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

[justme]

Probably all these suggestions already exist of this thread somewhere already. But I keep seeing the same kind of requests/frustrations show up again and again. So I tried to pull together a comprehisive solution to the "Intelligent recording" and "buffer shows" issues that many users are having. Don't get me wrong I love SageTV, but I try to read all the new posts and these same issues just keep coming up. 1 and 2 mainly deal with the buffer while 3 and 4 deal with intelligent recording. Anyway here's a partial copy of a post I made in response to them:

1)There needs to be a way for the user to limit the buffer size. Either to say X number of minutes/hours or to a certian size. I would prefer the minutes/hours analogy since it's more Tivo like. I still feel the buffer should be channel indifferent like it is now. Nothing annoys me more than accidentally changing the channel on my Tivo and finding out I've lost the buffer for the channel I was just on. I love the fact that I can change channels in Sage during a commercial and still have the whole show when I switch back. This way if I really like it I can add it to my library.

2)There should be a setting that controls how much of the buffer is shown on the Guide. This one could be either set to X minutes/hours in to the past or X number of shows/channels.

I personally think the minutes/hours format is the most logical choice for both 1 and 2. This would allow you to easily set a small (10 minutes or so) OR a large(120 minutes plus) buffer.

Examples of possible uses:
A:By combining these two settings you could set a 2.5 hour buffer(long enough for most shows/movies) and then set the display time to the last hour. This would work out great for keeping a "live" show if you wanted and still keep down clutter.
B:If the clutter really bothers you, you could set a display time of 0 minutes. And the buffer would still be there hidden away in case you did want to timeshift back.
C:If you wanted to really save space, and avoid clutter you could set the buffer to 10 minutes and the display time to 0 minutes. (I guess you could use 0 minutes for the buffer size. But as soon as you do, you know you'll need the buffer for timeshifting, and it won't be there.)
...
two other features that should help with Intelligent Recording in general.
3)An option to never record a show marked "don't like" whether Intelligent Recording is turned on or off. This seems obvious but Sage still records some of these shows when intelligent recording is turned on. This feature would of course not apply to "Live TV" or a manually scheduled recording.

4)The ability to have a global "don't like". Basically the same way that "Favorite" applies to all shows of that title. This global "don't like" could be accessed from within the "Additional Airings" submenu. This would help to prevent a user from accidently applying a "global don't like" to the wrong show. Also maybe there should be a verification question to be extra safe.

The last feature would both make it easier to train SageTV using Intelligent Recording and help make the third feature even more fullproof at blocking unwanted recordings.

This link should take you to one of the threads that inspired this post. It should take you right to a post where stanger89 asks some questions about 1 and 2 that I answer two posts farther down.

[jelder]

I looked through all the posts and did not see one that I think is very important:

The ability for SageTv to wake the computer from "suspend from ram" to record scheduled shows. With my USBUIRT I can wake the computer with the Hauppauge remote, but this does not help unless Sage has the ability to wake to do its recordings. I know this can be done with the XP scheduler, but that requires a manual entry for each recording. A work around could be some kind of macro that would insert entries in the scheduler when a new recording is added.

Another nice feature would be a playlist for music files. Maybe just a simple toggle in the library at the song level that allows you to include that song as a "favourite" and then an option to play favourites.

[Boxster_T]

Currently, a user must use the time scroll bar to restart a show from the very beginning. In an environment without a keyboard or mouse (as I suspect many HTPC setups) the time scroll method isn't available.

I'd like to see a single command that resets the time pointer to the beginning of the show being watched. Extra credit if this is mapped to a Hauppauge remote! Otherwise Girder remapping is fine.

Tom

[salsbst]

I've fallen victim to corrupted wiz.bin and wiz.bak a few times. Sometimes due to a BSOD resulting from a misbehaving driver.

I would like to see a transactional system for wiz.bin updates such that BSODs do not have chance at corrupting wiz.bin.

I'd also like to see a more robust system of backing up wiz.bin incorporated into the software.

Wiz.bin is too important to lose.

Regards,
Stuart

[laurenglenn]

I would love to see that when you get a Favorites conflict box shown that it would show you the Info of the two shows so you can decide which one you want to watch.

For example, 2 of my Favorites: ST Next Generation & Stargate SG-1 were on at the same time. It would've been nice if the box would show us the description that would show up if we had Info turned on in the guide underneath each show in the box. If it did this, I wouldn't have to scroll to the conflicting time and check it manually before making a decision.

Lauren

[RBTConsultants]

I've been using Sage Recorder for a while now and I just got my hands on Sage TV. I like it a lot. It compares favorably to my 2 Tivos and the ability to use a client on other machines in my house is the real selling point for me.

2 quick but (to me) very important suggestions based on my limited use:

. The ability to change the quality setting of "live" TV when watching with the client. I see I can change the recording quality of a recording I schedule, but I can't seem to find a way to do it with the client. The problem is the laptop with the wireless connection can only handle "NTSC FAIR". Anything beyond that is too much for it's resources to handle. However, when I am watching on my 55" HDTV I want it to be BEST QUALITY MPEG2. However, if I change it to watch it in best quality on the HDTV, then the laptop client cannot change it to NTSC FAIR. This is a problem for me.

. We absolutely need the ability for the client to automatically reconnect when a connection is lost for any reason. If the server is rebooted, or if the laptop is hibernated and then reawakened or accidentally gets out of range of the wireless network then the client needs to be exited and restarted to reconnect to the server, which is very annoying.

Thanks for the great work.

Bob

[wdumay]

Hi!
The ability to wake the computer from stand-by mode, to record scheduled tasks and to put the computer in stand-by after recording.
It's the reason for which I am looking for another application than Navis or Yuan

[rhsmcc]

Would it be possible to have a local weather screen added with info downloaded from Zap2it that could show todays and maybe a 5 day forcast.

[fidget]

I would really like to be able to use the FM tuner in the Hauppauge PVR-350 to record radio broadcasts. There are some shows that I would like to record and I don't really care about the format (i.e., I would prefer MP3 but using a WiMP format would also be OK).

- Jonathan

[laurenglenn]

I would love to see a newer UI. Don't get me wrong. I love the transparency, but how about this.....

Put the main menu buttons (the first page) on the left side of the screen. Make it take up only about 1/8 of the screen. Along the horizontal, put the sub-menus (almost like the toolbar in IE). This way, you get the large area to use for the guide while having live TV behind it (kind of like the Info display).

If you used Alpha Blending (i.e. transparency), that would be really nice.

[mattchapin]

Mark,

SageTV rocks. I've got the latest full release and it hasn't crashed since I installed it. (It didn't even miss a beat while I was installing ActiveSync for my PocketPC, and Activesync is one cantankerous piece of software!) That's really, really impressive!

My one feature request (I believe I've heard it requested before so it's more of a "me too" vote I guess):

I'd like the ability to limit the number of episodes of any one favorite that sageTV keeps. Episodes beyond that limit could either be completely deleted or moved to the lowest priority, below the non-favorite recorded shows.

I really love the fact that SageTV is constantly recording shows that I might like (and often do), but because most of my favorites occur every day, my 128GB SageTV partition fills up very quickly with favorites, leaving no room for the non-favorites I might like!

So what I do is go through a couple of times a week and mark about half my favorites as "watched" -- That frees up the space because they go to the lowest priority. Seems like a kludgy solution, though!

Anyway, Thanks for lending an ear!

Matt

[EDIT] Overnight, Less than a day after this post, Beta 1.4.7 appeared with exactly what I asked for. You guys are better than Santa Claus!

[robogeek]

Here is my wish list:

1. How about commercial-skip. Made to be configurable on a per-show or per-favorite basis? Somebody over at myhtpc.net posted a link to this Windows app and source code:

http://www.toonarchive.com/karin/

Not sure how well (or even if) it works, but there seems to be a good deal of Windows-based source code included for various methods of commercial detection including black frame detection, channel logo detection, volume change, and more.

2. Some more auto-categorization categories to help clean up the intelligent recording listings in the Guide. A whole category for intelligent recordings and then maybe subcategories for shows that are labled as don't-likes and for shows that are watched and not watched. Like this:

Sage Guide
.....TV Listings
..........Intelligent Recordings (category)
...............Not Watched (subcategory)
...............Watched (subcategory)
...............Don't Like (subcategory)

Or some other way to clean up the Guide so there aren't dozens of Don't-Likes to scroll through to get to the actual TV guide. With over 600Gb available for recordings, the intelligent recordings can get a little out of hand very quickly I'm sure this won't be as bad with the new IR scheduler in v1.4.7, but I still think it would be nice to have the IRs in a category by itself.

[Mambo]

That's what I would love to see.

I run SAGETV with 3 PVR250 Cards. THose get their signal from 3 Sky Digiboxes via composite-in

I honestly just can afford one Sky-Subscription, so the boxes receive different channels.

All of them can receive BBC1-4, ITV1, Channel4 and Five.

Just one can decode everything that is SKY.

I would love to be able to map certain channels to a specific pvr-card, so that when I schedule recordings, Sage knows, that this specific channel can only be recorded by that pvr-card.

That really would make me a happy puppy.

Is there any chance of putting that functionality in one of the upcoming releases?

Or is there already a way to accomplish this with sage.properties?

[andrewswright]

I've just been using Sage TV for a couple of days and am so far very impressed. I have a few suggestions to make it even better:

1) Ability to start in Live TV mode. I currently use myHTPC as a front end. For my wife to start watching tv she has to select Watch TV on myHTPC which calls SageTV. She then has to navigate the menu to LiveTV and press enter. An option to start in LiveTV would save her a few clicks of the remote and increase the wife acceptance factor.

2) Ability to launch external programs from the menu. If I could set up a few external programs to launch from the SageTV menu I wouldn't need to use myHTPC at all. Primary among these would be the ability to open Internet Explorer.

3) Ability to "punch through" volume. I am using the Hauppage remote that comes with the PVR 250. Right now the volume keys control volume within SageTV. I would like to disable volume control from the remote within SageTV so that I can intercept those IR commands using girder and control the volume of my amplifier directly.

4) A favorite channel list with a command that scrolls through the favorites. My digital cable box EPG has this feature, which allows me to set my favorite 5 or 6 channels. I can then surf through these channels quickly with a press of the "favorites" button on the cable box remote.

5) Live audio when viewing the guide. My cable box EPG allows me to listen to the current channel when looking through the guide. This allows me to look ahead or look for something better while still keeping track of the progress of the show that I am watching.

Thanks,
Andrew

[andrewswright]

One other idea:

6) I like the ability to play music files in the media library. It would be nice to have a jukebox facility and an ability to make and save a playlist rather than just pick individual songs or albums. I realize that this a little diversion away from the main purpose of the tv software, but it would allow for a very nicely integrated interface to a HTPC.

Andrew

[ron.smythe]

I don't know if this is possible, but a way for sage to work out that no data is being recived would be of benifit, for example it a Settop box fails, Maybe sage could check the sound voloume over 5 minutes and if it finds no sound whilst it is ment to be recording it could send a STMP message and warning on the desktop, may if you have 2 sources it could make the one with no sound as 'bad' and switch all the recordings to the second source if the channels are avalible.

[jimbobuk]

I like the idea of this... i've said elsewhere about a VU meter to show you your current sound volume.. as i also said i believe that lack of sound at boot is the problem, as even with a reconnection i dont believe you get sound... detection and warning of this if possible would be useful..

along with the VU it'd be nice to have the name of the recording programme and channel on the main homepage somewhere.. tho i guess thats for studio

[bling_bling_vr6]

Here is another suggestion...

I'd like to have a plugin DLL for ATI remote wonder. There's one out there for WinTV2000 and it works pretty well, maybe that one can be used as a template or example map keys for SageTV. I found a lot of sample plugins on the site below:

http://remotew.free.fr/plugins.htm

[QuantumFX]

Direct Serial Port control of Motorola DCT2000 series Cable Tuner boxes. Better support for AIW cards.

[JasonJoel]

Actually anyone that knows any C can make the plugin... ATI supplies a full SDK to make native Remote Wonder plugins.

Looked very easy, very straight forward actually.

Anyone know C and have a few minutes?

Jason

Originally posted by bling_bling_vr6
Here is another suggestion...

I'd like to have a plugin DLL for ATI remote wonder. There's one out there for WinTV2000 and it works pretty well, maybe that one can be used as a template or example map keys for SageTV. I found a lot of sample plugins on the site below:

http://remotew.free.fr/plugins.htm