Two Pre-Sales questions from a Meedio convert...

[JDHog]

Hello everybody.

I'm a Meedio guy that is looking to convert to SageTV. I have installed the newest 15day trial and have it running and like what I see. I have two questions that I need answered before I commit to buy.

First, I subscribe to DirecTV and Cable. I use cable for my local news channels as well as local sports. The DirecTV is cabled into my living room only, the CableTV is cabled into my office and bedroom only. I have in the past used two computers with Meedio, one in the living room and one in my office to record from the different sources. It has worked great. I really don't want to recable my house to get both sources in the same room.

My question is, does Sage require me to buy two licenses to run SageTV on my two computers in the same house, or will one license suffice?

Second, I have noticed that SageTV will close out when left unattended for long periods such as overnight. It is not in sleep mode as the SageTV process is not running when I look in Task Manager. Also there are no events related to this in the Event Log. It's like somebody or something just closed or exited SageTV.

Has anybody else witnessed this.

Thanks!

[mattdcknsn]

Originally Posted by JDHog

First, I subscribe to DirecTV and Cable. I use cable for my local news channels as well as local sports. The DirecTV is cabled into my living room only, the CableTV is cabled into my office and bedroom only. I have in the past used two computers with Meedio, one in the living room and one in my office to record from the different sources. It has worked great. I really don't want to recable my house to get both sources in the same room.

My question is, does Sage require me to buy two licenses to run SageTV on my two computers in the same house, or will one license suffice?

Yeah it does require 2 Sage server licenses to have 2 different computers manage recordings. In the manual its listed under network encoders (I think). There is a SageTV Recorder but it hasn't been updated in a couple of years and isn't recommended anymore.

Originally Posted by JDHog

Second, I have noticed that SageTV will close out when left unattended for long periods such as overnight. It is not in sleep mode as the SageTV process is not running when I look in Task Manager. Also there are no events related to this in the Event Log. It's like somebody or something just closed or exited SageTV.

This I am not sure about. It shouldn't just close out. I've had Sage run constantly while the computer is up and running with no problems. Are you logging out of the computer at night? Try running Sage as a service (its an option under the SageTV program group. See if that fixes it.

[JDHog]

Originally Posted by mattdcknsn

Yeah it does require 2 Sage server licenses to have 2 different computers manage recordings. In the manual its listed under network encoders (I think). There is a SageTV Recorder but it hasn't been updated in a couple of years and isn't recommended anymore.



This I am not sure about. It shouldn't just close out. I've had Sage run constantly while the computer is up and running with no problems. Are you logging out of the computer at night? Try running Sage as a service (its an option under the SageTV program group. See if that fixes it.

Thanks for the reply!

Bummer on the licensing issue.

I'm not logging out of the computer at night and I don't run any power management or screen saver.

I'll try running SageTV as a service and see what happens.

Thanks again.

[bcjenkins]

You might consider a different approach, depending on your use of cable. If all you watch is local stations, you can pick up those over QAM on cable and an HD Homerun can satisfy. While that is more expensive, it actually adds 2 tuners to the lineup.

B

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by JDHog

Second, I have noticed that SageTV will close out when left unattended for long periods such as overnight. It is not in sleep mode as the SageTV process is not running when I look in Task Manager. Also there are no events related to this in the Event Log. It's like somebody or something just closed or exited SageTV.

What version of SageTV is installed?

And, what version of Java? Try updating to Java v1.6, if you aren't already using it.

Are you using Full Screen Exclusive mode? If so, try turning that off. If that helps, then check your versions of DirectX and your video card drivers.

You can turn on debug logging and contact SageTV with the log.

- Andy

[JDHog]

Originally Posted by Opus4

What version of SageTV is installed?

And, what version of Java? Try updating to Java v1.6, if you aren't already using it.

Are you using Full Screen Exclusive mode? If so, try turning that off. If that helps, then check your versions of DirectX and your video card drivers.

You can turn on debug logging and contact SageTV with the log.

- Andy

Version 6.1.9 of SageTV.

I'm not sure of my Java version, but I will check and upgrade to 1.6 if needed.

I am not in Full Screen Exclusive mode. I am on the latest version of DirectX and NVidia drivers.

I'll also check out the debug log.

Thanks for your reply!

[reggie14]

Well, my experience is that Sage isn't terribly stable if left on for a long time. The behind-the-scenes things, like recording and serving clients, are rock solid, but when I was using the server as a client it tended to crash once every 5 or 6 hours.

I don't think its completely Sage's fault. Its probably the video card driver, or something like that.

So, what I'm saying is Sage would do exactly that to me. In my case, there was always a message left in the Windows XP event log (go to control panel-> admin tools -> event viewer). You can look there and see what it says.