Just waitin' for the STX-HD100...

[valnar]

I've waited for CPU's to come out, new chipsets, a specific motherboard, video cards, etc. but none of that has made me more anxious than this HD Extender. I check the Sage forums daily, if not more often - and I realize that is stupid because I signed up for the notification too!

My HTPC (separate from Sage Server) is on the fritz and it constantly freezes. I think the motherboard or RAM is bad. It's several years old - Pentium 4 Northwood 2.8Ghz. Had the HD Extender not been an option, I would have rebuilt or replaced this PC weeks ago. But now I plan on just disassembling the computer and selling off the good parts in favor of the STX-HD100. Assuming it's output is close to the quality of a good NVidia or ATI card, I won't need TheaterTek any more either, which is the other reason for the current HTPC. DVD's on real discs can simply be played in my DVD player, so I won't necessarily miss the DVD-ROM drive.

'just venting....wishing....waiting.....

-Robert

[Stuntman]

Originally Posted by valnar

I've waited for CPU's to come out, new chipsets, a specific motherboard, video cards, etc. but none of that has made me more anxious than this HD Extender. I check the Sage forums daily, if not more often - and I realize that is stupid because I signed up for the notification too!

My HTPC (separate from Sage Server) is on the fritz and it constantly freezes. I think the motherboard or RAM is bad. It's several years old - Pentium 4 Northwood 2.8Ghz. Had the HD Extender not been an option, I would have rebuilt or replaced this PC weeks ago. But now I plan on just disassembling the computer and selling off the good parts in favor of the STX-HD100. Assuming it's output is close to the quality of a good NVidia or ATI card, I won't need TheaterTek any more either, which is the other reason for the current HTPC. DVD's on real discs can simply be played in my DVD player, so I won't necessarily miss the DVD-ROM drive.

'just venting....wishing....waiting.....

-Robert

You are not alone! It seems a bit silly to release these things, make a big deal about them, post them on their site, get mostly rave reviews.. and them put them on 'backorder' for months and months.. then when asked when they will be available again, you get replies like "hopefully in February" and "maybe in February"... frustrating for sure...

[Taddeusz]

It's entirely possible they're working with the OEM to get the kinks worked out that were discovered in the first batch of units. Like the off center IR window or bad 1080p HDMI output etc.

I'm not really bragging but I'm happy I got one even though it was a first run unit. I find it exciting when they roll out updates to it because it tells me that they're really working on trying to solve the problems that have been coming up. The frequency of updates is one of the things I like about SageTV. I was actually surprised when they posted 6.3.6RC in the beta section. I wasn't expecting it at all.

I know it's frustrating but give them time. The second batch of units will probably work better than the first.

[Stuntman]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

It's entirely possible they're working with the OEM to get the kinks worked out that were discovered in the first batch of units. Like the off center IR window or bad 1080p HDMI output etc.

I'm not really bragging but I'm happy I got one even though it was a first run unit. I find it exciting when they roll out updates to it because it tells me that they're really working on trying to solve the problems that have been coming up. The frequency of updates is one of the things I like about SageTV. I was actually surprised when they posted 6.3.6RC in the beta section. I wasn't expecting it at all.

I know it's frustrating but give them time. The second batch of units will probably work better than the first.

Sure.. what you say is great.. it would be even greater if Sage would tell us that instead of either saying nothing or being simply vague.. it is like UPS telling you your package will arrive.. eventually..

Great.. thanks..

And if that second batch has some critical 'updates' in them, I sure hope they'll let me send mine back for an exchange! I'm one of the ones suffering from the HDMI 'issue'.. and have two more rooms ready and wired for the HD Extender that are useless to me now as I have nothing to put in them.. didn't expect that supplies were 'limited' when they were released and went ahead and prepared everything for them.

I'm happy about the product, happy they are working on it, happy they are fixing it.. just unhappy with the level of communication about the whole thing.

I have no choice but to wait and hope.. which is exactly what we will do.

[Taddeusz]

Historically Frey has always been pretty tight lipped about things.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

Sure.. what you say is great.. it would be even greater if Sage would tell us that instead of either saying nothing or being simply vague..

What other communication are you looking for? I don't understand -- SageTV has said more will be in stock later. And, issues continue to be worked on, like any other aspect of SageTV, thus the firmware updates that were posted previously. There is no exact in-stock date, as that isn't precisely known. Is there really a need for a daily or weekly post of "Yep, still working on SageTV and yep, we still expect to have more HD extenders in stock later"? When updates are available, they get posted. When the HD100s are in stock again, there will be notice.

- Andy

[DFranch]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

I sure hope they'll let me send mine back for an exchange!

That is the exact reason you are not getting info from Sage saying that they are fixing anything. Because then everybody with a revision 1 unit will want a replacement. It is the same for most consumer electronics.

[Taddeusz]

As far as the limited supply of units goes. Frey is a small company. As such they don't get the wide array of pre-testing that a larger company would have at their disposal. A smaller first batch would allow them to get problems revealed from a larger variety of configurations. You can do all the testing you can on a small scale and not reveal problems that crop up when the product ships. Certainly, it's not a perfect product. I wasn't expecting such. Certainly some of the problems are quite frustrating. Given time I'm sure they'll be worked out.

Also, being a small company they may not have been able to afford to buy a larger batch of units from their OEM.

(I know, more flowery words)