SageTV as media center

[bastafidli]

I do not have any tuner and do not plan to have one in near future therefore I am currently using my HD extender as a media center. The default UI makes it more difficult for me.

THe whole main manu is mostly about recording and watching recorded V. It is completely useless for me. What I am interested in is content of Media Center menu to be present on the front page instead of the 4 tv recording related options. Any way to achieve this?

Also when I press the Video button n the remote, it takes me to video section of the recording rather then Videos section of the Media Center. Any way to configure this or possibly make Sage smarter and realize that if I do not have any tuner, those options should not be prominent and rather make the Media Center functionality the primary one.

There also doesn't seems to be screen to show me what I am currently playing (e.g. the music I have selected, what songs are coming, etc.) When I browse with the remote away, there is no easy and intuitive way to see what is playing or to get back somewhere where I can see it.

Am I just not using it right?

[bastafidli]

O, I have found that the Now playing can be achiieve by adding songs to the playlist.What I was doing was asking Sage to play the whole folder and in that case I cannot see what is/will be played. It would be nice if it would create playlist on the fly.

[bastafidli]

Well, I guess I just need to get used to it, I am discovering more about the Now playing functionality, it is there but not as intuitive as I was used to in some other app.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by bastafidli

THe whole main manu is mostly about recording and watching recorded V. It is completely useless for me. What I am interested in is content of Media Center menu to be present on the front page instead of the 4 tv recording related options. Any way to achieve this?

Well, it is SageTV, so it does have a history of an emphasis on TV recording/playback.

Check out the List of available customizations -- there is SageMC, an alternate STV that might have more emphasis on other media, and the Dynamic Customisable Main Menu import allows you to customize your menus.

Also when I press the Video button n the remote, it takes me to video section of the recording rather then Videos section of the Media Center. Any way to configure this

Assign the button to the Video Library in Detailed Setup -> Commands.

- Andy

[jaminben]

Originally Posted by bastafidli

THe whole main manu is mostly about recording and watching recorded V. It is completely useless for me. What I am interested in is content of Media Center menu to be present on the front page instead of the 4 tv recording related options. Any way to achieve this?

As Andy said, give SageMC a try. I've completly customized my main menu to contain the things I wanted.

So my main menu contains -

TV (which you could remove)
Movies - contains films I've ripped from DVD
TV Series - Holds all the TV shows I've gotten from USA like Heros, Stargate, Dexter etc
Music - My mp3 music collection
Home Movies - Has all the movies from family camcorders
Photos - All the family photos

Thats the beuaty of Sage and SageMC its all customizable. I've supplied an image of my menu for you to look at. I'm also a complete noob when it comes to this sort of thing so if I can do it I'm sure most other people can. Take the time and read the forums, ask a few questions and you'll get exactly what you want and how you want it to look. (well most of the time)

Regards

Ben

[bastafidli]

Thanks guys, I will definitely give it a try. I am completely new to SageTV and it takes some time to get used to coming from WMP, MCE and Nero Home. The default configuration works but it could work better (probably some usability study would be worth while). If nothing less at least Sage should realize if the user has configured tuner or not and if it didn't it should change the default template from TV centric to Media Center centric automatically. That would go a long way.

[heffe2001]

The only reason I can think of for them not to do that is that it would most likely be used by a handful of people at most. If all you're wanting is the Media Center type stuff, there are a bunch of other appliances out there that do just that. The main focus of SageTV is for the TV part of it (at least from my perspective it seems that way).

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by heffe2001

If all you're wanting is the Media Center type stuff, there are a bunch of other appliances out there that do just that. The main focus of SageTV is for the TV part of it (at least from my perspective it seems that way).

I have to disagree with this point. Now that the Sage HD extender is available which seemingly plays just about anything; a whole new group of people will be looking at it that weren't before.

It certainly has my attention.

[PhoenixDown]

With the HD Extender, I am looking at this primarily as a Media Center but the TV recorder is a nice little bonus which makes me feel warm and fuzzy about getting a complete package

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by PhoenixDown

With the HD Extender, I am looking at this primarily as a Media Center but the TV recorder is a nice little bonus which makes me feel warm and fuzzy about getting a complete package

Same here. I flirted with Sage a few years ago but now I'm back thanks to the HD Extender.

P.S. Hatephoria?

[bastafidli]

I am in the same boat. We do not watch much TV and haven't recorded anything for years. With all the current issues about the HD recording problems, etc, I would probably first consider getting Tivo or Dish DVR for $6 a month before paying for a dedicated card and messing with it on the server. The only convenience why I would consider recording and watchin tv with Sage is getting rid of the receiver from living room to the closet and using one remote and ui for everything. At this time it is not enough to make me change so for now I will be using Sage exclusively as media center. I will take a look at the customizations to see if I can make it work better for me that way but I do would prefer not to do it :-).

[bama]

I started using SageTV about 6 months ago. I originally purchased this software and a Hauppauge Dual PVR to provide the TV component for the HTPC I was building. Since this purchase, I feel that both have performed exceptionally.

I post this because I think that those of you looking at the new HD Extender for exclusive Media Center capabilities are not giving a chance to (in my opinion) the strongest aspect of SageTV.

If you have a free PCI slot and room for one more hard drive (if you want dedicated space to record to of course), you can easily and cheaply add a working TV PVR to your SageTV system. You may not like it after you try it but I think most people on this forum would agree that being able to record and timeshift television is the best thing about SageTV.

I second your concerns about HD content. But at the small cost it takes to add PVR capability to your computer why not try it. The main point of my post is to say don’t knock the TV aspects of SageTV without even trying it.

John

[sainswor99]

I guess I look at it differently; to me, TV is another aspect of a well-integrated Media Center product. I wish there was MORE integration between the TV recordings, and the Media Center. In other words, I want to watch something; I don't care where it came from (TV, recorded videos, DVD's, or online).

[bastafidli]

I actually do not knock the TV aspect of SageTV. From what I have read and saw it looks pretty good. The thing is, we do not care about TV (and especially American) very much. We get what I want to see on DVDs or online and we are not interested in recording the few shows we watch from time to time. We either see it or we miss it and the life goes on. So the only thing I was suggesting it for SageTV to consider in the future a simple fact and that is does the user has a TV tuner or not. If he doesn't then lets adjust the UI to supress the elements that he will never use (and that are so in your face right now). That way I thing everybody would be happy.

[mohanman]

Originally Posted by jaminben

As Andy said, give SageMC a try. I've completly customized my main menu to contain the things I wanted.

So my main menu contains -

TV (which you could remove)
Movies - contains films I've ripped from DVD
TV Series - Holds all the TV shows I've gotten from USA like Heros, Stargate, Dexter etc
Music - My mp3 music collection
Home Movies - Has all the movies from family camcorders
Photos - All the family photos

Thats the beuaty of Sage and SageMC its all customizable. I've supplied an image of my menu for you to look at. I'm also a complete noob when it comes to this sort of thing so if I can do it I'm sure most other people can. Take the time and read the forums, ask a few questions and you'll get exactly what you want and how you want it to look. (well most of the time)

Regards

Ben

Ben can you tell me how you were able to get different videos imported into different directories? I want to do the same thing with recorded shows in one directory from the main menu, dvds in another, and other movies etc. I tried using the customizable menus, but I always seem to import the same videos for each menu I have created.
Thanks
Mo