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

[davekt]

[edit]

I searched for FLAC and didn't find any mention of it. Any chance it will be supported in the SageTV modules? I'd like to have my cd's archived in FLAC (lossless) and it would be great to use SageTV to catalog/play them.

[ashenshugar]

How about on system with 2 or more tuners have Picture-in-Picture (PIP) or multiple shows side by side much like MythTV.

[malore]

I’d like to see an addition setting for start and end time padding to specify how important it is to record the padding. While it is probably crucial that SageTV records the padding on a sporting event (hard padding), it would be nice to pad other program types and have it record the padding only if nothing else is recording or scheduled to record (soft padding). This way shows could be padded without adding unnecessary scheduling conflict. If this is implemented, a further enhancement would be to have a global soft padding setting, so all your shows could be covered without having to set the padding for each individual program.

It would be helpful if the popup menu for favorites in the Favorites Manager showed the current settings. To review what all the settings are for a program, it is necessary to click each of the settings (keep at most, keep until, start time, end time, etc.) individually.

[rhari]

1. Simplify the menus. Prefer only LiveTV and SageGuide at the top and everything else under some other title
2. Premap end of recording (catchup) or replay/rewind to some keys. At the very least document how this can be done by writing up a FAQ.
3. Allow one to cycle thru menu entries on hitting the up/down key. Make it also a user settable choice.
4. Move recordings to a different folder.

[andrewswright]

My wife was out of town last week, which allowed me the opportunity to set up SageTV with my new PVR 250. I was very happy with the way things worked and impressed with SageTV, but within 30 minutes of being home Stacy made me switch back to our previous setup (calling the ATI TV application from myHTPC without any EPG or timeshifting abilities).

The primary reason for this is slow channel changing. She was absolutely frustrated by the need to press the channel up button and then wait for SageTV to send the 3 digit channel number to our cable box (Motorola DCT2000) through the IR emitter. On our system this takes about 1-2 seconds. Most of the time she thought that the system wasn't working and pressed the button again, often several times. When the system finally caught up she would then have to turn around and press the channel down button again, repeating the same problem.

I realize you can adjust the timing between IR commands (although I will add a post to the beta forum regarding this not working properly), however with a reduced latency, this is still much too slow.

I have two suggestions for changing this -

1) If the channel up/down button is pressed then SageTV should immediately send the channel up/down IR command. It can just keep track of the channel number internally to keep in synch with the cable box. This would markedly improve response time.

2) If the number keys are used to select a channel, send the IR command for each number as it is received, rather than waiting for the entire 3 digit channel number first. This would also markedly speed up channel changes.

Andrew

[salsbst]

I strongly vote that if this:

1) If the channel up/down button is pressed then SageTV should immediately send the channel up/down IR command. It can just keep track of the channel number internally to keep in synch with the cable box. This would markedly improve response time.

is implemented, that it be a disablable option. I always want the #s to be sent to the cable box -- too much risk in getting out of sync.

[rhari]

I too find the channel movement very slow. I just wish it were quick.

[salsbst]

It is a biatch to calibrate the 250 using AVIA DVD. I've already calibrated my display (easy) and my video card (a bit more difficult, did it with Zoomplayer).... but I find that the default settings for the 250 give aweful white and black levels... colors seem ok, although there is significant red push.

Anyway, I set up an external DVD player and piped it via svideo to the 250. It is very unwieldy to try to change a setting through detailed setup and then go back to "live tv" to see what has happened.

It would absolutely be kick*ss if SageTV provided a mode where the video proc amp settings could me modified while viewing "live tv". Without it, I don't know how to really do a good job of calibration with my 250s. I was able to get to a satisfactory result with white and black level, but saturation and hue are just too difficult to calibrate when it cannot be done while viewing the result.

I won't complain if this feature is never implemented, but I'll tout it madly in any forum I can find if you can do it.

Regards,
Stuart

P.S (relating to several request for faster channel changing).... folks, the nature of a PVR is that channel surfing is something to be avoided. (a) who really wants to spend their time pressing "channel up" and (b) a PVR is always recording... it needs to have a bit of video buffer, hence the short delay when you change channels. SageTV changes channels very quickly by using a very short buffer. I haven't used Tivo so I can't make a comparison, but SageTV has ReplayTV beaten when it comes to channel changing time. I don't know how it could be any faster, really.

EDIT: Ok, I do know of one way it could be faster.... if you guys hack the serial interface on a DCT2000 it would be a miracle. I might be able to tweak down the delay between simulated button presses to the DCT2000 via girder but it would be great if you guys could find a way to do serial control of the very popular DCT 2000.... unfortunately, it's probably illegal to open the box and probably illegal to do anything that Comcast (or whoever) don't really want you to do.... but anyway, I'd sure appreciate it (but I won't hold my breath

[salsbst]

When I navigate the Guide (via my remote control), I lose track of where the focus is within the Recording Schedule section when it focuses on an empty space... it would be nice to have a visual cue as to what is selected, even if it is an empty slot in the recording schedule.

[Boxster_T]

Originally posted by salsbst
It would absolutely be kick*ss if SageTV provided a mode where the video proc amp settings could me modified while viewing "live tv".

I also tried using AVIA disk to lock in color and became as frustrated as salsbst. This is a critical feature for any serious HTPC setup.

Tom

[jptaz]

Well I finally found a tv out card that
looks good enough to use instead of
my Sigma XCard.

I now have a Nvidia FX 5200 and I love
the TV out on this card. It looks as good
as my xcard.

I configured it on my player system with
SageTVClient and I am using the NVDVD
codecs. My only complaint is that it uses a lot of cpu on my P3 733Mhz. I think
I may give the PowerDVD 5 Codec a try.

I also have an ATI Remote wonder and girder to control sagetvclient and it works
well.

My only complaint is with fast forward and rewind. In joveplayer I can enter a number on ther numeric keypad and hit
fast forward, review, or play and it would go that many minutes in that direction or in the case of play it will start playing at that number of minutes from the beginning of the file.

Oh yeah and I am using the 1.4.8RC1
of SageTVClient and SageTV and I love the DVD playback feature and music playback. The only thing missing from jove player is the abilitie to do a slide show of photos.

Also along the line of the DVD player and the regular playback is the missing stop button. I like the fact that it remembers where I was in the file or dvd, but it would be nice to hit stop and go back to either the library or theguide depending on where you started the media.

keep up the great work Jeff,
John

[rdrogers85]

I've only had the software for a month or so and it has really made my system quite useful. There are 4 features I think would appeal to many of your customers.

1. Ability to have favorites selected by additional catagories. In particular by channel and or time. For example, I am following the reruns of the X-Files that appears on Sci Fi at 1:00 am. Unfortunately, this is a popular series and it appears on at least four other channels 5 days a week. My work around is to go in and delete all the other recorded shows, but this is a pain.

2. Ability to browse the program guide by channel would be very useful. Either as a seperate feature, or as an additional search criteria. For example, I would like to review the shows appearing on HBO for the next 2 weeks, or even better, all the action shows appearing on HBO for the next 2 weeks... you get the idea.

3. Ability to export list of recorded programs with their description. A .csv file would be great! Occasionally, I export my shows to DVD-RW to take on the road when traveling. Matching file times appears to be the only way to figure out which episode goes with which description.

4. Ability to set priority for favorites. 3 levels should be sufficient:
a. High would result in reporting collisions with manually set recordings and other high priority favorites. Otherwise it would take priority over medium and low favorites.
b. Medium would result in reporting collisions with other medium favorites. Would not record if manually set recording conflicts. Would take priority over low priority favorites.
c. Low would record if no other programs conflict. Would only report collision with other low priority recordings.


Thanks for reviewing and considering these features.

Regards,
Dale

[malore]

Features I would like:
1. SageTV to always remain in the sytem tray while running, so that the tool tip is always available.

2. Option to be warned if SageTV is currently recording when I exit out.

3. Favorites created from a program that is a rerun to be set to record reruns & first runs.

4. An option on the popup menu for a future favorite recording to change the settings for that favorite.

5. An option to cancel individual shows that will be recorded based on favorites.

[jimbobuk]

Is there any news on favourites having a "dont record on these channels list" being able to be attached to them... this is probably one of the only things left for me to stop me getting some recordings happening that are rather annoying...

[videogeek]

If this was requested before, sorry for the repeat

Please eliminate right-mouse clicks completely. I have an LCD touch screen built in to a wall in my living room and I control my MP3 server, SageTV, and DVD playback. Right-mouse clicks are very unpopular with touch screens for obvious reasons

[edmc]

SageTV to be made a 1st class Service and SageTVClient used both "locally" and "remotely". This has been discussed as "possible" and can certainly be done manually by folks - but I should think the Installer could set this all up directly.

[videogeek]

I am sorry but I don't like a mouse or keyboard on my living room table. Unless I edit and rename captured footage I would like SageTV to be completely mouse/keyboard free. I think a remote is fine and should be able to do everything (even controlling an on-screen keyboard)

Maybe I have not done my homework good enough but how do you select a program to be recorded and change the quality of the recording with the remote control?

I have nothing against mouse right-click being an option - just as long as I can get away from the 'feels like a PC' in my living room.

[jptaz]

videogeek,

I have mt ATI Remote control configured so that I do not need a
mouse or keyboard.

To do what you want to do you need to go to the detailed setup
commands tab and make sure that the "options" command is
mapped to a remote button.

When in the Guide use the arrow keys on the remove to go to
the program you want to record. click on the remote button
mapped to options and this will brng up the menu where you can
select to record, change quality, start stop modification.

Also if all you are doing is recording you can map the record
command to a button on the remote and reduce the number of
buttons that you need to press to record.

Hope this helps,
John

[videogeek]

Thank you John, that works great!

An option for right-click is still on my wishlist (I really don't know how that can be an option since you either have right-click or you don't). The above works for my remote but not for touch screen.

[Crazedz]

Well personally im still hoping for multi speed fast forward and reverse ala tivo. I kinda got spoiled with that on my old DVCR with it's software and now i miss it . *Sigh*