SageTV V6.1.3 Release Candidate is Available!!

[Opus4]

I explained how the button change affected menus displayed on top of overlay video in this same thread several days; see this post.

- Andy

[Patilan]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I explained how the button change affected menus displayed on top of overlay video in this same thread several days; see this post.

- Andy

I read that post, but it doesn't explain why only this particular menu got screwed, while all the other menus are still transparent and look just like before.

And I tried the VMR9 instead of overlay, but: 1) the cpu usage gets signifficantly higher with VMR9; 2) I start getting random stutter and freezes; 3) the "fancy" new transparency in VMR9 is not as transparent as it was with the simple overlay. The less obstruction I have on the screen the better I like it, I don't care much about the 3Dish effects.

[nyplayer]

Patilan,

I have to agree with you 100%. I don't quite understand why they changed the way the menus worked with overlay. I also hate VMr9 on my system. Why Sage didn't leave well enough along is beyond me. It worked great before so if it isn't broke why fix it and make it worse.

[archcommus]

nyplayer, as I and probably others have noticed, the buttons look better now than they did before. More polished and "blended." I'm sure that is why they changed it, they didn't feel it was "well enough."

Patilan, what CPU do you have? I have an A64 3200+ and my CPU usage goes up by 2-3% when using VMR9 versus Overlay. I also experience no stuttering or freezing, and my video card is an X800 XL with relatively recent video drivers and DX9.0c. There is no reason aside from there being a problem that you should be experiencing those issues. I'm surprised you actually prefer the look over Overlay, it looks grainy compared to the smoothness of VMR9 and I don't see much of a difference in level of transparencies.

[kricker]

Originally Posted by archcommus

nyplayer, as I and probably others have noticed, the buttons look better now than they did before. More polished and "blended." I'm sure that is why they changed it, they didn't feel it was "well enough."

Patilan, what CPU do you have? I have an A64 3200+ and my CPU usage goes up by 2-3% when using VMR9 versus Overlay. I also experience no stuttering or freezing, and my video card is an X800 XL with relatively recent video drivers and DX9.0c. There is no reason aside from there being a problem that you should be experiencing those issues. I'm surprised you actually prefer the look over Overlay, it looks grainy compared to the smoothness of VMR9 and I don't see much of a difference in level of transparencies.

Well, I for one HAVE to use overlay because FSE is still not functioning as it should and when Sage is put to sleep it does not release DX9 resources properly. Although as a designer I understand the 'want' to make things look better, I am not sure if this was the best idea. Surely they expected a backlash of sorts when they made the decision, it just matters how big of one it is.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by archcommus

nyplayer, as I and probably others have noticed, the buttons look better now than they did before. More polished and "blended." I'm sure that is why they changed it, they didn't feel it was "well enough."

Patilan, what CPU do you have? I have an A64 3200+ and my CPU usage goes up by 2-3% when using VMR9 versus Overlay. I also experience no stuttering or freezing, and my video card is an X800 XL with relatively recent video drivers and DX9.0c. There is no reason aside from there being a problem that you should be experiencing those issues. I'm surprised you actually prefer the look over Overlay, it looks grainy compared to the smoothness of VMR9 and I don't see much of a difference in level of transparencies.

That is great for the users that use VMR9. I am sure there are many users that use overlay in Clients etc... Heck I even use an old Toshiba laptop with TV out as a client and in no way does it do 3d very well. But it responds and runs great with Overlay.

My point is why take away something from a group of users. Why couldn't they have it both ways. Simply.. if you choose vmr9 you get one set of buttons and if you use overlay you get the old set of buttons...


To simply take away some form of transparency from a group of users does not seem quite fair.

[archcommus]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

That is great for the users that use VMR9. I am sure there are many users that use overlay in Clients etc... Heck I even use an old Toshiba laptop with TV out as a client and in no way does it do 3d very well. But it responds and runs great with Overlay.

My point is why take away something from a group of users. Why couldn't they have it both ways. Simply.. if you choose vmr9 you get one set of buttons and if you use overlay you get the old set of buttons...


To simply take away some form of transparency from a group of users does not seem quite fair.

Perhaps making different sets of buttons depending on your renderer is something they will add in the next incremental upgrade, or maybe even in 6.1.3 final, if enough people complain about the same situation.

[Duck2470]

Dell Inspiron 1500 laptop, 512MB sys memory, 16Mb ATI Mobility Graphics Card, 40GB HD, WinTV PVR USB-2 (w/hardware encoder), WinXP Pro SP2 (all updates) Sage TV V6.1.3

Awesome job guys, This version is more then i expected and I love it! TY

I only bought this back in Jan 07 and posted on here with a suggestion/ request for You Tube Videos and its there in this version and works flawless. I have absolutely no regrets at all about the money i spent on this software well worth every penny. The new menus etc.. are excellent. The entire version in my opinion is a huge step up from the current V6 I got in Jan. Way to go Kudo's!

The only issue i have come across since Jan 07 was a slight slowdown/stuttering at times (CPU usage would randomly jump high for a several seconds and then go back to normal) when watching live TV or playbacks however this was occurring in the WinTv app and Games as well so i knew it was my system and not related to sage and was corrected by Installing Dells NSS (Notebook System software). Now everything runs flawless.
I'm a system builder and am very picky about installing extra tid-bit software from the manufacture (because most is not needed and take up memory) however there are some things that just have to be installed in-order for your system to run correctly.
Quick tip: For those having issues with this version its vital to make sure you install the chip-set INF, any system critical patches/drivers and updates from your PC manufactures Web Site, Make sure your OS is fully updated, latest video card drivers installed and turn off any unnecessary start-up programs/app that load with windows. This is the best way to optimize your system speed and operation regardless of what software or games you are installing. Then if and when you have problems you will have a better idea if its system or software related.

Again thank you very much for this enhanced version which in my case works flawless.

A few features that would be nice is: 1- A way to exit the software completely. (I can't seem to find that option, only standby). 2-Animated Weather maps. 3- a local News section. 4- although unlikely it would be cool to have a option in the TV Guide to visit the channels web site.

[archcommus]

Originally Posted by Duck2470

A few features that would be nice is: 1- A way to exit the software completely. (I can't seem to find that option, only standby). 2-Animated Weather maps. 3- a local News section. 4- although unlikely it would be cool to have a option in the TV Guide to visit the channels web site.

Customizable menus: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13527

Then add this code to your menu .xml file to add an Exit command.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE sageMenu PUBLIC "-//NIELM//DTD SAGEMENU XML 1.3//EN" "http://www.sage-community.org/~nielm/nielm_modules/dynamic_menu/sagemenu_1_3.dtd">
<sageMenu version="1.3">
<internalScreenMenuItem screen="Null Menu Action (does nothing)" title="Exit Sage">
<confirmPrompt>Are you sure you want to Exit SageTV</confirmPrompt>
<evalExpression>Exit()</evalExpression>
</internalScreenMenuItem>
</sageMenu>

Weather Report Suite, http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8160, may have animated maps.

[archcommus]

Actually, I have noticed what I think is a problem with deleting recordings. Live TV obviously deletes itself on its own schedule. Recordings I have set to ask to delete at end of file Always. This works fine except for when the recording is also live TV. Not only does it not ask at the end if I want to delete it (which I wouldn't expect it to, since its status as "live TV" comes before its status as a recording), it also doesn't get deleted on the regular live TV delete schedule either. I'm assuming this is not by design.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by archcommus

Actually, I have noticed what I think is a problem with deleting recordings. Live TV obviously deletes itself on its own schedule. Recordings I have set to ask to delete at end of file Always. This works fine except for when the recording is also live TV. Not only does it not ask at the end if I want to delete it (which I wouldn't expect it to, since its status as "live TV" comes before its status as a recording), it also doesn't get deleted on the regular live TV delete schedule either. I'm assuming this is not by design.

This is all by design -- It doesn't ask after watching the show during live TV because that interrupts the flow into the next live TV show, as you said. After that, the scheduled recording will follow the deletion rules found in Appendix C of the PDF manual: as a watched show, it would get deleted when space is needed, unless it is a recording type that SageTV will never auto-delete. The scheduled recording will not automatically lose its Manual Recording or Favorite status.

- Andy

[archcommus]

Thanks Opus! Makes sense.

[pawn]

For what it's worth, I spent the afternoon watching TV with VMR9 and 3D accel enabled on my main client. Just like I remember it on this and other machines: lots of micro stutters and a more washed out picture. I'll live with the bitmapped buttons and a better picture using overlay.

[Patilan]

Ditto.

[archcommus]

Originally Posted by pawn

For what it's worth, I spent the afternoon watching TV with VMR9 and 3D accel enabled on my main client. Just like I remember it on this and other machines: lots of micro stutters and a more washed out picture. I'll live with the bitmapped buttons and a better picture using overlay.

And again, I'll tell you that I use VMR9 and 3D acceleration everyday and experience no stutters of any kind and a picture exactly comparable to one rendered in Overlay, and the only tweak I did was disable menu fading. My system is an A64 3200+/1 gig RAM/X800 XL video card with XP SP2. So again my conclusion that if you experience a worse picture and stutters in VMR9, you have an issue somewhere either with drivers or insufficient hardware (although I'm sure your system is plenty powerful) or something else.

If you don't care about the benefits of VMR9, then there's really no issue in staying with Overlay. But I personally think the enhanced looks of VMR9 are worth it.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by archcommus

I think it is in anyone's best interest who is using Overlay to try to figure out how to fix their issues with 3D acceleration so they can use that and VMR9 instead. The benefits and enhanced looks are numerous.

Some of us use dual monitors, and thus VMR9 doesn't work very well. I'd rather use VMR7 rather than overlay, but you don't get any sort of transparent menus with VMR7.

[NEOSG]

Originally Posted by Narflex

That hasn't been done yet which is why I said in my original post "(there will be more added after the first full release of V6.1)" I was referring to H.264 specifically. It *may* make it in there in the first full 6.1 release; and if not it'll be in a 6.1.x update shortly afterwards. We'll evaluate the state of this tomorrow and let you know. Sorry for the delay on this one.

Well, been a couple of weeks. Any chance you've had that meeting and have an updated timetable for h.264 support. R5000 users seem to be losing watchable channels each month, along with others that need this support.

Thank you

[LehighBri]

Any update on H.264 support? And when can we expect the next iteration of the 6.1 beta?

[mikesm]

I'm sorry if this is posted somewhere already - I can't seem to find this on the forums... What is the recommended java runtime that should be used with the 6.1.3 installer? 1.4.2, or something else?

Thanks,
mike

[archcommus]

Originally Posted by mikesm

I'm sorry if this is posted somewhere already - I can't seem to find this on the forums... What is the recommended java runtime that should be used with the 6.1.3 installer? 1.4.2, or something else?

Thanks,
mike

I'm using the latest one with no problems.