So what is sage media center?

[sticky]

It sounds like that press release was directed soley for investors and OEM's. What this all means to the Sage enthusiast is anyone's guess as it does not say at all. I am sure things will begin to clear up in the next little while! I don't think they are quite ready to drop the people who helped create the company!

[GbrNole]

i just want to know more about the extender. i hope it's not a crappy mvp that has been rebadged since i personally think the mvp sucks and is a waste of $80.

i want something that at least tailors to digital audio content and has the ability to upscale to 720p/1080i. also divx/xvid playback is a must.

i need pics!!!

[sleonard]

Yeah, I want to know more about the extender too. A rebadged MVP would not compete with some of the MCE extenders I've seen. The linux version does me no good, I'm a Windows man. I also failed to notice any new features (like an improved media player with support for more than MP3). I'm waiting for more official info but I've got a sinking feeling that 3.0 isn't going to be much more than 2.x already is

[Crazedz]

Originally Posted by sticky

It sounds like that press release was directed soley for investors and OEM's. What this all means to the Sage enthusiast is anyone's guess as it does not say at all. I am sure things will begin to clear up in the next little while! I don't think they are quite ready to drop the people who helped create the company!

Why not? It worked for metalicops. J/K.......... maybe.

As for the divx thing well as long as they don't drop mpeg2 cause im not gonna use divx until theirs a divx to dvd converter that doesn't make you jump through hoops to do it. Or until the firends and family have gotten themselves players that will support divx which could be years or in some cases decades in the making.

[Wheemer]

It does seem surprising that 3.0 is being pushed out the door and built up this much. Especially concidering 2.2 still has serious playback issues among other things...

[mlbdude]

I would guess that the extender IS a rebadged MVP. Also, I would be willing to bet they have gotten with Matt and are using the same plugin (only officially supported). Knowing the size of their company that is the best way for them to get new technology.

[Crazedz]

Well im wondering if this is why they have been so scarse on the boards for so long putting out 2.1 and 2.2 while working on a revampted 3.0 for windows and linux. Also as i thought i remember hearing that studio was being held back till later in 05.


I just hope the interface and features have improved much more over 2.2 cause even with the custom stv's no offence guys their very nice and all but just not flashy and sage plain still reminds me to much of sage 1.4

[GbrNole]

that would really suck.

mvp is great for sdtv users but for hdtv i want more plus i want spdif out. there are plenty more devices out there - heck just get with sigma and have them knock up a prototype.

[Crazedz]

Dude you said knock up

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

i just want to know more about the extender. i hope it's not a crappy mvp that has been rebadged since i personally think the mvp sucks and is a waste of $80.

i want something that at least tailors to digital audio content and has the ability to upscale to 720p/1080i. also divx/xvid playback is a must.

i need pics!!!

An HDTV version would certainly cost more than $100, the only thing comparable on the market is the Roku HD1000 which is $300. But I wouldn't count DivX playback out even if it is an MVP, it's possible to transcode in realtime (that's what the MVP software does).

[Crazedz]

Anyway i think an HD system is a ways off as the hd tuner market is still a work in progress. So it could be a while before the hd thing is worked out. But i will probably be proven wrong as i haven't watched it to closely.

[srothwell]

Even if the extender is a rebadged MVP, it might just be a newer version that can do more.

The press release specifically states that the extender works with wired or wireless. The current MVP doesn't do wireless at all.

[m1abrams]

Originally Posted by srothwell

Even if the extender is a rebadged MVP, it might just be a newer version that can do more.

The press release specifically states that the extender works with wired or wireless. The current MVP doesn't do wireless at all.

What limits the current MVP from working over wireless? Can you not hook it up to a Wireless Bridge?

[srothwell]

Originally Posted by m1abrams

What limits the current MVP from working over wireless? Can you not hook it up to a Wireless Bridge?

Nothing at all.

But there have been rumors for a while that Hauppauge was coming out with a new version of the MVP that also had built-in wireless.

Just a thought

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Crazedz

Anyway i think an HD system is a ways off as the hd tuner market is still a work in progress. So it could be a while before the hd thing is worked out. But i will probably be proven wrong as i haven't watched it to closely.

It kind of depends what you're looking at, OTA HD is a rather mature market, there are quite a few cards out and playback is pretty easy.

The real questions come with Cable and Satellite HD, where (much of or all) the content is encrypted and PC access is severely limited, and any progress in that area will certainly require some kind of robust "rights management" (aka restrictions).

FWIW, since there are a number of OTA HD cards available at reasonable prices, and playback doesn't require much of anything special, I'd like to see OTA HD (and ideally in the clear QAM cable HD) support soon even if Sat and Cable HD are a ways off.

[GbrNole]

not necessarily a box that will stream hdtv but rather be able to output hdtv res. the sigma chips will at least upconvert 720x480 res to 1080i and plenty of boxes come shipped with such chips for much less than 300 bucks and less than 200 bucks most of the time even.

[rotaryracer]

Okay, I've been patiently waiting for CES to start after hearing they would announce 3.0. Three-dot-oh, baby! This is going to be the PVR to end all PVRs, the answer to our prayers, the whole enchilada. Finally, I get a chance to break away from work, track down and read the press release, and.....

...I'm underwhelmed.

I guess I must've missed the requests for Linux (are you freakin' kidding me?) support. Perhaps those requests were buried under the hundreds of requests for Studio and HDTV! I mean, I guess a media extender is nice, although I'd be curious to see what it offers that the MVP Beta doesn't. But Linux? There's only one programmer working on this application AND HE'S WASTING HIS TIME ON LINUX?!?!??! Hey, I'm all for alternatives, but if I wanted a PVR that ran on Linux, I'd go futz around with mythTV.

My bet? Frey is trying to out-MCE Microsoft by allowing OEMs to build prebuilt HTPCs running Linux and Sage, a'la MCE-as-a-PVR-and-OS. I'm impressed they're trying to aim big, but a lot of companies have tried and failed to knock 'The Evil Empire' from it's perch.

For me, Sage Media Center 3.0 (which is almost certain to be changed after Microsoft lawyers get ahold of that name) is an answer to a question that nobody asked. It's really too bad that they failed to answer the questions that everyone was asking - HDTV and Studio.

I was almost starting to second-guess the decision I made a few weeks ago to drop Sage and move to MCE2005....guess I'll rest easy tonight.

Jason

[mbrown3]

Wow, lots of angst in this post, but lots of valid points. The next few months should be very interesting for Sage, and what happens with their (so far) loyal customers.

[Crazedz]

Originally Posted by stanger89

It kind of depends what you're looking at, OTA HD is a rather mature market, there are quite a few cards out and playback is pretty easy.

The real questions come with Cable and Satellite HD, where (much of or all) the content is encrypted and PC access is severely limited, and any progress in that area will certainly require some kind of robust "rights management" (aka restrictions).

FWIW, since there are a number of OTA HD cards available at reasonable prices, and playback doesn't require much of anything special, I'd like to see OTA HD (and ideally in the clear QAM cable HD) support soon even if Sat and Cable HD are a ways off.

Ok so i looked at that and i noticed that the ATI HDTV Wonder Remote Control Edition is for sale with a mail in rebate. Question will this work in sagetv or does it look like sage will support it? If not how long before they do?

Thinking about it i was going to get a wintv pvr 500 but if this is on sale and will be useable with sage now or sometime soon i could just get that and hold off on getting the 500.

The rebate is only good on a card purchased by tomarow so if you could give an answer today i would greatfull.

[hoep]

It seems to be clear, why they changed to Linux. The most receiver boxes are working with some kind of embedded linux systems, what means, that they will mainly focus on this new market, what means that regulary users powered them up until now will be second important.
It also is clear now (for me), that they will never release Studio for regular users (only for OEMs), it's a pitty, this seems to be the second investment failure, i did after Home Media Networks.
Releasing 3.0 is sheer mockery, considering their ressources and the current development stage of 2.2, i'll bet my head the final version could not even work properly with vbr mp3.
The media extender could only be some reworked mvp, seems the only reliable future for pc-users will be MCE 200x.
I'm really dissapointed...