How I Picked the Sage Comunity

[sinodux]

I just thought I would post a quick note in here about my experience of deciding to take on the project of building my own PVR for those out there that may be sitting the fence and lurking on the boards.

Origenally I just wanted a DVR. I looked at my cable company, they require you to have digital cable in addition to an added monthy cost for the box, boosting my montly bill by over $30 a month. Next I looed at TiVo and it is $20 a month. I knew you could use your computer so I started looking and quickly found Myth, Beyond TV and Sage TV. I was quickly impressed by the added functionality they have over the boxed hardware and the price over a year was next to nothing. I had several old PCs that were more than enough to run any of the software packages. With the decision made to do it I just had to pick which one to go with.....and convince my wife this was a good idea.

Myth was out almost instantly. I consider myself technical and I run a Linux webserver at my house but many of the reviews complained about the level of dificulty to set it up. I knew several days of me swearing at before I got the system sorted out would not go very far to sell my wife on how this was a good idea.

Origenally I was leaning toward Beyond just because I got sucked in by the flash, but I subscribed to both Beyond TV, and these boards. I actually lurked the boards for a few months and I have to say the comunity here is way better and was the deciding factor for me choosing this product. (Sage should be proud of you guys )

After gathering my hardware installation was a breeze. I had a few questions on fine tuning and I was able to find it inn their documentation or a quick search here. Three weeks later I am still happy and have yet to actually have a question that hasn't already been answered and easy to find.

Thank you to all the great posters here for your patience with us n00bs

[PGPfan]

Welcome to the Sage family, sinodux!

Remember, we were ALL noobs once! I think you will grow to LOVE Sage as most of us have. It's one addiction I'm not willing to do a '12-step' to get rid of.

-PGPfan

[CanadianEh]

Welcome, sinodux!

I've been using SageTV since Version 2.0 was in beta and love it. I'm sure you will continue to feel the same as I do!

[paulbeers]

Hehehehe. He isn't sucked in enough yet. Only one box? What? No extenders? Hehehehe. Welcome to your new obsession. hehehehe.

[Polypro]

HTPC Perfection....."IMPOSSIBLE!"

P

[sojourner753]

Sinodux,
Your story almost completely parallels mine. My path was slightly different then yours.

I went first MythTV like the foolish mortal that I am. Then I went o GBPVR. I even had it working some what. However, it didn't (at the time) have the polish of a commercial product.

My next step was to post a BeyondTV vs. SageTV question on BYOPVR.com and the rest is history. I can't quite remember what responses from that particular thread lead me here, but I certainly have no regrets. That was around the time when the version was mid to late 2.x

Another difference is that my initial impressions of the community were a bit concerning. Mostly because I had stumbled across a fairly angry thread screaming about wanting more information about the upcoming beta. it was some beta prior to the jump to 5.x

But after that episode was over, I cam to realize that it in fact is a great community. Very helpful and innovative.

[ybrew]

I was a TiVo user since 1999. Had multiple tivos throughout the house.

But I'm in the process of building a new house and wanted video distribution throughout. I got sick of only being able to watch my recordings in the room they were recorded on.

I looked at Myth but seems more complicated than I'm willing to deal with.
I really liked BeyondTV, and the BeyondMedia product. Almost went that direction.

What sold me on SageTV, though, was the media extenders. A very nice simple product that works well (provided you're not using wireless) and is completely silent. Much better solution than client PCs throughout the house. The media extenders are quiet, cool, fanless & diskless.
I'm just waiting on HD extenders.

Not sure what I'll do when the house is complete. I will probably use the cable co HD DVR in the media room until an HD extender is made available. I might be forced to build a client PC but haven't really decided yet.

I'm putting ethernet connections to all rooms, but running cable to the media room 'just in case'.

BTW - no regrets on Sage vs. BeyondTV. I think both products are very good. Beyond is a bit more expensive if you want to distribute your media as well. But the BeyondMedia interface is probably a bit better than Sage's media options.

But the extender is absolutely what won me over.

And I sure don't miss TiVo a bit.

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Hehehehe. He isn't sucked in enough yet. Only one box? What? No extenders? Hehehehe. Welcome to your new obsession. hehehehe.

No kidding..

1 PC in service mode, runs client FE too
1 PC as client
3 MVPs
1 PS license

Still on the list:

1 server class box to be tucked away in basement
1 rack mountable cage (I hear FIOS equipment is quite large)
1 Large UPS
2 PS licenses
Oh yeah, convince the wife that I "need" all of this.

Anyone need a weekend gardner?

[InvisiblePin]

Sage supports the Media MVP better than everyone, it works slick.

After screwing aound with trying to get a decent picture out of my video card and into my TV, I fanally gave up a broken man. The Media MVP was the answer. Great Picture Quality, is silent, small, and cheap. Definitely got to go with the wired version though.

I have two Media MVPs. I rarely do anything TV related on the PC itself. I do everything through the extenders. It's awesome.

Sage's support of the Media MVP is what made them the winner.

I bought Beyond TV first. Then as part of my struggle to get a decent pciture quality I bought a Media MVP. Wow! Great picture. Now I wanted to do everything through the MVP, but Snapstream defiantly will not support the Media MVP. Sure, you can use Hauppage's software that comes with the Media MVP to view shows you've recorded with Beyond TV, but it really only works for shows that are finished recording. Playing files in the process of being recorded get screwed up when you try to jump forward because the software gets a snapshot of the file size when you start viewing a file, but it doesn't get adjusted as the recording grows. Moving through your file becomes quirky as heck.

I do like the Beyond TV interface better, the software makes better assumptions and is just more intuitive.

I'm seriously considering a third Media MVP.