-allocate the space for some recordings. SageTV does not have this feature.

What I'm looking for is some way to indicate that SageTV should reserve enough space for certain recordings *in advance*. Not just use the current algorithms to decide what/when to erase.

A grant that VBR encoding formats make this challenging :-)

[Lester Jacobs]

Originally posted by edmc
Not to discount Lester's request for this check, but the only way I know to shut down SageTV is to "Sleep" it. Then, hovering my Mouse over the SageTV Tray Icon, I right-click to get the Menu and select Exit. The thing is, when I hover the Mouse, I get a ToolTip which identifies it as SageTV. However, if SageTV is currently recording a program on any of its Tuners, it tells me what program it is recording - at least one one of the Tuners is recording that is. So I've never exited SageTV by mistake this way.

There is an exception to the above. If I shutdown my PC or simply LogOff, SageTV will be told by WinXP to exit. Don't exactly know what behavior Lester is asking for to prevent this case...
...

I agree that one can see the programs being recorded by hovering. This is actually a nice feature. However nothing beats a dialog for alerting a user to a potentially dangerous action. Also the hover text is pretty hard to read if you're using Sage from 10ft away on the ouch. A dialog brings the problem more more to the forefront.

In relation to the shutdown comment, the Creative VCR application which I was using before Sage would pop up a dialog indicating that it was recording something if I tried to shutdown/reboot the computer. Depending on my response to the dialog, the shutdown would continue or be aborted. Therefore there must be some programatic way for programs to abort the shutdown sequence

Cheers
Lester

[justme]

While were on shutdown:

A properties file option to cause SageTV to minimize to the system tray when you click the X in windowed mode, rather than closing SageTV.
[NARFLEX: In Beta V1.4.6]

[Jim S.]

Thought of one more-- don't record a show if you already have that show on disk-- in other words, if you recorded Episode 18 of Star Trek on Wednesday, don't record it again on Sunday if it's still on the Sage Recordings list.
[NARFLEX: Already exists V1.3]

[hamptonhills]

Here is another idea.

How about allowing the user to decide if they want the mousewheel to change channels or for time scrolling. Currently during recorded programming playback, the mouse wheel is not used for anything and when watching live programing there have been numerous times that I have moved the wheel, either accidently for because I did not realize that the window focus was still on the SageTV window.

[laurenglenn]

Things I'd love to see:

1) I'd love to have Sage not bring up the Info window if the mouse is moved slightly. It would be great to be able to have the choice to hit a mouse button to do this.
[NARFLEX: In Beta V1.4.6]

2) Show pictures (kind of like Channel Logos - which I love, BTW) would be great -- I know you've already said this is on the list....
[NARFLEX: SageTV Studio - Advanced]

3) The ability to add an Actor to favorites. If I wanted to add all of Jennifer Aniston's appearances on different shows, for example, that would be nice to have the ability to do.
[NARFLEX: SageTV Studio]

4) The addition of channel 0 to allow us to use a composite or s-video input as a dedicated channel. Right now, I have the LaserDisc hookup up to composite and have ZAP2IT channel set to composite input to record as this channel has no "shows" - per se. In other words, it lists a continuous 4 hour block as a show so the recording won't get interrupted.

5) Beta updates or program updates via e-mail. It would be nice to get notification of new releases, if we don't already....

Thanks! Keep up the good work!

Lauren

[Durwood]

(The first four of these suggestions at least have been made by others already)

1) OSD through Hauppauge PVR 350, of course!!
2) A transparent OSD that will display current information without stopping the video or muting the sound (information like Name of show, episode name, episode synopsis, date of first showing, primary actors, etc. -- yes, basically what Tivo does)
3) The ability to use SageTV Client as a remote control for those of us who have the SageTV main product hooked up to a TV and want to control it from our laptops, etc.
4) VARIABLE FF/REW!! (Again, Tivo provides a good model: the first press is one speed, the second press a faster speed, the third press the fastest speed, and then you cycle back to play)

5) I actually love the audible feedback Tivo gives you, although I admit the sounds themselves leave a bit to be desired, so I'd like to vote for some sort of audible feedback when a command is recognized
[NARFLEX: SageTV Studio]

6) A real DIFFERENTIATOR from Tivo or any other PVR software I am aware of would be some sort of Integration with IMDB or other similar online databases (if legal, I guess) -- although this would only be useful I guess if you were using an HTPC and had a TV high-resolution enough to show a web browser window.

7) A one-click way to go straight to Live TV ("REAL" Live TV -- not "what I was last playing") (A similar wishlist item for me would be a somewhat more obvious indication of what channel Sage is currently tuned to; I *think* I have it figured out -- it's whatever shows up as the "SAGE" channel in the Guide, right? -- but sometimes nothing does, and I don't know if that's a bug or if I haven't figured out how to tell what channel Sage is tuned to; and going to "Live TV" doesn't help because it just takes you back to where you were). (*** EDIT: DUH.. ok so it's the channel with the yellow border; at least now I know :-))
[NARFLEX: In Beta V1.4.6]

7a) A variation on 7: one-click (or at most two-click) ways of going straight to the Guide, to the list of what Sage is going to record, etc.
[NARFLEX: SageTV Studio]

8) The ability to Sort the list of recordings according to different criteria (e.g., show title, date/time, etc.)!
[NARFLEX: SageTV Studio]

Great product, though!! It finally made my Hauppauge card, after weeks and weeks of tearing my hear out, actually WORK. Their own WinTV software is worse than useless. I honestly think this is the only PC-based PVR system that actually works.

[justme]

1)The ability to specify how long SageTV keeps old EPG data. A few weeks in to the past would be great. I often find I missed a special that ran a few days ago on, say the discovery channel. With this feature I could scroll back to the show and mark it a Favorite. This should make SageTV record it when it is inevitably run again in a month or so.

2)It would be helpful if SageTV would periodically backup your wiz.bin, wiz.bak and properties files. Say like once a week and keep the three most recent backups. You could then add a shorcut in the "Frey Technologies" group that ran an automatic restore. Sort of like the way XP's system restore works. (This request comes from the fact that a few users have had some problems that only a reinstall of Sage, with new wiz.* files, seems to fix. This thread is the most recent example.)Edit:#2 is now no longer needed, due to increased wiz stability. IMO

[Sailn]

I would also request some method to normalize volumes between stations or at least assign a default volume setting to each station and or video file. Some stations are just too loud.

[jason531]

Several of these have already been mentioned, but these are my top three requests:

1. The ability to either specify the file name of recordings or to rename the files when exported to the library.

2. Configurable "instant replay" and "quick skip" keys, similar to the ReplayTV. On the ReplayTV the instant replay button jumps back 7 seconds and the quick skip button skips forward 30 seconds -- perfect for skipping commercials which are in 30-second blocks.

UPDATE -- This is working. I modified my sage.properties file and it works great (much faster response that the ReplayTV, too). Thanks to everyone who pointed out that this feature was already in place.

3. The ability to see show details in a semi-transparent overlay without stopping or pausing playback.

Thanks. I am fairly happy with the software so far.

[laurenglenn]

Originally posted by jason531
Several of these have already been mentioned, but these are my top three requests:

1. The ability to either specify the file name of recordings or to rename the files when exported to the library.

2. Configurable "instant replay" and "quick skip" keys, similar to the ReplayTV. On the ReplayTV the instant replay button jumps back 7 seconds and the quick skip button skips forward 30 seconds -- perfect for skipping commercials which are in 30-second blocks.

3. The ability to see show details in a semi-transparent overlay without stopping or pausing playback.

Thanks. I am fairly happy with the software so far.

In a way, I think they have features like you ask in #2: FF, REW, FF2, and REW2.
[NARFLEX: SageTV Studio]

It would be nice if you could set these in the menus as opposed to editing a Properties file.

I agree with #3 and like someone else mentioned, it would be nice to be able to see a mini transparent guide (or even solid one) in the lower half of the screen during a show. Kind of like how some of those XML-TV compatible programs work.

Lauren

[salsbst]

Intelligent use of two tuners in the case where there is some but not complete overlap in channel coverage. If tuner #1 is recording something, and I'd like to watch a channel that is only available on tuner #1, then I'd like SageTV to offer to "switch over" to tuner #2 for recording (if the channel being recorded is available on tuner #2) so that I can watch on tuner #1. I realize that it would result in a slight "glitch" in the recording at the point of switchover but it would be worth it IMO.