Sage Marketing Plan

[tmiranda]

I was looking over at Tom's Hardware Guide yesterday where they had a link to a review of a couple of networked media players:

http://www.tomshardware.com/
http://www.geardigest.com/2007/04/20...yers_compared/

Once again I saw a statement like "you could get cool recording software like Snapstream's Beyond TV if you don't want MCE". Sage was not even mentioned. It seems to me that BTV get's way more press than Sage. I think this a shame, I've used both products extensively and Sage is much more capable than BTV.

So my question is, what is wrong with Sage's marketing? Why do we not hear more about Sage "in the press"?

As a side question, does anybody care to guess the size of Sage's installed base vs. BTV's installed base? Anecdotally I would say BTV's is larger. I base this on two (flimsy) items: 1 - the traffic on the BTV forums is greater than the traffic on Sage's forums and 2 - I just seem to read more about BTV in various reviews.

Do not take this as a "Sage-bashing" thread, it is absolutely not. I like Sage and want to see it succeed. It just seems to me that given the number of copies MCE is likely to ship there will not be room for many competitors. Myth will always be there because there are many people who will use anything Linux (read, not Microsoft). That leaves BTV and Sage left to duke it out in the Windows space. Both can probably survive, but only one will "thrive" by being the "strong alternative" to MCE - I want that to be Sage.

Regards,

Tom

[Wakecrash]

no clue on most stuff, but as far as furum traffic:
as of this post:
Sage TV = Currently Active Users: 187 (14 members and 173 guests) with 58 posts in past 24 hrs.
BTV = Currently Active Users: 132 (8 members and 124 guests) with 49 posts in past 24 hours

[bhyman1]

Toms Hardware is a joke. I wouldn't worry about there articles.

[cslatt]

I know I first heard of BeyondTV when it was reviewed at a hardware/software site I frequent. (Can't remember which one). Perhaps Sage should consider providing some free review samples of their software to some of the review websites like The Tech Report, AnandTech, Tom's Hardware, etc.

[tmiranda]

I agree that Tom's is less than stellar, but IMHO my point is still valid. In the mainstream press you read more about BeyondTV than you do about Sage. I'd like to see that changed.

The first time I read about BeyondTV it was in a PC mag that I was browsing in an airport. For better or worse, many "mainstream" PC users read those rags and believe what is printed in them.

[Lahr]

Every time I go into Fry's or other similar stores I look for a boxed version of SageTV next to BTV, but have never found one. The old adage "out of site, out of mind" comes to mind. Even successful Internet companies like Ebay, Amazon, and the like advertise.
I had never heard of SageTV until I got fed up with MCE and stumbled upon it on The Green Button forum.

[FidgetyRat]

Most HTPC discussions that occur on other forums I chat on are entirely based on BTV and Myth. When I mention sage I get alot of "what the hell is that" comments.

It does amuse me that software such as myth that is free gets more publicity then sage.

[chrisc16]

I still remember the first time I heard about Sage. Jeff did a phone-in interview on KROQ here in LA (2003 maybe?). I had known that PVR solutions existed for the PC, but I really liked what Jeff had to say, so I thought I would give Sage a try. The rest is history...

I wonder if Jeff still does any interviews like that. And didn't we use to hear from Dan on the forums? Maybe he has moved on to other projects.

-Chris

[Halstead]

Originally Posted by Wakecrash

no clue on most stuff, but as far as furum traffic:
as of this post:
Sage TV = Currently Active Users: 187 (14 members and 173 guests) with 58 posts in past 24 hrs.
BTV = Currently Active Users: 132 (8 members and 124 guests) with 49 posts in past 24 hours

This says absolutely nothing about the popularly of the two product lines. it just Says that SageTV users are a bit more chatty.

Never confuse a product's customer base with its forums.

[Wakecrash]

Originally Posted by Halstead

This says absolutely nothing about the popularly of the two product lines. it just Says that SageTV users are a bit more chatty.

Never confuse a product's customer base with its forums.

I never made that claim, I just posted due to comment regarding more traffic on BTV furums.

[IVB]

Originally Posted by Halstead

This says absolutely nothing about the popularly of the two product lines. it just Says that SageTV users are a bit more chatty.

Never confuse a product's customer base with its forums.

True, but never confuse a product's customer base with the # of people readily available to help you, and the existing knowledge-base readily available (ie, # of posts). What you call chatty, I call helpful.

It's irrelevant to me if SageTV has 400 million users or 400 users. If they're not available in a vehicle that's readily accessible to me where I can ask questions and get rapid answers, it's irrelevant how "popular" something is.

For example, I recently had a hardware issue with getting my new DirecTV box to work. Inside of 24 hours, I had more help than I could shake a stick at, and inside of a week I was back up & running. (would have been faster but that pesky work thing got in the way).

I thank god for the chattiness of SageTV folks, or else I wouldn't have had DirecTV controllable via my PC in time for the Sopranos kickoff, and my wife would have had my ass.

[tmiranda]

It's irrelevant to me if SageTV has 400 million users or 400 users. If they're not available in a vehicle that's readily accessible to me where I can ask questions and get rapid answers, it's irrelevant how "popular" something is.

I have to humbly disagree. A product with 400 active, intelligent, helpful, etc. users will die. (Unless it is some very specific niche product.) A product with 400 million inactive, mentally-challenged, unhelpful users will thrive.

[elaw]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I have to humbly disagree. A product with 400 active, intelligent, helpful, etc. users will die. (Unless it is some very specific niche product.) A product with 400 million inactive, mentally-challenged, unhelpful users will thrive.

For an example, check out a company called "Microsoft"

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by elaw

For an example, check out a company called "Microsoft"

I was actually thinking of the Ipod

[CollinR]

That was CLASSIC!


I want SageTV to thrive but support in the forums is a big player for me now.

[KarylFStein]

I'd like to be able to go to HP, order a Windows Home Server box, and as one of the add-on options, be able to select "Add a dual tuner card and SageTV server" as well as "Add a SageTV HD Extender". HP might even be able to put in CableCard as an option, if and when that takes off. That would be a simple way for me as a consumer to have a nice plug-and-play way to set things up and get the option of SageTV in front of a much wider audience. Until there is a real simple way to get SageTV in front of consumers, it'll remain a niche market. I don't mind tinkering, but if I were to recommend a setup for say my parents, I'd have to go with a pre-build box with Windows MCE/Vista on it and pre-configured for DVR functions.

[Khristopher]

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=...e+Search&meta=

Check out who the first "Sponsored Link" is.

Perhaps Sage needs to sponsor some links as well in order to step on Snapstreams toes a bit.

I used BTV for about 3 years and have much preferred my Sage experience so far!

[CollinR]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

I'd like to be able to go to HP, order a Windows Home Server box, and as one of the add-on options, be able to select "Add a dual tuner card and SageTV server" as well as "Add a SageTV HD Extender". HP might even be able to put in CableCard as an option, if and when that takes off. That would be a simple way for me as a consumer to have a nice plug-and-play way to set things up and get the option of SageTV in front of a much wider audience. Until there is a real simple way to get SageTV in front of consumers, it'll remain a niche market. I don't mind tinkering, but if I were to recommend a setup for say my parents, I'd have to go with a pre-build box with Windows MCE/Vista on it and pre-configured for DVR functions.

There is a variety of reasons why you probably won't see this too soon, DRM. Also many big names have deals with MS to basically only support their products. MS creates an anti-virus software and gone are norton and mcgaffe.

This could work with Dell though, they have had so many crap with Vista they didn't resign and now sell linux and no-OS machines in addition to XP. Still it's a hotbed for copywrite issues.