SageTV 3 -- required core features

[Aeneas]

The overwhelming usage of tuner cards is to watch TV on one’s PC (not on a TV set). This is the core usage of these cards, although such people may not be the loud hobbyists one finds on many public forums.

Some of the functionality that Beyond TV 4 needs to implement and which FusionHDTV uses are awaiting:

I just received the FusionHDTV5 card (in California, USA) and was hoping to use it to replace my ATI All In Wonder 9600 with digital HDTV capability.
However, I found some problems which need to be fixed in future software:

1) there appears to be only limited Closed captions capability in the software provided with this card and the software provided with it, which is a major omission.

a) Even for those who are not deaf, but are listening to sound over the PC speakers, often the CC text of the dialogue in the Closed Captions is important to understand or confirm the words uttered.
Sometimes the words need to be translated manually from some other language to english, which requires the use of Closed Captions.
If you have ever downloaded a movie in .mpg or .avi form from the Internet, you will usually find that the closed captions are available from the same source with an extension like .SRT. This is an extremely
important feature and I hope this functionality either exists now or is intended in the next software release.
ATI uses the extension .CC.

b) The realtime display of Closed Caption text should be able to be Copied and Pasted from its window by the user dynamically in order to facilitate functions like language translation.
Thus, as in ATI, the user should be able to select the option of Closed Captions being displayed in a separate external window from the video.

c) inside the FusionHDTV5 .CC file, there should be implemented a feature comparable to the Mark capability in VCRs, which allows the user to identify certain times within the recording as being important, for easy access when
the playback is performed under the control of a FusionHDTV playback application.
(i.e. while recording the user, when he sees something significant could use the mouse to click on the Mark icon
and that action would insert a line or notation within the .CC at that point for later access, such as
%Mark1% %Mark2% %Mark3% etc.

d) In playback the user would then be able to select “Play” or “Play From Mark #…”
Playback should start from a point maybe 5 second earlier than when the Mark mouse click occurred,
allowing for the time it takes for the user to manually mouse click the Mark icon.

e) There should be a .CC Export Text function, which allows the text of the .CC file to be saved to a .TXT file
with the relative time synchronization lines stripped out.

2) Recording Scheduler needs to implement the concept of “Every Weekday”,
as a record frequency Cycle selection. Most networks have a different schedule for their weekday
programming from their weekend programming.

3) The Right Click menu should implement the
a) “Record For…” a number of minutes or hours and minutes, and
b) “Record Until…” a certain time of day,
c) “Record” indefinitely, options.

4) It should be possible to have multiple TV cards pictures in multiple windows on the Windows desktop.

9) The Volume setting in the FusionHDTV5 control panel should be decoupled from the Windows XP Pro Volume Control/Master Volume applet settings, so that when the user changes the FusionHDTV Volume setting it performs adjustable pre-amp capability to the Windows XP Wave audio mixer input and does not directly affect it.
i.e. do Volume setting the way ATI does it. Currently, FusionHDTV5 volume setting directly changes the Windows XP Wave volume setting which prevents the user from controlling the relative volume of the FusionHDTV, relative to other Windows XP Wave inputs like MP3 players, game software etc. Currently FusionHDTV is too loud, relative to other Wave inputs like MP3 player MusicMatch.

10) The default size of the FusionHDTV5 recorded file is 3 times (3X) the size of the .mpg file I normally save to my PC under ATI.
I normally configure the ATI recording disk consumption to generate 4 selectable levels of precision which range between
300 MBytes and 530 MBytes per hour, all 4 of them at 640x480 video resolution and 128 kbit/second Audio.
Converting large files after they have been saved is likely a slow process. I find the operation of such applications like Windows Movie Maker to be painfully slow.

11) Sometimes if a dormant hard disk spins up and temporarily hangs the Windows XP operating system for a few seconds, the video and sound displayed by FusionHDTV5 can become slightly out of synchronization, with the video appear about half a second before the sound (I noticed this in the middle of an hour record to a disk which was not dormant).

12) A few keyboard intuitive usability issues (or, why make the product harder to use than necessary) :
Up Arrow should increase channel by one
Down Arrow should decrease channel by one
Left Arrow should decrease Volume
Right Arrow should increase Volume
Backspace should switch channel to the previous channel user selected
“F” should cycle in circular fashion through Favorites channels
Shift-F should cycle through Favorite channels in reverse order
Ctrl-F Full Screen to Window alternate toggle
Ctrl-M Mute alternate toggle
Ctrl-C should display the Configuration menu.
Ctrl-E should end a recording.
Ctrl-R should start recording.
Ctrl-D sets configuration settings back to defaults
Ctrl-H should display a list of these keyboard accelerators, amongst other help information.
ESC should be a reliable retreat from any command entry sequence.

13) FusionHDTV should be able to identify call letters of all channels (e.g. ESPN, WABC, TMC) from the EPG information downloaded from whatever zip code based EPG site FusionHDTV uses and should display that name when the channel is switched.

I hope FusionHDTV developers will focus on these core functionalities before doing anything else to the current code base.

=============================

21) the Audio generated by the FusionHDTV5 card is incompatible with other software packages like SageTV, BeyondTV, Got All Media etc. This means that the user cannot use these other existing applications to perform complex functions like Closed Captions, pre-amped Audio Volume Control, and EPG.
The quickest workaround to solve these huge problems is for FusionHDTV to deliver a modified Audio driver which will emulate some other well known card’s Audio (e.g. ATI or Hauppauge) driver, so that your customers can use one of these 3rd party software applications.

22) FusionHDTV5 Control Panel has disappeared from the windowed mode and now is only available when in the user puts FusionHDTV5 into full screen mode and then mouse left clicks. Using the V command or the right click and then Show Controller has no effect; the FusionHDTV5 Control Panel remains hidden.
The FusionHDTV5 Control Panel did display when the software was first installed but disappeared permanently after a day of use.

===================================

31) Programs set by the user for scheduled record should have a Scheduling Priority assigned to them. Thus, if a user has only one tuner card input to the PC, and wants to record the 30 minute news show on different channel which occurs in the middle of the 3 hour baseball game, he should be able to assign the news show High priority and assign the baseball game Normal priority. In this simple example, the result should be 3 files: the first part of the baseball game file, the news show file, and the second part of the baseball game file with the baseball show filename postpended with "002".

32) The user who has 2 Tuner card inputs to the PC should either have a Recording Scheduler separately for each one or should be allowed in the Scheduler menu to select which Tuner card input will be utilized for each programming recording scheduled.

33) It should be possible to record two different programs from two different channels from 2 different tuner card inputs simultaneously with this software.

34) When the Recording Scheduler ends a scheduled recording it should save the current file, then immediately the scheduler should check to see if other recordings which may have overlapped with the current recording are already ongoing. If any other recordings are already in progress, it should start record the tail end of that recording.

35) The user, when present while recording, should not be prevented from changing the channel while the recording is in progress. The recorded file should simply contain anything that the user was watching while the recording was in progress.

Aeneas

[Kanati]

Interesting read... but it sounds like you want to totally redesign somthing that's mostly working right as is...

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

The overwhelming usage of tuner cards is to watch TV on one’s PC (not on a TV set). This is the core usage of these cards, although such people may not be the loud hobbyists one finds on many public forums.

Some of the functionality that Beyond TV 4 needs to implement and which FusionHDTV uses are awaiting:

What software are you running? This is a SageTV board.

I just received the FusionHDTV5 card (in California, USA) and was hoping to use it to replace my ATI All In Wonder 9600 with digital HDTV capability.
However, I found some problems which need to be fixed in future software:

1) there appears to be only limited Closed captions capability in the software provided with this card and the software provided with it, which is a major omission.

a) Even for those who are not deaf, but are listening to sound over the PC speakers, often the CC text of the dialogue in the Closed Captions is important to understand or confirm the words uttered.
Sometimes the words need to be translated manually from some other language to english, which requires the use of Closed Captions.
If you have ever downloaded a movie in .mpg or .avi form from the Internet, you will usually find that the closed captions are available from the same source with an extension like .SRT. This is an extremely
important feature and I hope this functionality either exists now or is intended in the next software release.
ATI uses the extension .CC.

b) The realtime display of Closed Caption text should be able to be Copied and Pasted from its window by the user dynamically in order to facilitate functions like language translation.
Thus, as in ATI, the user should be able to select the option of Closed Captions being displayed in a separate external window from the video.

c) inside the FusionHDTV5 .CC file, there should be implemented a feature comparable to the Mark capability in VCRs, which allows the user to identify certain times within the recording as being important, for easy access when
the playback is performed under the control of a FusionHDTV playback application.
(i.e. while recording the user, when he sees something significant could use the mouse to click on the Mark icon
and that action would insert a line or notation within the .CC at that point for later access, such as
%Mark1% %Mark2% %Mark3% etc.

d) In playback the user would then be able to select “Play” or “Play From Mark #…”
Playback should start from a point maybe 5 second earlier than when the Mark mouse click occurred,
allowing for the time it takes for the user to manually mouse click the Mark icon.

e) There should be a .CC Export Text function, which allows the text of the .CC file to be saved to a .TXT file
with the relative time synchronization lines stripped out.

AFIAK, CC is only supported by the PVR 250/350 since they will encode it as part of the MPEG stream.

2) Recording Scheduler needs to implement the concept of “Every Weekday”,
as a record frequency Cycle selection. Most networks have a different schedule for their weekday
programming from their weekend programming.

That's what Favorites are for, to record every instance of a show. That plus you can put time/channel constriants on them.

3) The Right Click menu should implement the
a) “Record For…” a number of minutes or hours and minutes, and
b) “Record Until…” a certain time of day,
c) “Record” indefinitely, options.

4) It should be possible to have multiple TV cards pictures in multiple windows on the Windows desktop.

9) The Volume setting in the FusionHDTV5 control panel should be decoupled from the Windows XP Pro Volume Control/Master Volume applet settings, so that when the user changes the FusionHDTV Volume setting it performs adjustable pre-amp capability to the Windows XP Wave audio mixer input and does not directly affect it.
i.e. do Volume setting the way ATI does it. Currently, FusionHDTV5 volume setting directly changes the Windows XP Wave volume setting which prevents the user from controlling the relative volume of the FusionHDTV, relative to other Windows XP Wave inputs like MP3 players, game software etc. Currently FusionHDTV is too loud, relative to other Wave inputs like MP3 player MusicMatch.

10) The default size of the FusionHDTV5 recorded file is 3 times (3X) the size of the .mpg file I normally save to my PC under ATI.

Fusion 5 files, ATSC HD, should be on the order of 9GB/hour for digital channels.

I normally configure the ATI recording disk consumption to generate 4 selectable levels of precision which range between
300 MBytes and 530 MBytes per hour, all 4 of them at 640x480 video resolution and 128 kbit/second Audio.
Converting large files after they have been saved is likely a slow process. I find the operation of such applications like Windows Movie Maker to be painfully slow.

11) Sometimes if a dormant hard disk spins up and temporarily hangs the Windows XP operating system for a few seconds, the video and sound displayed by FusionHDTV5 can become slightly out of synchronization, with the video appear about half a second before the sound (I noticed this in the middle of an hour record to a disk which was not dormant).

Sounds like you're recording analog channels, that's a problem with software encoders, they're easy to mess up.

12) A few keyboard intuitive usability issues (or, why make the product harder to use than necessary) :
Up Arrow should increase channel by one
Down Arrow should decrease channel by one
Left Arrow should decrease Volume
Right Arrow should increase Volume
Backspace should switch channel to the previous channel user selected
“F” should cycle in circular fashion through Favorites channels
Shift-F should cycle through Favorite channels in reverse order
Ctrl-F Full Screen to Window alternate toggle
Ctrl-M Mute alternate toggle
Ctrl-C should display the Configuration menu.
Ctrl-E should end a recording.
Ctrl-R should start recording.
Ctrl-D sets configuration settings back to defaults
Ctrl-H should display a list of these keyboard accelerators, amongst other help information.
ESC should be a reliable retreat from any command entry sequence.

You can re-map any key combo to any command.

13) FusionHDTV should be able to identify call letters of all channels (e.g. ESPN, WABC, TMC) from the EPG information downloaded from whatever zip code based EPG site FusionHDTV uses and should display that name when the channel is switched.

I hope FusionHDTV developers will focus on these core functionalities before doing anything else to the current code base.

What software are you using? The Fusion software has nothing to do with SageTV.

=============================

21) the Audio generated by the FusionHDTV5 card is incompatible with other software packages like SageTV, BeyondTV, Got All Media etc. This means that the user cannot use these other existing applications to perform complex functions like Closed Captions, pre-amped Audio Volume Control, and EPG.
The quickest workaround to solve these huge problems is for FusionHDTV to deliver a modified Audio driver which will emulate some other well known card’s Audio (e.g. ATI or Hauppauge) driver, so that your customers can use one of these 3rd party software applications.

22) FusionHDTV5 Control Panel has disappeared from the windowed mode and now is only available when in the user puts FusionHDTV5 into full screen mode and then mouse left clicks. Using the V command or the right click and then Show Controller has no effect; the FusionHDTV5 Control Panel remains hidden.
The FusionHDTV5 Control Panel did display when the software was first installed but disappeared permanently after a day of use.[/QUOTE]

I have no idea how the Fusion software is supposed to work.

===================================

31) Programs set by the user for scheduled record should have a Scheduling Priority assigned to them. Thus, if a user has only one tuner card input to the PC, and wants to record the 30 minute news show on different channel which occurs in the middle of the 3 hour baseball game, he should be able to assign the news show High priority and assign the baseball game Normal priority. In this simple example, the result should be 3 files: the first part of the baseball game file, the news show file, and the second part of the baseball game file with the baseball show filename postpended with "002".

If two recording air at the same time, it will generate a conflict and you can then choose to resolve it as you wish.

32) The user who has 2 Tuner card inputs to the PC should either have a Recording Scheduler separately for each one or should be allowed in the Scheduler menu to select which Tuner card input will be utilized for each programming recording scheduled.

Why? SageTV will automatically schedule to both tuners in the most "successfull" way (ie record the most favorites possible).

33) It should be possible to record two different programs from two different channels from 2 different tuner card inputs simultaneously with this software.

Uh, the hardware can only use one input simultaneously. Theres no way to record for the RF and S-Video input simultaneously on any single-tuner TV cards.

34) When the Recording Scheduler ends a scheduled recording it should save the current file, then immediately the scheduler should check to see if other recordings which may have overlapped with the current recording are already ongoing. If any other recordings are already in progress, it should start record the tail end of that recording.

SageTV doesn't have a "Recording Scheduler".

35) The user, when present while recording, should not be prevented from changing the channel while the recording is in progress. The recorded file should simply contain anything that the user was watching while the recording was in progress.

Sage will let you change the channel, but will start a new file.

Aeneas

What software are you using again? Because I don't think it's SageTV.

[dagar]

Ok, I held out as long as I can ...

Linkage

[dkardatzke]

I'm surprised that link hasn't been posted more often...

[Aeneas]

Originally Posted by stanger89

What software are you running? This is a SageTV board.
AFIAK, CC is only supported by the PVR 250/350 since they will encode it as part of the MPEG stream.
That's what Favorites are for, to record every instance of a show. That plus you can put time/channel constriants on them.
Fusion 5 files, ATSC HD, should be on the order of 9GB/hour for digital channels.
Sounds like you're recording analog channels, that's a problem with software encoders, they're easy to mess up.
You can re-map any key combo to any command.
What software are you using? The Fusion software has nothing to do with SageTV.

21) the Audio generated by the FusionHDTV5 card is incompatible with other software packages like SageTV, BeyondTV, Got All Media etc. This means that the user cannot use these other existing applications to perform complex functions like Closed Captions, pre-amped Audio Volume Control, and EPG.
The quickest workaround to solve these huge problems is for FusionHDTV to deliver a modified Audio driver which will emulate some other well known card’s Audio (e.g. ATI or Hauppauge) driver, so that your customers can use one of these 3rd party software applications.

22) FusionHDTV5 Control Panel has disappeared from the windowed mode and now is only available when in the user puts FusionHDTV5 into full screen mode and then mouse left clicks. Using the V command or the right click and then Show Controller has no effect; the FusionHDTV5 Control Panel remains hidden.
The FusionHDTV5 Control Panel did display when the software was first installed but disappeared permanently after a day of use.

I have no idea how the Fusion software is supposed to work.

If two recordings air at the same time, it will generate a conflict and you can then choose to resolve it as you wish.
Why? SageTV will automatically schedule to both tuners in the most "successful" way (ie record the most favorites possible).
Uh, the hardware can only use one input simultaneously. Theres no way to record for the RF and S-Video input simultaneously on any single-tuner TV cards.
SageTV doesn't have a "Recording Scheduler".

Sage will let you change the channel, but will start a new file.

What software are you using again? Because I don't think it's SageTV.

1) I am using the deficient and spare software which came with the FusionHDTV5 card. I have tried to interface this program, Beyond TV and others to this card but the Audio is currently incompatible and will remain that way until new versions of this program and /or the driver are released.

2) Carrying the Closed Caption information in the MPEG stream is a separate issue. All I am interested in is ensuring the software application interfacing with the Tuner card and its drivers is capable of receiving the stream of Closed Captions generated by the card and writing them on the fly to a separate window on the Windows desktop and simultaneously saving that Closed Caption data to a separate file.
If the Closed Caption data can also be encoded in the Mpeg file and displayed optionally by any run of the mill mpeg player, then so much the better.

3) That is a redefinition of the Favorites term, which is something which creates ambiguities and confusion and turns off customers. One of those reasons why Windows is so much more popular than Unix/Linux.
Favorites, as defined by existing TV and VCR equipment allows the user to define a set of channels which he can quickly flip through in a quick rotation with the touch of one button on the handset.
My guess is that those recording definitions are based on the Gem Guide Plus ratings that allow definitions of a program with a specific code by a centralized body, and scheduling of all subsequent iterations of it.
Whenever a software developer needlessly causes this kind of confusion, it indicates there may well be sloppiness and disdain for the user throughout the product. It is a bad sign. I have not used Sage enough (past 2 days) to know exactly to what you refer.

4) That sounds like the raw data output. It is crazy for any software to save data to the user's hard disk at that rate. Besides, 640x480 has plenty of definition for my usage. In strict terms, I believe NTSC is 720x480.
I save a max of around 550 MBytes per hour when I want good NTSC resolution with the ATI product (e.g. for sports events).
Even with the tremendous performance of the Hard Disk industry over the past 8 years, that is still overly consumptive.
With NTSC, if I deem it important enough, I could see going to maybe 800 MBytes per hour (i.e. if I want to study the quality of Miss America's skin pores).
The software should be performing compression of the saved data on the fly prior to saving it on the hard disk. The ATI product performs this compression adequately, and I am surprised that this is something not done by other software suppliers to the same degree. The ATI product even allows you to configure the filters which are performed on the data before it is saved.

5) Remappability of the keyboard keys is a good feature, especially when the developer has no concern for the importance of intuitive ease of use of the user interface.

6) Not sure I understand this "most successful" recording algorithm.

7) I stated that when the user has "2 different tuner card inputs" the software should be able to record from each one, simultaneously. With multiple hardware there is no hardware limitation to this functionality.

8) I believe that SageTV does have a recording scheduler.

9) SageTV, while the user is recording and chooses to change channels and see what is on on a variety of channels should not create a new file automatically. Perhaps it might be an idea to enter a Mark (as described here earlier) into the .CC file. However, the user should be able to channel surf and record everything he sees, manually Marking when necessary.
If a new file is to be created, the user can Stop Recording then start Record again.

10) The FusionHDTV5 included software is weak and needs to be replaced. They appear to be one of the strongest TV Tuner cards which contains an HDTV and Digital Channel capability.

Aeneas

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

I have not used Sage enough (past 2 days) to know exactly to what you refer.

That seems to sum things up nicely.

I would suggest you get more familiar with SageTV before trying to explain what you think it ought to do. Asking questions regarding what happens in some situation would probably go along ways towards your understanding of how SageTV functions.

- Andy

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

1) I am using the deficient and spare software which came with the FusionHDTV5 card. I have tried to interface this program, Beyond TV and others to this card but the Audio is currently incompatible and will remain that way until new versions of this program and /or the driver are released.

You don't "Interface" the Fusion software with anything else, you just don't use it at all. Not to sound curt, but if you're looking for help with the Fusion software this is the wrong place.

3) That is a redefinition of the Favorites term, which is something which creates ambiguities and confusion and turns off customers. One of those reasons why Windows is so much more popular than Unix/Linux.
Favorites, as defined by existing TV and VCR equipment allows the user to define a set of channels which he can quickly flip through in a quick rotation with the touch of one button on the handset.
My guess is that those recording definitions are based on the Gem Guide Plus ratings that allow definitions of a program with a specific code by a centralized body, and scheduling of all subsequent iterations of it.

SageTV has nothing to do with Gemstar Guide+

Whenever a software developer needlessly causes this kind of confusion, it indicates there may well be sloppiness and disdain for the user throughout the product. It is a bad sign. I have not used Sage enough (past 2 days) to know exactly to what you refer.

No offense, but I suggest you look into it a bit more before you start calling things a "bad design". Favorites in SageTV are equivalent to Season Pass on a Tivo. It's been that way for several years.

4) That sounds like the raw data output. It is crazy for any software to save data to the user's hard disk at that rate.

ATSC HDTV has a bitrate of 19.4Mbps. If you record the transport stream it takes about 9GB/hour, thats for 1920x1080i or 1280x720p video. You say you wanted DTV, most of the time that is what you get. You do realize that the Fusion is an HDTV tuner card right?

Besides, 640x480 has plenty of definition for my usage. In strict terms, I believe NTSC is 720x480.

Correct, NTSC has a horizontal scan rate 15.75kHz, a refresh rate of 59.94field/sec, and a bandwidth of 4.2MHz, which is ususally sampled to create digital video of 720x480 60i.

I save a max of around 550 MBytes per hour when I want good NTSC resolution with the ATI product (e.g. for sports events).

Sounds like you're recording analog NTSC to something like WM9 or Divx.

Even with the tremendous performance of the Hard Disk industry over the past 8 years, that is still overly consumptive.

Not for HDTV.

With NTSC, if I deem it important enough, I could see going to maybe 800 MBytes per hour (i.e. if I want to study the quality of Miss America's skin pores).
The software should be performing compression of the saved data on the fly prior to saving it on the hard disk.

Realtime (re)compression of HDTV is impossible with current PC technology. But you're talking about NTSC so...

The ATI product performs this compression adequately, and I am surprised that this is something not done by other software suppliers to the same degree. The ATI product even allows you to configure the filters which are performed on the data before it is saved.

5) Remappability of the keyboard keys is a good feature, especially when the developer has no concern for the importance of intuitive ease of use of the user interface.

6) Not sure I understand this "most successful" recording algorithm.

SageTV will schedule recordings, such that it will record as many of your favorites as possible. It will search for alternate airings to avoid conflicts.

7) I stated that when the user has "2 different tuner card inputs" the software should be able to record from each one, simultaneously. With multiple hardware there is no hardware limitation to this functionality.

Two tuner cards, is somewhat different than two inputs. When you way 2 inputs, most here would assume you're talking about something like the RF and S-Video inputs on a single card.

SageTV supports an arbitrary number of tuner cards, and can record simulaneously from all of them.

8) I believe that SageTV does have a recording scheduler.

SageTV does not work like other programs, it does not have a separate scheduling app. It has an integrated "seeker" however the user is not given any indication of when the seeker is runing or when it is done.

9) SageTV, while the user is recording and chooses to change channels and see what is on on a variety of channels should not create a new file automatically. Perhaps it might be an idea to enter a Mark (as described here earlier) into the .CC file. However, the user should be able to channel surf and record everything he sees, manually Marking when necessary.
If a new file is to be created, the user can Stop Recording then start Record again.

Sage does record everything, but it records each show/channel to a unique file. It's one of the few programs that actually retains the video recorded while surfing, most will reset the timeshifting buffer when channels are changed.

10) The FusionHDTV5 included software is weak and needs to be replaced.

Agreed.

They appear to be one of the strongest TV Tuner cards which contains an HDTV and Digital Channel capability.

I'm not sure I'd go that far. Of course from what you describe it doesn't sound like youre even using any of it's HDTV digital capabilities.

All I know is I'm totally confused (as you appear to be) about what app you're actually using, and what app you're complaining about.

[Aeneas]

Originally Posted by Opus4

That seems to sum things up nicely.
I would suggest you get more familiar with SageTV before trying to explain what you think it ought to do. Asking questions regarding what happens in some situation would probably go a long ways towards your understanding of how SageTV functions.
- Andy

I am the customer. I know more than anyone at SageTV what this product should do to attract my purchase. And I have explained in extreme detail what such a product should be able to perform for the user.

Aeneas

[stanger89]

You know what you want, there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is the way you've come at this.

First, it's obvious you don't know how SageTV works (2, 3, 13, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35) .

Second, it appears you from many of your questions/statements that you aren't even using (2, 3, 9, 10, 13, 21, 22, 31-35 all seem to relate to the Fusion software NOT SageTV).

Third, you obviously haven't even bothered to do a search, as many of your issues (1, 4, 9) have been discussed in detail already.

Then there's this comment:

Some of the functionality that Beyond TV 4 needs to implement and which FusionHDTV uses are awaiting:

I see you Cross posted this on the BTV forums, the least you could do is change the name.

And this:

I just received the FusionHDTV5 card (in California, USA) and was hoping to use it to replace my ATI All In Wonder 9600 with digital HDTV capability.

You don't seem to understand what HDTV capability means, do you expect HDTV recordings to be <1GB/hour? Good MPEG-2 recordings take about 3GB/hour generally.

And I hate to bandwagon, but :

The overwhelming usage of tuner cards is to watch TV on one’s PC (not on a TV set). This is the core usage of these cards, although such people may not be the loud hobbyists one finds on many public forums.

We've got a poll that contradicts that as well:
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...hlight=display

As Opus4 commented, if you had come at this with a "Is this possible or could this stuff be added" instead of your "thou shalt add these features", high and mighty "I know, you don't" attitude, you'd get a much better reponse.

[blade]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

I am the customer. I know more than anyone at SageTV what this product should do to attract my purchase. And I have explained in extreme detail what such a product should be able to perform for the user.

Aeneas

IMO after using the product for 2 days there is no way you know whether or not Sage fits your needs. You haven't used the product enough to even know for certain what it can and can not do.

Sage has designed their product with a certain customer base in mind. If you don't like the software don't use it. I highly doubt Sage is going to modify their product to satisfy one person who's used the product for all of 2 days.

[ToonGal]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

I am the customer. I know more than anyone at SageTV what this product should do to attract my purchase. And I have explained in extreme detail what such a product should be able to perform for the user.

I'd like my PVR to serve me breakfast in bed and drive the kid to school. Doesn't mean it's going to happen no matter how well I explain the details.

Such arrogance, indolence, and brashness has gotten you far more support and attention than you deserve. A shame the world still rewards such rude people as yourself. As a 'fellow customer', I know I'm right to say good riddance to you and your kind.

[night]

this is infinitly amusing

[lotusvball]

Originally Posted by ToonGal

I'd like my PVR to serve me breakfast in bed and drive the kid to school. Doesn't mean it's going to happen no matter how well I explain the details.

Can Sage go to the bathroom for me.

Originally Posted by ToonGal

Such arrogance, indolence, and brashness has gotten you far more support and attention than you deserve. A shame the world still rewards such rude people as yourself. As a 'fellow customer', I know I'm right to say good riddance to you and your kind.

You go ToonGal.

[Kanati]

Hell, I'm one of the more vocal people when it comes to how I think a few features in sage should work and even I'm not as %$#$@ than thou as this guy is. At least I bought sage for the product it reports itself to be before voicing my opinions too... Gads.